Thank you SO VERY MUCH for taking the time to post the
content below, TN.

Everything you posted below has me feeling hopeful. The
actions below are sensible, in my control, don't involve
admin, inexpensive, and student-centric, "manage" themselves
as routines, etc. I really, really appreciate your help . .
. I can't tell you.

It is really challenging (painful, actually) to love
teaching and students and my subject matter, but have
trouble keeping the few off-task students from changing the
whole culture of the classroom over time.

Perhaps at the 8th grade level the last person with the
apple can stay after class for a few minutes. And, perhaps
if the apple gets passed around too much (say, 10 times),
then the consequence will be to have the entire class stay
back. (I can inform them that with 10 apple passes, that
amounts to a significant amount of learning time having been
lost. Consequently, the time is being regained.)

On 6/22/09, TN wrote:
> Some of these ideas may not work for you since I teach
> 4th. The best thing
> that I have found to help maintain classroom management
> is proximity. My classroom is arranged so that I can
> walk in front of or behind eveyone in the class. I am
> always walking around my room so that I am in close
> contact with everyone. This also allows me to check
> their work constantly and hopefully catch any
> misunderstandings as we go.
>
> I also like to let my kids move whenever possible. I
> use whiteboards a lot and have them hold their answers
> over their head so that I can see their answers. This
> gives me fewer papers to grade and I can instantly see
> who is having difficulties. Sometime if we are checking
> multiple choice, I'll assign each corner of my room a
> letter and they take their paper with them to the
> corner of the room that goes with their answer. They
> have to show their paper to someone close to them to
> prove that they really picked that answer and are not
> just following the crowd. I then explain the correct
> answer and why the other answers weren't correct. Again
> this helps me to quickly see who is having difficulties
> and will need more help.
>
> Some of my children like to stand as they work. I don't
> have a problem with this as long as they are not
> disturbing anyone around them. I have several places in
> the back of my room where the people who like to stand
> can go and work. These places are also available for
> the people who like to work by themselves. I do have to
> keep an eye on certain areas to keep people from
> gathering and talking when they should be working.
>
> This last idea probably won't work for your grade, but
> it works great in the lower grades. I have a wooden
> apple that someone gave me several years back that I
> use to help with the little things (talking, not
> sharing, etc.). Whenever someone does something that I
> have asked them not to they get the apple. This means
> that they will owe me 5 minutes of their recess time.
> However, if someone else breaks a rule they get the
> apple and the first person is off the hook and does not
> owe me anything. It's kind of like playing hot potato.
> Whoever is the last person to have the apple when we go
> to recess is the only person who will owe the 5
> minutes. This is easy to keep track of and I have found
> it does wonders for keeping those minor distruptions
> under control. Whenever my class starts to get out of
> control I just mention the apple and they quickly calm
> down.
>
> I hope some of this will be useful to you. Let me know
> if something didn't make sense.
>
> TN

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