tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post4241212071752777030..comments2024-03-25T18:30:16.490-04:00Comments on Organized Chaos: Teacher Tuesday: Color-Coding RevisitedElizabeth Caldwellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12042281726294433770noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-13659101861534975512019-07-18T06:38:13.596-04:002019-07-18T06:38:13.596-04:00I used to change seats once or twice a year but si...I used to change seats once or twice a year but since I don't anymore- they stay in the same seats all year (with a few exceptions for specific individuals, of course). I find that because they don't come to music that often it's not as monotonous as I think it is, and when the occasional student complains about never changing seats it's usually just them wanting to be next to a different person or something in that moment and they get over it, especially when I explain that it would mess up the classroom jobs that I use with the teams. Because the colors are so embedded in the routines of my classroom it makes sense to keep them the same all year. Elizabeth Caldwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042281726294433770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-74381092899488329512019-07-17T17:16:16.091-04:002019-07-17T17:16:16.091-04:00Color coding in regards to seating and teams: is t...Color coding in regards to seating and teams: is the student on the same color team the entire year? I typically change my seating arrangements about once a quarter---but was wondering how this came into play for you if students are on certain teams. I wasn't sure how this would work if I am changing seating at least 4 or more times a year. thanks for the great tips! kymbrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02288824152251753744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-75806462602748630232017-08-01T09:27:26.162-04:002017-08-01T09:27:26.162-04:00I would encourage you to use it more with the olde...I would encourage you to use it more with the older grades than anyone, actually! The team aspect really works with middle school age. Just split each class up into 6 color teams. It would be cool to eventually include the band/choir kids, but there's no reason you need to. If you're passing out supplies or something that is organized by color group, you can just say, "flutes grab the red ones" etc. It's an easy way to make anything into a friendly competition, even if you're just giving an observational comment like "oh the red team is really sitting with great posture before I even said anything", or if you're doing a theory game keep track of points for each team and/or make it a race! Elizabeth Caldwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042281726294433770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-47358162446068463202017-07-28T01:32:34.745-04:002017-07-28T01:32:34.745-04:00Question- I am starting a new school this fall, K-...Question- I am starting a new school this fall, K-8. I would probably only use this for my K-6 classes, but I am not the only music teacher at the school. I probably have only half of the students, the band teacher takes the other half and teaches band while I teach choir. I don't think I could make this work on an all school level at this point, but I would like to use it! What do you do for individual reinforcement? Does rewarding points for the color groups do enough? My schedule is all over the place, and my class sizes vary considerably (from as low as 14 to as high as 35). Traci https://www.blogger.com/profile/11957631480321153348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-39440504108174949542017-05-11T04:29:48.290-04:002017-05-11T04:29:48.290-04:00That is so great to hear! Figuring out how to mana...That is so great to hear! Figuring out how to manage systems like this in the specialist setting can be tricky. I hope the implementation goes well!Elizabeth Caldwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042281726294433770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-48847762694666111222017-05-10T15:00:11.551-04:002017-05-10T15:00:11.551-04:00We are becoming a Leader in Me school next year. ...We are becoming a Leader in Me school next year. We are going to begin implementing parts of the LIM process and this color coding would be a GREAT way to start!!!! We already pass out tickets to students for certain things so this would be a great way to use the tickets as a reward, but also create a way to show them how to work as a team!!!! I absolutely love this! I am a music teacher and I have thought about a lot of these ideas and you have validated them and shown me how to incorporate them into my classroom!!!! THANK YOU!!!!Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02639659350886844893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-8047862709328061382016-08-03T05:56:19.398-04:002016-08-03T05:56:19.398-04:00The points were combined for the whole school. The...The points were combined for the whole school. The whole point of the color group points was to build community within the school, so we did several things to build teamwork amongst team members across the grade levels. The classes had (and still have) their own incentive with moving up the keyboard visual that is next to the colored boxes on my board. So I would announce the winning color to every class that week and everyone on that team got the same chance to use the pillows in every class.Elizabeth Caldwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042281726294433770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-19836198313785157212016-08-02T11:57:31.767-04:002016-08-02T11:57:31.767-04:00Ok thank you. Did you keep track of points for eac...Ok thank you. Did you keep track of points for each class, or were points combined for the entire school? (K-5 students earned points for the red team. If red team earned most points all K-5 red team members got to sit on special pillows.) I hope this makes sense...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06089624028745317944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-22534525800252414592016-08-02T05:35:10.731-04:002016-08-02T05:35:10.731-04:00I had those little coin magnets you see in one of ...I had those little coin magnets you see in one of the pictures above to keep track of points. I gave points for a wide range of things to keep students on their toes and hopefully give lots of different students a chance to "win"- I gave points occasionally for a demonstration of exceptional character, remembering a concept from a previous lesson that others didn't, winning a competitive game in class, etc. Sometimes I announced beforehand that I was planning to give a point to a person or team that did the best job at something, and sometimes I would just announce after the fact that I was giving a point for something that I thought was awesome. The good thing about this kind of system is that it somewhat combats the biggest problem with a point system: encouraging students to only do things for the purpose of earning points (an extrinsic reward). Because they don't know what will "earn" them a point and what won't. Elizabeth Caldwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042281726294433770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-7714681980733441582016-08-01T14:34:19.252-04:002016-08-01T14:34:19.252-04:00How did you track points? What did your students e...How did you track points? What did your students earn points for?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06089624028745317944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-25915701571338979932016-07-22T05:59:04.750-04:002016-07-22T05:59:04.750-04:00Good questions :) I used to keep track of points f...Good questions :) I used to keep track of points for teams in my classroom, and when I did, the reward was that whichever team had the most points at the end of the trimester got to use the pillows that I normally keep in my reading corner during class. I also put a poster up with the champion color. Simple but it was enough for them! Once the color teams got expanded out of my room to the rest of the building I stopped doing incentives in my room because they were getting incentives for the building as a whole. The jobs rotate but the colors do not- the students stay in the same group for the whole year. The idea is to build a community / family spirit so it is better for them to be in the same team long-term rather than switch around. Let me know if you have other questions!Elizabeth Caldwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042281726294433770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-63183524801023845992016-07-21T21:48:45.490-04:002016-07-21T21:48:45.490-04:00I love your color groups idea! A couple questions:...I love your color groups idea! A couple questions: Do you keep track of points in your classroom for each team, and if so, do they earn a reward of some kind? Also, you said the jobs rotate; do the color groups rotate (the kids in the groups) as well, or do the kids stay in the same group for the whole year?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10896611540916770136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-16842382140133607132016-05-20T05:22:50.942-04:002016-05-20T05:22:50.942-04:00I think it would work wonderfully! We only have ab...I think it would work wonderfully! We only have about 300 students, so around 50 in each team, which is nice when we do team-building things. If you are just wanting to do the points system, then there's no reason why you can't have much bigger groups like yours. If you want to include the team- / community-building aspect into the color groups, then smaller groups would work better. I know many schools have used similar systems, including those with larger student populations like yours. Elizabeth Caldwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042281726294433770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-41135926246061317332016-05-17T14:14:24.267-04:002016-05-17T14:14:24.267-04:00How big is your school?
I LOVE the concept of ear...How big is your school? <br />I LOVE the concept of earning point for your house. Our school is already organized by pods Red, Yellow, Blue, and Green. Each grade level has one of each color. Plus a purple pod with only Kindergarten and 1st. <br />I'm curious to know how this will work with my large school, we have about 1,000 students... Melhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12733410861509412311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-641866978956805642015-01-14T20:25:57.509-05:002015-01-14T20:25:57.509-05:00Ah Nancy, you are my color-coding buddy! It would ...Ah Nancy, you are my color-coding buddy! It would drive me crazy if there was no yellow... The art teacher had 7 tables labeled with the same colors plus pink, so we tossed around the idea of having those 7 groups for our school-wide system but I just couldn't wrap my head around how I would set it up in my room so we went with my 6 :) It makes my OCD brain feel so much better! :)Elizabeth Caldwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12042281726294433770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-68769042644130692232015-01-13T22:26:05.420-05:002015-01-13T22:26:05.420-05:00My new school uses a similar system with the "...My new school uses a similar system with the "houses" for tracking PBIS points. Unfortunately for my color-coding-self, they only used 5 houses, so no yellow. :( <br />When I color-code my instruments, I do not include the mallets, only the xylos, etc. I put the mallets out with the instruments as we are setting up. <br />I love what you've done - isn't color-coding the best??!! I think it really helps class go more smoothly!nancymoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04791197299362828175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4819722186267743707.post-55572364298937063562015-01-13T17:34:12.983-05:002015-01-13T17:34:12.983-05:00I love the school-wide house system. I wonder if m...I love the school-wide house system. I wonder if my teammates would be interested in implementing something like this... <br /><br />Thanks for the ideas!<br /><br />Rachel Tanenblatt<br /><a href="http://mrstanenblatt.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">Music With Mrs. Tanenblatt</a>Rachel Tanenblatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02943900021541756257noreply@blogger.com