February 3, 2011

Last week we went back to the Elementary School. In the class I am with, the teacher has a difficult job of controlling an entire class of 6 year olds. In order to get their attention while at stations, if they are getting loud or not, in a normal level voice she says "Froggy" and the children respond "pop pop pop". Her classroom is the frog classroom, therefore everything is decorated with frogs. So she says "froggy" to get their attention, and they know as soon as she says that they must stop what they are doing, respond "pop pop pop" and stay quiet to listen for further instructions from her. She has been using this technique since the first week I was in her classroom and it has worked every single time. The children know this direction and know exactly what to do when they hear it. The children also know that when the teacher's phone makes a certain beeping sound it is time for her to take attendance. They all shout out "attendance!" and then quietly go back to their work, but sit in their seats to make it easier for the teacher. If they know someone is not there, they inform the teacher so she can know if she had not noticed already. It helps the attendance taking process go by more quickly and gives the students a chance to use responsibility in helping the teacher. Those are the two techniques I noticed my teacher using while in the Kindergarten class.