Celebrate success! CCBA . . . Catch Children Being Amazing!

Teachers have regular opportunities to observe classroom behavior. Bad behavior can be disruptive, of course. However, when we focus on our students’ successes and describe the great things they are doing, we can create a positive classroom culture that minimizes bad behavior. Chuck and I call this strategy CCBA — Catch Children Being Amazing!

Here’s what to do when you catch a child being amazing:

1. Refer to the student by name.

2. Name the task that the student is doing.

3. Describe the behavior that you want other students to notice and imitate.

For example:

I see that Natalia and Carlos have opened their books and are already writing their stories.

I see Mariko making a big ‘M’ using her whole body. At first she made a small ‘m’ with her fingers, but now she thought of another idea.

I can hear Jiwoo singing all of the words to our song. She is pointing to the picture cards, too.

Students work harder when they know that their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. Celebrate your class successes with this chant. Songs and chants help build a positive classroom atmosphere. This celebration chant really builds team spirit!

We Did It!

(from Magic Time, by Kathleen Kampa and Charles Vilina, © Oxford University Press 2012)

We did it! We did it! We did it today!

We did it! We did it! Hip, hip hooray!

Melody Roll Call!

When we begin a new English class with a group of young learners, we want to guide them toward the following goals from the very beginning:

1. We want students to get to know everyone’s names.

2. We want students to develop the confidence to respond independently.

3. We want students to respond as a group.

4. We want students to become comfortable with singing in class.

Fortunately, we can achieve all of these goals by beginning each class with a melody roll call. It’s so catchy, students will learn it by the second week and expect it by the third. It requires the simplest of melodies: Sol – Mi – Sol – Mi and Sol – Mi – Do

Teacher: Where is Mariko? (Sol – Mi – Sol – Mi)

Mariko: Here I am! (Sol – Mi – Sol – Mi)

If a student is absent, then the entire class chimes in!

Teacher: Where is Kenta? (Sol – Mi – Sol – Mi)

Class: I don’t know! (Sol – Mi – Do)

Our students love beginning each class with this activity. It also demonstrates the power of music in supporting pronunciation — within one month every student is articulating the words (including the contraction don’t) with native precision. Try it tomorrow, even if your class has been together for a while!