My Rule #1 (see benslavic.com/resources/poster/classroom rules) says, “Listen with the intent to understand”. There is another one that says, “Sit up…squared shoulders…clear eyes.” And a third that says “Do your 50%” (explained in a link below).
I mean those things. I defend my right to a classroom in which every single child in it does those things. Mine is primarily a listening class and those rules are sacred in my classroom.
I have worked too hard to have those rules ignored by some unconscious teenager who doesn’t yet grasp the value, the gold, he is being given through my hard work in learning how to teach using comprehensible input. Teachers who fail to confront, first personally, then via parents, then via administration, those few kids who don’t sit down with appreciation to the meal I set for them every day , deserve what they get if they don’t confront them.
John Piazza wrote about having a script to communicate with parents at parents night. Once the parents understand how we teach and why we teach this way, I would also suggest explaining those rules with the parents and administration because they are the iron fists that make the method work.
Although I often use the actual English words when I enforce the “Sit up…squared shoulders…clear eyes” rule, the others I enforce with silence via the laser pointer. I avoid saying them verbally when I need to call a child’s attention to them. How?
I simply stop teaching and stand there, waiting for the wayward dreamer to pull his head out of his gaze out the window, or his notebook where I know he is not focuses on taking notes, or reading something else, or, most egregiously, messing with an electronic device, which requires immediate collection of the item without exception from the first day.
I just stand there. Once the kid figures out that I have stopped class for her, and as the discomfort builds, I smile and laser point to the rules. I may walk over to the child if necessary. That is how I get the kids in line from the beginning – with loving intimidation and silence.
Links:
https://benslavic.com/blog/2011/06/05/10310/
https://benslavic.com/blog/2010/11/13/the-doodling-thing/