My vent for today starts here. What is normal? Obviously if you have been a teacher you realize that what is normal in one household is not normal to another. I have come to realize that but in my short teacher lifespan I feel like it is my duty to create a normal atmosphere in my little classroom society. Children need that consistency. It is obvious. I try my best for my students to stand in a quiet/straight line everyday and I feel like 95% of the time we are successful at it. I'm rarely embarrassed of my students hall behavior and when I am--there are consequences. What I want to know is what is normal in your hallway? It is a big issue in our building right now. So many teachers are not on the same page with a hallway and behavior normal that we are constantly teaching and reteaching behaviors because what is normal in one room is not in another. I'm hoping we can work together and figure our a normal that can start in kindergarten and go on through 5th grade. What do your schools to do implement this and to make sure the standard is upheld by teachers and students? I'm done. Happy Monday. Can you tell is was a long one?
3 comments:
Oh, man! I hear ya! A few years ago I brought it (walking down the hallway) up in a staff meeting. We hashed it out and since, we are mostly ok. However, we have a couple, or 3, of the 9 of us that still can't seem to have our kids follow the rules.
In fact, during our spelling test Thursday it was dead quiet in my room between words and we heard all of this commotion through our closed door, I made a point to say, "see how disruptive that is to you while you're trying to concentrate? That's why I make sure you're walking/acting quietly in the hallways." My class got it, and the noisy ones in the hall will get it next year when they're in my class... (That's if I assumed correctly which class it was).
Second that! We start by lining up properly. And sitting down if we don't get it right, especially at the start of the year or on wild days, so that when we go in the hall we are already behaving properly. I usually start by walking backward so I can see the line, even though my class is lovely. But only because we worked really hard to get there.
Hopefully you can get all the other teachers on board with your 'normal'.
Our expectation is that they stand econd tile from the wall, hands behind your back or straight at your sides,silent voices, eyes forward, and no gap in the line. I make them practice with laps at recess if they need help remembering :)
Post a Comment