A technique my cooperating teacher uses is what she calls “waiting fingers.” When the class isn’t paying attention to what she is saying she puts her hands palms up and wiggles her fingers. When students notice she is doing this they mimic her until more students catch on and eventually the class is back on track.
I think this is a great classroom management tool. It can usually bring the class back to focusing on the teacher within less than a minute. When one student notices and contributes to the waiting fingers it provides motivation for more students to do the same. I don’t think students want to be the last one participating in waiting fingers. I would use this in my classroom or something similar. I think it’s effective and easy to implement.
Wow, I had never seen anything like this! It seems like it would be a fun simple tool to use to get the students attention. It is probably more effective than using some sort of talking or clapping tool. I think I will try to incorporate this in my future classroom.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a very helpful tool in your classroom! My co-teacher also has a lot of classroom management tools such as singing to the class "Are you ready" and the class will sing back "Yes, I'm ready". There are many simple techniques that can be extremely helpful in a classroom!
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