Discipline part 3 (Windows)

Hello,

My name is Wintermute, and this is Dumbr. All week we have had a discussion on common practices to help discipline your students. We continue today with more thoughts.

Be Still: Something that happened to me by accident was “being still”. We were reading a book about Tae Kwon Do, and it had the words “we are being still”. My class asked what that means. I showed them the common Meditation pose you see monks perform. Cross your legs, straighten your back, close your eyes, no talking, and hold your hands up and make an “O” with your middle finger and thumb. Oh my kids loved that, so I told them to be still. From that point on it became the best thing I have ever instituted in class, whenever I wanted my kids quiet or calm, I just said be still, and boom, they snapped right into position. This worked for months and never failed; I continued to use it with other classes and will never stop.

Gym: A lot of teachers had trouble with Gym class; mostly in the discipline area. They could not get their kids to follow instructions. For me Gym class was a whole routine every week. Before going to the gym I would ask what the rules are every single time, and they had to repeat all of the gym rules to me before going. I would set up two mats in the gym ahead of time, I would instruct my students to sit on a specific mat depending on gender. They would have to walk to the gym, sit and “be still”. I would then start gym class with no problems, and I never had discipline issues in gym class. The punishment though would have been to return to class, that’s the only punishment there needs to be.

Home time: Ah glorious home time, I’ll brag here for a bit, I was the best, hands down. At my school we had to get the kids ready and in the gym to go home. Not every student from your class rides the same bus, so everyone needs to be in their proper spot. Every other teachers’ method is yell home time and let the kids go and try to organize them in the gym. Worst method ever. You would have kids jumping on the jungle gym, none of them remembered their jackets, teachers shoving homework in backpacks, kids crying and yelling. But not us, not my class. Before home time I would award the highest scored team with points, I would turn the lights off and close the blinds, then say “be still”. If they were still, which all were, they would get another card. Then I would call each student out individually, made sure their homework was in their bag an hour ago, put their jackets on and slip on their bags and lineup. Downside I usually had one student fall asleep and the others on the verge, every day I carried children in my arms to the gym. But once again, no yelling, no chasing, just well behaved students lined up ready to go home…or asleep.  

Thank you for being here and for your continued support. Be sure to come back tomorrow for more tips on how to keep your students in check.


Your Teacher,
Wintermute