Writing Conference Strategy

Recently we've been working on non-fiction writing in my classroom. (More to come on that). During my last few writing projects, students waited in line to have a conference with me at my desk. This caused a lot of behavioral issues. Kids were getting restless and loud, causing students who were still working to be distracted.

I came up with an easy idea to keep track of who I need to conference with. When students are done with a draft, they write their name up on the board, then go back to their desk, wait for me, and do a quiet "may do." I walk around to the students who signed up for "appointments" on the board. When I finish with one student I check off their name and go to the next student. This is a much quieter way than I had before, students always have a task to do, and it allows the slower workers to focus on their writing.

Do you have a strategy you use during writing that you would like to share?

Quiet Down Strategy

One of the more challenging things I find about managing centers is to help get students back on task while also running my own small group. For a long time I would stop what I was doing with my group to get the attention of the class to remind them of the expected behaviors. This was very frustrating and I felt that my group work suffered on the more squirrely days.

My principal suggested I find a way to remind students to end off-task behaviors without stopping instruction and work during centers. I tried flicking the lights, erasing tally marks for off task behaviors, but I still felt that is was more disruptive than helpful. I finally went out and bought a rain stick.

When students are talking too much or are off task, I turn over the rainstick. They have two turns to quiet down before they lose a marble. It is quiet enough that it isn't completely disruptive, but loud enough that it reminds students what they should be doing.

I take it to my small group area and I don't have to leave the group to help manage behavior! I love it :) It has been so successful, I've been using it during independent work times as well.

Does anyone else have a "refocus" strategy they would like to share?

Behavior Management

Every teacher's favorite subject. I have to admit it was not something that came easily to me. My style swung the pendulum from too strict to too lenient. I think some of that came from teaching at a school that has different beliefs from my own. I am more inclined towards positive reinforcement whereas they were looking for "tough love" teachers (although frankly I didn't see a lot of love demonstrated).

Anyway, this year I finally feel comfortable with my style. It is much closer to my values and my students are clearly benefiting.

My system has three main components:


The Color Cards

Students start on green, change their colors according to their behavior. Students on blue get a raffle ticket for the treasure box drawing on Friday. Students on yellow owe me 5 minutes at recess, red owe me 10. I focus on awarding students for good behavior by having them change their color up, but obviously when students are misbehaving I am quick to have them change after their first warning.


The Marble Jar

For good class behavior, students earn marbles. I am CONSTANTLY at the marble jar, awarding the class for working quietly, staying focused, etc. If students are goofing off, talking out of turn, or off task they lose a marble. I try to award more often than I take, but obviously there are days that they are testing the limits and marbles are mostly lost.

The Character Tree

This was designed for students to appreciate each other. I have a snap box at the front of the classroom where students can take leaves and write thank yous and acknowledge their peers for acts of kindness and perseverance. I read the "snaps" aloud to the class at the end of every day and I put them on our tree. (I introduced the tree with a read aloud of The Giving Tree). The students love to write their "snaps" and every student beams when they are being publicly appreciated.

I've found that the combination of these three elements has brought a lot of order, accountability, and positivity in the classroom. Anyone else have strategies they've found successful in the classroom?

Literacy Centers

I am a huge fan of literacy centers. When I implemented them my second year of teaching K I was so excited about the progress I saw in my students and became an instant convert. The best thing about teaching second grade is how easily my students work independently and how quickly my students have caught on to the procedures. I do not teach kindergarten any more!!

My Literacy Centers time is pretty simple, and it allows students to practice a huge range of skills throughout the week. They do two centers a day and usually one of them is Guided Reading with either me or my aide.

Students find their center assignments on the pocket chart each morning. Those that have a green square behind them are the group leaders.

Center storage area. Group leaders take and return their centers from here. I've seen a lot of blogs where centers are stored in boxes, but in a small classroom like mine using wall storage works a lot better. 

Students go to each center once a week, with the exception of reading with my aide or me which happens twice a week. My center names are:
1. Reading Comprehension
2. Jump Into Writing
3. Word Detective (Grammar)
4. Adventures in Vocabulary
5. Word Work
6. Top Ten (Brainstorming and Writing Activity)
7. Guided Reading with me
8. Guided Reading with my aide

I got several of the names and labels for my centers from Serenade to Second Grade.

Center folder. It is labeled with both the name of the center as well as the location the center should be worked on.

Each center has all the materials needed in the folder as well as a laminated instruction card. I liked the Must Do/May Do concept from MonStars of Second Grade and I use it for each of my center instruction cards. Students are told what they "must do" to have completed the assignment. Once students have finished the "must do," they can choose a "may do" from the instruction card. This allows for students who work a different paces to stay on task at the same center.

Here's an example of a Must Do/May Do instruction card:

 

When I first started centers I did not have a clear procedure about how students moved from center to center. That does NOT work for me in a small classroom. Talk about chaos! I now have a pretty strict structure and it works much better for me. I know other teachers have more free choice during centers, but every teacher has their own style. My centers procedure goes as follow:

1. Group Leaders of the week get the materials for their group and bring it to the correct area.

2. Group members meet their group leader.

3. Students work independently for 20 minutes.

4. When it is time to move I ring my bell. On the first bell, students clean up their center and stand behind pushed in chairs. When I see that everyone is ready to move, I ring the bell a second time. Students move clockwise to the next center.

5. After the second rotation the clean-up routine is the same, except that instead of students rotating, they turn in their work and come to the floor. Group leaders then return the materials.

I practiced this for about a week, and while they still need reminders, my students basically have it down at this point!