Getting Attention in a Noisy High School Classroom: Masking Tape

** Rethinking my title ... Using Masking Tape to Quiet a Noisy Classroom ... Would that be a better attention-getter?

Geez Louise!!!

I feel like I have the loudest classes I have ever had.  I know that every year is about the same, but in the depth of DEVOLSON (the Dark, Evil Vortex of LateSeptember, October and November), it is hard to keep a realistic perspective.  Thanks Love, Teach for naming this horrid time of year.

I saw an article 30 Techniques to Quiet a Noisy Class, and while I would love to say "the only easy day ..."  and my students respond "was yesterday."  But ... I don't see that happening with my SENIORS (sorry for yelling ... but not that sorry).  Here are some (possibly too truthful) reflections of what I have done in the past.

Masking Tape:

Back in the day I would wear a thick roll of masking tape on my wrist.  I would use it to record student interactions - good and bad.  I would write the date and period then I would write a student's initials with a + for good participation or make notes of anything bad.  They wanted "points" ... these points didn't mean anything.  They didn't earn points, they didn't get a prize, but I didn't remind them that the points were meaningless ... I'm not crazy ... my mother had me tested.

The tape was very effective. If the class was noisy I could pull and rip off a piece of tape.  If you do it right, it is loud.  But be careful ... I gave myself a tape-cut on more than one occasion.  At this point some of the students will be looking at you, look at the students who are still talking and start writing down names ... or make a grocery list ... but look mad when you do it ... and stare at them ...

The other good aspect of the masking tape is that I logged all of the information I gathered.  I constructed a spreadsheet and recorded the date, period, kid, +/- and description of what they did.  By recording the data in a spreadsheet you can quickly sort by kid when a parent wants a conference.  And this is spreadsheet saved my hiney a time or two ... it is a good way to shift focus to the kid when needed.  CYA.

The bad aspect of logging data from masking tape ... you have to log the data ... I would end up with pieces of masking tape stuck to my desk until I had time (to stay even later) to type it all in.

Class Dojo:

In the past three-ish years I have shifted from tape to Class Dojo.  There are a lot of possibilities here.  You mark positive and negative interactions by category and you can have parents set up account and get notifications right away.  I have only used this with my freshmen ... and I am not as consistent because I have to carry my ipad or phone around to use it.  I may try it with my seniors soon.

I am hoping to ass some more ideas in my next posts ... it's late and I have school ... but I will leave you this idea if you are losing perspective during this DEVOLSON.

Perspective:

My favorite tech director (i wonder if I have already told this story ... oh well, it's a good one) told me that someone told her when you are feeling frustrated at the beginning of the year you need to remember you don't have freshmen, you are training 8th graders to be freshmen by the end of the year.

**Disclaimer:  I am obsessed with Love, Teach.  I remember being obsessed with the same blog at some point last year.  Check it out.  It will brighten your day.

Organization & Time Management: The List

I would be a great procrastinator ... of I could ever get around to it.  I need to be grading papers.  Instead I have cooked a few meals for this week, done a load of dishes, started laundry, perused Facebook and Pinterest for entirely too long, and now I am writing a blog post (instead of baking cookies).

So let's focus on what I should be doing.  

To Do Lists

I make lists.  I try to limit my lists to yellow notepads ... so that I can find the list when my desk starts piling up.  Sometimes I don't take my own advice and my list scatters to my board, my hand, random post-it's (never to be seen again), but I accomplish a lot more when I take my own advice.  One of the books I read referred to this as a master list.  (It has been at least five years since I read it - way too long for me for me to remember the title.)

I prioritize my list by numbering the tasks or assigning them days.  I mark which items my student aide can do.  

I try to make my tasks very specific so I get the joy of marking things off.

I believe ADD is contagious.  I have caught it from my students.  It is rare that I get to start and finish almost any task without being interrupted.  So how does my list help? When I am working on one task and start thinking of other tasks I need to do, I add them to a list, sometimes I even have a "google it" box on my list.

Delegation

As I said I have my student aide do some tasks.  I read recently that if someone else can you a task 80% as well as you can, delegate it.  (This also applied to having your hubby fold the clothes.)

Acceptance

I have long ago realized that I can't do it all.  I have a lot of things I want to do: developing more student-based projects, reorganizing and thinning out my computer files, clearing out the supply room ... the list goes on and on.  

I recently read an article of advice to first year teachers.  And the thing that stuck with me, is that teachers have to accept that they will have to accept that they can't finish everything they want.  You could work 36 hours per 24 hours and there would still be something that didn't get done.

Done is also better than perfect.  I know I always talk about this whe I all about flipped classrooms because I am never satisfied with my videos, but I talk to my kids about this too.  Any project can take any amount of time depending I the level of work you expect. Sometimes you just have to get it done. 

On that note I guess I should get to the task at hand ... adding to that to-do list!

Quiet Desks

A few weeks ago I saw this on pinterest, and followed the link to Art with Mr. E's blog.  My classroom has lots of color in every direction, so I was able to use leftover material without trying to match a theme.  I had left over felt from making Christmas stockings for my family and fabric letter for my son and niece.  So I got out my mom's rotary cutter (that I really should return) and cut out a lot of squares that were 4 inches x 4 inches.

Today when I got started, I began wondering about my sanity before I finished the first desk.   But as soon as I turned the desk over and slid it to it's new home I knew I had to keep going.  This is not a difficult task, but I had a hard time centering the fabric for my liking on the first desk.  The next picture is my room.  I used grey,hot pink, bright blue and Christmas green.

Thanks again to Mr. E!  What a great idea!

Update:  It has been several years, and I will be replacing the felt next year.  I am still very happy with this project.  And I will be on the look out for a good price on felt, and a coupon from Joann's ... and I will be using my teacher discount ... you know about teacher discounts at Joann's and Michael's and bookstores, right?

Enzyme Model

This is my adaptation of an activity I heard about, but didn't take notes for, and then tried to re-create. I used pool noodles as a model for active sites, competitive inhibition and non-competitive inhibition.

I use blue as the substrate, brown as a competitive inhibitor and orange as a non-competitive inhibitor.  We talk about active sites, allosteric sites and induced fit model.

We also talk about the limitations of this model.  It doesn't actually show a reaction taking place in the active site, you can manipulate the enzyme to let the blue and brown fit at the same time, or one of them fit while the orange piece is in the allosteric site ... it is not perfect, but most models are not perfect.

Visualization for learning

When I was tutoring in an AVID classroom (while still working on my thesis) I had the opportunity to sit in while a Navy recruiter (I think it was Navy...) was talking to the kids and the told this story, it was amazing and I just found it again.  Even  though I teach biology I may still use this story this year as an example of different ways to learn things.  Please disregard any grammatical errors, I are a scientist :)

Visualize:

You are standing across the street from a deli it has a large window (as big as this white board) with Deli written on it in large letters.  Can you picture it?  Then a 52-ft yellow #2 pencil comes out of the deli, it has #2 written on the side and a huge pink eraser.  Then you notice that standing on the pencil is a jersey cow which is purple and green.  On the right horn (your left) there is a juicy ripe peach, and on the left horn there is a can that is cut, not a cut can, say it with me, can that is cut.  Now, tied to the cows tail is a 50 ft steel mast (the large pole on a ship that the sails are tied to), at the top of the mast is a doctor, in a white coat, not just any doctor but a medical doctor, you know he is a medical doctor because it says “MD” after his name right on his white lab coat.  In his right arm, he is holding up a beautiful sunbather who is singing Christmas carols.  Under his left arm he is holding a huge juicy ham, with a price tag hanging off of it and a huge ham bone.  The juice from the ham is running out and turning into gin, very dry gin.  The gin is raining down onto the Empire State Building.  In front of the Empire State building stands a man in a trench coat who is shivering in the rain and singing Christmas carols, and in his right hand he is holding a road map. 

Now someone else come up and tell us the story to make sure we all have the same picture

   
  

Now tell the order that the original 13 colonies ratified the US constitution.

You are standing across the street from a deli it has a large window (as big as this white board) with Deli written on it in large letters.  Can you picture it?  Then a 52-ft yellow #2 pencil comes out of the deli, it has #2 written on the side and a huge pink eraser.  Then you notice that standing on the pencil is a jersey cow which is purple and green.  On the right horn (your left) there is a juicy ripe peach, and on the left horn there is a can that is cut, not a cut can, say it with me, can that is cut.  Now, tied to the cows tail is a 50 ft steel mast (the large pole on a ship that the sails are tied to), at the top of the mast is a doctor, in a white coat, not just any doctor but a medical doctor, you know he is a medical doctor because it says “MD” after his name right on his white lab coat.  In his right arm, he is holding up a beautiful sunbather who is singing Christmas carols.  Under his left arm he is holding a huge juicy ham, with a price tag hanging off of it and a huge ham bone.  The juice from the ham is running out and turning into gin, very dry gin.  The gin is raining down onto the Empire State Building.  In front of the Empire State building stands a man in a trench coat who is shivering in the rain and singing Christmas carols, and in his right hand he is holding a road map. 

1.       Delaware

2.       Pennsylvania

3.       New jersey

4.       Georgia

5.       Connecticut

6.       Massachusetts

7.       Maryland

8.       South Carolina

9.       New Hampshire

10.   Virginia

11.   New York

12.   South Carolina

13.   Rhode Island 

Organizing Student Supplies in a High School Classroom

This is another re-post from my old blog. 

I saw this cute idea on Sandy Toes & Popsicles, and immediately thought of my classroom.  

For years I have been storing scissors, colored pencils, markers and rulers in shoe boxes.  For some reason students love to mark and write all over the boxes, and on more than one occasion I have been known to rip the lids off because I was so annoyed by it.  So a new idea is welcome.  

My biggest expense was a can opener that wouldn't leave a sharp edge ($20 @ Target).  I used the spray paint I had, plus a few new cans.  As a base I used an old shelf from an entertainment center.  Three edges are unfinished and I thought I would put ribbon around the base to make the base look a little more finished (but apparently that hasn't made it to my to-do list).I used liquid nails to glue all the cans to the board and they have held tight for several years now.

If I were to make it again, my only improvement would me more cans, or possibly putting all the taller cans in the back and shorter cans in the front. The taller cans are great for colored pencils, the shorter ones are better for markers, big-kid scissors, and rulers. This is easily one of my favorite projects, it worked, it was cheap, it has lasted for years now and doesn't look any worse for the wear. It is practical, colorful and not too elementary for a high school classroom. And best of all I was able to re-use items I already had.

Making Cartoons

Back in the day Bitstrips.com was for more than just Facebook.  And I had my students make cartoons, including superhero cartoon strips where the students created superheroes out of cell organelles.

As usual I did an example (not something they could use though).

Interactive Notebook Examples

I happened upon my old blogs today.  I am glad that I have documented what I have done.  And this week I am sharing my best of old blogs.  I found an animoto video of examples from A-sides that were worth sharing.

Presenting Your Work

I am gearing up for genius hour for my Forensics class.  The students will be using one day a week to research their passions ... with a couple of catches ... they have to get their topic approved and they have to present what they learn.  So I made a quick prezi to give them various ideas (but I am open to other ideas) of how to present material.



What did I leave out?  What would you include?

I love this color scheme ...