Here are two suggestions (from a fellow student teacher)
1) literally copy what your cooperating teacher does. The kids are already conditioned to how she stops the class
2) alternatively, you can pavlov dog the kids. My teacher did this with a bell. When they hear it, they know it's time to be quiet. (This does depend on how well your class is)
I second the first suggestion. Don’t reinvent the wheel.
I used a bell in my classroom to great effect to aid in transitions- it took several days of explicit instruction to make it happen though. Don’t forget you need to teach this.
Eventually I ditched the bell and went with a raised hand. I’d stand in front and just silently raise my hand and the students would raise theirs in turn and quiet down and prompt others to do so too.
Ironically, I never had to teach the hand raise. If I just stood there awkwardly with my hand up and nodded at the kids that raised theirs too it worked. 🤷♂️
The takeaway here though is that OP designed a compelling interactive learning experience and this was good feedback to get. These successes feel good.
This is what I would do. I have a student teacher who tries to do attention grabbers differently than me and it didn’t work out for her because the kids weren’t used to it in our setting. If you do want to deviate from what your mentor is doing, let the kids know.
Project a countdown timer on the board. If you use Google’s timer, it beeps at the end.
You can just leave it up for the whole activity, if you need to add more time, you can.
Students will anticipate the end of the timer, and that will help with your transition.
Timers are great for this problem. It helps to set expectations (or display them) for what kids should do when they hear the timer -- freeze? Return to seat? Complete a reflection question before the class discussion?
In line with using timers, I'll give a countdown broken up by positive narration. So it sounds like this: "Bring it back in 5, volume 0 in 4, thank you Tina, thank you Fred, back to our seats in 3, Nora is sitting down, Mike is sitting down, ready to listen in 2, waiting on two more folks to sit down, eyes up here in 1, George is meeting expectations, so is the front table, eyes up here back table, aaaand 0. Thanks guys."
1. Flip the lights on and off. This works across grade levels.
2. Use a hand signal (like a peace sign) to signal quiet. When you throw up the signal then students do the same. Positively reinforce students who use it. Challenge the class to get quiet as fast as they can (time them).
3. Get a volume meter (free online just search google) and have students test it (max out noise, see what silence comes in at) and then use the colors associated with the levels. Put it up on the white board so students can see that they are staying at the appropriate level (a marker moves in real time with noise level in the room).
The Spot Game! That's a lot of fun. I know a lot of teachers that use music as attention getters. When it's playing they're working when it stops they need to focus on the teacher. Takes some time to implement
I have taught grades 7 through 12 and for all of them have found incredible success with the very basic idea promoted by many classroom management guides: raise your right hand, and say "may I have your attention please." Teach the children that this is the attention signal and use it every time you need their attention. It's...not hard.
I used to use signals and whatnot but now I just have a kitchen timer and give periodic ‘alright folks 3 more minutes’ type announcements based on what I feel is proper pacing for the lesson components. It’s so simple it always works.
Perhaps this is better advice for when you have finished your training and have the time to establish yourself as their teacher, but I would say something like 'Right folks, our time is up, back to your seats please'. Then stand deadly still at the front, clearly waiting. Praise those that are getting it right, 'well done Fred, I can see you are ready' etc. Don't start until everyone is sat down. Do this about 4-5 times, and this then becomes the norm, 'when sir says to sit down, we sit down'
Love these. I teach 7th grade at a title one school, here are my top 5:
1. If you hear my voice point to the ceiling… point to the floor… point to me…
2. If you hear my voice touch your left shoulder… (ooh who knows their lefts from their rights?! 👀)… touch your right shoulder.
3. If you hear my voice snap once… snap twice…
4. If you hear my voice look at the door… look at the window… look at me…
5. If you hear my voice point at (literally anything around the room)
Clapping can work too, I think mixing it up and keeping the kids on their toes is a great attention getter though. Get creative! Be wacky!
At the same time, at this point in the year, I feel like a ton of classroom culture and norms go out the window. The kids either like you and are going to listen, or they won’t. The greatest feedback I ever received as a teacher is that some days are going to be an “L”. Some days, the kids just aren’t going to listen, and that’s okay. It’s really not your fault.
Sometimes the magic in teaching isn’t the silly attention getters either, but the positive relationships you can make with your students. Once the kids trust you, leveraging that relationship to improve their academics can come a lot easier.
Any kid who talks after you ring your bell (or raise your hand) is thrown into a woodchipper in front of the entire class
I bet $50 that after one or two kids, they'll learn to be quiet
what class? I do different things in every class.
In my Law class I go over some interesting component of the American legal system, or an interesting event. Yesterday we went over the Terri Schiavo case. I give 5-10 minutes to these as the hook for whatever we're doing.
For gov, i lead with a SCOTUS case that kids aren't familiar with and aren't otherwise going to come across. Today we did Tanner, a case with a jury that got zooted out of their minds while they deliberated.
For my modern studies classes, I lead with a song about the era. I don't teach that right now, but we led with Fight the Power on the last day of class.
Depends on the class. Openers take time.
You have no idea what the context of the activity was. If they are teaching McCarthyism then the activity could be beneficial to understanding the mindset. And, if they were indeed teaching about that, your comment fits right in with how McCarthy's witch-hunt spiraled out of control the way it did.
Yeah, I'm imagining this was a McCarthyism lesson and not a literal "learn to spy in your neighbors" game. For extra fun, fo a round where there's no actual "communists" at all in the class just to drive home how the paranoia spirals out of control.
It’s a game, man. Learning about McCarthyism and Cold War era paranoia, very relevant to a 50s/60s unit. Could not care less about my students’ personal beliefs on communism. Jumping to conclusions about what is actually being taught in the classroom and claiming “indoctrination” is making life harder for teachers and students. Let’s be civil…
Even though it's typically used for yougner ages, I use quiet coyotes and the class resonds pretty well. They think it's funny and I don't have to raise my voice. Win-Win scenerio
Here are two suggestions (from a fellow student teacher) 1) literally copy what your cooperating teacher does. The kids are already conditioned to how she stops the class 2) alternatively, you can pavlov dog the kids. My teacher did this with a bell. When they hear it, they know it's time to be quiet. (This does depend on how well your class is)
I second the first suggestion. Don’t reinvent the wheel. I used a bell in my classroom to great effect to aid in transitions- it took several days of explicit instruction to make it happen though. Don’t forget you need to teach this. Eventually I ditched the bell and went with a raised hand. I’d stand in front and just silently raise my hand and the students would raise theirs in turn and quiet down and prompt others to do so too. Ironically, I never had to teach the hand raise. If I just stood there awkwardly with my hand up and nodded at the kids that raised theirs too it worked. 🤷♂️ The takeaway here though is that OP designed a compelling interactive learning experience and this was good feedback to get. These successes feel good.
This is what I would do. I have a student teacher who tries to do attention grabbers differently than me and it didn’t work out for her because the kids weren’t used to it in our setting. If you do want to deviate from what your mentor is doing, let the kids know.
Project a countdown timer on the board. If you use Google’s timer, it beeps at the end. You can just leave it up for the whole activity, if you need to add more time, you can. Students will anticipate the end of the timer, and that will help with your transition.
Timers are great for this problem. It helps to set expectations (or display them) for what kids should do when they hear the timer -- freeze? Return to seat? Complete a reflection question before the class discussion? In line with using timers, I'll give a countdown broken up by positive narration. So it sounds like this: "Bring it back in 5, volume 0 in 4, thank you Tina, thank you Fred, back to our seats in 3, Nora is sitting down, Mike is sitting down, ready to listen in 2, waiting on two more folks to sit down, eyes up here in 1, George is meeting expectations, so is the front table, eyes up here back table, aaaand 0. Thanks guys."
I also do this exact countdown method and it works very well.
Classroomscreen.com gives you the option of putting up timers and notes where you can give directions at the same time
1. Flip the lights on and off. This works across grade levels. 2. Use a hand signal (like a peace sign) to signal quiet. When you throw up the signal then students do the same. Positively reinforce students who use it. Challenge the class to get quiet as fast as they can (time them). 3. Get a volume meter (free online just search google) and have students test it (max out noise, see what silence comes in at) and then use the colors associated with the levels. Put it up on the white board so students can see that they are staying at the appropriate level (a marker moves in real time with noise level in the room).
I put a Google timer up on the overhead. The kids will know when the game is over, and the alarm is hard to ignore.
The Spot Game! That's a lot of fun. I know a lot of teachers that use music as attention getters. When it's playing they're working when it stops they need to focus on the teacher. Takes some time to implement
Turn off the lights in the room.
I have taught grades 7 through 12 and for all of them have found incredible success with the very basic idea promoted by many classroom management guides: raise your right hand, and say "may I have your attention please." Teach the children that this is the attention signal and use it every time you need their attention. It's...not hard.
I used to use signals and whatnot but now I just have a kitchen timer and give periodic ‘alright folks 3 more minutes’ type announcements based on what I feel is proper pacing for the lesson components. It’s so simple it always works.
Perhaps this is better advice for when you have finished your training and have the time to establish yourself as their teacher, but I would say something like 'Right folks, our time is up, back to your seats please'. Then stand deadly still at the front, clearly waiting. Praise those that are getting it right, 'well done Fred, I can see you are ready' etc. Don't start until everyone is sat down. Do this about 4-5 times, and this then becomes the norm, 'when sir says to sit down, we sit down'
A chime, turkey call, triangle, bell, train whistle. Anything that isn’t annoying but can be heard by all.
Love these. I teach 7th grade at a title one school, here are my top 5: 1. If you hear my voice point to the ceiling… point to the floor… point to me… 2. If you hear my voice touch your left shoulder… (ooh who knows their lefts from their rights?! 👀)… touch your right shoulder. 3. If you hear my voice snap once… snap twice… 4. If you hear my voice look at the door… look at the window… look at me… 5. If you hear my voice point at (literally anything around the room) Clapping can work too, I think mixing it up and keeping the kids on their toes is a great attention getter though. Get creative! Be wacky! At the same time, at this point in the year, I feel like a ton of classroom culture and norms go out the window. The kids either like you and are going to listen, or they won’t. The greatest feedback I ever received as a teacher is that some days are going to be an “L”. Some days, the kids just aren’t going to listen, and that’s okay. It’s really not your fault. Sometimes the magic in teaching isn’t the silly attention getters either, but the positive relationships you can make with your students. Once the kids trust you, leveraging that relationship to improve their academics can come a lot easier.
What’s the game you guys played about finding secret communists? Sounds fun, can you share,
Yes! I’ll send you a DM.
Thank you everyone for the excellent advice!
Any kid who talks after you ring your bell (or raise your hand) is thrown into a woodchipper in front of the entire class I bet $50 that after one or two kids, they'll learn to be quiet
what class? I do different things in every class. In my Law class I go over some interesting component of the American legal system, or an interesting event. Yesterday we went over the Terri Schiavo case. I give 5-10 minutes to these as the hook for whatever we're doing. For gov, i lead with a SCOTUS case that kids aren't familiar with and aren't otherwise going to come across. Today we did Tanner, a case with a jury that got zooted out of their minds while they deliberated. For my modern studies classes, I lead with a song about the era. I don't teach that right now, but we led with Fight the Power on the last day of class. Depends on the class. Openers take time.
That wasn’t their question at all
Anticommunism is cringe. You're indoctrinating these kids like they are Hitler youth.
You have no idea what the context of the activity was. If they are teaching McCarthyism then the activity could be beneficial to understanding the mindset. And, if they were indeed teaching about that, your comment fits right in with how McCarthy's witch-hunt spiraled out of control the way it did.
Yeah, I'm imagining this was a McCarthyism lesson and not a literal "learn to spy in your neighbors" game. For extra fun, fo a round where there's no actual "communists" at all in the class just to drive home how the paranoia spirals out of control.
It’s a game, man. Learning about McCarthyism and Cold War era paranoia, very relevant to a 50s/60s unit. Could not care less about my students’ personal beliefs on communism. Jumping to conclusions about what is actually being taught in the classroom and claiming “indoctrination” is making life harder for teachers and students. Let’s be civil…
Even though it's typically used for yougner ages, I use quiet coyotes and the class resonds pretty well. They think it's funny and I don't have to raise my voice. Win-Win scenerio