What Works: Successful Teachers Share Secrets from their Classroom

I’m linking up with Inspired Owl’s Corner and PAWSitively Teaching for a fun linky party/giveaway all about honoring and thanking teachers for all the hard work we do! Teaching is an extremely time consuming and rewarding job all at the same time. This is the week to say THANK YOU to all the hard working teaching out there who work countless hours for the benefit of helping their students succeed!

Read below for a few tips and tricks about what works in my classroom,

Pssssst…after the secrets scroll down for a fun giveaway we are running in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week!

This year I started a new behavior incentive for my classroom management and I’m pleased on how well it is working.

1. I have a superhero themed classroom this year. To encourage positive behavior I use a behavior chart with clips. All kiddos start on green “Ready to Learn”. Throughout the day they have the opportunity to move up the chart “Way to go” and “Super Student” or down the chart “Think about it” and “Parent Contact”

I like this chart because it focuses and encourages positive on behavior. Students get so excited when they move up and other students around them want to do the same. If a student gets all the way to the top “Super Student” they get to wear a super cape and take a Certificate home that states they had a “Super Day!” The class celebrates that student and we stop whatever we are doing to spotlight that child.

In the past I used to use the green, yellow, red stop light and I never had any success with it because once a student moved to yellow they had no motivation to turn their behavior around. This color chart encourages them to turn their day around because they have the opportunity to move up and down the chart throughout the day.

If you are interested in this behavior chart you can find it in my SuperKids Theme Pack on TpT. Click on the picture below.

Another incentive plan I started this year is our whole classroom positive behavior reward. I have 5 owls in a tree posted on our front board where we gather at the rug for whole group discussions, and 5 owls in a tree posted on our back board where we work at our tables. (Owls are the school mascot) The owls stay in the tree as long as the class follows our rules and make smart choices. If the class is having a hard day then I give them a warning and then an owl flies out of the tree. By the end of the day if all 10 owls are still in the trees then they earn 10 marbles for our “Smart Choice” jar.

When we earn all our marbles then the class votes on a class reward. So far this year we have voted for: PJ day, game day, bring your stuffed animal to school day, sports day, and show and tell day.

We just earned our last reward a few weeks ago and the class voted to bring their stuffed animal to school. We had a fun time writing about our stuffed animals during writing workshop.

Another secret I wanted to share has been a LIFESAVER for me. A few years ago I had THAT class, you know the class that everyone dreads having but knows it is just a matter of time before it is their turn to have. It is not a matter of the students being bad, but more the combination of students that lends itself for craziness. Day after day I would battle the noise volume, strain my voice, and drive home in silence, gripping the wheel at ten and two and pray that the next day would be better.

It was then that I discovered these fantastic attention grabbers. If you go on Pinterest and search “Attention Grabbers” you will find a bunch of different variations of the same sayings. Here is the one I have printed for my classroom it is from Mrs. Heeren’s Happenings blog.

They are cute sayings to teach your kiddos to grab their attention and have them focus on you. I tend to teach one at a time and then as one wears out I introduce a new one and then switch them up. The kids love them! Thankfully, gone are the days I am screaming to get their attention while at the same time jumping up and down waving my hands around like a crazy person. I hope you will find them as useful as I have.

Now is where the fun begins. In honor of Teacher Appreciation week we are running a giveaway to say THANK YOU for all that you do! Enter to win these great prize bundles by entering the raffle-copter below. The MORE entries you complete the more chances you have to WIN!!