Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sharksmiles]

Hi all!

I'm a first time teacher and just moved to Daejeon a week ago. I've already noticed a couple of things about my students (elementary to middle school)... The previous teacher at my hagwon kept a daily record of how each class went-- if students were disruptive or didn't do their homework. I noticed from both her notes as well as my own observations that these two topics really need to be addressed.

1) I've been trying to think of a positive way to deal with some of the behavior problems that arise in several of the classes. With the younger children, there is, of course, an abundance of energy that is sometimes difficult to control. My question is: what are some ideas to combat the rowdiness? I know keeping their attention is key and having fun activities is great to keep them on task.

I was thinking of making some kind of chart so that if the class's behavior as a whole is good, they will earn a sticker or mark for that day. After a certain amount of marks, the reward could be a party or game day? Thoughts?

2) Homework is something that seems to be really hard to get the students to do consistently. I was thinking of a similar chart for homework, which would work on a student by student basis as opposed to the class as a whole. I know most of the students really love stickers, and I think they have some sort of book at the school where they put any they get. So maybe once the students reach a certain amount of completed homework, a small book of stickers or maybe a piece of candy (though I don't think feeding them candy would help me in the behavior department, ha) would be a sufficient prize. Thoughts on this idea?

I just think positive reinforcement almost always works better than punishing the kids. What do you all do concerning these two topics?

[Hokie21]

The last school I taught used ink stamps for good behavior. There was a chart on the wall of each classroom with the students names on it. Students could earn stamps for various things, such as perfect test or quiz scores or winning a reading contest, debate etc....stamps could also be taken if students behaved poorly in class or didn't do their homework. If student runs out of stamps for no homework/misbehaves it could result in a detention.

The kids really seemed to like it and it helped with behavior.

[PRagic]

How things change. Let's see...back when I was in school, the motivation for doing homework, attending class, and behaving was that you passed the grade. Parents were involved in their kids' educations, and supported teachers, even when it meant admitting that their kid screwed up and had to pay the price.

Stickers for good behavior? Christ on a crutch.

[SeoulNate]

[Canadian Club]

I have a sheet where the students self-monitor their own homework (stickers for each type of HW). At the end of the week, whoever did their homework the most gets to be my special helper the next week. It sounds ridiculous, but they LOVE being singled out for being special.

For behaviour, I find it's easier to keep it under control than reprimand kids who are out of control.

[Fox]

[jazzmaster]

OP: here's a system you might want to use as a framework or guide.
Create an excel worksheet with each students name down the y axis and a HBB for each week across the x axis.
The HBB stands for Homework, Bookwork, Behavior. Every week the students are given feedback on each of these areas. If the student fails to perform adequately in any of these areas they are given an X. If they are average they are given a -. If they are good they are given a check/tick.
Near the end of each class line the students up and speak to them individually. To the students who perform well, give them candy, high fives, and lots of praise. To the average students, give them a candy but tell them you expect better next week. To the poorly behaved students, given them no candy and say in a stern voice "Today you failed." Then blank them. Don't scream at them and don't get angry. Just show you are disappointed and will not reward their behavior in any way.
For this to work you must ensure the students do not laugh when someone fails or make a joke out of it. If students laugh about it, then punish them the next week by failing them again.
Do this every week and if students improve be sure to lavish them with praise. The idea is to reward good behavior, children particularly desire positive attention which unfortunately turns to a desire for any attention if they are unable to get positive attention, and marginalize improper behavior.

For those who care, this is based on motivation research and is my attempt to satiate the students' extrinsic motivation with candy while at the same time attempting to build/increase the students' intrinsic motivation.

This post went on for a bit, but I hope it helps.