Inquiry plan complete

Well, the plan is complete and 4 hours of video has been taken. My wonderful hubby will help me get it down to 10 minutes and online over thanksgiving break. My students have been really loud and out of control but God blessed me with laryngitis on Friday and I swear, it was the best day of the week! I just need to use that consistently and I think I will see a difference. It isn't me though. I hate having to constantly monitor my voice level. I'm passionate and get excited about what I teach and I want the kids to be excited about learning. Now I feel like a monotone robot. There's got to be a balance. I'm still looking and learning.

In responding to Lane's questions, my quiet days are those that I intentionally speak in a quiet voice and I either use silence, my quiet signal, and/or a bell to get their attention. On my noisy days, I use my voice to get their attention and I don't try to lower my voice during instruction. To be honest, I'm a bit concerned about the video and if I will be able to catch what I hope to. I know already that my tone really does set the mood. When I am louder, they are too. I also realize I can't ask them to work quietly when I myself don't "work" quietly. But, as they say, knowledge is 20% and behavior is 80%--it is so much easier to know than to do. I may know I need to balance my checkbook daily but doing it is a whole other story! I know that I need to lower my voice but it really does take conscious effort. I am a passionate teacher and when I get into a subject, my voice naturally rises. The real problem that I see is that when I start to realize that I lose their interest, I start to speak louder in the hopes to get their attention and that is what I really need to change.

Inquiry plan in progress

I began my inquiry plan on the Monday after Halloween so it was naturally noisy all day and they were rather chaotic. I also had a noisy day the next day and then paid for it the rest of the week! They were slightly quieter when I became quieter those three days but, in general, they were loud all week. I started to rethink my plan. I wonder if it might be better if I had those two noisy days, a week of quiet days and then on the third week of trials, have two noisy days and then see if they quiet down those three days. I believe that I am going to find that I need to be consistently quiet for it to really work over time. They are calmer when I am calmer but I also notice that they are also not as motivated or interested. When I act a bit silly to really peak their interest, they get louder and more chaotic. If I am serene, they have a tendency to daydream or occupy themselves with just about anything they can find in their desk. I guess it is all about balance! Next week I will film my video segment to give you a peak into my world:)