Need some sensory music?

During quiet time it is good relaxation to put on some music that would allow the students (or adults) to listen quietly and center themselves in order to refocus.  This You Tube location provides for several hours of wind chimes, meditation bowls and other sounds allowin for focus and relaxation.

I believe in "distractors"!

I believe in "distractors."  That's right I said it. I confess. Distractions which are used in a positive and productive manner. Let me explain.

An elementary student, John (not his real name) enters his classroom on the very first day of school and the visual stimulation is overwhelming. There are wonderfully cute items on the tables, on the walls, hanging from the ceilings, there is music playing and there is a PowerPoint with movement being projected on the board. He doesn't know where to look first. Being a young student his eyes move from place to place, item to item. His body follows his eyes. He is trying to consume it all. Within minutes he is overwhelmed and he sees a familiar wooden puzzle in the corner, sits down with it and works on dumping the pieces on the floor, putting them back in place and repeating this practice over an over. He was overly "distracted" and yet he "self-managed" by choosing a place less distracting and less overwhelming and worked quietly.

Class begins and all of the students are directed to the carpet and begin working through the morning meeting routine which will become part of their daily activities. John, now calm, sits quietly, listening and responding according to the teacher's expectations.

Kevin, in the same classroom, has not yet learned how to self-manage. He is still overly stimulated. He faces a smorgasbord of sensory delicacies. He is unsure of what to choose. (As adults we see this at buffets, in large menu options and other places where our choices are so plentiful. It's hard to make a choice and move forward.) Kevin slowly made it the carpet, but he is anxious. His eyes are not on the teacher. His hearing is not on the teacher. His focus is not - well, not anywhere, but everywhere.

Enter the distractor. The "hook" as some call it. Some use a "hand clap," a "chime," or some other technique we are going to us to train the students to listen for or notice that will bring them all together into a single focus. Our conversations stop, our eyes are on speaker, and we are to focus on what is coming up next. That is also a distractor - the chime, hand clap, or other sound or visual meant to call us together.

That is not my room. My room according to some of my colleagues is "plain."  Yes, I agree. "Intentionally plain" I say. We have color, but nothing overly distracting - no chartreuse, primary colors. We have shapes - those which we will learn. We have blank spaces on the walls and on the bulletin boards. Intentionally vacant areas that I like to refer to as "white space". It allows the mind's eye to pause and breathe as the students enter and scan the room. Or as they look around the room there are only the "distractions" I want to them to use in learning.

My other distractors? One simple thing thing I lifted from "Teach Like A Pirate" written by Dave Burgess. (His inspiration, my implementation). I roll play dough in my hands.  There is something magical about rolling a ball of play dough around and round. I say nothing.

Simply and without fanfare I  had opened play dough and started to roll it around in my hand. As the students start to focus, watching me, wondering what it's for, we start to talk. I ask questions, they respond. "Where do we stand to line up?"  "Behind the blue line," says one, then the other, then the other and so on. As I have had sufficient time to determine that they have learned the routine with action and responses, and only then, do I pull off a piece of play dough and had it out. One by one, person by person. There is only one color and every one who has answered the questions gets a piece. The room is quiet, they are working, their directions - "please make me a line." We acknowledge the line. Then we make a circle, then a square, now on to shapes we go.

The play dough goes back onto my portion and the "adding" together is discussed. As the student adds to my ball, one by one they get paper and we start to write/draw lines, circles, squares...

It is amazing how much play dough can be used to allow us to positively "distract" the students from distracted focus and bring them into the "intentional" focus we want. (By the way, this works on all ages. Even adults. I did this in a recent summer professional development and it was amazing how the room noise level changed, the focus intensified and the focus increased.)

By the way, some of you may think that the students would get used to the play dough. Far from it. When they see the play dough in my hand, those that know me, understand that we are going to have fun, learn, and be engaged. The classroom engaged reduces the behaviors. The "thorns" aren't as sharp. Anyone mishandling the play dough does without - looses a turn. Logical consequence. It works for me. I hope it will work for you.

Yes, I believe in "distractors," but in the type which allows for " intentional focus" and not for "fracturing" or overloading our senses. Goodness knows there is enough distraction outside the classroom.

|Don|

Links for additional thinking: 
Mike Paul's blogs have several posts on his recommendations of "distractors" or "engagement hacks" as he terms them.   27 Things to do when students aren't engaged:

Top 10 Ways to Wake Up Students in Class from Michelle Doman is a 7th and 8th grade Language Arts teacher at Brandon Middle School in Wisconsin's Rosendale-Brandon School District.
Get Dave Burgess' book here. (I like it that much!)

Four Cornerstones of CM

The site Smartclassroommanagement.com posted an inspiring post for those of us getting ready to go back to school. As you review your classroom management plan, be sure to read about these four cornerstones of classroom management techniques and let's all remember that it is the behavior and not the character of the student. http://goo.gl/ejqUjg

Practice Dr. Phil's Life Law #8

In an article posted on Dr Phil's website, he lists ten "Life Laws" which in one way or the other affect each of us as we live our lives. 

I personally think that #8 "We teach people how to treat us" is especially pertinent to me as an educator. 

I either teach people (including students) to treat me with dignity and respect, or I don't. I cannot demand respect or dignity, nor is it something I earn by wages. Instead, as Dr. Phil states, it is something we teach others the way want to be treated. 

This means we are responsible for the mistreatment that we get at the hands of someone else. It is not their responsibility if we have failed to teach them. And if you, like me, believe that everyone can learn, then it is up to us to continually find ways to teach the dignity and respect until it is learned. 

As a teacher, coach, administrator or other party having authority (perceived or real) can shape another persons behavior, we choose to teach them what they can get away with and what they cannot.

But what is dignity and respect? Sometimes we don't demonstrate or model these two traits in our classrooms, because in our rooms it can become "my way or the highway" culture. "Because I said so," should never be uttered, stated and never said in a loud voice. The classroom, the school in general, should always be a safe environment where dignity and respect flows more frequently than the markers on the white boards.

Dignity from the World English Dictionary states, "the state or quality of being worthy of honor." I read this to also mean value. Each life is valuable. We live in a throw away or disposable word and value or worth is declining in our material possessions and that sometimes transfer over to people. What "value" do you bring to me? "You are no longer of any use to me." "Oh, my, this is old, I need a new one." Expressions of value, worth, honor and dignity should be expressed verbally and most importantly through our actions in the classroom. If I show you (demonstrate) value, respect and honor to you, then you will be able to positively model it to others and then to me through correct behavioral responses. 

Respect - as I type the letters of the word I'm reminded of Aretha Franklin's wonderful rendition of Otis Redding's song "R-E-S-P-E-C-T." The story of how it came to be recorded is just as dynamic as the singer herself. 

While this recording is award winning, iconic, and a lot of fun to sing to it does not tell us much about how to gain respect nor teach respect to our students. For that I turned to Dr. Michele Borba an internationally-recognized educational psychologist and her website posting of "35 Activities Your Students Can Do to Learn Respect." 

This listing of activities is adaptable to appropriate ages and grade levels and can be used in concert with academics (#9 can be used as an observation for collecting data and then graphing/charting that data in groups or as individual assignments (see CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.MD.C.4; CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.MD.D.10; CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSS.IC.B.4; and so forth)

Another great blog post for teaching students how to demonstrate respect comes from The Teachers Lounge. The listings of idea, strategies and videos produced by students give inspiration and provide examples that "take care of business" or "TCB" as the lyrics remind: 

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Take care, TCB

Teach dignity and respect. Teach others how you wish to be treated. Dignity and respect should become as routine as blinking.

Overcome Negative Bias

Research indicates that our brain is wired to favor negativity. This would mean in our world of the classroom that our students will respond to negative information more quickly than positive information. Really?

Does that mean when working with classroom management I need to be more negative toward the student in order for them to respond correctly? Does that mean the more negative my behavior the more positive their behavior?

I think not.

Our experts in Social Emotional Learning and Whole Child Education provide us with a better method of over coming the brain's natural wiring. In a ratio of 5 positives to each negative (or 3:1 depending on the researcher) we make sure there is as much brain engaging activities in our classrooms as possible. (Engaging is not necessarily completing a worksheet - See Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites).

In a world filled with "no", "stop", "don't" it is hard to change our teacher language to say the same things in positive ways (Responsive Classroom's Teacher Language).  In the book, Power of Our Words, we are reminded that "Language—our words, tone of voice, and pacing— is one of the most powerful tools available to teachers. It permeates every aspect of teaching and learning. We cannot engage children in learning, welcome a student into the room, or handle a classroom conflict without using words."


Two of my favorite YouTube videos which address the power of words should be watched to remind us what we need to be doing; and should be shared with our colleagues and students to effectively change the negative wording which occurs when we move into "neutral".

1. "Change Your Words, Change Your World" 

2. "Change Your Words, Change Your World 2 - the effective use" 

These are just two examples we can be using in making simple changes of wording which will help us ensure that we are entering the classroom each day ready to "Make A Difference."  To pass that ability of making a difference on to each of our students might just change the world.

Thorn Fun Facts!

Thorns have been with us for generations. Here are some fun facts about thorns that are not related to behaviors....or are they?  Think about them as you read through each one.

Early in human history we used thorns as defensive mechanisms - from adding thorns to the cave man's club, to adding strong, thick thorns to the breast plates.

Plants bearing thorns, spines, or prickles are often used to ward against theft. Planting a thorny bush below the windows of the house, or around the perimeter of the garden will cause someone to move own rather than deal with the though of getting "bitten" or "pricked" by a thorn.

Technically roses have prickles and not thorns. There are differences in thorns, spins and prickles. Magnification also shows the removal of the thorn can be more painful than the impact.

Knowing the type and purpose of the thorn is helpful in successfully removing the thorn and avoiding additional pain in mishandling the thorn.

Definition: Thorn - modified branches or stems. They may be simple or branched.
Spines - modified leaves, stipple or parts of a leaves such as extensions of the leaf veins.
Prickles - comparable to hairs, but can be quite coarse - they are an extension of the cortex or epidermis of the plant.  (more)

Finally, don't forget the quotes about "thorns" throughout history. See how many you remember.


So next time you see a behavior you label as "thorny" remember there are several types of thorns so be specific and it is better to understand the purpose of the "thorn" than to become entangled in trying to remove or avoid them. After all, they have feelings, too!