My First Teaching Evaluation
When I taught kindergarten, I used to ring my little teacher bell every time I wanted my kids to change centers (one ding), clean up (two dings), or whatever. It was a quick way to let my kids know what I wanted them to do without yelling over them, and it made me look all in charge and awesome. Well, during my teacher evaluation I LOST my freakin’ bell. Seriously, I spent like fifteen minutes of the eval looking for the stupid thing and never found it.
Well, I wanted so badly to show off my rockin’ bell system that I actually ended up making “bong” sounds to try and get my kids to do their stuff. Of course it didn’t work. Instead, it was more like I just stood up in the front of the room like a crazy moron going, “Bong! Bong!” over and over again while my students just stared. They were used to me doing random weird things, because I’m ME for crying out loud, but they were not cool with my “bonging.”
Thank goodness the principal offered me a redo.
There was no way I was letting that little bell incident happen again, so I went on the search for something I could wear on my snazzy teacher lanyard that would accomplish the same thing as the bell did.
I searched and searched… then, when I was at the pet store–I found a dog clicker for 99 cents! It even had a keychain attachment and everything! So, what did I do?
After covering up the PetSmart logo with a snazzy sticker, I trained 22 five-year-olds to accomplish small tasks with a dog clicker.
Heck yeah, that’s what I did.
**For those of you wondering, I kicked that second evaluation’s booty. 🙂
I sooo need to try this on MY 5yo. she just started kindergarten and is out of control. haha!
99cents — can’t hurt to try!
love the post 🙂
Hee hee! I love that. It just shows how creative you are! =D
Awe.some.
Love it! We have one of the ones that the police were giving out at the fair. My kids love it, but it’s not on a key ring. Maybe I could train my children to clean their room with it.
Heh-heh. Wonder if it would work as well on husbands? They’re a bit like toddlers most of the time.
“I trained 22 five-year-olds to accomplish small tasks with a dog clicker.”
I’m laughing out loud here, and you put a smile on my face to start the day. 🙂
LOL! That is flat out awesome!
Haha! And much more PC than a shock collar 🙂
@Sherrie Petersen, ohhh why didn’t I think of a shock collar. 🙂 KIDDING!
This is PHENOMENAL. I love it for so many reasons, on so many levels. I employed many “puppy training tricks” on my daughter (she’s only 3, we still get to use them a while yet) and they are heaven sent. Really, small children and small animals aren’t that different…
Also, one of the smartest, brightest friends I have says “like” every 20 seconds. If it makes you feel any better 😉
@Melissa, hehe it’s SO true… puppies, toddlers, it’s all the same 🙂
Haha! That’s the best thing ever! And THAT’s why you get an award on my blog. 😉
Like *click* I can’t help it but I’m like *click* ROFLMAO! *click-click*
@Flowersbyfarha, HAHA I would be THE most annoying person EVER!!
@Jamie,
Now, if you have 2 clickers, you could get really musical with them. 🙂
@Flowersbyfarha, man, this just gets more and more fun. Maybe a mariachi band will invite me in. I have always wanted to be in a mariachi band.
@Jamie Harrington,
Hey! That’s and idea. For art project, the kids could make shakers of some sort. (I’ve seen tutorials for papier-mache light bulbs, but toilet paper and paper towel cores partly filled with rice, beans, or whatever (different contents, different sounds, pitches,…) then you can coordinate the clicks with how many shakes or patterns. Have them coordinate walking with the shaking. Lots of good curriculum content, exercise and fun! *click!*
Haha! I love that you trained kids using a dog clicker! Hey, whatever works…
@Talli Roland, heh, I wonder if their parents knew 🙂