Classroom Management

Wilson McCaskill

Play is the way!

https://www.playistheway.com.au 

Bluff Primary (my 3rd year - final posting) follows a restorative practise in behaviour management. Wilson McCaskill's programme allowed Bluff to follow this vision. 

Instead of having rules we followed statements that a student can strive to attain such as "treat others the way that we want to be treated".

Every morning in our Year one and two class we started the day with an arsenal of games that allow students to learning skills interpersonal skills and team work skills - an awesome way to start the day!

Another value of the schools behaviour system is to treat an undesired behaviour as a moment in time. If need the student will have time out and they are asked closed answered questions "are you having a strong or a weak moment?". This process is all about allowing the student to be calm and not push them into a corner.
Bluff was an amazing posting and it turned my perceptions of classroom management on its head! For the better :)

Positive Reinforcement 

Dojo

During one of my second year postings at Invercargill Middle School I was introduced to the programme called Dojo. ( https://www.classdojo.com ) I really liked this programme as it allows for technology to be used in the classroom for positive reinforcement. My associate Ms. Neilson used this programme to award good behaviours in the classroom. Once students gathered a number of points they could used these to swap for a reward. The great things about these rewards is that most of these were free - things like editing their dojo picture, having the teachers chair for the day. The programme can also create reports to how often a child is noticed to be doing a good behaviour - great for a reflective teacher and even report time!