Better Late Than Never: End Week 2/Begin Week 3

So this Friday was definitely the hardest I've dealt with so far. This morning wasn't bad, I watched a different teacher this morning, and I knew we had to do something different with our do nows.  I just couldn't handle the constant screeching and terror that happens when they're doing their do nows.  I want them to be quiet, to be writing, and actually getting stuff done.  It's two weeks into school, that shouldn't be impossible.

If they're expected to do it in every single class, let's make it every single class.

So, I had to enforce it pretty strong and for my second class of the day.  It was taking 25 minutes for the do now to happen.  That is completely ridiculous because they know how to behave, and they can do it in five minutes without a problem.  But they kept at it, and I stopped everyone.  I told them that the next times I had to reset the clock, from that point on, was going to be one minute after school for every single time. And, of course, they pushed it and earned two minutes of detention after school. On a Friday.

It was really rough for them.  They were sulky the whole rest of the period, but I didn't really have to do much in the way of classroom management.  They were just blah.  But, they didn't get upset, truly, they dealt with it because they knew they messed up.  But, it sucks to have to be mean.  I'm not really that kind of person, and I hope the kids know that.

Which leads me to discussing my goal for last week.  It had been my intention and goal to get the kids into the room and silent within three minutes.  I set up a challenge with the goal of getting LiveSchool money in their accounts.  Neither of my classes were able to do it (though they got close).  I reconfigured however, and now I have a better system.  We just need to assign two notebook hand-out people for weekly jobs, so that not everyone is crowding the bookshelf and that things can be significantly less hectic as time goes by.

I think the five minutes of silence during the do now is going to work though, and that gives you a chance to catch up with the kids who really need that quiet - and a check-in to do their work.

We'll see how that goes this week.

I'm getting observed again on Wednesday, not sure of the time, but we'll see how that goes.  Wish me luck!