This artifact is important because as we know, sometimes our class will get distracted due to something and getting everyone back together can be quite the task. It is not going to be fun yelling and screaming to get your students to quiet down or pay attention, so developing strategies for bringing the class back together and restoring order is another key part in creating and maintaing classroom control and behavior. Every teacher has their own method. Some teachers turn on and off the lights, play a musical instrument, clap, put their hand up, yell, or use attention grabbers. I am someone who uses attention grabbers and using a bell to restore order.
What I love about this poster above is that it shows several different attention grabbers that can be used, and I am sure there are several more you can think of or make up. I would hang this in my classroom so students can see it, and as I begin using these, students will get better at saying back the correct phrase. I could also ask the class to chose one of these and make it a class code. I could also chose a phrase for each class period. There is a lot of different ways this could be used. I would teach how using attention grabbers works, why I am using them, and the importance of using them. Students will be able to understand why I am using them and there will be a better class discourse prior to me using this strategy to restore order. I think that even though middle school students are getting older that this strategy would still work because no student likes to be yelled and I fell that clapping is even more "elementary schoolish." This is also a good strategy to quickly get students back together and the more it is practices the more effective it will be. If students do chose which attention grabber they want to use, then maybe just hanging that particular phrase up instead of the entire poster may also be beneficial. It is good to give the students the choice, but the follow through is what holds them accountable and responsible.
I learned that in every class, no matter what age or grade, you are going to have to restore order or bring your class together. Sometimes distractions happen that are out of the teachers control, such as something going on outside of the window. By using one of these attention grabbers, you can get students attention, bring them back together, quickly discuss the issue of why they aren't paying attention, and then continue on with the rest of your lesson. Hopefully by using attention grabbers, students will see it as something more positive then negative and respect why you want to bring the class back together. Attention grabbers are also fun and show your students that want their attention without yelling at them. This helps create a caring classroom. If teachers are yelling to get students to pay attention, the students may not respond to the teacher or feel that the teacher cares about them. Students should feel safe and comfortable in a classroom setting, while respecting the teacher and their peers. Attention grabbers are a great strategy for restoring order and I am looking forward to see which phrases my students enjoy best.
What I love about this poster above is that it shows several different attention grabbers that can be used, and I am sure there are several more you can think of or make up. I would hang this in my classroom so students can see it, and as I begin using these, students will get better at saying back the correct phrase. I could also ask the class to chose one of these and make it a class code. I could also chose a phrase for each class period. There is a lot of different ways this could be used. I would teach how using attention grabbers works, why I am using them, and the importance of using them. Students will be able to understand why I am using them and there will be a better class discourse prior to me using this strategy to restore order. I think that even though middle school students are getting older that this strategy would still work because no student likes to be yelled and I fell that clapping is even more "elementary schoolish." This is also a good strategy to quickly get students back together and the more it is practices the more effective it will be. If students do chose which attention grabber they want to use, then maybe just hanging that particular phrase up instead of the entire poster may also be beneficial. It is good to give the students the choice, but the follow through is what holds them accountable and responsible.
I learned that in every class, no matter what age or grade, you are going to have to restore order or bring your class together. Sometimes distractions happen that are out of the teachers control, such as something going on outside of the window. By using one of these attention grabbers, you can get students attention, bring them back together, quickly discuss the issue of why they aren't paying attention, and then continue on with the rest of your lesson. Hopefully by using attention grabbers, students will see it as something more positive then negative and respect why you want to bring the class back together. Attention grabbers are also fun and show your students that want their attention without yelling at them. This helps create a caring classroom. If teachers are yelling to get students to pay attention, the students may not respond to the teacher or feel that the teacher cares about them. Students should feel safe and comfortable in a classroom setting, while respecting the teacher and their peers. Attention grabbers are a great strategy for restoring order and I am looking forward to see which phrases my students enjoy best.