September 09, 2013

Classroom Attention Signal

Another important decision to make before the school year begins is what signal will be used to get and hold students’ attention. This signal will help me to transition students from activities, volume levels, and to gain students’ attention to make an announcement. However it is important to keep in mind that this signal should be able to be given from any location and has both auditory and visual components. The attention signal I will use is the clapping, students will listen to how many claps (i.e. clap once if you can hear my voice) and repeat the number show they are ready.

Implementation of the attention signal requires time and patience, yet a crucial part of this management technique. I plan to implement this technique by using interactive modeling to teach my students. First I would demonstrate the behavior with another teacher. I would then have a discussion immediately following the modeling and ask students to point out what they saw and what they heard. Then I would ask several student volunteers to demonstrate the behavior and we will constructively discuss what they did well and what could be improved in a similar manner to before. We will then practice multiple times as a class until we all understand. Additionally, positive praise and corrective feedback will be used as need. Interactive modeling can also be used if students need more practice further into the school year. 

Below is a youtube video that shows what implementation of this attention signal might look like. My suggested implementation plan would be more comprehensive than this video.



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