3, 2, 1, Launch!
Launching...that has been the big buzzword around school the last couple of years. It's the new way of identifying that oh-so-important process of getting the students acclimated to the routines and procedures of the classroom, and as every teacher knows, it's about practice, practice, practice. This morning all the students had special assemblies for launching behavioral expectations, and while we were in the lunchroom, our food service director mentioned that it takes 6 WEEKS to develop a habit. 6 WEEKS! I thought that was interesting, so I looked it up, and that was pretty close to what I found (my brief research on the topic was that, on average, it takes 66 days). But, of course, every child is different and hardly "average".
Our new before-school procedures, choosing a seat in a flexible seating classroom, creating a cooperative environment, eating in the cafeteria, walking in the hallway, playing on the playground, riding on the bus, Math Daily 3, Reading Daily 5; all of these and more are part of launching a classroom. Without taking the time to really get the students into the routines and expectations you want to follow, the students won't develop the habits you want them to have in order to be independent. That is the goal--for the students to be able to complete their tasks without having to be constantly reminded of the correct choices to make.
My new seating options have probably been the most interesting aspect of my launch thus far. The students were CRAZY excited for all the different seats. During the soft start before school on the first day, I would swear that every kid tried out every different type of seat (except for the beanbags--those didn't really catch on until yesterday, and now they're all the rage :-) So, seeing all the excitement, I knew managing the seating options was going to be one of my biggest behavioral management pieces. If the students don't understand the expectations around the seats, they are going to think it will be okay to just get up and switch to a different seat in the middle of a lesson rather than understand that they need to make a choice about what seat will help them best learn for the particular lesson they are experiencing. They are going to think it is okay to just grab any random seat in the room if no one is sitting on it (not realizing that the person who was using it just went to get a pencil) rather than checking the designated areas for where available seats are located. They are going to think that it is okay to just leave seats spread around the classroom when we leave rather than putting them back in their designated areas so that the classroom will be organized for when we return for our next lesson. But this classroom and these seats are brand new experiences for the students, and that is why the launch is key to a successful year. Old habits are hard to break...at the end of the first day of school, one of my boys came up to me and asked, "Mr. Oetjen, when are we going to get our own desks?" In my mind I was shouting, "Where have you been all day? We won't have assigned desks!" But my calmer side replied, "We won't have assigned desks, but if you feel like a desk will help you learn the best, then make that a regular seating choice for yourself. But you might find that a desk isn't the best for all the different types of learning that happen." Because that is the ultimate goal--for the students to see that one size doesn't fit all.
Now that school has started, I'm going to finish my blog posts with a mindfulness thought for the week. I share these thoughts with the students. Mindfulness is a concept that I've been getting into more and more over the last couple years. If you aren't aware of it, mindfulness is the process of focusing on the present, paying attention to one's feelings, thoughts, and body. I was first introduced to it by our school counselors a couple of years ago to help students who needed some calming techniques. In the last year, I've gotten into the ProYou Podcast (which I mentioned in my first blog post), and mindfulness is a central theme of the podcast. Check it out if you are interested--Tom Deters gives some great insight. (He even read my iTunes review on one of the podcasts, which I heard on my way to school one day during inservices. It really made my day :-)
Thought for the week: You aren't here to do better than anyone else. You're here to do better than yourself.
Our new before-school procedures, choosing a seat in a flexible seating classroom, creating a cooperative environment, eating in the cafeteria, walking in the hallway, playing on the playground, riding on the bus, Math Daily 3, Reading Daily 5; all of these and more are part of launching a classroom. Without taking the time to really get the students into the routines and expectations you want to follow, the students won't develop the habits you want them to have in order to be independent. That is the goal--for the students to be able to complete their tasks without having to be constantly reminded of the correct choices to make.
My new seating options have probably been the most interesting aspect of my launch thus far. The students were CRAZY excited for all the different seats. During the soft start before school on the first day, I would swear that every kid tried out every different type of seat (except for the beanbags--those didn't really catch on until yesterday, and now they're all the rage :-) So, seeing all the excitement, I knew managing the seating options was going to be one of my biggest behavioral management pieces. If the students don't understand the expectations around the seats, they are going to think it will be okay to just get up and switch to a different seat in the middle of a lesson rather than understand that they need to make a choice about what seat will help them best learn for the particular lesson they are experiencing. They are going to think it is okay to just grab any random seat in the room if no one is sitting on it (not realizing that the person who was using it just went to get a pencil) rather than checking the designated areas for where available seats are located. They are going to think that it is okay to just leave seats spread around the classroom when we leave rather than putting them back in their designated areas so that the classroom will be organized for when we return for our next lesson. But this classroom and these seats are brand new experiences for the students, and that is why the launch is key to a successful year. Old habits are hard to break...at the end of the first day of school, one of my boys came up to me and asked, "Mr. Oetjen, when are we going to get our own desks?" In my mind I was shouting, "Where have you been all day? We won't have assigned desks!" But my calmer side replied, "We won't have assigned desks, but if you feel like a desk will help you learn the best, then make that a regular seating choice for yourself. But you might find that a desk isn't the best for all the different types of learning that happen." Because that is the ultimate goal--for the students to see that one size doesn't fit all.
Now that school has started, I'm going to finish my blog posts with a mindfulness thought for the week. I share these thoughts with the students. Mindfulness is a concept that I've been getting into more and more over the last couple years. If you aren't aware of it, mindfulness is the process of focusing on the present, paying attention to one's feelings, thoughts, and body. I was first introduced to it by our school counselors a couple of years ago to help students who needed some calming techniques. In the last year, I've gotten into the ProYou Podcast (which I mentioned in my first blog post), and mindfulness is a central theme of the podcast. Check it out if you are interested--Tom Deters gives some great insight. (He even read my iTunes review on one of the podcasts, which I heard on my way to school one day during inservices. It really made my day :-)
Thought for the week: You aren't here to do better than anyone else. You're here to do better than yourself.
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