Class Law

It's a bit of a challenge to come up with a combined and cohesive discipline policy and effective classroom management techniques when you teach 11 different grade levels and 2 completely different disciplines.  This is something I did a LOT of research on this past summer when I learned of my assignment as a PK-8 Art teacher and 6-8 Spanish teacher.  

Why yes, I'd love to get my panties in a wad with stress this year, thanks for asking!

I've taught Spanish before, that I have down to a science.  I incorporate a dash of WBT, (Whole Brain Teaching... if you haven't already checked out the basics video here, I HIGHLY recommend it, even if you only take one or two of his tips into your own classroom).  I throw in a splash of humor to get the kids on "my side" from the start and then I run with a whole lot of speaking softly so they reeeeeally have to listen.

I use Happy/Sad charts as a class reward in Spanish class, which work extremely well especially to get attention at the start of class, but since I only see my Art students once a week each and do minimal direct instruction, they're not as practical to implement.

And now picture of my Kleenex box, just because it's awesome.

In Spanish I have a call & repeat where I say "clase!" and they say "si!" and however I call they have to respond.  This is another attention grabber from WBT known as the "class - yes".  I still use this for my 6 Spanish classes but altered this a bit for my 16 Art classes this year so that my call is "MONA!" and the response from the class is "LISA!"  I brought in a color picture of the Mona Lisa to show on the first day and we talked about what a good listener she is.  Her eyes follow you wherever you go, her mouth is closed but she smiles at you, and her hands are still.  When I say MONA they say LISA and then they assume the position.  The little ones respond especially well to this and if their mouths are quiet but there is still movement or not all eyes are on you, I find it very effective to say, "Where are your Mona Lisa hands?  Show me your Mona Lisa eyes!"

Botero's Mona Lisa, the perfect Spanish-Art combo!

My students in both Spanish AND Art love the "ten finger WOO" which I actually call the "one second WOO" because then they know it should last no more than a second, (helps them from going a little ape with it).  When I get a FANTASTIC answer or some deep thinking that goes above and beyond, I'll instruct my students to "Give Paco a 1 second WOO!" and they all point their 10 fingers at Paco and quickly say "WOO!" then refocus on me.  It's a great way to effectively and heavily reinforce positive behaviors from students, (even that ol' whippersnapper Paco).  The best way to understand all of these techniques is really to watch this video which incorporates a little bit of everything.

I'm still getting used to how much TIME it takes to clean up after even the most simple of art projects, (about 10 minutes for my PK-1st graders even if they only used crayons and paper,) but overall I'm surviving.