Resetting a Sour Class

A dear friend had one of those observations where the leader walked out of the room shaking her head. He was told there were a few things he could do to make things better...but that he just had a rough class. Perhaps, they consoled, he should just survive until 9:35 each day. 

Um. No. 

What follows is something I've heard boot came or whole class reset. Sounds awful. But...so is being hostage of your own classroom when you can't teach and the kids are making fun of you openly, derisively, and defiantly. I wrote about what I have tried with very difficult situations...but note - you still have to be human and compassionate. We aren't instituting a prison camp, but re-establishing leadership and control so everyone in the classroom is safe to learn and teach.

Prepare the Room and Hallway:

• Put tape by door where kids will line up and where the line ends; put a second line two feet away to start the new line when the first one fills up before the next teacher’s door
• Get a bucket of writing utensils and warning cards ready
• Have worksheets on desks; have a sheet of notebook paper or copy paper on the desks too
• desks in rows, facing front of room
• Shut the door
• Lights on

As students arrive:

• Greet them warmly, and direct them to stand in line facing the front
• Ask students to have their writing utensils out so they can show you they have them.
• If students do not have a utensil, give them one and a warning card. Tomorrow, you must have a utensil, or you will have a detention.
• Prepare five office referrals for defiance or disruption.
• If they start to argue, don’t engage. Say, I’d be happy to speak with you about that during your lunch time or after school. If they argue further, say, I’ve stated when we can discuss that. You may line up and get out your utensil or receive an office referral for defiance.

When the bell rings:

• Ask the students to stop talking and look at you.
• Say: I am here to teach. You are here to learn. We are going to work together to make this a more pleasant experience. Each day, we will line up and prepare to enter the classroom.
• Teach: Teach kids how to stand in line. Say: you should be standing directly behind the person in front of you. Hold out your hands shoulder width in front of you. Say: Everyone’s head and shoulders should be in between my hands.
• Now, before entering class, we will all stand in line without talking. I will give instructions. Then you will enter class and begin. If someone talks or cannot keep their hands to themselves, they will be sent to the office for defiance or disruption and we will start over.

Follow Through:

• If someone talks, whispers, gets out of line, touches someone, gives an ugly faces, breathes like they are being negative…
• STOP the class. Freeze. Everyone stand up. Go back to your place in line in the hallway.
• As students exit, walk up to the child privately, Send the child to the office, naming the offense (You were told not to speak. Go to the office.)
• Bring the class back to silent line formation.
• State the expectations: I am here to teach. You are here to learn. You are to walk into the room quietly and begin work.
• Look for perfect compliance. Eye rolls, whispers, getting out of line, breathing or sighing in frustration to be negative…
• Follow the previous steps. Send kids to the office and restart the “lesson” on entering the room.

Once you are in the room and students are seated:

• Call the class to attention. I usually say, “everyone, look at my big nose.” You probably can’t be funny right now. “Everyone, stop talking and look at me.” Wait for them to do so.
• If they don’t stop talking, stop the class. Ask everyone to line up again outside. Give the office referral to the child that was talking and repeat the steps you completed in the hall.
• Once you are back in the room call the class to attention again. Ask everyone to put down their pencils, put their hands in their laps, point their knees and faces in your direction.
• Wait until they are quiet.
• As I said in the hallway, I am here to teach; you are here to learn. We are going to work together to make this a more pleasant experience. Today, we will practice how to enter class and begin working. We will reset the class out in the hall to explain and correct procedures each time there is a disruption. There will be no more warnings. You have been in school for 9 plus years. You know how to behave and you have a clear understanding of the rules. I expect you to do what I say, and when I say so.
• On your desk, you have a task to complete. You are to work quietly, independently, and without interruption. When you finish the task, you may read independently. If you do not have a book, I will provide you with one.
• I will set the timer for 7 minutes. I will reset the timer each time there is a disruption or someone has not followed the instructions. We will reset the class in the hallway where I can reteach the proper procedures and we will begin again.
• When the class is able to focus on a task for 7 minutes, we will stop and debrief what we have learned. You may begin working.
• Stand at the front of the room and look at every student for compliance. Reset immediately when needed. Stop the timer and go back in the hallway.
• Once you can stand at the front of the room and can look at every student for compliance without interruption, call the class to order. Say, Thank you, class. I will now walk by your desks to monitor your progress. As I pass by, put your thumb or finger in the margin of the next near where you are reading. If you are writing, just keep going. Please go back to work.
• Sweep the class, asking the students to place their thumbs in the margin of the text if they are reading silently so that you can see where they are working as you pass. If students are not reading or writing, send the student to the office and reset the timer and the class.
• Return to the front of the room and observe. Be very still.

When the class has worked for 7 minutes:

• Congratulations class. You have been able to focus on learning for 7 minutes.
• Take out the notebook paper on your desk. Fold it in half lengthwise. On the top column, write a plus sign. On the top of the second column, write a minus sign.
• Eyeball the class for compliance.
• Put your pencils down. Hands in lap.
• Remember – reset any time.
• Now, think about three things you liked about this experience and three things that you did not like. Wait 30 seconds.
• Pick up your pencils and write three bullets for each side. Put your pencils down when you are finished.
• When most have finished, say, “Pencils down. Now, I am going to set the timer for 7 minutes. You will write about your thoughts for the entire time. If you don’t know what to write, you may write, ‘I can’t think of anything else to say.’ But you must write the entire time. Begin.”  
• Reset when necessary. Reset the timer and be ready to give more paper.
• When the timer goes off, say: Congratulations. In this class, we read, we write, or we discuss our skills and strategies so that I can teach and you can learn. You may now read independently for the rest of the period.
• Reset the class when necessary.
• 2 minutes before bell: Call the class to attention. Did you like class today? Allow open response. Is this the way you would like our days to run? Or would you like to have more interaction and freedom? Allow response. I usually said something like, “I know how to teach both ways. I’m ready to stay with this method until we have the correct behavior from our class. When I feel confident that we are all on the same page for behavior and respect, I will add in one instructional feature at a time.” Sometimes, I say, “Tomorrow, I will play music while you read independently until I have to reset the class for interruptions.”

I’d keep this boot camp routine for at least a week. If you can’t get the class under control, you aren’t getting in the TEKS anyway. This has to come first.

Your Fan,

Shona Rose