One of my worst classes is this age. Anyone have any discipline-in-English ideas to make the kids behave?
Thanks
Three things I do (though not all at the same time).
1) have a rewards program. Depending on your school this might come out of your pocket or you'll have to be really creative about non-purchaseable rewards (I'm not that creative, so I buy them daiso gifts.) In my program, they get stickers for games (for winning), for doing their homework, for the nest role play and for volunteering to partner speak dialogues in class (not sure if I am keeping this part next year). They first have to earn 20 stickers to earn a prize and after that it's 10 stickers. I'm upping this next year to just 20 every time.
2) if you have a real problem class and not just your typical rambunctious bunch of 9 yr olds, then I suggest what I do with my one terrorist class: Write stop on the board. If they get too loud or behaving badly, count down to 1 (from 5) and say stop and if they are not facing you and quiet at Stop, then erase a letter from STOP. The punishment in my class for losing the whole word is they stay after school 10 mins with their eyes closed and their mouths zipped and they clean the classroom when time is up (and if the class is very messy).
3) for my non-problem classes but slightly rowdy, I write games on the board and erase a letter whenever they get out of hand (I warn them first, but after that I just point to the erased letters and they usually quiet down). If the whole word is erased, there is no game that day. I haven't needed to use this that much anymore since I teach alone, but it works when you use it.
1&3 are the ones I use all the time. I have the rewards system in all my classes and it really motivates them to try to learn the material.
My one terrorist class has only received one game in two months because they cannot be respectful. They are also they only 4th grade class with an average of 6 stickers per student earned, while other classes have earned 15-20 already.
If you have a few particularly bad students you can make them stand up in the back of the classroom for awhile, until they can behave. A bad behaving class usually has a ring leader, find them and make a example of them without humiliating them (or you will never gain their cooperation).
Good luck!
