Hi all! I've started using the WBT for the first time this school year with my 3rd graders and I've has some successes and some still lingering problems. Giving woos has been the best! I just have to make reminders that woos should be soft and not yelling. I also use a random number pull to have students answer things and that makes woos even more special!

Here's where my problems start:
Class-yes is something the kids love, but some of my kids still don't give their attention when I use it, even if repeated in several different styles. Hands/eyes helps, but I have some again, that don't "listen".

Gestures are fun and something I've used in the past to help remember things in science, etc, but not when you have students that play around rather than do them, or some that just don't do them at all and look at you kinda stupidly.

More than anything, I have a class that is very easily distracted, highly excitable, talkative, and hard to have do independent work when necessary. I use the 1-2-3 Magic counting system with a stoplight chart also, but Friday, I had 6 kids get to the 3rd count and have a recess time out for 5 mins., and another 7 or so who had counts of 1 or 2.

We just finished the 2nd full week of school and I'm already struggling with this group, though I was warned that they were rough early on. Any suggestions? I could use some help for going back into the jungle on Monday!

Julie

1. How many marks total, Smilie plus Frownie, are you averaging per day? 25 total isn't too many in the first weeks.
2. How many times per day are you rehearsing the rules with your class? Five times a day, first thing in the morning, after morning and afternoon recess, and after lunch is the minimum.
3. Are your most disruptive kids seated toward the front of the room and using, as a partner, a "rule follower?"
4. What reward/penalty are you using for the Scoreboard? Both should be very small (like getting to take a ball out to recess for one more Smilie than Frownie.)
5. If you are using another reward/penalty system, as you appear to be, is it working? (Should you have two systems?)
6. Have you made out a pupil scoring system, 4 points for each Alpha, 3 for each go-along, 2 for each fence sitter, 1 for each challenging student as described in the free download "Teaching Challenging Elementary Kids" ... this will give you a baseline so that you can judge progress
7. Are you consistently following your classroom management system and controlling your tone of voice?

My first thought is that you shouldn't be using 5 minutes as penalty at recess, because "it's a long year" and you have left yourself little room to increase penalties as the year goes forward ...

If you want to "erase" and start over ... go in on Monday and say, "Last week was special. It's how we always start our year. Now, we're going to make a few changes because I think you're ready for them." Then I go would forward very vigorously for earning a small reward at first recess, using the Scoreboard vigorously, and being sure they lose by two points ... at lunch, in a dramatic "come from behind" surge, they lose by one and at second recess, it's your call ... maybe they win by one point.

Chris,

Your advice never ceases to amaze me ! I am heading over to read the ebook again and going to sit and score my kids. I was having some of the same problems this teacher is and was thinking that it was just because they are Kindergartners. But maybe I need to simplify it even more than I already have!

Thanks a bunch!

Farrah Shipley
www.teacherpage.com/mrssshipley

Ms. Shipley,
I'm getting prepared for 3 groups of 3rd graders on Monday and I know that I will have situations with students who get angry easily or who will be defiant. This will be my first year to use WBT. Any advice for these kinds of situations would be greatly appreciated and your website is AWESOME!! Thanks!

sfritsch,

I am a first year WBT teacher so my advice with regard to the WBT will be limited to my oh 5 months of experience with it...LOL!

But as a teacher in a school that deals with these type of children on a regular basis I can say this...GAIN THEIR TRUST!

Many children, at least the ones that I have dealt with, that are angered easily and defiant do so for attention. Mainly because they are not getting POSITIVE attention from anyone at home and in their minds any attention is good attention. First you must gain their trust. Next you must set the expectation...and follow through.

Many of the children I deal with, last year and this year, come from homes where parental involvement is limited to getting them to school, picking them up, and maybe checking to see how their day went or what they are learning. VERY LITTLE! It is a social/cultural thing in the area I teach in so these children do come to me with major issues. I have found if they learn to trust me, know what I expect and follow through, and love them unconditionally, they are very quick to perform.

3rd graders are at an age that trust may come with a little more time. Be patient. Get to know them. Get to know what makes them "work". Try with all your ability to get their parents on board with you. It is amazing how many times a child has a bad day in my class only to go home and get a spanking....I don't agree with this. I can't tell parents what to do but I can make suggestions...especially when their spankings are not correcting the problems we are having at school (as I know they won't).

Basically, they need someone that is on their side and will set limits and boundaries they are able to function in. Expectations are key too. I always set that bar high in my classrooms and remind my children everyday of what I know their potential is. In our school, we live by the motto, "it isn't where you came from, it's about where you are going"!

HTH!

Farrah Shipley
www.teacherpage.com/mrsshipley

If you have a very tough class, the very best way to approach teaching is to see your classroom as an experiment. This will give you the necessary detachment and objectivity you need. A few more words about scoring.
Alphas: these are your model kids, they follow directions consistently ... give yourself a 4 for each one
Go-Alongs: these will often, but not always, go-along with your alphas ... give yourself a 3 for each one
Fence Sitters: great one day, out to lunch the next ... can't be predicted, but do have positive behavior streaks ... 2 for each one
challengers ... rarely if ever follow directions ... 1 for each one

Put all new kids in the Fence Sitter group ... now add up all the scores and divide by the number of students in class ... this is your classroom average ... your goal is to raise this average by .1 per month ... which will mean by the end of the year, the entire class will have moved up an entire level ... you can approach this with whatever strategy you wish, but with scoring you'll get a much clearer picture of the progress you're making ... re-score every week ... initially, with most classes, your goal is to hold the bottom two groups at bay and move your go-alongs into alphas ... and move your alphas up to Leaders ... a new category ... give yourself a 5 for each one of these you develop ... you move go-alongs up to alphas largely with lots of praise, lots of rehearsal, lots of structure ... these are the kids who are already leaning in the right direction ... you move Alphas to leaders by giving them responsibility and leadership tasks (this is often a good strategy to use with your challengers,also) ... when you think you've gone as far as you can with this strategy, then introduce the practice cards ... see the complete description in the "free downloads"

As you move forward, ask yourself, "what behaviors do I want to work on that will help most of the kids?" Pick one or two and see if you can make progress by reinforcing this behavior on the Scoreboard, with rehearsal, with changing seat arrangement, with one on one talks, with praise. Then, after a week, re-score ... if your experiment worked, keep at it ... if it didn't, readjust.

Every experiment is successful ... it tells you want works and what doesn't.

I think I will "erase" and move forward on Monday. I plan to review the rules more frequently, as I know most have it, but I think some forget during the day. I have not used buddies to help with those problem students, though most are near the front so I'll be making some seating changes as well. A few questions I have so far:

1) How would you suggest letting parents know about the move to the practicing at home part of the practice cards? I don't want them to only find out if their child receives on of those notes.

2)With the practice card reward letters - how often would you send them? Every appropriate child every day for ___ days/weeks, just a few each day, etc.

3) When using Teach/OK, how do I handle an odd number of students as I have 23? I know you talk about that somewhere, but I can't seem to find it. Also, what about if one "partner" is absent?

4) How do you have students practice rule 1, rule 4 and rule 5 if they get a practice card for them? I imagine rule 3 is similar to rule 2 just having them raise hand, then stand, sit and repeat.

My behavior issues are somewhat different than the posters. I teach in a small town private school. Some students do have parents that don't place much emphasis on education but others feel that their child deserves more because they pay a tuition or feel that their child "does no wrong". Having that lack of support whether it's academic or behavioral can make classroom life hard. After having taught for 9 full years (this is my 10th) you would think I'd have all this stuff figured out!

Ms. Shipley,
Thanks so much for the advice! I definitely teach in area like yours also and tend to take it personally when they get angry or have an attitude. Thanks for the words of wisdom and I'm going to try to put them into practice. Thanks for responding so quickly.
Stephanie