Student Contributor: J. Valenzuela
When a task needs to be done, count down from a reasonable number, once the counter reaches zero, pick the student’s spirits up by congratulating them and thanking them for their cooperation.
This tool works best if you need a large chore done. It is an all-inclusive tool that allows for every student to feel connected to the space they collectively share. Let’s say there are paper scraps all over the floor from a lesson of cutting paper. The room is a mess! The teacher would announce to the students that it is time for Count Down & Pick Up. Depending on the chore that needs accomplishing, choose a number to count down from that would give them enough time to complete the task, and add, or subtract time as common-sense dictates. Once the task is finished, we emphasize congratulations and mention how cohesive we were as a group, instilling in students the feeling of cohesion and accomplishment.
This tool is a supportive phase tool. It helps students feel a sense of belonging in their space and a sense of ownership over that space. It supports students by giving them that sense of ownership in a place where they spend more than half of their childhood. Count Down & Pick Up falls under teacher directed & Collaborative. The tool itself is teacher directed; it is directed by the teacher, counted by the teacher, and ends by the teacher, but the students are the ones doing the cleaning and picking up, creating a cooperative space in which the teacher and students get to claim ownership over a space they occupy together. Count Down & Pick Up creates a space that is free of clutter that everyone can share together and having a space that is free of clutter that belongs to everyone in the room helps prevents behavioral issues from arising. Many teachers who sway more towards teacher directed classrooms may reprimand students for making a mess but allowing students to collectively clean and tidy up a classroom they all have a stake in, takes the blame off any one single student and make the room the responsibility of everyone in the room.
More Information –
Tool Source: I came across this tool by necessity. I needed to find a way to get the children at my youth development center to help with the daily chores, and the reward-based system failed miserably. So, I created this Count Down & Pick Up method to navigate away from the reward based system that had been in place for nearly two years.
I used this strategy in a 2nd grade classroom of 17 students in a rural school. In my placement, we start the morning off with two different types of reading groups, reading interventions, and skills. These groups consist of the entire 2nd grade and are based on testing and other findings for each student. For the second group, students come into the classroom, grab their buckets, and precede to their seats. I noticed that this task could take more time than needed and can lead to discussions and distractions. For one week, I implemented the Count Down and Pick Up method for grabbing and putting away their buckets. Once I noticed that all the students were in the classroom, I began to count down from ten. I decided on ten because the area the buckets are kept in is small and there are many students. I suggested that they create a line to grab their buckets faster. By the end of the second day students were coming in and immediately grabbing their buckets and sitting down without me even starting the count. My mentor was impressed by the student’s response to this technique. Now we use this technique only when needed because the students do much better with being on task and ready for their lessons.
I utilized the Count Down & Pick Up strategy when teaching a lesson to 3rd graders. This class has about 25 students and the school is located in an urban neighborhood. I had always noticed that these 3rd graders were slow to follow directions such as cleaning up, lining up, or doing an activity. However, this strategy proved beneficial to the overall pace of the classroom. After giving a task I would count down from 5 or 10. My mentor teacher and I noticed a significant difference in the speed at which they completed their tasks. This strategy helped facilitate a more orderly and structured classroom. Similarly, it did not feel like I was wasting so much time waiting for them to follow directions. This is a useful strategy if a teacher is looking to encourage their students to move faster and facilitate a quicker flow from activity to activity. Similarly, I like this strategy because students knew what was expected of them. This strategy is an effective supportive strategy and requires no materials.