>>teacher: So school's going to start next week and I have already been anxious for

the last week and a half. I've had the butterflies. Um we always assume that new

teachers are the ones that going through that but it doesn't matter-I mean I've

already been teaching-this is my twelfth year. And I still get the jitteriness, I still

get the anxiousness. I still can't sleep the night before. Um, it's-it's very normal

to-to still be nervous. So when it comes to classroom management and discipline, I like

to make sure my students know that this classroom is a welcoming environment but

at the same time that a there's going to be expectations and strategies that they have

to follow.

I always like having them something to do as they come in the room so that it gives

me time to take attendance or if I have a parent that needs to talk to me. Um, this

is isn't what I usually have them do. Um, that takes a little bit longer but I figured

this is something they know what to do as soon as they come in.

Alexandria, do you want to do me a favor actually? Do you want to be my caboose?

My caboose is a very important job. My caboose is the one to make sure that she

is at the end of the line making sure that nobody gets lost between now and the time

we get to class. So you need to make sure that everybody stays in line. So go ahead and

take that job behind Adris please. So my first day I-I really don't waste any time.

I think I needed to let students know that we're back to business right away. So when

I needed them to stand in that line I had to show them you know this is your square,

you need to stand here. So I had to show them you know where their square was and

what I meant by putting their two feet in there and that kind of thing so they exactly

knew what my expectation was. This is how you're going to come in every morning when

we get to class. And if you're too close to her you can always leave a little room and

that's perfectly okay...So when students come in right away, I want to set just the

tone of what my expectations are immediately. So that's why I start with my

rules. And the two rules that I emphasize the most on is I really like to teach students

to-to be respectful. I think that's something that we need to-students need

to know from you know a young age. So I focused a lot on them using you know being

respectful and using the words please and using the words thank you. Rule number three

and this is actually going to go into one of our school wide rules which is to respect

others, respect yourself, and respect your school. And later I am going to go into a

little more detail about what it means to be respectful. Um, a big very important

word for me in this classroom is right here: say please. If you are asking someone

to let you borrow their eraser or their pencil or any material, you say may I please

borrow your pencil? May I please borrow your eraser? So the word please for me is

very important because you are being respectful to that person. So that is part

of my classroom rule. So routines and procedures are-are crucial. Um, basically

the way that I do it for me and I know it works differently for everybody, but for me

it's, I take whatever it is I expect for them and I have to make sure that I model

everything. So there's, I model it, we practice, we re correct or pre correct

and then model again and continue to practice. So there's routines and procedures

for everything even for the most minute thing. I can't assume that students already

know how to do things.

Another thing that you're going to want to ask me for permission is to get a new pencil.

Now sometimes I understand that pencils do break, but guess what? We're still

using not the big fat pencils but we're using the medium sized pencils. These are very

hard to break. But if it does break, you take your pencil and you lift it up in the air

like this. You wait for me until I give you direction, and tell you yes, you may grab

a new pencil. Notice what I'm doing right now, I'm shaking my head, right? I'm nodding

I'm telling you, yes, you may grab a new pencil. If I give you permission to grab a new

pencil, you quietly get out of your seat, you carefully walk to this corner of the room.

In this corner of the room we have two different containers. One container says

unsharpened. The other container says sharpened. So if you need a new pencil,

you just quickly, notice how I said quickly, you take the pencil that broke, you

put it in there and you quickly grab another pencil and you get back to your seat

Now your pencils do have your number on them. The reason why I did that this year is

because I've had a lot of students chew their pencils, who break their pencils, who

destroy their pencils. Well guess what, I will know who did that because it has your

number on it. So if I see that number two is chewed on, who's number two? Albert. So

I'll go up to Albert and say, Albert, Are we being responsible with this pencil because

it's all chewed up.

Your pencils have your number for that reason.

I need you to take one hand and lift up all of the books and materials that you need

except for the test blocker. So grab from the white board and lift it up

and slide your hand in there.

Then with your other hand you're just going to grab that test blocker and you're going

pull the test blocker out. I know it's going to be hard for right now but you are

going to get so good at this that you’re going to be like what, I can't believe I

couldn't do it the first day of school.

Okay, I see a few people that have already done it. Once you have done it just go ahead

and put them on your table flat.

I'm sorry, I'm still hearing people talking.

Give me a thumb up if your test blocker is already on your desk.

Perfect.

So we're going to try that again. When I say, go, you're going to get your test

blocker ready. Go.

Perfect. I love the way that uh Albert has it up and his hands are still on his desk

clasped together.

So PBiS, with PBiS you have to maintain the five to one ratio. I mean it's very easy

sometimes to want to call out the things that you're seeing that students are not

doing. You have to remember that students will model from the positives. And it's very

as soon as I say, oh I really like the way that so and so is sitting up straight, you

see all the little bodies you know straighten up. Positives work and I notice that they

work better than the negatives, but I try to remind myself, I need to keep it positive

so that everybody follows what I want to see and I don't want them to copy

what I don't want them to see. We're probably not going to finish it all, I'm

just going to have you get started on it. Okay, Luis go ahead and walk us in please.

Excuse me. Thank you. I love the way you guys are coming in with a voice level zero

which is our expectation. So today was Friday of the first week and I had had a

previous conversation with the librarian and I asked her, I said, you know I know today

is our day that we would normally come to the library. We're not going to come in to

check books, but I do want students to kind of know that we're going to have routines

and procedures in the library. And I know they've been here in the past but they

forget, so I wanted to go through the library expectations while we were there

so that they had that expectation ready so that next week when we go, I don't spend

so much time on the routines and procedures, we spend more time on getting

our books. And don't forget I always have my phone with me and my phone has the

Dojo app so I will be able to give points if I see that people are following that

expectation and I will be able to take away points if people are not following that

expectation. Some teachers believe that we only teach the routines and procedures once

and the kids are going to get it. We need to take the time to teach them now, and yes

it will take time, but it saves me time in the long run. If I can get them to learn

those routines and procedures now, I'm not going to be spending such a long time to

re teach. So if I can get it down now, later on it's just a very quick reminder and

I can just get them back into shape, so in the long run, it is saving me time.

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