So, Who Made You the Curriculum?

I hope my title caught your attention.  I was on the bus in Vegas reading madly away (I will have three great resources by next week,) when I found a really great classroom management system in Best Practices for the Inclusive Classroom by Richard T. Boon and Vicky G. Spencer.  Called "Color Wheel Behavior Management."  It reminded me a lot of a system I used years ago in a general education second grade classroom.  If any of my old students are reading, they will remember well  Seymour the Snake.

I observed that all too often we expect students to understand what we, the teacher, are thinking.   You may say that the rules in your classroom include "do not leave your seat without permission," but how often do you let a child get up and sharpen a pencil without permission?  Do you enforce the "do not leave your seat" rule when children are arriving in the classroom--or do you let children put their homework in the "in" basket on your desk without permission?  If you're like most teachers, you do permit some movement, but you expect kids to know when it is appropriate.  What cues do you give?  They are probably physical cues that may be hard to nail down, but they are clear to your neuro-typical students.  Guess what?  That just made YOU the curriculum. 

Children with disabilities often have trouble picking up social cues to know when classroom expectations have changed. Often ADHD is present in our children with learning disabilities, and their minds often race too quickly to attend to the subtle cues offered for when they can or cannot speak.  They often get out of their seat at inappropriate times -- but didn't they just see Rodney, (the little toady) walk to the pencil sharpener without a reprimand?  Unlike Rodney, they never figured out that the teacher permits about 2 minutes of pencil sharpening in the transition between independent reading and math.  Often teachers have a single set of classroom expectations that are explicit, but truly only apply to instructional time, not independent work time or group project time.  It's actually unfair to children with disabilities, especially when a teacher yells at a child for rules that are often way too mutable and seemingly inconsistent.

I first figured that out when I taught second grade.  I realized that young children who are not thoroughly inculcated in the whole "school culture" may not be good at discerning when I need them to be quiet, and when some movement and quiet voices are appropriate.  So, I drew Seymour the Snake on a piece of poster board with the motto "Seymour Says Silence," and hung him on the board.  The rules were simple.  When Seymour was out, you stayed in your seat and did not speak without permission (raising your hand.)  When Seymour was turned toward the board, you could move around the room and talk to your neighbors.  We discussed what was appropriate ways to move and talk when Seymour was not out, and the class was reminded that if they could not handle their freedom appropriately, Seymour would come back out.  Usually, by February, all I needed to do during independent work time was to push my chair out, and the class would become quieter.  By the end of the year Seymour was the most hated creature on the planet, but I was much beloved.

So check out Color Wheel Behavior Management, and see if it doesn't help make classroom cues explicit.  You're also welcome to make a Seymour (or Sonya, or Simon) the Snake of your own, with my blessings!