Recently, I saw a posting on the ProTeacher group, in which a teacher shared a great process for helping young children learn to stay in line while walking.
Firstly the students were taught four procedures for how to walk appropriately in the school:
- Stand directly behind the person in front of you.
- Face your body forward.
- Hands stay down at sides.
- We walk quietly in the hall, without talking.
Then the teacher shared an effective and silent procedure that she uses to help students live up to these expectations. If a problem occurs as they are moving from place to place in the school, she stops the line and wiggles four fingers above her head. The class remains stopped until the problem is fixed.
As with any procedure, the effectiveness lies not in the particular procedure itself, but rather in the consistency with which the teacher practices it and expects it to be upheld.
