We've all struggled with it. I'll be the first to confess. I sometimes have a difficult time to reign in the rowdy students after a fun activity. Yet, this year I decided to spend a little change and bought this:
it has 7 fun sound effects as well as a volume control. All I have to do is just turn it upside down, and watch as my students stop, look around for me, and best yet...stop talking! Works wonders! Their favorite this year is the army trumpet - they stand up and give me attention. It gives me the moment to give directions, then I sigh off with , "Get to work, Soldiers!" in my best sergeant major voice. Hey - for $20 it was well worth it!
As I said yesterday, I spent some time in three other teachers' classrooms and I would like to share what I saw in one of them. See had the lights off, heads down, and no drinks. I was amazed. Now, I have tried several ways to read aloud after lunch - it calms my kiddos down so they can get to work, but over the years, things get lost - like my ability to say no to the question, "Can we draw while you read?" Well, today I said NO. I had the lights off, their heads on their desks, and I only read for about 7 minutes.
What.
A.
Difference.
This afternoon we got more done in a hour's timespan than we have in a while. I think I'll try it again tomorrow and see if the streak continues. So, thank you Ms. Lee for showing me that doing nothing but listening is the just right thing to do.
Now, I would feel remiss if I didn't put a picture of the Bean on here (seeing as this blog is named after him after all) so here he is along with that troublemaker, Edison. Enjoy.
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| Bean and the elusive Edison |
Stay tuned tomorrow for World Wide Web Wednesday where I'll share some of my favorite websites!
Shauna'mar
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