Miss Art of Teaching

How do you protect your teacher's voice? Here are a few strategies that I use in my classroom: NOISE CARDS I designed this system to encourage my classes to monitor their noise level. Every time the class gets noisy, I flip a letter. They need to be quiet for a set amount of time depending on the penalty that is shown behind the card (E:1 min, S: 2 mins, I: 4 mins, O: 8 mins and N:16 mins). You can carry out the penalty during class time and since the first few cards carry only a few minutes weight, it should not slow down your lesson.  I find that I can utilise the 'quiet' period to give out instructions or to give a demonstration. Students usually start monitoring their noise level when a few cards have been flipped. I have shared this system with a few teachers, and some of them warn students about detentions if the letters 'N' and 'O' are left on the board. If all five letters remain unflipped then students will receive 5 Vivos (whole school virtu...

The first day back was SUPER busy... The day started off with three new Year 7 enrolments. I greeted them among trying to photocopy resources for my five-period day and my attempts at moving all the things into my classroom that I have been stealing from home. I provided the new students with their school diary, assessment booklets, uniform information, fee information sheet, mobile phone policy ALL before school even started. I also managed to assign the students into classes. Instead of having period 1, there was a formal Anzac Day service. The History teachers and Student Leaders directed the ceremony. They did a fantastic job even down to the finer details - red handmade poppies on skewers. I was happy to see my students again. They were quite eager to share their holiday stories. I had to use my 'NOISE' strategy to quiet down my first class. It worked tremendously well after flipping through two letters. Link to 'NOISE' ...

With the permission of my talented friend who made me a journal from scratch, I changed the front and back cover of the journal to suit my personality. I think I am falling in love with scrapbooking. I love the DIY factor. I simply used watered down PVA glue to attach the designs onto the journal. I changed the journal cover while my Year 7 students were quietly working on their self-portraits mixed media artwork. I love how my 4 x Year 7 classes have dramatically changed from being 'noisy' to now working quietly. They can monitor their voices due to the 'NOISE' signs that I made. I also have a student who is the 'shh-sha'. The shh-sha reminds students of the correct voice level if it is louder than usual. The NOISE sign works by flipping each letter (starting from E).  When letters are flipped, there are minutes written on the other side (E= 1 min, S = 2 min, I = 4 mins, S = 8 mins and E = 16 mins). The class needs to remain quiet for the entire duration. ...

I remember primary school teachers using the letters that make up 'noise' to quiet chatty students down. I have modify this method a tiny bit... So every time the class is noisy, I flip 1 letter. Behind each letter there are minutes. They need to be quiet. Otherwise I flip the next letter and it doubles up. I may give initial warnings before starting straight on 'e'. If they are perfect during the lesson they get 5 virtual Vivo points. Every time they are noisy they loose 1 letter = 1 less Vivo point. It works really well with my new kitchen clock timer and my chime. Every time I hit the chime softly they will know that a letter is flipped. And I'll use Velcro to hold it up on my whiteboard. Velcro will be on both sides. I just need to laminate the letters to prolong their life against my whiteboard. I'm not a punisher but the noise at times gets loud and I need to address this sooner rather than later. I love my students and they know that. This y...