Do you have a vision for your classroom? I’ll bet you do, even if you’ve never put it into writing. And it’s quite possible you have a slogan, at least a school-wide one. I find both of these to be quite helpful in establishing behavior expectations and then teaching students how to take ownership for their learning.
Theoretically, a vision should be generated together with all stakeholders. It is difficult enough, however, to explain to kindergartners what a vision is, let alone expect them to effectively participate in developing one for the classroom. I have put together a vision that is straightforward enough for five-year-olds to understand and that has worked well for the past several years:
We want a friendly and safe and clean classroom where we can learn and have fun.
I don’t introduce our classroom vision until we are a few weeks into the school year. It sounds like it would be a great first day activity, but I want to do it when the children are better able to listen and comprehend what I am saying. For the first few days, they have no idea what my role is, that I am in charge, or that they are supposed to listen to me. They don’t yet know that every single thing I say is very important. The vision is displayed in the classroom and the keywords—friendly, safe, clean, learn, have fun—are underlined to help the students remember what the vision is all about.
We practice saying the vision together, in phrases. I teach the students to put up one, two, three fingers on one hand for the important words friendly, safe, and clean and one, two fingers on the other hand for learn and have fun. Further into the school year, the students take turns trying to say the vision by themselves, using their fingers as a scaffold. Of course, each time we talk about the vision, we talk about why we would want this type of classroom and how we make it happen. As time goes on, the balance shifts from me answering these questions to the students doing most of the talking. With our social-emotional learning, they learn concepts and vocabulary that support their ability to do this. Kindergartners—bless this age—will take a vision such as this to heart and try to uphold it.
Our classroom—and school—slogan is ROARing to GROW. Our school started off years ago with ROAR as part of the Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) program. Our ROAR acronym stands for respect, on task, always safe, and responsible. The proactive teaching of and continued focus on these four words/phrases helps students of all ages at our school be quite successful with their behavior in all parts of the campus—classroom, cafeteria, playground, gym, etc.
Because I teach kindergarten, I introduce these concepts slowly and one at a time in ways that kindergartners understand. Respect basically means be nice; on task means do what you’re supposed to be doing; always safe means follow the rules and keep your body under control; and, responsible means take care of your things, such as your backpack, your jacket, and your library book. These are all excellent skills to teach in kindergarten and I would teach them whether this was our school-wide slogan or not. It is a bonus that my students hear other adults using the same language and expectations throughout the building.
A few years after the implementation of ROAR, when we added in training on growth mindset and goal setting at our school, we added the GROW acronym and our slogan became ROARing to GROW. Whereas ROAR addresses student behaviors, GROW focuses on what’s possible when positive behaviors are in place—setting goals and taking ownership for your learning. GROW stands for grit, reach for your goals, ownership, and words of success. The slogan ROARing to GROW implies that positive behaviors are the foundation of academic growth, which is entirely true.
The words/phrases of GROW have proven quite powerful, even (or dare I say especially?) with kindergartners. Persisting is something we learn about during our social-emotional time and my students learn quickly that they already understand what grit is—persistence—when it is introduced to them. With goalsetting, we start with a class-wide goal, and once students understand what it means to reach for the goal and try to meet it, we move into individual goals. Having goals is a huge part of my kindergartners’ learning their word lists, the progress they make in writing, and how many number lists and charts they learn in math. Reaching for goals leads naturally into taking ownership of one’s learning. You wouldn’t believe how quickly five-year-olds understand the concept of ownership and how mightily they take it to heart. The last letter of GROW, the w for words of success, stems from having a growth mindset and involves teaching students how to use positive self talk.
ROARing to GROW
Respect, On task, Always safe, Responsible
Grit, Reach for your goals, Ownership, Words of success
If you do not have a classroom vision or slogan, you might consider trying one or both. I find them to be highly effective in teaching behaviors and ownership of behavior and improving academic achievement. And, I only spend a few minutes each week explicitly teaching these concepts as they then become a part of our regular vocabulary and classroom culture.
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