A Growing Garden

Time has quickly been passing by, and the arrival of my third week at The World brought an addition of two new students. The Aurora class has now reached a size of nineteen adorable and happy students, and with that many children in one room with Miss. Yuki and myself, our attention has shifted to classroom management, so that everyone is comfortable. 

This week we tried out a few different strategies for classroom management. Our goal is to make the events of the day flow as smoothly as possible, while making sure the students all get the attention they need, and we maximize the use of of teaching time. 

The first thing we tried was separating the students into smaller groups when doing projects. Our craft this week was making Mother's Day cards. We thought it would be really fun for both us and the kids, if we made flowers from painted hand prints. Rather than keeping all nineteen students in the room while working with paint, we had a group of about six students stay at a table with Yuki, while I took the rest of the class to the play room. As she finished with her small group of students, they came to spend time with me, and I sent her new students to work with. This way we were both able to work more intimately with the students, and we prevented the classroom and the students from being covered in paint. The kids loved having their hands painted, and laughed as the brush tickled their palms and fingers.

On another day we let the students draw, but encouraged them to draw pictures of their mothers.

One of the methods we are using to improve classroom control is making the students more independent. Being three years old, they still need a great deal of assistance from us in doing simple tasks, from getting dressed to cutting their food into bite size pieces. While still helping them, we are trying to teach them to do things themselves, so that we can focus more time on teaching, rather than helping them through every task. One of the most hectic times of our day is directly after lunch, when they students need to brush their teeth, rinse their mouths, get into their pajamas for nap time and calm down in their beds. Since this is a busy time of the day, we made a chart that encourages the children to behave during tooth brushing and to take responsibility for their belongings. If they behave and stay seated while brushing their teeth, and correctly put all of their items away and get ready for nap time, they earn a sticker.

While we are unsure of what the final reward will be at the end of the month, for now the chart and the little animal stickers they earn works as a motivator that helps to keep the classroom organized. The students all have a column marked with their names, where they put the stickers. We've hung it at their eye level so they can track their progress, and hopefully it will also work to motivate the students who normally need more guidance. Our primary goal is teaching the students to put away their own possessions and not to lose or misplace them. We want to be sure that at the end of the day, everyone's toothbrushes, cups, chopsticks and aprons, are going home with the right child. 

We're experimenting with other systems that encourage positive student behavior. A few days this week we drew a behavior chart on the white board with two sides to it. One side is marked with a happy face and the other side is marked with an upset face with shapes that resemble lighting bolts pointed towards the ears. The side with the happy face is for students' names who are participating, following directions, using English, helping others, being kind, or exhibiting any other type of positive behavior. When we add a student's name to the column we praise them in front of the rest of the class for their behavior. We constantly reinforce why we are happy with them, and what they did that set a good example for the rest of the students.  The other side which is  represented by the upset face, is for when students use their voices in a way that makes myself, Miss. Yuki, or the other students upset. This could be yelling, using negative language, or also choosing to misbehave or not follow directions. When a student's name is added to this column we explain why, and let them know that if their behavior changes they made erase their name. If the negative behavior continues then we warn them again, and put a check next to their name. The consequences, as of now, include being served lunch and snack last, and lining up last. At the end of the day the students are asked to apologize to myself and Miss. Yuki, and are reminded why the behavior was not the type we look for in the classroom. 

Yuki and I will be continuing to try out different techniques we have used in the past, and we are open to any suggestions or ideas. It is very important that the students learn to behave in a group, and respect other students and the teachers. The only way the classroom can function productively is if everyone behaves and participates as they are asked to.