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[kev7161]

I read these kinds of posts with a bit of bemusement. Haven't almost all of us faced these similar situations? I teach litle first graders now and the habits we see in teens and young adults are already manifesting themselves at this early age! Lord knows I'm trying to nip it in the bud, but it's very difficult sometimes. In some lessons, they can be perfect angels and in others (especially in the afternoon!) they are either very sleepy or bouncing off the walls.

A couple things I did when teaching Senior High:

1. Wrote names on ice cream sticks. Had the sticks in a cup and pulled names at random. I did this from Day One not giving my students a choice whether or not they would read a passage or try to answer a question.

2. Started off most lessons with a song on the CD player (I had a portable one and my own speakers - - but I was spoiled, I also had my own school-provided DVD player and television in my own, private classroom). As the students streamed in, they were listening to the song. I had the name of the song and artist on the board. If they seemed to like it, we'd talk about it for a few minutes. If not, we'd begin the lesson.

3. Made it a point to be in my classroom as they came in and as they left. I was amazed at how many would chat with me at those times but would button up during the lesson!

4. I actually had exams and grades and points and homework, etc. Yes, I was teaching a "Spoken English" class, but we still had a textbook, workbook, in-class projects, skits to write and perform, etc. Now, how much the grades I gave actually affected the kids and their GPA is beyond me, but it made me feel like a "real" teacher and some of the students actually took the class more seriously . . . I think.

5. In some classes, I divided the kids into teams. They picked a team name and I grouped them in the seating arrangement according to the teams. I put a chart on the wall and charted each teams' progress when it came to grades and other points earned (if you are industrious, you could also give them points for behavior). The winning team (of 4-5 students) were treated to a dinner out with their dear foreign teacher. The runner-up team also got something nice. Sometimes it was just average test scores that got them points, other times it was group projects and presentations.

Saying all that, I still had some disasterous classes (as I've posted numerous times before), so these "tricks" didn't always work, but when I had a clicking class, it was heaven!

[yamahuh]

Awesome post, great ideas!!
Thanks.
I've got an MP3 player now and will be picking up some speakers so that Thursday's debacle NEVER happens again!!

[Midlothian Mapleheart]

Edited to remove offensive content.

Middy

[SimonM]

<ROTFLMFAO!>

At least nobody has asked me to explain what's so funny about the line

It isn't what you do with it
It's the size that counts

in Canada is Really Big.