TeachnReach posted a fear of hers (?) about generating respect in the classroom as a preservice teacher. It's a concern of many pre-service teachers, I think, of how to gain and maintain the students respect. Gaining respect in another teacher's classroom can be easy or hard and initally has everything to do with the respect the students give their normal teacher. It's easy if the children already respect the teacher and you can appeal to the teacher for support in generating respect, it's difficult if the classroom does not have an environment of respecting teachers and peers. The best advice I've heard is to stand up on the first day and set the standards for the best behaviour you expect - and ALWAYS expect it. Come down on 'em hard to begin with then you can ease up later. One of my favourite authors, Louanne Johnson, actually suggests that in the first week you wear a suit or something which conveys you are serious and professional. There's heaps of time later to make friends but in the first instance those kids will push every boundary you have to see where you stand.

On my eight week Internship I developed and fine tuned a behaviour management system I'd heard about and wanted to try. It was the perfect environment to trial strategies I was interested in and my mentor teacher pushed me to act on my words and not just copy her behaviour strategies.

Before I go on to describe my behaviour system this is my advice to pre-service teachers: think carefully about what kind of behaviour you expect in the classroom beforehand. Always expect it and don't worry that you spend the first couple of weeks disciplining and you might feel like an ogre, this is good it means you are setting and maintaining your boundaries - just make sure you smile lots and reward good behaviour at the same time. Hunt around for behaviour management  systems which intrigue you and honestly give them a go - you are there to practise so practise! Remember that kids want to know you are a human being - laugh when you make a mistake and don't be afraid to play tag once in a while and finally pray for a teacher who will let you make changes in the classroom to let you do this. And don't be worried if what you first try doesn't work - it's practise!

SMILIES

My behaviour system uses "Smilies" There are four kinds of cards and a recording chart to keep track.

Green card is the lowest level of behaviour card. Followed by yellow and then red. I have a discussion with the class as what it means if I put one of these cards on their desk. The green card is a warning for disruptive behaviour (usually talking when I've asked them to stop and work). Yellow is when you've already had a green card or the behaviour is rude and or a unsafe. Red card is the final straw and the student must take themselves to timeout. In the real world I'll give maybe 3 warnings before even using a green card, I've used a yellow card once and a red card is pretty much pointless because if a child is going to timeout they're not paying any attention to anything anyway. It is important to have all three cards though because it is a clear visual line of consequence. The cards are placed on the desk in front of the child and I walk away to give them time to think and calm down.

I place these cards high up on the wall next to the white board so the whole class can see when I'm heading to get one - this is often enough for  the student to stop the behaviour and get on with the work. The thing I love most about these cards is that they are non verbal I can hand them out without losing the track of an explanation or a lesson - useful when the kids are on the carpet too. I use them so sparingly that to get a green card is a really big deal and I rarely (as I mentioned) even need a yellow or red card. (you'll a couple of greens)

I also have a reward for good behaviour - a smilie card. I realised that this system only had negative connotations so I created a reward system. I have this smilie: which I simply hold in front of the children. When they get a smilie they can put a mark up on the record sheet (see below). The difference with the cards and the smilie is that the child must return the card to me so I can talk to them at a time more convienent to my lesson whereas the smilie I simply show them and they don't hold on to it and get too distracted from the great work/behaviour they are doing/showing. At the end of the week there was a prize for the most smilies - I gave simple toys or lollies but for grade 2 next year I think I'll give them stickers for a sticker chart and maybe a top five rather than a single winner (or multiple if there is a tie).

This record sheet is laminated with the kids names down the left hand side and on the right I sticky tape a paper grid where the children record their smilie and I record their poor behaviours. The beauty is that I can replace it weekly - everyone always gets another chance in my classroom, and I simply stick the used sheet into my diary at the end of the week then I have a concrete representation of in class behaviour to show parents or other teachers. Simple and effective.

Words of Wisdom:

I found certain children would only behave well when I was in sight so I explained that to get a simlie you had to show respect to peers, teachers, the school and I actively rewarded (and explained why) students who helped around the room without being asked, who tried hard with their work - did their best, who showed kindness and compassion and so on would get more smilies. It took me a while to have that conversation with the students and I found after that the classroom was less competitive and cleaner!

It can get expensive in prizes!

Literacy Exercise: This was great fun. The children were doing expositions and so we let them write an exposition to argue for keeping or getting rid of smilies after we'd been using them for several weeks. Not only was it an authentic experience in that the children were able to partake in the running of the classroom but it also meant they seriously thought about how the smilies worked and what it did and did not do for the students in the classroom. (they argued to keep them, BTW).

This system works well for me and I hope it helps someone out there too.

Keep SMILING!!!!