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Grade: Elementary
Subject: other
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I Can Manage Myself Club - ICMM Club
http://www.geocities.com/icmmclubs/ICMMClubs.htm<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
OUR SCHOOL'S UPPER ELEMENTARY
ICMM CLUBHi, ICMM members!
That's right! You will start this year as members of the ICMM Club. What is ICMM? The letters stand for "I Can Manage Myself." I know that you will do a fabulous job of managing yourselves and will earn all the privileges that belong only to ICMM members. How do you stay a member? It's easy! You must follow the school rules and classroom procedures. That's all there is to it!
CLASSROOM PROCEDURES (created and agreed upon by our class)
1. Follow the 3 Be's - Be kind, Be respectful, Be responsible.
2. Be respectful by being kind to others, having good manners, and being responsible as discussed in class.
3. During instructional times, stop look and listen to whoever "has the floor," no talking or interrupting, and raise your hand to be called upon before speaking.
4. During test and study times, stay at your desk unless given permission and follow all other quiet time procedures as discussed in class.If you Break the Class Procedures or School Rules, Here's What Happens . . .
1. Warning! First Check: Your teacher will always clarify the classroom procedure that was overlooked.
2. Second Check: Your ICMM card will be taken and at your teacher's discretion you could forfeit some of your recess in order to have a "time-out" reflection period. If improvement before your next recess would not have occurred, some of your recess would be allocated for a "time-out" period when you will either fill out an "ICMM MANAGEMENT REPORT" or a "Personal Observation Sheet" or will complete another reflection assignment given to you by your teacher. When a note from your teacher or an "ICMM MANAGEMENT REPORT" is sent home it needs to be signed by your parent or guardian and returned. When the note is signed and returned your ICMM card will be returned and your ICMM Club privileges and regular recess periods will resume. If the disruptive behavior continues, your teacher will call your parent or guardian.
3. If your ICMM card is taken after recess, you could lose some or all of the following day's recess.
4. You will be sent immediately to the office for serious offenses such as aggressive behavior and stealing.Club Card Privileges
1. During non-instruction time you will have "out of your seat" freedom. Without the teacher's full time supervision you may quietly sharpen your pencil, turn in your work as you complete it, get a drink of water from the classroom fountain, visit the library, get up from your seat to throw away trash, etc. . .
2. If you haven't lost your ICMM card during each two-week period of time, then you get to attend the Free Friday Recess!
Note: In some instances, students who have lost their ICMM card during the previous two-week period MAY be able to "earn back" their Free Friday Recess. This decision will be determined by the teacher and will depend on a variety of factors that will be discussed privately with the student involved.Non-Member Restrictions
1. You must remain at your desk at all times unless your teacher's permission is given for you to get up. You must ask your teacher's special permission for our normal everyday privileges like reading in the loft or couch area when you've finished your work, sharpening your pencil away from your desk, turning in your work, getting a drink of water, visiting the library, throwing away your trash, etc. . .
2. You could forfeit some recess time in order to have a "time-out" reflection period and/or during our Free Friday Recess you will have a study hall period or could have a "time- out" refection period.
3. Your parents may be called depending on the severity of the rule or procedure broken, and whether or not you have a habit of breaking the school rules or class procedures.
4. You may lose the privilege of attending field trips or other activities.Parent Signature _________________________
Student Signature _________________________
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The following is a synopsis of the most effective ICMM Club procedures that our elementary classes have used:Within the first few days after implementing this strategy, most lower elementary classes will usually drastically improve from having as many as 30 to 60 chaotic disturbances a day to having 10 to 30 quiet voice disturbances and eventually to 3 to 10 quiet voice disturbances as the year progresses. The key to improvements at our school has been to have high expectations of good manners and proper classroom behavior, be persistent by keeping an ongoing reminder- tally on the teacher's clipboard to hold each student accountable for every disruption during instruction and study times, and most importantly when correcting a misbehavior our teachers always strive to remain empathetic, calm, and kind towards the "forgetful", ADD, or special needs child.
The primary motivator for students to correct their disruptive behavior occurs when, in the teacher's opinion, a "time- out" reflection period at recess "might" be needed, and then their laminated ICMM Club card would be calmly removed from their desk's card- pouch and placed on the teacher's desk. The children will then 'usually' restrain themselves to their utmost since they know they are being given a final opportunity to correct themselves before recess time. Nearly blameless behavior before recess will allow a teacher to return the card and forgive a "time- out" reflection period at recess for that day -- as an incentive for the child that was doing- their- best to continue to improve on their behavior. If a ICMM card had been removed after the recess period of the previous day and was not returned at the end of that day, then the child will oftentimes be reminded at the start of the next day -- as an encouragement for them to maintain their best behavior that day so that they might soon regain their ICMM Club privileges.
Usually always prior to mandating a reflection "time- out" period at recess, the disruptors with the greatest tallies are pulled aside, are empathetically reminded of their "forgetfulness", and are told how many minutes of "time- out" time during recess they had justly "earned" that day, so that they could reflect on how they could improve on their behavior. A note of who and how long is written and given to the disruptor with the lowest or highest tally which is then given to the recess duty teacher. At the beginning of the year for each tallied disruption the kids in first grade are usually awarded one minute of "time- out" reflection time at recess sitting next to the building, two in second, four in third, five in fourth, five to ten in fifth, and five to fifteen minutes from our sixth grace teachers.
At the beginning of the year in our upper elementary grades, the procedure is to remove ICMM cards after three strikes (i.e. three classroom disturbances that required the teacher's corrective attention). As the year progresses most teachers have tightened their procedures by removing an ICMM card after only one disturbance in a day and eventually one disturbance in a week.
For the lower elementary grades, an accurate and unbiased tally of the day's corrected- disturbances is kept on a clipboard- seating- chart whenever it is convenient for the teacher to mark it. Also, at an opportune time when a teacher feels it would become helpful to their classroom's behavior, the children with the greatest number of disruptions would then begin to have their card(s) calmly removed from their desk's card- pouch and placed on the teacher's desk. A shh and/or a quick look at a child is all that is needed for a child to know they had forgotten to follow classroom procedures, and had taken time away from their neighbor's study time at school.
Most teachers also use rewards that don't include foods for those students who are obviously trying their best to restrain their impulses to misbehave. Teachers give approximately 15 dinosaur dollars (or tickets) a week to each student. Oftentimes a teacher has given the "forgetful", ADD, or special needs child additional tickets for "trying- their- best" even though they had also earned recess time outs that day; so that these children would always feel encouraged and loved in spite of their difficulties with restraining their impulses to chat, seek attention etc. We also reward all the other kids for doing their best as well so that the kids that do exceptional all week will have gained another 5 to 10 tickets to their weekly allotment of 15. Since we always use the reward tickets as an opportunity to encourage the kids rather than to spoil them, approximately ten dinosaur dollars would buy a pencil. For every check mark accumulated on their teacher's clipboard tally, a dinosaur dollar is forfeited. As an ICMM Club member would have free time, they may turn in their dollars for items in the reward box. A reward box is usually stocked with pencils, grading pencils, erasers, colored chalk, silent pencil sharpeners and a few toys that they must take home like block puzzles, card games, etc. Some teachers have parents participate by allowing them to contribute rewards to the reward box. For some this is also an opportunity to send a note home saying that since a few parents don't want their children eating candy as a "reward", all candy contributions would need to be sent back home. Some teachers have held an auction whenever some of the parent's more expensive contributions were left over at the end of the year.
For upper elementary grades the "time-out" reflection period would also be used for the children to use a pencil and clipboard to (1) comment on their behavior on an "ICMM MANAGEMENT REPORT" or to (2) write out a "Personal Observation Sheet" that would explain their difficulties that day or to (3) complete a reflection "time- out" assignment given them by their teacher. If "time- out" reflection periods at recess would be unsuccessful in improving a child's behavior, the note(s) written during recess might eventually be sent home one evening so that a child's guardians could help in the process. A Xeroxed note is usually included that empathetically requests a guardian to discuss with their child how they might be able to improve on their disruptive behavior for the benefit of the whole class. The note always requests that their guardian sign it before it is returned to their teacher the next morning. Within the Xeroxed note the teacher's phone number and planning period times are oftentimes listed, and oftentimes a request for the guardian's phone number and a time to possibly follow up the next day is included.
When a note must be sent home, it has sometimes been helpful to send home the tally sheet of everyone's classroom disruptions for the day or the week that ultimately prompted a teacher to send the note home. The tally is sent home in order to clarify that the teacher is being totally unbiased in how they're working to maximize their class's learning times. We've learned that most oftentimes the kids totally distort what is occurring in class. So that when a teacher finally talks to a parent they have become convinced that their child has been yelled at or been singled out for mistreatment from the start of the school year. Whenever the tally has been sent home it lists anonymous student numbers, and/or shows the class's tally within an un-named seating chart.
The music and art and duty teachers have also used this system when they've kept an unbiased tally of everyone's disruptions in their class that day, which is then given to their teacher via the line leader or a class monitor.
These same seating chart tally methods are also used by substitutes and are left for the teacher with their note for the day. Substitutes are encouraged to remove an ICMM Card whenever a child has accumulated three strikes. Also, they are encouraged to have a short empathetic conference with the child before recess, after which they are to have the child write out a "Personal Observation Sheet" and give it to the recess duty teacher for safe keeping until their recess is over and it would be given back to the substitute. The substitute teachers are also asked to never send any notes home, but to leave this task for the regular teacher since they should know the parents personally. For any rude or continually disruptive behavior with substitutes, a child can be passed onto another teacher on the grade team. If a child 'touches' another child in a bullying way, these bullies are oftentimes assigned to a lower grade classroom that day where they can do their day's work under the tacit supervision of a teaching assistant in the lower grade classroom. The lesson learned with this tactic is that bullying isn't a mature thing to do but is an immature thing to do.
Also, our teachers have various ways of letting the kids know what type of talking period they are in at any particular time. Some use a green, yellow, and red light poster; but so that substitutes can more easily duplicate my normal programming, I prefer to have a poster with the following instructions and a happy face "marker":
Our Class Procedures:1) Follow 3 Be's. [Be Kind, Be Respectful, and Be Responsible.]
2) Follow the Quiet Study Time that is marked:______ Super Quiet Time
- Instruction, tests, and independent study times.
- (For independent study times sign language or passing a "tutoring- note" is OK.)______ Whisper Quiet Time
- When I allow emergency tutoring.
- (You can't feel your throat's Adams apple move when "whispering".)______ Quiet Tutoring (1 foot voice)
- When I allow tutoring above a whisper to your immediate neighbor.
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______ Quiet Discussion Tutoring (2 foot voice)
- When I allow tutoring above a whisper to more than one of your immediate neighbors.
Additional class procedures that are listed in my substitute folder I give below.Everyone has agreed to all of the following class procedures at the beginning of the year. Everyone understands that good procedures are necessary for everyone to have as little schoolwork as possible to take home each evening and for everyone to make the most of their time at school.
1. When I need to begin instruction I will ask for everyone to "give me three". If any student speaks out after "Class give me three" . . . "one stop, two look, three listen"; they were "disruptive" and will ultimately receive a mark on my clipboard tally sheet.
2. Everyone will raise their hand and be called upon before speaking out.
3. Everyone will ask for permission before leaving their desk; except for one at a time at the tissue box, or for an "emergency", or whenever the class monitors have been given permission to take up papers and get supplies for their group.
4. When I'm working at my desk and had not noticed a hand held high for ten seconds, one student at a time would have permission to come to my desk to ask a question.
5. Only silent pencil sharpeners should be used during super quiet times. Sometimes I "loan" out my spare pencils until I have time to sharpen or after asking permission I will let one at a time use my silent pencil sharpeners whenever a pencil's lead is worn down nearly to the wood.
6. I have a sign out sheet for one at a time going to the restroom during our "study- times" or during others times if a student has a medical type emergency. Substitutes are asked to note all "emergencies" on the sign out sheet.
7. For the students who finish their work at least ten minutes before the next schedule change I will let as many as three at a time fill out a library pass with the return time to be in seven minutes. Whenever some have not returned in ten minutes I might give at least one tally mark on my clipboard since these 'likely' cut into a classmate's library/study time.Note to substitutes. -> I use fairly precise tallies of disruptions for conduct grades, rewards, and to keep a child on track via corrective actions when they'd first begin to take advantage of any visitor substitutes. Your help in this matter while I am gone would be appreciated.
Words of Wisdom:
Whenever a teacher loses their poise in order to correct an individual's poor classroom behavior, sometimes the student will only remember the teacher's behavior rather than considering their own.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Every year we've noticed that with a few minutes of recess "reflection- time- outs" next to the building for our lower elementary children, or for our upper elementary children writing a note to their guardian(s), our kids have improved very dramatically within the first few days of the year; and then will continue their stellar behavior throughout the year unless a wall of disrespect had occurred between a child and their teacher. In the very very rare occasion that this might occur, when a child ceased to improve on their behavior throughout the year, then teachers will usually have a meeting where they discuss the possibility of an exchange of these more forgetful students. This exchange could likely occur at mid-year, but can also occur earlier whenever their teachers and principal agree on the exchange.
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Personal Observation SheetName: _______________________________
Date:________
1. What did you do that was disruptive of the class procedures?
2. When you did that, what did you want?
3. List two (2) to four (4) things you could have done instead.1)
4. What will you do next time?
The effectiveness of using a form such as this is discussed in the book by Marvin Marshall; "Discipline Without Stress Punishments or Rewards : How Teachers and Parents Promote Responsibility & Learning"; pg 101-107 of 350 pages; Piper Press; (February 1, 2001).
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ICMM MANAGEMENT REPORTDate: ________
Dear Parent:
_______________________ had difficulty today with class/school rules of being responsible and/or respectful. The following categories apply:
____ 1. Turned in late work: ________________________________________
____ 2. Has late work that has not been turned in: _______________________
____ 3. Talking at inappropriate times.
____ 4. Interrupting while others are talking.
____ 5. Following directions.
____ 6. Not listening.
____ 7. Other: ___________________________________________________
COMMENTS:
In order to regain ICMM membership, he/she must return this note with a parent signature tomorrow.
PARENT SIGNATURE: ____________________________
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