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Permalink Reply by Wendy Gladstone-Brown on April 7, 2011 at 4:14pm

Some ideas:

• Proximity-Move in close, move around room
• Chant/transition song (Tootsie roll, Lollipop, everybody's talking, now let's stop!) if more than 3 or 4 are off track
• Check in and see if those off track need help, redirecting, rephrasing, directions repeated, extensions, challenges, modifications to the lesson, etc
• Vary voice level and get quiet or silent and wait until they are ready to move forward, use a non verbal or verbal cue (we need a lower level of noise in here to get our work completed)
• Call a class meeting and lead a discussion on classroom climate /let them collectively problem solve and come up with a solution to the off track behaviors, classroom noise level and lack of attention
• Be well planned and prepared for all students so they are so engaged they find it hard to be off task! ; )

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Permalink Reply by Eric Yatarola on April 13, 2011 at 4:34pm

My favorite by far is tootsie roll.  I was just posing a hypothetical question of course my students will NEVER be off task haha.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Koch on April 13, 2011 at 6:05pm

Thanks Wendy for reminding me about the Tootsie Roll chant. Haven't used it in a while but I have an especially chatty group of kids this year and I think that they'd love that.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Koch on April 13, 2011 at 6:03pm

I have several different ways to gain students attention. The first thing I teach my kids, on the first day of school is "High Five" Basically, when I say "High Five" and put up my hand, everyone else needs to stop, put up their hands, and listen for directions. I teach them that the five fingers stand for eyes watching, ears listening, lips closed,hands still, feet quiet. We practice this over, and over and over again in the first few days of school and beyond. I try to make it fun and give lots and lots of positive feedback when they do it well. The key to making this effective is to make sure you wait until every single person is quiet before you talk. Even if it means waiting for 10 seconds, or 20 seconds, or 30 seconds, or more. What you'll find is that although it might take a bit of waiting at the beginning of the year to gain your students' attention, if you are 100% consistent with not proceeding until everyone is giving you their complete attention, the time it takes to get that attention will decrease.

 

I also have a set of jingle bells that I ring, as well as a train whistle, that I use from time to time to provide an auditory cue for attention.

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