Korean Job Discussion Forums

sweetsun · Joined: 25 Jul 2006

hey there,
just wondering if anyone had tips for classroom managment....that would be 4 year olds....
thanks

Grotto · Joined: 21 Mar 2004

pepper spray and duct tape? Wink

Rewards for good behaviour...focus on good behaviour and ignore/dont reward bad behaviour.

student going nuts....focus on student working...oh Min Su you are doing such a good job...if the other student catches on and starts working too give them praise as well.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

Crowzone · Joined: 31 Jul 2006

Yeah, the system that works best for the english teachers at our school is the X's and Star's system.

Everytime a Kid is bad, you give them an X.
Everytime they're exceptionally good, they get a Star.

The beauty of the system is, you don't REALLY have to reward stars, but you punish X's.

1 X is like the warning
2 X's you seperate the kid, put him in the corner, something like that
3 X's You deny him something they like to do, like Art maybe (if you do that at your school)
4 X's They get denied stuff for the whole week.
5 X's Send them to the scarriest Korean Teacher in the school for her to call their parents.

Honestly, once they're in the corner, it becomes very hard for them to get more X's AND, at least in my school, the children LOVE to tell me when someone deserves an X, in case I missed it or something (The country of tattletails imo) Anyhow, it works for us.

Sometimes, when they're good, I'll give little prizes out for multiple stars, a nice new pencil/eraser combo, some stickers, or maybe a candy or something if they get 3 stars in a day.

wormholes101 · Joined: 11 Mar 2003

Hotpants · Joined: 27 Jan 2006

I would spend several DAYS just getting sorted out with the basics: lining up; being quiet on teacher's command; sitting down/standing up, come here, raise your hand, and so on. Once the children understand what you are wanting from them, you can start to get some better responses. Any class I've had of 4 year olds always starts out chaotically, but if you stick to your routines, keep firm and offer a reward system for good behavior (stickers), they should transform from anarchists to students by the end of the year. Patience is the key.

I have some good kindy resources on my site link below - some bubbly songs especially will capture their attention.

Crowzone · Joined: 31 Jul 2006

Alot also depends upon if you're taking over a class that has an existing system, or if its a brand new fresh class.

LateBloomer · Joined: 06 May 2006

Thanks to some advice on Dave's......I decided that from Day One 1, I wouldn't let my summer camp kids get away with anything. I'm a first time teacher in a public school and I've gotten a taste of how chaotic and noisy a classroom can be....from observing a teacher who has lousy classroom management. As well, it was my first time teaching alone.

So, the first day of summer camp with my Grade 3 classes (10 kids sitting with their desks in a semi-circle), I told them that the rule was "no talking while the teacher or anyone else is speaking". They were playing a lot of group speaking games and I allowed the odd "indiscretion" as long as they weren't too disruptive. However, three boys just kept talking to each other. After two warnings, I put two of them in separate corners--they looked very surprised. And at the end of the class, I gave the other kids a chocolate for good participation--nothing for the "offenders." The next day those boys decided not to sit next to each other so they wouldn't be tempted to talk. I was going to separate them but they beat me to it.

I don't know if it was not getting the chocolates or that the other kids seemed to be having fun and they were missing out while they were in the corner, but that was the one and only time they were a problem. One turned out to be one of my best students. He made incredible progress in just a week.

In the regular school classes, one of the teachers had a simple but effective method of getting the students to pay attention to her. When the noise level got too high during group work and she wanted the students' attention again, she would play an abbreviated form of a game similar to "Simon says". She'd get the kids to follow a few simple commands very quickly--for example, "Clap 5 times." "Clap twice". "Stand up", " Sit down" "Clap once". It worked amazingly well to refocus them and then they would be ready to open their books or pay attention to the next phase of the lesson.

LateBloomer · Joined: 06 May 2006

Oops, I got distracted and missed the fact that you are talking about 4-year olds. I think getting them to follow a few simple commands, as the teacher I mentioned did, would work to get their attention if they were getting too rowdy.

cwemory · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Location: Gunpo, Korea

Constantly point out and excessively praise the one student who is quiet and doing well. (They'll usually be at least one.)
Learn to use a softer voice. They'll pay attention more. And when you do yell, it has more of an effect.

Homer · Guest

Back when I was teaching the little ones I used a lot of arts and crafts in class. Toned down the lesson to one or two words to learn and tried to associate these words with a color or shape.

I also played interactive activities with the little ones, singing and stuff.

I did that for two years and pretty much found out I am not meant to be teaching that level of kids....it takes a person who is wired to do this to be able to have fun with the little ones.