PicoBlog

Dear Subscribers,

This post has been in the works for almost a year. While classroom/behavior management is perhaps the most vital aspect of teaching kindergarten (or any grade, for that matter), I haven’t broached the topic much here at Busy Bee Kindergarten. It’s not because I don’t feel it’s a top competency of mine—au contraire—or one of the most important aspects of teaching that I can possibly share with you. I’ve avoided this topic because managing a big bunch of five- and six-year-olds (one year 30 of them) has always been something I do naturally and not based on research, theories, models, or how anyone else says is the best way to manage kids. I have a basic formula and I stick to it—no prizes, rewards, or treats necessary. That’s not to say that I haven’t had tough students (like you, I have 5-8 every school year) or that students aren’t still struggling with their behavior a month, three months, or eight months into the school year. And it certainly doesn’t mean that you aren’t struggling and need all the support you can get in this department. So, here I go. I’m writing a post about classroom management and behavior and putting it out there. Some of you will embrace my philosophy and methods; others will think no thanks, not for me. The point of this post will be that if your methods aren’t working for you, you might just want to try what has worked very well for me for over 30 years. Interested in having your students so well-behaved and engaged that 95 percent of your time and energy can go into teaching instead of managing (or trying to manage)? Well, then, read on.

Let me begin by saying that my heart is full of love and support for our profession and our education systems, for all teachers, and especially for all students—yours, mine, our personal children and grandchildren, all those who move on from us, those who struggle with behavior and learning, and all the others who wait in the wings while we try our best to manage the ones who are interfering with the teaching and learning that should (and can) be happening.

I hear about so many teachers struggling with classroom management and, specifically, behavior management. On a kindergarten Facebook group I follow, (too many) teachers were posting that they were terrified to go back to work on Monday morning because the situation was so bad. Students were harming each other, destroying the classroom, and making it impossible to teach. Parents were upset and complaining. Several teachers indicated no support from their administrators. These teachers felt hopeless—they were crying, ready to quit, wondering what they would do next and how to make a living. It breaks my heart knowing that teachers aren’t able to enjoy their job, let alone provide the quality teaching students deserve. In this business, you will love going to work every day if you feel that you are in control of your classroom and the teaching and learning that is happening there. After all, teaching is what we all want to do; that is why we went into this profession.

I will say upfront that the strategies I am going to share with you are not the run-of-the-mill “safe” strategies that you find with a basic internet search. A lot of what I say here may not be popular with everyone, but most of you will find my honesty and techniques realistic and refreshing, especially if you are at your wit’s end doing what’s politically correct and safe to talk about. My suggestions get to the heart of the matter—explicitly stating the expectations, explicitly and systematically teaching children how (and why) to meet our expectations, and then holding them accountable for doing so.

• You will set the scene in your classroom, not a bunch of five-year-olds. You have a unique opportunity to tell and show your students the way it is going to be in kindergarten. They come in with no preconceived notions of what kindergarten is like or how you will expect them to behave. Use this to your advantage before they get their own ideas.

• Your students’ behavior and how much they learn is your responsibility. I’m not talking about how they act at home or when they’re in fifth grade; I mean that you are responsible for how they conduct themselves when they are with you in your setting. You are responsible for making sure they sit down, listen, and learn. If they don’t learn, you cannot rightfully say that you are teaching. Of course, there will be special needs students for whom these statements do not apply; but those students should have IEPs, support systems and people, or be well on their way to getting them (you might have to be the one to initiate this and you will need to be quite assertive).*

• Students want structure and boundaries. It is stressful for children when they sense that no one is in charge. They prefer to know the rules and that they and the other students are expected to follow them. They understand expectations and consequences when they are consistent and explained in child-friendly terms. You must show your students that you are in charge and will keep them safe and that learning will be serious business.

• Taking charge of your classroom demands proactive classroom and behavior management. Managing behavior doesn’t start when the children walk in the door; it begins weeks before with intentional considerations about classroom arrangement, the daily schedule, transitions, and lesson plans.

Some of you might be thinking, Wow, this is scary stuff. You’re telling me that I need to get things under control—that it’s my responsibility and that I’m not actually teaching if I don’t—and I’m over here wondering how in the world I can possibly make this happen.

So let’s move on to philosophy and strategies. Because you can make this happen. I have faith in you. Your students and their parents and anyone who teaches your students in subsequent grades need to have faith in you also.

Let’s talk dangerous students right now and get it over with. Because when it comes to behaviors and safety, especially the safety of the other students, we’re not going to run through our list of strategies and hope something eventually works. We’re going to deal with a situation like this right away. I can honestly say that during my 34-year career, I only had one student who I didn’t feel I could handle in my classroom the majority of the time. This student was bright, loved to sit and do work, responded well to touch and one-on-one conversations about why I needed him to change his behavior. But, during transitions, he was plain and simple dangerous. Anything might set him off. He might smack another student in the back of the head, run and leap from table to table, jump over a small group of students barely missing their heads with his feet, and—only a few seconds later—be hidden somewhere in my classroom where I was positive there was nowhere to hide. When he got like this, my adrenaline was pumping. I felt like the rest of my students were sitting in the middle of a highway with a semi bearing down on them and that I had no way of keeping them safe. Not only could I not teach, but I would be on the verge of flight or fight and I knew I wasn’t going to flee.

A lot of kindergarten teachers out there are dealing with dangerous students in their classroom. And I know they’re trying to go it alone and that they’re scared and frustrated and wondering why there is no help in place. I will say right now that, once again, you need to take control of the situation. Here are some steps to follow.

As you know, your class is not going to listen to you as a whole on the first day or really anytime during the first week of school. They just don't know how to collectively listen and you can’t expect them to. So you have to be prepared to speak to students on an individual basis. You will say the same thing over and over and over to each individual student for several days until they learn that hey, there's an adult in this room; hey, she seems to be the leader and in charge; hey, I guess we're supposed to listen to her and do what she says. For the first few days, a lot of students will look at me, like, who are you? And why are you telling me what to do?

I call these days--and luckily it's only about 5-10 days--the "dog training" days. I always sound like I'm talking to dogs when I point to kids and say SIT, NO, STAY THERE, NO, DON'T TOUCH THAT, I SAID NO, DON'T MOVE, YOU - SIT, SIT, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING, STAY, NO, NO, NO. There is no time to speak in complete sentences. There is no time to explain anything. It seems as if no one is listening. But it's very important to give these commands—rude and gruff as they sound—so the students know from day one that you are in charge and that you have expectations for the way they will conduct themselves in your classroom.

It is certainly chaotic the first week, but each day is exponentially better than the previous as students learn the routines and expectations. Make sure you know exactly what the routines are going to be and what your expectations are; otherwise, you can't expect the students to learn them.

What will your students do upon entering your classroom for the first time on the first day? You better know before they walk in. You need to visualize it. In my class, I have students do exactly what they will do every single day: 1) hang up their backpack, 2) go wash hands at their assigned sink, 3) find their name card and put it in the sign-in pocket chart, and 4) sit at any table and do not move out of that chair until I say you can. Notice that I am teaching my students the daily routine on day one. They don’t have a single chance to decide what they’re going to do; I am deciding for them. Also notice that I am getting them seated and tucked into a table. There is no opportunity to touch anything, play with anything, or mill about the room. I don’t give them anything to play with because I haven’t gone over the rules; if they do use materials without knowing the rules then they are—on day one—making the rules themselves. If any student touches anything, I say NO. It sounds rude, but there is no time for explanations on day one and this is no time to wonder about a student’s receptive language and whether they even understand if I speak to them in a complete sentence. NO works wonderfully, as almost all students understand this word.

What will happen next in your daily schedule? And next? And next? Have you visualized how the day will look and do you have a plan to make it happen? How will you move students about the room? Again, I suggest you start training them on the first day for what will happen every day. If your daily schedule says Whole Group Phonics at 9:15, then by all means do some whole group phonics on the first day around that time. If they’re going to come in from recess and have a few minutes to drink from their water bottles, then make sure you tell them on the first day and work this in. I decided ahead of time that the cue for my students to move from the read aloud area to the number corner was going to be “meet me… in the number corner” and I taught them this on the first day. Yes, we moved through all four centers on the first day of school. We did a whole group drawing lesson (students tucked into tables for 30 minutes). The idea is that I want students to start learning our daily routine on day one. They need to know that I have a plan and this is what we’re doing. There is no time or space for them to get any notions about what they want to do instead. Also, adhering to the daily schedule makes planning so much easier. I hear teachers all the time asking what they should do on the first day of school or for the first week. Or they might decide that they’ll start phonics in September or wait several weeks until they introduce centers. Why? Seriously, why wait? Why not just start teaching and plug the content into the time period of the day for which it makes sense? There’s no reason to stress about what you’re going to do; you’re going to teach.

Jumping right into your daily schedule also makes each subsequent day of school so much easier. Easier for the students because they’re starting to get the routine. Easier for you because you’ve limited the options that students have and you can get to teaching right away. What is your plan for keeping students engaged and having fun when you will not be able to speak to them collectively? Again, you need to have it thoroughly thought out before the students arrive. This is how you convey that you are in charge and how you support them on being successful that first day of school.

In early August, I will post a video of the first day of school so you can see how having procedures, expectations, and a plan in place pan out.

Knowing your procedures and expectations is necessary for communicating them to students and for expecting students to do what you say. If you’re unsure, students will take advantage of that. If you’re always changing things up or not being consistent, students will rightfully not know what you want from them. Be steadfast.

At some point on the first day of school, when I gather students on the carpet in front of me, I teach them about Whole Body Listening. I did not come up with Whole Body Listening, but I did create a song that helps convey the concepts of it. Teaching Whole Body Listening will help your students understand what their body should look like and what it should be doing when you are teaching them. It is powerful and I highly recommend clicking on the link provided above and learning more about it. The song I created—like a lot of songs I sing to my students—is slow and peaceful and almost mesmerizes the students (a good enough reason right there to sing it on the first day and sing it often). Once I’ve introduced Whole Body Listening, if I’m in the midst of teaching and students have forgotten what their bodies are supposed to look like and be doing, I stop teaching and immediately start singing the song again. They join in, calm down again, and I am able to continue. We sing this song often during the first few weeks of school and then just occasionally, usually after long breaks.

It makes sense that you should explicitly teach the rules and expectations the first day, right? And if you have a classroom vision or slogan, students should know about that right away, right? And it’s only fair that students know about your progressively more restricting consequences that you plan on employing, correct? No. No. And no. Remember, we’re talking about the first day of school here. I do not recommend explicitly teaching anything this vital, this important until a few weeks into the school year when students have learned to listen collectively. You will be teaching all of this implicitly every single moment of every day. Telling a student on the first day that they cannot touch the blocks right now is implicitly teaching them about respect for others’ belongings. Saying, “Eyes are watching” to a student who is not visually attending implicitly implies that you really do expect them to look at you while you teach. Requiring a student to form the first letter in their name correctly during the first week of school implicitly introduces precision and striving for accuracy. Weeks later, when the majority of students know that when you gather them on the floor it is for the purpose of learning and that learning requires attention and listening on their part, you can then deliver explicit instruction about respect, paying attention, striving for accuracy, and all the other big ideas that need to be taught.

Teach routines immediately? Yes. Start teaching important skills—like pencil grasp and how to sit in a circle and how to listen and anything else that you’ll be repeating over and over again—right away? Yes. But there are some things that you need to hold off on. I don’t explicitly teach respect (our first school “rule”) until several weeks into the school year. But you know that up until that point I’ve been implicitly teaching it with almost everything I say to students and everything I expect of them. My teammate and I patiently hold off on teaching about impulsivity and how to manage it for about a month. It’s so vital that we want students to be very ready to receive our instruction and the message of this lesson. But, of course we are encouraging students to control their bodies and their mouths every single day, which means we are implicitly teaching up until the day of the explicit lesson about this topic.

A common—and detrimental—assumption many kindergarten teachers have, in my opinion, is that students this age are not capable of sitting down and doing challenging work for a prolonged period of time. Or, they think it’s not appropriate for this age. I’m willing to wager that 90 percent of the behavior issues in a kindergarten classroom stem from students not being expected to focus and work hard and not being challenged to do so. Plain and simple, kids are bored. Have high expectations for attention and engagement during instruction and provide work that needs to be done with precision and within a given amount of time. And, yes, start this the first week as shown here on the second day of school while practicing pencil pickups and name writing.

Typically (at least with the population I’ve always taught), about one-quarter of students will enter the kindergarten classroom on the first day with very little sense of what’s going to be happening there and how they should conduct themselves. If the teacher is not being vigilant, they might rush in, scan the room, and try to grab the first toys they see. They might grab other students and startle or harm them. Their self-awareness may be so limited that they won’t realize where their body is and compare it to what the other students are doing; they could be trying out the drinking fountain while most of the other students have figured out that they’re supposed to go sit on the floor. Within the first 30 minutes, you’ll know who these students are, whether it’s two of them, five, or eight.

Now it’s time to go into action. Zero in on these students; try not to take your eyes off them; and start in with the NO, STOP, DON’T TOUCH, STAY, and other single- or two-word commands. You will be exhausted by the end of the day; however, you are prepared for a much better second day. First, all students will return with the sense that you are in control. Also, they will know what to expect and will already know a bit about the routines. Instead of telling every single child which sink is theirs for hand washing, you’ll only need to remind a few. Rather than showing every student where their name card is, it’ll only be necessary for the third or so who don’t recognize their name in print. You now know who those two, five, or eight students are (I say two because some of my subscribers have small classes) that you need to heavily manage and you will be on them before they even enter the room. You’ll say, “Remember what we did yesterday.” “Don’t touch anything.” “You listen to me today.”

At the end of each day, reflect on whose behavior is improving and who still does not seem to understand that you’re the boss. Make a mental note of the latter and be ready for them on day three. Try not to let them get away with anything without a firm NO. It is okay to say NO constantly these first few days and perhaps weeks. Don’t worry about it sounding negative; there will be plenty of time and opportunities to teach in a more positive tone as the school year unfolds. And do not worry that you might cause a child to not like school. Children are never going to like school or be successful in life if they don’t learn to control themselves and if they’re always getting in trouble. And please don’t concern yourself that parents might get upset with you. This is your classroom and you’ll run it the way you want to. Most parents hope to get a teacher that knows how to take charge of the classroom and most will respect you and admire you all the more for it.

By the end of the first week, a large majority of your students should know the daily routines and realize that you are in charge. If you still have more than one or two who are constantly doing what they want to be doing instead of what is expected, it might be an indication that you are not being tough enough. Remember, we’re not talking about or including those students with accommodations in their IEPs/those we know cannot adhere to our expectations for respectful behavior.

In the next portion of this long blog post, we’ll discuss what to do with those students who continue to disregard the expectations. Look for this second part to learn philosophy and strategy beyond the first week of school. This is where most of the good stuff is.

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