The countdown is on. Nine more school days until winter break. And it can't come soon enough for teachers! Once December hits, students are wrought with excitement and short attention spans. How do you combat this? The answer: effective classroom management.
I very rarely give lunch detentions. I haven't had to write a kid's name on the board in months. Instead, I entirely depend on my "Free Time Friday" system.
Every class starts out with 10 minutes of free time on Friday. If they keep all 10 minutes, they can also have free seating, 8 minutes gets them music while they work. (*NOTE* advice to new teachers: ALWAYS make free seating a harder-to-attain reward, and music easier. They will be LOUD with free seating and quiet with music. This is for your sanity).I can take a minute for anything. If I tell a student more than once to stop flipping the bottle. if the students are too loud, if they aren't all seated and quiet after my countdown.. It doesn't matter if it's one student or a group of students. They are all accountable for each other, and it really works.
(Btw, countdowns are amazing no matter what age! Countdown for clean up, countdown for transition, countdown for quiet.. it really works as long as you have an immediate consequence, in my case, a minute of free time).
I can also add a minute if I feel like we had an overall good class or classroom discussion, so it's not all negative.
It's quick, it's easy, and it's effective. That must be your goal when deciding on a classroom management style. Don't try an elaborate system (with tickets or fake money) unless you're willing to keep up with it, because it will become ineffective if you don't.
Ultimately, though, it's all about finding your style. Hope I helped!
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