I've blogged about my desire to sound less like Charlie Brown's teacher before. As part of that, I am using sounds to signal transitions. I squeak my little squid when the kids have 2 minutes left to check out books. I blow my train whistle when it is time to line up to leave. I use the noise maker to get the class quiet. I no longer have to screech and yell and repeat my self 900 times! It is like Pavlov and his dog. I make a noise and they move! It. Is. Awesome.
Seriously ... so how did you introduce it? If you say it was as simple as telling every class I might flip. I'l home today--finally went to the doctor after battling with what he says is bronchitis for three weeks. I swear, every day I want to KICK THE ARCHITECT WHO DESIGNED OPEN CONCEPT ANYTHING in the shins. No walls in our library and I'm always having to raise my voice just to be heard (and feel like a library dragon every time I have to stop a lesson and go get the attention of a loud class in the hallway to ask them to pipe down). Had a staff meeting Wednesday afternoon. I was sitting at a table to the side trying to listen to a super interesting testing diatribe and the after school program was making noise down the hall and I was thinking ... "Is this what the kids go through ever time we have a lesson? Is it this hard for them to concentrate on anything I say?" Of course, not feeling well wasn't helping. I tried a bell one year but either I didn't introduce it well enough or wasn't consistent enough or what because it never seemed to work. Different kids this time round, though. Will have to try it.
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