I Should Be Marking

OK, so I made a post a week or so ago suggesting that I had cracked how to deal with my form group. Well, perhaps not so much after all. Waiting silently for them to be quiet is still a technique I’m using heavily but it’s not doing the job as well any more on its own.

Once a week (or sometimes twice) I have a full 20 minute registration with nothing to do - no assemblies, no planner signing, just the register and any notices to read out. So we played a counting game I read about on the TES forums and it seemed to go down fairly well. It was noisy, but fun and I think we need more of the latter (and I’d be happy for a better balance of the former - quiet for the register and notices, noisy when th activity allows it).

What I really need to do is find a strategy and stick to it in order to allow the kids time to get used to the routine. I’m getting better at doing that but there’s still a way to go - too many of my (good?) ideas fall by the wayside after a week or two and I’ve watched enough reality TV to know that isn’t the best way to deal with kids!

Not a request for help (although it’s always goot to share good practice), but I suddenly realised that I had inadvertently made a breakthrough today.

They’re Y8 and a very mixed bag in terms of ability, attitiude and behaviour. Strangely (or so it seems to me) some of the brightest in there are also the most disruptive. An image of a vulture springs to mind but that may be a little harsh (I must be in a good mood!).

Anyway, I’ve tried quizzes, games, reading, class detentions, shouting and all sorts of other tactics in an attempt to get them to shut up and sit down - even if it’s only for enough time to take the register and read any notices. I’ve realised that it’s the little routines that make the difference.

I’ve always asked them to line up before entering the room, but had been lax about the state and volume of the line in favour of making sure they got in and out on time (and of course the more rowdy they are the more time you need to get them in and take the register - and so begins the vicious cycle).

Lately I’ve been thinking ‘to hell with it’ and waiting quietly for them to line up properly. Today I even asked one of them very deliberately, politely and quietly to please join the line with the rest of the class - worked wonders!

So they’re in. Only 2 minutes left to actually get the register done, but they’re mostly now in the right frame of mind. I wait until coats are off before I start the register and stop if anyone is talking, banging, swinging on chairs, playing slaps, turning round, etc. I don’t shout, cajole, moan, complain - I even try not to give the really annoying ones ‘The Look’ (with varying degrees of success). The kids do exactly what I was told they would. They blame each other - specifically, the ones making all the noise. Of course they defend themselves by shouting back but the mood quickly changes and everyone knows who the real trouble makers are. I just wait patiently, looking at nothing in particular and as soon as the class is ready we go to the next name.

No rewards here for the attention seekers, at least not from me. This, of course, leads them to try more and more desperate attempts to provoke a response and I must confess to a slight concern over where and when I will have to draw the line.

Of course they end up 2 or 3 minutes late to the next lesson, although hopefully this will improve as the message starts to sink in. All I need now is a spell to convert Y11 apathy into completed coursework…