What is your favorite mode of classroom management for pullouts? What do you do in order to stay consistent with the methods in their homeroom? How do you use a visual reminder or goal? I feel like marble jars are not viable when teaching every class in the school. There's just not enough space. Sticker chart where each class has a line maybe? I was thinking I'd create some kind of form to send back with the class, ranking whole class behavior on a 1,2,3 scale and maybe listing two or three star students each period.
For the latter part of my career, I worked with small groups (3-8) of underachieving special ed. students in a pull-out resource program. My students were challenged with ADD, hyperactivity, autism, learning disabilities, perceptual deficits and some with limited English. I've used almost every classroom management approach and a variety of apps with varying degrees of success, but the most effective means didn't involve any charts, awards, points, stars, marbles, stickers, food, candy, parties or even frequent praise like "Good job!". I found that fumbling with any of these things robbed us of valuable instruction time and were distractive to both my students and I. It took me a while to figure it out, but I eventually learned to rely on intrinsic motivation and a fast-paced teaching style to keep everyone engaged throughout the 30-40 minute sessions. Believe it or not, the end result was no more behavioral issues and an accelerated instructional program that enabled students to quickly catch up with their peers. Here are a few main elements that you may want to consider using: Not a minute wasted - students entered the room quietly, took their seats and waited for instruction to begin. Instruction began the second everyone was seated, usually with an anticipatory set to grab their attention. Instruction was always interactive involving all students who were kept on their toes with an unusually fast-paced delivery - they got used to thinking quickly at all times - no one was left behind. Instruction usually centered around the use of animations and voice-overs and other multimedia effects that helped ensure full engagement. Hope this helps!
I so much agree with this! These two things are probably the most vital in creating a good classroom environment to get children focused on the lesson before misbehavior can occur. Your room must be a great place of learning.
I forgot to mention one more feature of my classroom that helped with even the most challenging students. I always maintained a classroom menagerie that students in the entire school loved to visit. No one could resist the opportunity to feed hungry shore crabs, hold a 6"-long centipede, or observe the beating heart of a translucent glass shrimp - of course, only after we completed our daily lessons. Other animals in the collection included various snakes, lizards, insects, guinea pigs, spiders, a tortoise and tropical fish. Here are two kids observing a red shore crab that a student brought to school. We took such good care of it that it lived for two more years!
NO WAY am I going to be responsible for any rodents, sea creatures, insects, lizards, amphibians or any other non-human living creature!
You'd be surprised how many little girls and boys screamed at the thought of holding a live meal worm or centipede! With just a little coaxing and watching others, they ALL eventually put out their shaking hands to receive a small animal. I like to believe they became better caretakers of our environment by overcoming their fear of small creatures. Check out this video showing a student enjoying his reward for completing his work correctly in record time. You wouldn't believe what a handful this little boy was in his regular classroom, but here he was an angel. (Best viewed with iTunes from the pull-down menu.) What about allowing your most difficult students to help with the care and feeding of a small animal in your room? It could be as simple as a plastic box containing an antlion, a small tank of fish or a turtle in a terrarium. My students not only brought in specimens to display in the classroom for a few days or weeks at a time, but also provided the natural foods needed to sustain the animals during their stay. It was definitely a win-win situation with a lot of fun learning thrown in!
