Links mentioned in this episode
Win With Kids Playbook–Parent Phone Call Script Included–Must Select PLAYBOOK for the script. Not included in Workshop.
Episode 18–The Framework for My Classroom Management
Show transcript
Have you ever taken a trip to Target, and $162.73 later after a quick trip through the Dollar Spot, realized that you’re bleeding money for your classroom? We want to serve students well, but how can we do this without spending our whole paycheck or giving up our personal lives to write grants?
In this episode, I’ll help you reclaim part of your paycheck by sharing the details on my students’ favorite things that are absolutely free! Welcome to Beyond the Bedlam, Episode 19. Grab your favorite Flair Pen so you can jot down your “not to buy” list.
Welcome, friend! This is Lauren McKenzie, and you’re listening to Beyond the Bedlam, a podcast for teacher moms. If you’re new here, I’m a teacher, wife, and mom of two who loves to help others make strategic and simple shifts so they can win at home and at school. If you’re overwhelmed, have no time for yourself, and wish someone could help you get a game plan together, you’re in the right place. So, turn up the volume, straighten your teacher mom tiara, and get ready to win!
We’ve all been there: a trip to the store that costs us hundreds of dollars, all in the name of serving our students well. $5 for this thing and $2 for that times 24 or more… Well, it adds up quickly. I’ve done it myself, and that pit in the bottom of my stomach when I’m checking out is an awful feeling I don’t wish on anyone who’s just trying to do their job well.
1:46–Today’s Episode in a Nutshell
So, today I want to help you avoid (or at least delay) that sinking feeling by sharing three of my students’ favorites that are absolutely free!
1:58–Not to Worry!
If this isn’t your first episode, you may already know that I’m a special area teacher. And you might be worried right now that my students’ favorites won’t work for you. But not to fear! Remember that I share students with you, and I teach ALL grade levels from kindergarten through fifth grade. So, if it works for all of my students, it is going to work for yours for sure!
2:22–Recognition
The first thing that is one of my students favorite things is recognition. This can like like a couple of different things in my classroom. One of the things that I love to do are student shout outs. Our campus has a campus-wide program that’s called “recognitions” where we grab a special piece of paper that’s produced by our school, and we write out what the student did well. Then, we tape it to the front of their shirt with a sticker and they walk around the school so that everybody knows that they are being recognized for what a wonderful job they did. Now, to be fair, this is more popular with the younger students than the older ones. They are super proud to wear that sticker and show it to their parents. But our front office collects these recognitions and shares a recognition from many classrooms every Friday morning. So, that is a fun thing that our whole school does. But especially for the older students, sometimes it’s just a shout out to that student during class. “Hey! I see you! That’s awesome. Keep going.” A lot of times for me, that’s a shout out to another teacher, where I’m saying what the student or group of students did–and did well–to another grownup in the presence of the students so that they’re feeling like, “Hey, she sees me. She thinks this is awesome. I should do it again.”
Kids love that recognition. A lot of times, recognition is something they crave. So they will repeat the behavior to receive the repeated praise because they like the endorphins that are released when they like that feeling. They want to experience that again, so they’ll repeat the behavior.
Sometimes recognition and student shutouts comes in the form of an individual incentive system when there might be a particularly challenging student that’s having a hard time. I’m working with that one student on something, so we have our own private little thing that we’re working towards. It can take on a lot of different forms.
My favorite form of recognition is doing it during class directed to the student where all of their friends hear when an amazing job they’ve done, or about a student or group of students to another grownup who interacts with those students. I find that those are the most effective types of shout out.
Another time that I like to give my students recognition is when I see them and they’re not with me. Now, that is something that is a privilege of mine because I’m a specialist, but I love to do this when their teacher picks them up from my class. I love to do this when I’m walking in the hallway by myself because I’m not a homeroom teacher, and I see somebody’s class doing an amazing job. I stop and recognize that class to that teacher, which does a couple of things. It helps the students to feel great, but it also is giving my colleague a kind word. You know, we’ve all had bad days, and that’s a great way to encourage a colleague by complimenting their students when you have a genuine reason to do it.
6:00–Recognition: Calling Parents–STOP YOUR SCROLL!
I do love giving shout outs during class and shout outs when I’m in the hallway, but my all-time favorite form of recognition is to call parents. I probably can already hear some of you grumbling right now that you hate calling parents, but parents love to hear from teachers with good news. It is not only a shout out to the student, but it helps the parent to feel encouraged that they are doing something right! And even if maybe they’re not doing a whole lot of things right, getting that phone call home from you helps them to feel like they’re doing something right, which may help them to start some of the desired parent behaviors that we would like from parents of our students.
If you are one of the ones that just groaned when I suggested calling home, if you loathe having to call parents, or maybe you just feel awkward about having to call… I share the exact formula that I use when I’m calling a parent inside the Win With Kids Playbook. I’ll link that resource in this episode’s website. That way, you can find it easily. Or you can find that directly at https://beyondthebedlam.com/win.
7:22–Choice
Okay, the second thing that is one of my students’ favorites that is absolutely free is choice. They love being given choices!
Here are some ways that I do that:
Can you accomplish the same goal in more than one way? Give students a choice. This works for whole group activities and independent work in my classroom. It might be that I’m trying to teach a certain concept and I can accomplish it one of two ways. Well, great! Then they get a choice. It doesn’t really matter which one they pick, we’re going to arrive at the same destination.
Even though I’m a special area teacher, that can definitely be applied in the regular education classroom, and it can be applied for both whole group instruction and independent work.
Another favorite choice of my students is their workspace. This does not have to be flexible seating, although I am a teacher that implements that in my classroom. It could be if they want to work in a chair or on the floor. Or “Do you want to work under your desk or do you want to work outside?”
I have to pause for a moment and give you just a personal anecdote because I think this is important. We hear all the time that students won’t remember everything you say that they will remember how you make them feel.
When I was in the fourth grade, I had a teacher whose name was Mrs. Barrett. To this day, she is one of my very favorite teachers. I remember a lot of things that she did to give me individual choices in the classroom. She was also just brilliant when it came to giving the whole class choices that we could make. But my favorite choice that she allowed was where we wanted to work. That whole idea of “Where do you want to work? Under your desk or outside?” Well, that came from Miss B because she was the first teacher that I ever had that encouraged us to sprawl out on the floor to do our work. She realized that by giving us the opportunity to choose where we wanted to work or how we wanted to work, that it would improve the quality of our work because we’re more settled and invested in the process. So a lot of days, I would spend half the day underneath my desk because I just thought it was cool just to be in that little space that was just mine and nobody else was right there with me. If you can give students a choice in the way they are working or where they’re working, even if it’s not investing a lot of money in flexible seating, just the that knowing that they have a voice to share is really important. I’m 40 years old. That happened when I was 10 when Mrs. B gave me that choice. So if you can give students a choice, they will remember how that makes them feel.
The next area that I give students choice is in discipline. Now this particular part of choice really belongs in an entirely separate episode. But since we’re talking about choices, it’s worth mentioning that kids will cooperate better with you when you can offer them two choices with clear outcomes. It just helps them to own their behavior more actively.
If you’re interested in learning more about how I handle discipline in the classroom, feel free to check out Episode 18 where I talk about how I set up students for behavioral success. I will leave that episode in this episode’s website notes.
The next area where I give my students choice is in their flow of learning.
Earlier, I mentioned if I was going to do an activity and two different activities would arrive us at the same learning destination, that sometimes I give students a choice. You can also do that in the flow of learning. Do you want to do this first or that first? As long as it’s not a scaffolding where it’s essential to do step one, then step two. But if you end up with the same destination either way, when you’re looking at the flow of your lesson plan and it really doesn’t matter which one you do first… Kids will feel so special and important (to have a choice).
My students favorite free things so far are recognition and choice.
12:12–Flexibility
The third free thing that’s one of my students favorites is flexibility.
Now this is really a follow up and kind of a twin to choice but it kind of takes it to a new level. All teachers are pretty good at offering this or that situations to their students, but sometimes we need a mindset shift about being flexible.
I like to think of flexibility kind of like a charcuterie board for your classroom. A charcuterie gives you a flexible option for eating. Most people don’t take every single thing that’s offered on a charcuterie board. And that’s okay, it’s a flexible appetizer or even an “adult Lunchable.” And we (as adults) look at that as flexibility. Now, if grownups have bought into the hype of eating adult style Lunchables and calling it a fancy appetizer all in the name of having flexibility and choice, don’t you think that a child would enjoy the same opportunity to use their voice in the classroom?
Offering flexibility is a great exercise in safe autonomy. As educators we’re trying to help these kids develop into autonomous adults that we would want to trust to lead our society. So why not let them practice that within the confines of our classroom with flexible options for meeting both learning and behavior expectations in our classrooms?
13:55–Putting It Together
The best part of these student favorites that I’ve shared today is that every teacher can afford to share these with students. The only cost is a little forethought.
Well, how do I knew what to use at a specific time? Practice. When I was a little girl, I would sometimes get overwhelmed in particular situations. My dad would look at me and one of the things that I remember him saying over and over and over again when I would be sitting there giving a blank stare like I was stuck and just didn’t know what to do… He would look at me and say, “Lauren, when in doubt, do something.” He was giving me permission just to get started. Maybe it wasn’t the right thing, but do something!
14:47–No Need for Perfection!
Trying out these different strategies and things, you will learn what works when, so try one out. It doesn’t have to be perfect and probably won’t be, but students will notice your effort if you’re consistent over time. And that consistency is the glue that binds together their trust in you. So be diligent and offering these freebies to your students. I’ll be right in the trenches with you doing the same and cheering you on along the way.
15:19–An Invitation
I would love for you to join me on social media so that we can continue the conversation there. I’m @beyondthebedlam on Instagram and @beyondthebedlamclassroom on Facebook. Until next time, I’m cheering you on!