Last week was my school district's first week back at school. We started on Monday...yeah - I know. Schools typically start on a Thursday to ease students (and parents) back into the school frame of mind, but not mine. :/ We only had ONE minimum day too. So, all my whining stems from an interesting start of the year. On top of our full work week, I'm teaching kindergarten this year after having taught first for three years and fourth for two years. I'm a bit rusty with kindergarten and I decided to start a blog to document my wonderful trials and tribulations no matter how "sucky".
I must admit, my classroom management skills were HORRIBLE this week as I was trying to reason with my kinders like I did with my fourth graders last year. HA! Those of you more seasoned teachers understand how well that went for me. o.O I tried narrating (aka LEMOVing, aka "Teach Like a Champion") my kinders too. I could have commented and complimented until I turned blue in the face for all my "littles" cared. By the end of the week, I caved...and brought in treats. Wait!! Wait!! Before you lecture me about intrinsic motivation vs. extrinsic...please tell me HOW to explain THAT to my kinder class. The treats worked mildly well. My few already defiant kiddos returned back to their independent (not following class expectations) behaviors 30 seconds after receiving praise and a treat for finally listening.
Sigh...I'd love to hear from other kinder classes on his/her classroom management plan this year. Tell me what's working for you to keep them seated and (fairly) quiet during rug time and independent desk work time.
Cheers,
Keen4Kinder
