Ways to Maintain Discipline
Maintain a Quiet Classroom Without Having to Say a Word
Student Discipline Strategies That Save Your Sanity
When you get home from work, do you often feel hoarse from telling the kids to stop talking and exhausted from trying, in vain, to keep your kids on task? Do you fantasize about a quiet classroom in your private moments?
Discipline and classroom management are, by far, the top battles that you must win in the classroom. Without focused and relatively quiet students, you might as well forget about hard work and significant academic achievement.
Believe it or not, it is possible to quiet your students and keep them on task with simple nonverbal routines that save your voice and your sanity. The key here is to get creative and do not expect one routine to work forever. Many times, effectiveness wears off with time; so feel free to rotate through the various methods listed below.
Here are some teacher-tested student discipline strategies that meet the objective of maintaining a quiet classroom with ease:
• The Music Box - Buy an inexpensive music box. (Rumor has it that you can find one at Target for approximately $12.99!) Each morning, wind the music box up completely. Tell the students that, whenever they are noisy or off task, you will open the music box and let the music play until they quiet down and get back to work. If, at the end of the day, there is any music left, the kids receive some type of reward. Maybe they can earn tickets for a weekly drawing or a few minutes towards end-of-the-week free play time. Be creative and find the perfect no-cost reward that your students will really want to quiet down for. Kids love this game and will quiet down immediately as you reach towards the music box. Special thanks to my colleague Michelle Nisly for passing on this soothing nonverbal trick!
• The Quiet Game - Somehow, when you just add the word "game" to your request, the kids will generally snap right into line. After my repeated demands for quiet
Student Discipline Strategies That Save Your Sanity
When you get home from work, do you often feel hoarse from telling the kids to stop talking and exhausted from trying, in vain, to keep your kids on task? Do you fantasize about a quiet classroom in your private moments?
Discipline and classroom management are, by far, the top battles that you must win in the classroom. Without focused and relatively quiet students, you might as well forget about hard work and significant academic achievement.
Believe it or not, it is possible to quiet your students and keep them on task with simple nonverbal routines that save your voice and your sanity. The key here is to get creative and do not expect one routine to work forever. Many times, effectiveness wears off with time; so feel free to rotate through the various methods listed below.
Here are some teacher-tested student discipline strategies that meet the objective of maintaining a quiet classroom with ease:
• The Music Box - Buy an inexpensive music box. (Rumor has it that you can find one at Target for approximately $12.99!) Each morning, wind the music box up completely. Tell the students that, whenever they are noisy or off task, you will open the music box and let the music play until they quiet down and get back to work. If, at the end of the day, there is any music left, the kids receive some type of reward. Maybe they can earn tickets for a weekly drawing or a few minutes towards end-of-the-week free play time. Be creative and find the perfect no-cost reward that your students will really want to quiet down for. Kids love this game and will quiet down immediately as you reach towards the music box. Special thanks to my colleague Michelle Nisly for passing on this soothing nonverbal trick!
• The Quiet Game - Somehow, when you just add the word "game" to your request, the kids will generally snap right into line. After my repeated demands for quiet