Classroom Management: Part 1

I decided to title this post "Classroom Management: Part 1" because I expect there to be many more on this topic to come!  This year I adopted Annabelle Allen's  point system, and it is has worked wonders for all my K-4 classes.  Before this year, I had tried EVERYTHING; Class Dojo, other point systems, you name it, I'd tried it.  My systems all worked fairly well for most students and classes, but something was always missing.  I wanted my classes to have more energy, be more exciting, and more engaging.  It was also important to me that EVERY student felt safe, confident in what they could understand and do in the TL and were having FUN.  I knew how important it was to keep students' affective filters LOW, but felt like I was not achieving that with every student. 

Enter La Maestra Loca.  I found this blog by chance one day, and what a lifesaver it has been!  Her point system piqued my interest because it puts a lot of emphasis on creating a positive, safe and fun environment for all students.  I loved how she mapped out exactly what to say and do the first few classes and also how it seemed to be little to no work for the teacher- SUPER important for a traveling teacher like me!  As long as I have something to write with and something to write on, I'm golden.  She also breaks it up by age group, which is nice (I'm not going to do exactly the same thing with 4th graders that I do with kindergarten). 

For all these reasons and more, I decided to give the system a try.  I did it with all my classes K-4 the first few weeks of school in September.  I see my classes only once a week for 40 minutes, so the plan took probably 4 classes to complete (she gives you five lessons worth).  I was a bit worried about dedicating that much class time when I already have so little, but I realized that the lessons are actually chock full of language!   Students learn the words for respect, rules, Spanish, English, eyes, ears, walk, run, hello, teacher, class, points, different animals, and more!  I also found that once I had laid the groundwork for a positive classroom culture, I could move much faster with future lessons than I had in previous years. 

Stuff I learned along the way...

1.  Day 2 (where you talk about rules) was the hardest to get through.  In the moment I felt like things were not going well and that the students were not engaged.  I learned, however, to TRUST the process.  It gets better Day 3. 
2.  When she tells you to be 100% positive, 100% of the time- she is SO right.  It does pay off.  I had a couple classes where I did not do as good of a job with this and I could tell the difference in future classes. 
3.  It helps to read her other blogs about the point system and fiestas.  A couple times my classes earned parties a bit earlier than I would have liked because I was not careful.  I also offered too many party options up front (something she suggests not doing) because I was trying to get them excited about it. 

All in all, if you are looking to change things up in your classroom like I was,  I HIGHLY recommend this system.  Hope you enjoy!!!!!

Sra. Connell :-)

P.S. For my elementary ed colleagues...I've envisioned this system working in a regular ed classroom, too, with just a couple modifications.  Let me know if you're interested!