Praise and sanctions

Happy New Year to all!

In August I blogged about some behaviour cards that I had made (see original post here).  I just wanted to update and let you know about how I have adapted them to suit a particularly challenging, quite large, Year 8 bottom set of mainly boys, to whom I am trying to teach French!

In trying to incorporate as much enjoyment as possible, given that many of them do not rate French as one of their priority subjects, I was finding it very hard to strike a balance between fun and structure. Although the majority was enjoying the lessons, there was a hardcore of pupils who was taking advantage and spoiling it for the rest of the class.  I decided to stop the teaching and get back to basics.  I told them how I wasn't happy with how things were progressing and that we needed to re-establish some ground rules.  We went through the rules, after I had rewritten them to make them crystal clear and spent some time working on them.  We discussed sanctions and rewards and it was made perfectly clear what would happen if they messed about and also if they tried hard.  This is what I told them:

The behaviour cards I blogged about before are key to the whole thing.  They are very straight forward and simple.  I also made laminated cards with all their names on.  After a verbal warning, anyone whose behaviour continues to get on my nerves has their name stuck onto the yellow card. So far, this is as far as I have had to go since our 'new start', which I think is testament to how this system has worked.  Names on a yellow card can be removed if the behaviour that got them there improves.  Continued poor behaviour leads to the name being removed from yellow and added to red.  Red is dead, i.e., a withdrawal from lesson and/or a detention if required.  This is accompanied by parents being informed.  On the positive side, if a child has shown that s/he has tried really hard in the lesson, their name is stuck to the green card.  At the end of the lesson, everybody on a green card gets a merit and parents are informed (I use +ClassDojo for doing the class register and for messaging parents).  In addition, one name is selected at random to receive a scratch card (see here for blogpost on scratch cards).  At the same time, I have a teampoints competition, which is ongoing.

I am so happy with how the whole thing is working.  The class as a whole is much more focussed; the conscientious are still conscientious and are getting rewarded; the silly ones are now kept in line and are dealt with if needed, and rewarded like the rest as necessary.  Nobody wants to go on the yellow card, let alone the red; there is real excitement when it is time for the scratch card draw and pupils are genuinely interested in what prizes have been won; parents are informed of successes, which they like and of course, they would also be informed if their child was in need of a kick up the bum.  The whole thing fits into the school merit/detention system and we are still having fun!  It took a lot of effort to set up, but I absolutely recommend taking the time to repaint any boundaries that have faded. It's not too late and is worth every second.

Many thanks to @teachertoolkit, who gave me the idea of the behaviour cards in the first place!

Games, competition and fun, fun, fun!

Hello all!  In MFL we use all sorts of strategies to engage our learners; much of this is centred around games, competition and fun activities - all ways to 'con' our learners to learn!  As an MFL teacher, I was trained to use these types of strategies most of the time, but today it was brought to my attention that perhaps colleagues in other areas might benefit from these types of activities and it doesn't do any harm to be reminded of them too, so below are some common strategies/games we use in MFL to keep the little darlings engaged!

TEAMPOINTS:
This underpins everything.  Everything is about competition.  Every game we play earns the winner teampoints.  You pit one side of the room against the other.  If you are brave enough, you pit the girls against the boys.  You can go for 2 teams or more.  (I like to keep it simple by having 2, but have been know with lower sets to have more due to there being fewer of them and it being easier to handle).  I keep a tally of points on the whiteboard; just a simple cross with A and B at the top works, or you might want them to take ownership and choose their own team names - this could work well if you get them to choose something relevant to the subject they are learning.  It is a brilliant classroom management tool; give points for working hard, being first to hand books out, best group work etc. Also you have the opportunity to take points away for poor behaviour etc.  So what becomes of the points?  I like to start by just letting the winning team from the lesson be the first to leave the room, singing 'Wir haben gewonnen/Nous avons gagné' because I use it as a linguistic opportunity.  Later on, I like to develop a chart of some kind, where the 'wins' are accumulated and the winning team at the end of the half term wins sweets or merits or something.  You can make it cultural, topical etc.  In MFL, we might have the Eiffel Tower to 'climb' - first to the top wins.  You could do anything, really!  They really enjoy it and it makes learning fun.

NOUGHTS AND CROSSES:
Simple but effective, and great for AfL.  Simply put pictures or questions, for example, in a traditional noughts and crosses grid; number the squares and the teams take it in turns to answer the question or say whatever is represented by the picture.  Winning team gets 5 points.

BINGO:
Brilliant game.  You can do a grid or a line.  Put a selection of pictures or facts on the board and give each one a number.  Pupils choose, say, 6 numbers and write them down.  You call out something which links to one of the pictures or facts and if the pupils have the corresponding number, they cross it out.  First to get a line or full house etc wins.

STRIP BINGO (!)
Don't worry, this is not what it sounds like!  Same idea as above, but you give them a strip of paper, divided into six for example.  Pupils write the numbers on in each segment.  When you call out the information linking with something on the board, if the corresponding number is at either end of the paper, they fold it under itself, revealing a new number at the end, until they have folded over all their numbers and you have called out their last one.

BLOCKBUSTERS:
Like the game show, have a grid of hexagons; Click here for an interactive grid I uploaded onto TES. (there must be scope here for some SOLO hexagon work!).  In each hexagon put a letter.  Team A goes from top to bottom and Team B goes from left to right.  When they give you a letter, you ask them a question.  If they get it right, the hexagon is coloured in their team colour.  If they get it wrong, the other team can answer, thus blocking them if they get it right.  It can take quite a while at first and they can get quite competitive, but it is a good way of consolidating work at the end of a topic.

MINI WHITEBOARDS:
These have become invaluable in the MFL classroom.

We like telepathy, where the teacher 'thinks' of something from the topic and writes it down on a mini whiteboard.  The rest of the class has to write down what the teacher is 'thinking' of.  When the answers are revealed, the winners get teampoints!  A great plenary. Another version of telepathy is where you write something down on the mini whiteboard and the pupils take it in turn to guess what you have written, thus recycling what they have learnt previously.  For each wrong answer, you draw one of the components in a hangman gallows.  They have to guess what you have written before you complete the gallows.

Write it once, say it x3:  This is great for recapping and revising key terms, for example (or for MFL  - vocab). In pairs, 1 person has to choose a word and start writing it in the mini whiteboard.  His/her partner has to try and work out what is being written and say it 3 times before they finish writing it.

There are many more whiteboard activities - maybe I will blog about more another time.



The above activities can all be played in small groups too, which makes for smooth transitions and ... more fun!  The main thing is, the pupils are enjoying themselves and are hell bent on winning.  What they don't realise is that you have created these activities to con them into learning - what's not to like!

Please comment below, if you have done a variation of the activities above and you would like to share.

How Lego saved my sanity!

I've blogged about this before, but I felt the need to mention it again as today was one of those days where I was really pleased with myself and it was all down to Lego!

In a Year 10 lesson, in which we were learning how to describe buildings in a town, I gave out Lego bricks instead of teampoints, for effort mainly (That is my 'thing' this year - praising how hard they work and how much effort they put in).  At the end of the lesson, they had to group all the Lego pieces together and today, I asked them to build a 'building' I would recognise.  It is amazing how quietly Year 10 students can work!  The one which looked the best won and they won a sweet.

I also used it in a Year 9 bottom set French lesson, predominantly boys. I wasn't going to, but they specifically asked if we could.  Now, this class has caused me some headaches, I'll admit, although the behaviour cards that I have blogged about have been brilliant in helping, as have the scratch cards, which they are actually scrambling to receive (Again for hard workers).  I only give out 1 per lesson, so it is really special and often I ask for nominations. I have the class on a Wednesday straight after lunch, which means that they are either nice and full and sleepy, or bonkers due to what they have eaten/who they have spent time with at lunch etc etc.  Today, some were bonkers (Well, 1 actually!) and the rest were sleepy.  However, the minute the Lego bricks came out, they were putting their hands up, working well in groups and doing written work well.  I was really happy to see such a big change and it came from them as a request - just goes to show that we need to listen to our pupils; they are really rather helpful!!!  Their topic at the moment is body parts and being ill.  I didn't want to risk asking them to build a body part (!), so I asked for a face.  The winner had a wheel, that actually turned, for a nose.  I couldn't help but choose that one - who doesn't like a spinning nose?!

Lego

I bought some cheap Lego style bricks from a local toy shop and then wondered what I could do with them.  I asked the 'Twitterverse' and it delivered with some brilliant MFL specific ideas, but just this week I have been wondering what kind of team point competition I could run with KS4 and then it came to me in a flash - I could use the bricks as points!  Today, I rewarded individuals' effort, hard work and participation with a brick.  I didn't tell them what was going to happen with them.  At the end of the lesson, I asked each side of the room to work together and pool all their bricks together to build a tower.  The tallest tower won!  Simple!

Talking to a colleague afterwards, we were wondering how this could be developed further and we thought it would be fun to connect their creation at the end of the lesson to the content of the lesson!  For example, if learning about transport, build a car or vehicle!  Obviously best 'creation' would win!  Not sure about the criteria though!

Behaviour and sanctions

Almost a week in and here's an update on 2 systems I have introduced.
'I (don't) like your behaviour' cards - these have worked well so far. I am trying to identify at least 1 person each lesson to go on the green card and I am putting them there for hard work and effort. I have also asked pupils to nominate someone in the class to go on the green card and that worked well.  I have put nobody on the red card, but I have used the yellow. I told them that if they get a red, they're dead!
Scratch cards - fantastic. Really motivating. I use these for anyone who gets a green card. These have gone down really well. Prizes include sweets, merits, lucky dip prizes and badges.
Really happy with these 2 systems - nice and simple!

Class Dojo v Classcharts

I have a Class Dojo account, which is brilliant for individual reward points etc.  You can communicate with parents about how well your pupils have done, you can use it as a register, you can use it on your tablets or PC and its a great motivator.   However, I have had some problems with Class Dojo with my tablet at school (Don't know if its me or Class Dojo. All works fine at home) so I thought I would give Classcharts a go and see which one I like best.  Classcharts is similar to Class Dojo, and you can also create seating plans.  Class Dojo has an app, which is great but Classcharts doesn't, so 1:0 to Class Dojo!!!

I'll keep you posted!

Scratch cards

This is really exciting if you're a geek like me! On Twitter, @dwphotoski tweeted a blog post about making scratch cards for rewards. As brilliant as it was, making really clever scratch off paint out of metallic paint and washing up liquid, it was all a bit fiddly for me, so... I managed to source some scratch off stickers from a company in Northern Ireland on the internet - www.scratchlabels.co.uk
Look at what I made below (more pics on twitter -  @reebekwylie)