How to Teach Classroom Procedures – Part 3

How to Teach Classroom Procedures – Part 3

Today we pick up at Step 6. If you need to review the previous steps please click here.

If you or your friends are parents, this idea would work at home too. So feel free to share this blog with anybody you know that has children at home that may benefit from this as well.

How to Teach Classroom Procedures

  1. Define what procedures need to be taught
  2. Brainstorm the steps of the procedure
  3. Break the process down into as many steps as needed by asking yourself questions 
  4. Answer the questions by thinking through how you want the procedure to go
  5. Explain the importance of the procedure
  6. Determine age-appropriate ways to teach the procedure–use the model, practice, review approach
  7. Practice until you feel comfortable with students’ understanding of the procedure

Determine age-appropriate ways to teach the procedure–use the model, practice, review approach

The sixth step is to make sure that those things are kid friendly in the way that you explain them. This is actually three steps put together, but you’re going to repeat them until you have achieved the mastery level that you expect for this particular procedure. So the three parts are model, practice and review. When I say model, that means you want to make sure that you show them exactly how you want them to do it either by modeling the procedure yourself or having another child do it. Sometimes we also use video or pictures or anchor charts, whatever the procedure may call for. It will vary, of course, depending upon the procedure that you’re teaching and the age of the child. 

With the drive-thru example, I have a picture of a drive-thru projected on my Smartboard to help bring up that prior knowledge that they have about it.  I would say something like, “You’ve been through a drive-thru, right?”  And the most common one at my school was McDonald’s because there was a McDonald’s very close to our school. Next, I would say, “How many of you like French fries?” and most kids would raise their hands. “And how many of you go to McDonald’s for French fries?” And they’d raised their hands again.  “How many of you have ever gone through the drive-through to get some?”  So I’m building that up and again accessing that prior knowledge of theirs. 

And then we talk about, “Okay, well, when you go through the drive-thru, can you just speed around someone if the line isn’t going as fast as you would like or if there is someone who maybe isn’t pulling up? Like if you’re super hungry, do you just get to go to the front of the line?” And immediately, of course, they’re like, no, no, you have to stay in your spot in the line. And I would respond by saying, “You know, that’s right–you have to pay attention to what cars are in front of you when you come in and no, you can’t just speed past them. If you did, you’d get in an accident or make them angry because you cut in line.”  And so, right then, I’m explaining to them and modeling to them, giving them a specific picture in their mind of how it is they need to think about lining up. Next, I would tie it into our classroom and explain that lining up is just the same.  We have to go from where we are to the line in an orderly way and not just push past or zoom around others.  

I would show them exactly where I would want them to walk, how I would want them to walk and what I would want them to do. And then I would have the students practice. And as they say, perfect practice makes perfect. So we would practice until I felt they had achieved the method of lining up I wanted them to do. It’s also important at this stage to be sure if they aren’t quite doing it the way you expect, that you stop right then and in a calm, respectful manner explain what was wrong and what correction is needed.  This is not to call anyone out or make them feel bad, but rather, to help students understand each specific part of the process.  We want them to understand what the wrong way looks like and what the right way looks like from the start. 

The class would work towards the mastery that I wanted them to have, and if they were even slightly off, I would say, “Nope, this is what I saw (and explain where the procedure was executed incorrectly). So let’s go back and try that again.” 

Practice until you feel comfortable with students’ understanding of the procedure

For step seven, you’ll do the model, practice and review until you get to the point that you feel like the procedure is completed the way you want it to be. Then you will just need to go back and review as needed. This will likely be each time you line up for the next several days, so plan a little extra time to line up so that you can fix any missteps right on the spot and still get to where you are going on time!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at michelle@yourteachingmentor.com or send me a DM on Instagram @yourteachingmentor. 

How to Teach Classroom Procedures – Part 3

How to Teach Classroom Procedures – Part 2

Today we pick up at Step 4. If you need to review the previous steps please click here.

If you or your friends are parents, this idea would work at home too. So feel free to share this blog with anybody you know that has children at home that may benefit from this as well.

How to Teach Classroom Procedures

  1. Define what procedures need to be taught
  2. Brainstorm the steps of the procedure
  3. Break the process down into as many steps as needed by asking yourself questions 
  4. Answer the questions by thinking through how you want the procedure to go
  5. Explain the importance of the procedure
  6. Determine age-appropriate ways to teach the procedure–use the model, practice, review approach
  7. Practice until you feel comfortable with students’ understanding of the procedure

Answer the questions by thinking through how you want the procedure to go

Step four is answering the questions you just came up with, and thinking through each part of the procedure. Using the lining up example again, I knew that I wanted them to put their materials away, push their chairs in, and I knew exactly how I wanted them to walk in the line. I wanted it to be something that was very smooth, no pushing, no shoving, no racing to the front, walking very calmly and in control on a certain path to line up only after being sure their materials were picked up properly and their chair was pushed in if they were sitting in their seats. 

**Side note– Most of the ideas I share with you are not completely original to me. That’s one of the things that good teachers do – They seek out advice and help from other teachers.
Blogs and social media have really made a huge impact in this area. It’s the whole reason I am writing this post (and probably why you are reading it!) – to share ideas to make teaching easier and more efficient. Teaching how to line up is one of my favorite procedures to teach because of Leslie at the blog Kindergarten Works. She has a great idea for teaching this particular topic that I used and just tweaked and made it my own, like we all do. We get the idea from someone, but then we make the necessary changes to make it work in our own classroom. And it just worked like a charm.

And so once I had defined for myself the exact steps I wanted them to follow, I had to think about how to teach it to the kids. And this is where Leslie’s idea came in. She uses a great analogy of the drive-thru. And the best thing about using the drive-thru example is that almost every kid has experienced this. Even for those beginning kindergartners I was teaching, most of them at some point had gone through a drive-thru somewhere to be able to have some background knowledge for what you’re talking about. 

Explain the importance of the procedure

Then what you need to do for step five, (and this is key for student buy-in)  is to explain the importance of the procedure, aka why do they need to know this? So, if I’m talking about lining up, I need to let them know that it’s important that they do it this way for safety reasons and so that we all can get to where we’re going in the most timely and efficient manner possible.

This same idea holds true at home. If you’re teaching a bedtime routine, you want to tell them that it’s important for them to understand this so that they don’t forget something and then have to get up, which would interrupt their sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep is so important for children to function well the next day.

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If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at michelle@yourteachingmentor.com or send me a DM on Instagram @yourteachingmentor. 

How to Teach Classroom Procedures – Part 3

How to Teach Classroom Procedures – Part 1

Today’s blog post is going to focus on one of the most important things we have to do once the kids arrive for the start of the school year – teaching procedures.  This is crucial at the beginning of the year to set the tone of the classroom, but it is also important to revisit many times throughout the school year. Having a specific method to follow will help you be consistent no matter where or when you teach or review your procedures.

Also, this is a topic that’s not just reserved for teachers. If you or your friends are parents, this idea would work at home too. So feel free to share this blog with anybody you know that has children at home that may benefit from this as well. 

I’ve got a step by step process for you that would work with pretty much anything that you may need to teach. And I’ll give you an example along the way as well. 

How to Teach Classroom Procedures

  1. Define what procedures need to be taught
  2. Brainstorm the steps of the procedure
  3. Break the process down into as many steps as needed by asking yourself questions 
  4. Answer the questions by thinking through how you want the procedure to go
  5. Explain the importance of the procedure
  6. Determine age-appropriate ways to teach the procedure–use the model, practice, review approach
  7. Practice until you feel comfortable with students’ understanding of the procedure

Define what procedures need to be taught

The very first thing that you need to do well before the students arrive is to define what procedures need to be taught both for you and for the students. You need to think about what things kids are going to be doing on a routine basis. For example, in the classroom, that might be things like arrival procedures, dismissal procedures, lining up, or turning in work. All of those are things that kids are going to do on a regular basis and something that most teachers have a certain way that they want it done in their classrooms. If you’re at home, you may have a bedtime routine or a homework routine. So any of those ideas would apply for this particular topic. 

Brainstorm the steps of the procedure

Next, brainstorm the specific steps you want children to follow for the procedure you have in mind first. You want to make sure that you know exactly what it is you want the students to be able to do. You also have to think about how you want to explain that to the students. This probably goes without saying, but explaining a procedure to a six year old kindergarten student is very different than explaining even the same procedure to a fifteen year old sophomore in high school.  It sounds crazy, but just because you know what you want them to do, doesn’t mean that you necessarily have the language for teaching them. So you want to think about your age group–your target audience, so to speak–and how you can best explain that procedure to them. 

Break the process down into as many steps as needed by asking yourself questions 

Step three is to break that procedure down into as many steps as you possibly can, not to make it a bunch of steps, but to make sure that you don’t forget anything. For example, let’s talk about lining up.  That’s something that probably every elementary classroom in the world does at some point. And it’s actually one of my favorite procedures to teach. I had to stop and think, what is it that I need them to do? Well, I had to think about how I wanted them to transition from whatever it was we were doing to where it was they were going. I had to think about these things:

  • Are they sitting on the carpet? 
  • Are they sitting in their chairs? 
  • Where will the line be?
  • Where are they going? 
  • What are they going to need to do before we can even line up? 
  • Do they need to take things with them?

Then, I had to think about how I wanted them to line up…

  • Does it matter if they’re in one line or two? 
  • Is there a line order?
  • Does it matter which way they go to get to the line? 
  • Does it matter if they walk or can they run?

I mean, I don’t know any classroom in the world that would let kids just run up to the line. But again, those are the kinds of things that you want to think through in this third step. As teachers, we realize that running would not be a plausible idea, but kids need to be specifically told that. Be sure you think of everything that you would want them to know, and then how you’re going to teach it. 

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If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at michelle@yourteachingmentor.com or send me a DM on Instagram @yourteachingmentor. 

The number one thing to avoid to get kids to love reading!

The number one thing to avoid to get kids to love reading!

Last fall, when we still had teacher candidates out in schools, there was a classroom I visited that had a sign on the front door that said, “Everyone is a reader, but some just haven’t found the right book yet.” It immediately caught my attention and put a smile on my face whenever I was in that building and saw it. I love not only the idea of everyone thinking of themselves as a reader but having a lifelong love for it.

But then I got to thinking, “How do we help readers find the “right” book? And what does the “right” book even mean?” If you ask five different teachers, you might get five different answers. 

In recent years, book leveling has become the way that so many people have decided is the “right” way to match kids and books.  And there’s no shortage of leveling programs out there–Lexile, F & P, DRA, the list goes on and on.  

But here’s the thing: 

  • Book levels don’t take into consideration student interest or background knowledge
  • There are as many ways to level books as there are books (not quite, but it sure feels that way sometimes)
  • Paying too much attention to book levels might narrow the choices so much that students won’t be able to find that “perfect book” that makes them love to read

In this blog post, I’m breaking down when using leveled books is appropriate and when it isn’t. 

The best part?

It’s a pretty simple formula any teacher can implement.  

Using leveled texts has been advocated by the likes of such big reading names as Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell (they have their own system to level books that is very widely used) and Marie Clay for use in Reading Recovery (one of the biggest reading intervention programs ever).  Guided reading sessions and intervention times are two widely used examples of when leveled texts are often appropriately used. 

Many schools do a form of reading incentive plan such as Accelerated Reader or Reading Counts.  They may also participate in outside programs like Book-It.  All of these programs are geared to help encourage reading and, hopefully, to develop lifelong readers.  When testing in AR or Reading Counts, students are often asked to read within the level of books that have been determined best for them by assessment.  This is when we can get into a gray area.  

Yes, students will likely be more successful at passing quizzes when the readability of a book is within a certain range.  However, is passing a quiz the greatest determiner of love of reading? I think not.  Usually, students who are already voracious readers will be the ones who amass the most points.  I saw this time and time again when I was in the classroom. Those that find reading more challenging (for whatever reason) likely won’t all of sudden become proficient and successful readers because they are required to earn a certain number of points. Yes, for some kids, this will be an incentive, but for many others, the opposite is true.  

How do I manage mandated programs and building a love of reading?

This can be tricky, but as a general rule, if you are mandated to use a certain program, I’m not the one to tell you to buck the system.  Only you can decide exactly how programs like Book-It or AR are used in your classroom.  What I can tell you is that using leveled text should be like broccoli.  Sure, you might need it sometimes to make healthy choices, but it doesn’t mean that you can never have a chocolate chip cookie again.  Students should be allowed to read books that are of interest to them the majority of the time whether it is within their assigned level or not. 

Other factors to consider…

When deciding whether or not to use leveled readers there are other factors to consider.

  1. Is there an educational purpose for limiting the range of books offered? (essentially what you are doing if you are asking students to read only within a certain level) 
  2. If you are asking students to read a leveled book, are there enough options that they will also find one on a topic that interests them?
  3. If you are asking students to read a leveled book, are there enough options that they will also find one that reflects their funds of knowledge?

The surest way to get kids to hate reading is to answer no to any of these questions.

I believe that the only way students will love reading is if they have choice and control over what they read–at least the majority of the time.  Yes, we have determined that (like broccoli) there is a valid reason for using leveled readers.  It is when we OVERUSE them that we run into trouble. We must also be careful to not refer to students as a certain level.  Remember, we level BOOKS, not CHILDREN. This is another mistake I see teachers make all too often, and if I am being totally honest, have done myself.  Once I thought about what I was truly saying though, I realized how demoralizing that sounded and stopped immediately.  

I know this post might seem like a lot of doom and gloom, but the good news is, that while this is the sure-fire way to make students hate reading, there are many more ways to help them LOVE reading.  Be sure to check back here often as I share my favorite ways to encourage a lifelong love of reading for all. Until then, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you use leveled readers? What place do they have in your classroom? Until next time, happy teaching! 

Earth Day

Earth Day

Next to Christmas and my birthday, my favorite day of the year is Earth Day!

I found out about it for the first time in college through a wonderful science methods professor that I had, Dr. John Beaver. Since then, I have always made a point to teach environmental awareness every day, but to also take time to celebrate Earth Day with some special activities.

Through the years of my teaching, we’ve cleaned up school grounds, planted trees, made landfill models and did a year long rainforest unit culminating in a giant replica rainforest with a fundraiser to save acres of the Amazon.

Now, more than ever, I feel the focus in classrooms (even those that are now virtual!) is on sustainability and alternative energy sources.

I am going to share some my top 5 ways to teach about the environment as well as what not to do.

  • Start with the basics—teaching the 3R’s. The topics of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle have been around for as long as there has been Earth Day, and it is a great place to start.  The difference I am seeing now is the focus on the 3R’s as being a hierarchy, with reducing our waste as the most important, then reusing items whenever possible, to finally recycling what is left. Recycling is extremely important, but really should be considered the last resort after reducing as much as possible and reusing what we can.
  • Here are two of my favorite reuse projects using commonly found household items—toilet paper or paper towel tubes and bubble wrap.
    1. Toilet paper roll napkin rings—One way to reduce waste is to use cloth napkins that you can just wash and reuse many times and these napkin rings add to the festive look while also keeping the tube out of the trash. For these, I cut a standard toilet paper tube in thirds and wrapped with washi tape. You could use duct tape, scrapbook paper, or whatever you have on hand. And then I just slipped it on the napkin—easy peasy! These would look great on your dinner table tonight!
    2. Bubble wrap hopscotch–Use some leftover packaging from an online order (bubble wrap), a sharpie, and some painters tape to make this fun outdoor or indoor game. Cut the bubble wrap (if needed-some of mine was just the right size already) into squares.  Turn it over to the flat side and use a Sharpie to draw the numbers—remember to draw them backwards so that when you turn it over they are going in the right direction! Once you are finished, tape it to your floor with painter’s tape or to your sidewalk with duct tape to prevent slipping or the board blowing away.  My daughter put ours on the driveway. (I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was upside down! 1 should be closest and so on up to 10) Look up the rules online for how to play hopscotch and let your kiddos hop and pop away!
    3. Look for more fun ideas on my Instagram—(Your Teaching Mentor)
  • Be a smart shopper! When I cleaned off our desk area to prepare for it to be my new online teaching space, I found a ton of old pens, markers, glue sticks etc. I organized them into cute bins so that when we need something we know right where it to find it and not rush out to the store to by another one.  When the time comes to replenish items, make smart environmental choices—you can get pencils made from old blue jeans and pens made from recycled water bottles now.
  • Watch videos or listen to songs to learn more about environmental issues. I found a fascinating video about how recycling is changing right now called “Why the United States Is Turning To Recycling Robots” You can find it here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mxaN_xqQh4

    I would say this is a good video for third grade on up.  For the younger kiddos, Mr. Eco has lots of great songs/videos about important environmental concepts (also on YouTube).

  • I am sure it is no surprise that my last suggestion is to read a book. There are tons of great new books out there that I need to check out but some of my favorites are:
    1. Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel
    2. The Earth Trilogy (Touch the Earth, Heal the Earth, and Love the Earth) by Julian Lennon
    3. City Green, by DyAnne Disalvo-Ryan (This book inspired a huge inquiry project about recycling milk cartons in my class).
    4. Charlie and Lola: We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers by Lauren Child and Bridget Hurst
    5. 10 Things I Can Do To Help My World by Melanie Walsh
    6. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
    7. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Now that I have given you a start on how to celebrate Earth Day with your students, here’s what I wouldn’t do:

Send families links to print reams of paper for a recycling coloring book, or worksheets matching the trash to the right recycling bin. 

While there is some educational value in some of these things, you are really just adding to the problem with these types of activities.  If you want to teach kids about recycling, invite a local waste management person in to speak to the class (or now that we are virtual, see if they could join your Zoom or Google Meet). 

If you want to them to know how sort trash, have them collect real trash from the playground or other area and sort it accordingly.  I hope these ideas have given you some fun ways to think about Earth Day. For more ideas, check out my Instagram (especially the stories!) for more ideas!

 

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Two Small Changes That Made All the Difference in My Classroom

Two Small Changes That Made All the Difference in My Classroom

Want to know the best way I have found to curb excess talking? How about the most equitable and easy way I found to handle classroom jobs? These two seemingly small changes made a huge impact in my classroom!

Let’s talk about ways to curb the chatting first, shall we?

Every morning, each student got 3 bands. I used the hair ties that came in packs of 100 for $1 at Dollar Tree and just kept them in a tin I had from a gift I had received years ago!

I bought 5-6 packs at the beginning of the year and that usually lasted us the entire year—you could even think about putting them on your supply list or wish list for your classroom.  Invariably, I would have some break, or accidentally go home with a child. They also just wore out after a while—at 100 for $1, they aren’t necessarily the highest quality item you will find!

Here’s how the idea works:

The students could wear them on their wrist, keep them on their nametags, supply boxes, or whatever you choose. Each time they blurt out, they put one back in the container we keep them in.

I even developed a nonverbal cue to let them know that they had lost a band, so that I didn’t have to disrupt my teaching.  I would make eye contact with them and just tap my wrist and then point to the tin where the bands were kept.

This way I could keep going with what I was doing, and they simply got up and put the band back in the tin.  They knew right where it was kept (for me it was right on top of our mailboxes, so it was easily accessible, and they saw it often) and they could do that without any further disruption.

In over 20 years of teaching, I had tried several things, but this was by far the one that worked the best for me. It’s great because it’s a visual reminder for the kids, and this way you can be sure you have given them 3 warnings first before giving a more serious consequence. Win/win in my book!!!

The other so-simple-I-can’t-believe-I-didn’t-think-of-it-sooner hack is how I handled classroom jobs.

It was another classroom “chore” that I tried multiple ways of managing before I finally settled on a great, easy solution.  When I was first teaching I had only a few jobs, but kids felt left out because only a few students ever got to help.

Then I purchased a pre-made bulletin board kit, but their jobs didn’t meet my needs.  Then I came up with a list of jobs so that every child had a job that I was changing every week.  Except that I would often forget.

I had students complain that some jobs were almost never used, while others were used multiple times a day.  There was even a year where I thought I would tie persuasive writing to the class jobs, so that kids could convince me that they were the right person for the job.

All in all, no matter what approach I took, it was just a headache that I never looked forward to dealing with until I came up with the idea that I will share with you here.

Some of you may already be familiar with Tara West and her blog Little Minds at Work.

She has tons of great ideas for primary grades.  She did a blog post with a printable for a “Lucky Duck.”  She used it to choose a mystery student for staying on task.

However, one day when I was particularly frustrated with jobs and kids complaining about them, I decided to make my “Lucky Duck” the helper for the day.  So each day, during our morning meeting, I pulled one stick and that person was the person who did any job that was needed that day—passing out papers or other materials, helping with calendar (this was a kindergarten classroom), taking things to the office or to other teachers, etc.

If I needed more than one person to help, I just had the Lucky Duck from the previous day fill that position so that there were no arguments.  Once I had selected the Lucky Duck, I put the stick back in the jar with the duck side down, so I knew that student had been selected.  Once all the sticks were duck side down, I knew everyone had had a turn and I could flip them over and start again.  Something else I thought of on my third year making them, that I will save you right now from making the same mistake, is that I just put numbers on the sticks instead of names.  This way they are reusable from year to year.  Just match the number on the stick with your student’s number on your roster. Easy peasy.

Both ideas were simple, low prep and effective while making my teaching life easier and more streamlined.  I hope they are as helpful for you!

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