Tools for Teaching Message Board

Automatic Bonus

tvogts — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:50:37 GMT

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for other automatics bonuses? I already do that everyone is in their seat on time and everyone has all required materials. I also give hurry up bonuses for passing in papers and get chairs back in order quickly. However, I find it hard to check to see if everyone has all required materials for class, because I teach high school. I seems elementary for everyone to hold up pencil, book, paper, calculator. Also it would take too much time to walk around and check to see if everyone has all those item. Any suggestions is appreciated.

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

Visual Instruction Plans-Examples

mechpilot — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:44:24 GMT

I know this has been requested before, but if anyone could e-mail examples of visual instruction plans it would be a huge help. mechpilot1976@hotmail.com

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

Talking Talking Talking

toni — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:39:31 GMT

I am new 9th Grade English Teacher and have read Tools for Teaching (sadly I haven't been to a conference - yet!). I have been trying most of the procedures in my classroom and most work well, but I'm having trouble quelling a lot of talking.
I have bell work assignments up each day, but it still sometimes takes a while to get everyone quieted down and focused on me. I feel I end up yelling, exactly what I don't want to do, but some days I don't know what else to do because if I didn't yell, we wouldn't get anything started.
My kids have also worked the game being good and quiet when I'm next to their desks, but as soon as I go to talk to someone else it starts all back up again. I feel like I am more of a bop-till-you-drop teacher because I have to constantly go around the room! I have practiced my meaning business look and have even had students comment that it looks like I want them to crawl under the desk. I feel like it goes really well for awile, but they're talking again way too soon. I suppose it's just a lack of respect for me. Any hints??

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

Sponge Preferred Activities

mechpilot — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 10:00:00 GMT

I am interested in what types of activities people are using for sponge activities. Are they mostly worksheets or do you use other types of activities as well?

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

Needing a Fresh Start

lauraduggan — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:49:46 GMT

Today was my first day at a new school, and I was only half-way through reading Tools for Teaching. I have 31 fifth graders for 75 minutes for technology enrichment, once a week. They walked in, and I was shocked. There was not a shred of discipline or decorum, as everyone seemed to be talking at once. My 'nagging' to have them be quiet and face me rather than the computers of course fell on deaf ears. I muddled through the class, over a constant din, then raced home and finished the rest of Fred's book.

My question is: What would be the very first thing I could do next session in order to have them be quiet enough so that I could then establish some classroom procedures. That is, I need a structure just to have their attention. To use setting limits, and body language seems a bit daunting when everyone had the same behavior. (Checking with the other teachers, it appears that this class has the same problem with every teacher they work with.) I'd love just one good starting point, to make a fresh start next week. Thanks to you all. Laura

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

Teaching routines - question for Fenwick and anyone else

MisterPeterson — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:27:54 GMT

Hello -

Ken - a specific question for you and a few other questions for anyone else who can give input. I'm starting school in a week and want to have a solid plan on how to teach & re-teach routines/procedures. Teaching routine "lesson" the first time is easy. I followed this "lesson plan"

1) Model performing procedure correctly

2) Discuss with class the qualities of my behavior (i.e. I walked quietly, I kept my hands to myself)

3) Have one student model behavior - re-discuss quality of behavior

4) Have several students model behavior simultaneously (i.e. Have 2-3 kids line-up at the same time)

5) Entire class practices

Ken - a while ago you posted this lesson design example. I'm not exactly clear as to what all the steps mean - could you clarify? How would this "lesson" look in terms of "lining up"? What would this "lesson" look like the first time routine is taught? What would it look like the 3rd or 4th time it is taught - same?

My suggestion is to apply full blown Lesson Design to first couple routines:
1) Purpose
2) Anticipatory Set
3) Input
4) Modeling
5) Checking For Understanding
6) Guided Practice
7) Teach (partner with ability to discriminate error)
8) Independent Practice
9) Closure
* Readiness and diagnosis should precede Lesson

Beyond that, I'm wondering what happens when you re-teach a routine because it is not performed correctly. Last year, I would simply repeat my above lesson plan - but it seemed sort of silly the 3rd or 4th time around. "Ok kids, watch as I line-up at the door - see what you notice." Of course they know already that I will be quiet, my hands will be to self, etc. After this I would usually pose questions to the class, "Well, what did you see??" If this is the 4th time practicing this routine, no one wants to raise hand or discuss this silly routine anymore. I'm left with simply explaining the rule again - seems like there could be a better way.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Matt

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

The first day

jh — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:09:19 GMT

Summer is slowly starting to wind down and my thoughts have just as slowly started turning back to school. I'm curious as to how other teachers begin the first day of a new school year. What activities do you plan? What procedures do you teach the first day? How do you introduce them?

What happens the second and third day? The second week?

Thanks,

John

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

backup system--what defines?

txteach418 — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:29:31 GMT

I teach 1st grade and at my campus, K-2 teachers use similar "discipline systems" where the kids are all on "green" every day but if they forget or break rules they move their clips/pull their cards/etc. to yellow and there is a consequence such as missing 5 min. of recess, then the color can be changed to red if it gets worse or blue if there is an office referral or parent phone call. When used effectively, I have seen this system work quite well for 90% of students, but there are, of course, the little Larrys, as dr. jones would call them, who could care less. my question is, are there teachers who have been to this training out there who use a similar color-change system and if so, do you STILL use it with the fred jones system? If so, what determines if they get the regal turn, the queen victoria, the down to palms, etc. and at one point do you just tell them they have to change their color?? My thoughts for this upcoming school year were to save the color changing as a sort of last resort and make it a MUCh bigger deal than I have in the past instead of just breaking one rule is an automatic color change (after a verbal warning of course). any thoughts on this?

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

fresh outta training....

txteach418 — Thur, 30 Jul 2009 01:29:24 GMT

I just finished the workshop training and it was great! However, I am feeling unclear about PAT, but mostly bc I am not sure how well my district will respond to the idea of it. I know I must comply with whatever they say, but I think the people from my district who attended (including myself!)were given the impression that PAT is a time for the kids to get to play games and thus, the curriculum of the district is put aside for minutes of the day, which doesnt seem like a lot, but it is for this district. Also, I am a primary grade teacher so my kiddos are with me all day. there is a large block of instruction time that is verrrry much non-negotiable as far as exactly what we are supposed to be doing. if an administrator were to walk in one day and, unknown to them, we are having PAT time...I feel like I could get in trouble for not teaching the specific curriculum--I may be teaching the correct material/content, but not the specific stuff....does anyone else have this issue? if so, did you come up with an alternative that worked?

Forum: PATs (Preferred Activity Time)

PATs on Interactive Whiteboards

bholdt — Thur, 16 Jul 2009 11:04:37 GMT

Hello everyone,

I have used PATs in my classroom and my students love it. I then decided develop some PATs to be used on an interactive whiteboard. These games can be downloaded here : http://www.bholdt.com . You can find two games on there at the moment, but lots more are coming.

Hope you find them useful. I would love some feedback!

Forum: PATs (Preferred Activity Time)

regular ed teacher having a sub

kellyparker — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:59:13 GMT

I have pretty good classroom management that is working when I am present. When I have a substitute though, the class pulls all kinds of stuff. What should I, could I be doing before a sub comes to ensure the note from the sub is positive? What follow up should I have with my class after a sub has come?

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

Electronic Devices

wt44 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:25:33 GMT

Greetings- This is my second post. This topic is not in the book and I don't think it's been mentioned in this message board. I work at the high school level and we have a rule about electronic devices (i-pods,psps. cell phones, etc.) The rule states that the students can have them, but if they come out iduring class, the teacher is supposed to confiscate them. Not all teachers enforce this. Unfortunately, I'm one who has not enforced it. I'll calmly tell the student to "put it away." One reason for this is that there are SO MANY of them! I figure that I'd spend most of my day confiscating this stuff and sending it to the office. Well, I'm turning over a new leaf when I go back in September and I WILL take this stuff away, starting on DAY 1. I figure that if I come on strong from the beginning, the kids will know that I mean business and they will get the message and leave that stuff at home- or so I hope. This is the philosophy in the TOOLS book, right? But by nature, this is an adversarial situation, to be repeated many times over, throughout the day. You are supposed to demand that the student give you the device and you are then to send it to the dean's office. So, do any of you who teach secondary students have some experience with this? I see this as a possible live wire and I don't look forward to it! Please share! Thanks!

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

ESL

wt44 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:55:13 GMT

Greetings to you all. I'm new here. I have 2 questions to post (2 threads ). I teach ESL. Frequently I have students with little or no English communication skills. I do speak some Spanish, but I prefer for my students to think that I don't, or they get "babied" in Spanish. I intend to put this system into use when I go back in September, but there is a natural communication block due to the nature of what I teach. Any ideas or feedback on this issue? Thanks!

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

Social Power

brennanma — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:54:23 GMT

Dr. Jones says social power is non-adversarial, but he also talks about classroom management being like an indoor game. If it's a game then aren't the students my opponents (i.e. I'm trying to manage vs. the students trying to have fun, get out of work and socialize). And if they are my opponents in this game are they not my adversaries in this game too?

The reason I ask is I'm wrestling with the Queen Victoria look. If I am looking at a student and thinking "we are not amused" am I not coming across to the student as an adversary? Dr. Jones says "if your thoughts are adversarial or your feelings agitated your body language will show it." I'm wondering if "we are not amused" is an adversarial thought or can it be classified/defined/categorized as something else?

To be honest I don't know what to think when I am trying to look a student back to work. I have tried:

- "a thousand one, a thousand too..." (from the study guide)
-"breathe in, and relax..." (from the Toolbox)
-"we are not amused" (from the book/Toolbox)
-visualizing escapist realities like palm trees swaying on a desert isle (from the Toolbox)
-picturing myself falling asleep while watching the 11:00p.m. news (from the book, Study Guide and Toolbox)

I'm curious to know what the rest of you Fred Jones disciples are thinking while Meaning Business.

Marc

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general

Days leading up to a break

MisterPeterson — Thur, 26 Mar 2009 18:19:44 GMT

Hello -

Question I've been pondering lately . . .

Next week my school goes on spring break for a week. As you can guess, this week has been difficult behavior-wise. Kids are excited to be away from school or to go on vacation. Many of them are totally checked out. Some classes are doing better than others - it's just been like a normal week. Other classes are struggling a lot - we've been practicing routines/procedures that we learned the first week of school - and spending the majority of the day on them. I'm constantly setting limits.

The question I have is - do we let up on standards prior to a break? Of course there will be problems - who can blame the kids - they're as excited about break as we are! Should we let things go the few days prior to a break that we wouldn't let go otherwise? This year I've been attempting to stay strong right up until the end - holding the same standards I've always had, but I can't help think that this won't make any difference with some classes. But if I let up - do the kids think, "Yes! He finally caved!"

Not too worried about this, because things always seem to be fine when I get back from long breaks. Just wanted to see what others thought! Thanks!

Matt

Forum: Tools for Teaching - general