The first is the attention getter! Oh how I love this one! Class! Yes! What's so great about the attention getter is you can do so many variations to keep the students engaged. Some of my favorites are: Hey Hey Class! Hey Hey Yes!
Good Golly Class! Miss Molly Yes!
Go Class! Pokes Yes! (I am an OSU alumn)
Meanwhile Class! Back at the ranch Yes!
Scooby Class! Doo Yes!
Western Class! Oaks Yes! (our school)
It's about Class! That time Yes!
This list can go on and on! I do variations of my voice as well. The more variation in Class! Yes!, the students will respond quicker and activates their pre-frontal cortex, the brain's boss!
The next part of The Big 7 is Mirror Words. I would say, "Mirror Words," while holding my hands up. My students would "mirror" what I am doing and saying. It's 100% student engagement!!! The students are learning by using their visual, motor, hearing and speaking parts of their brain. Mirror Words is so powerful because ALL students are learning. The kinesthetic, visual and auditory learners are learning AT THE SAME TIME!!!! There is no single memory area in the brain so the more brain areas are involved in learning, the more memories are created when using Mirror Words.
I have not purchased candy, prizes or even used my marble jar in a few years. The reason? The Scoreboard!!! My students LOVE the challenge of trying earn more smilies then frownies by the end of the day. I start this the first day of school. I tell my students the Scoreboard is leveled two grade levels higher than our grade. So they need to act like 3rd graders to get smilies. If not, they are acting like Pre K and will receive a frowny. For each smiley, they get a one second party, "Oh Yeah!" and for each frowny, they lift their shoulders to their ears and give me a mighty groan, "Ugh!". We do this all day, every day. They can earn an extra minute at recess, one minute dance party, sit on their desks for quiet reading, and the list goes on! Notice not one mentions candy! ;-)
The first couple of weeks of school, I implement the 5 rules. We practice the rules the wrong way and right way five times a day. I will usually pick some students that are having a difficult time with the rules and have them practice the wrong way and right way. After a while, their behavior will turn into positive behavior because they eventually want to be doing the right thing.
The more we talk, the more students' attention is lost. This is where Teach-Okay comes in. I will begin my getting my students' attention, use Mirror Words, then say. "Teach!" The students respond with, "Okay!" The students then teach their partner what I just said using big gestures. I only talk with 2-4 sentences because I do not want to lose them. When I first started using Teach-Okay, I would set my timer for 30 seconds while I was talking so I could train myself. Again, the longer we talk, the more students we lose!
Just like using Class! Yes!, using a variety of voices and claps will keep the students engaged.
I always have at least one student that is shy and won't speak in front of the class. Well, that's okay! When I say, "Switch!" the students that were listening to their partner teach, now has to teach! They take turns teaching each other. This is a great way for shy students to feel like they are successful and contributing to the class.
There are times throughout the day I will have a big point to share with the class or I need their full attention. I will say, "Hands and Eyes!" They repeat me and fold their hands while their eyes are on me. I switch it up to keep them focused by saying, "Hands, Hands, Hands and Eyes!" I also use a variety of voices.
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