Bulletin Board & Room Set Up Continued

4. Expectations for Group Work- Keeping up with middle school lingo is important to a- foster relationships and b- not feel awkward or respond incorrectly when you have no idea what a student is talking about. (I suggest checking out urbandictionary.com in order to stay up to date on the lingo.) I like how this teacher used "swag" to help set standards for the class when listening to a peer presentation. This appropriation is displayed in the classroom as a constant reminder of the expectations, and provides a great reference when students are not meeting expectations- or in other words not showing their swag. S= sit up straight, W= watch the speaker, A= ask questions, and G= give snaps or claps.

 

5. How Are We Learning? A great visual to outline the expectations for independent verses partnered, and group assignments or projects.

 

 

6. How Did We Do? This will be the second time that I reference the social contract without explaining what it is- without assessing your prior knowledge I will assume most teachers are aware of the social contract, and I promise to devote a future post to variations on the behavior management tool. Below are a few ways that either the teacher, or the students (with guidance), can assess how the class behaved at the end of the day/class period. To use, simply label clothes pins with the period number and clip to the appropriate color. Each color represents a different level of success in meeting the class standards for behavior. Students may discuss and decide as a class how they behaved or one student may be selected each day to perform the assessment, having this responsibility is a reward in itself. Student self-assessment of behavior is the most important tool for teaching self-discipline rather than simply demanding obedience and reacting with punishment when the rules are broken. 

 

 

 

7. A "Be" Board- At the beginning of a new year/semester/quarter have students brainstorm a list of adjectives to describe how productive learners should be. Keep works updated to prevent the board from being underutilized.