Student Contributor: E. Arteaga
“Hold Your Bubble” is an effective strategy to use when students are expected to be silent. Students fill their cheeks up with air and are encouraged to “hold their bubble” so their noise level is at a zero when appropriate.
“Hold Your Bubble” is used mainly with young learners who are struggling with speaking at inappropriate times. Examples are blurting during lessons, speaking in the hallway (applicable to my placement), and during fire/lockdown drills. By making “Hold Your Bubble” a learned procedure in the class, students will know that when they are instructed to hold their bubble, they are being told to be quiet. This is a learned procedure in my placement and it works effectively. At this school, the hallway is supposed to be a silent area. So, when we are in the class lined up to go somewhere, we all make sure to hold our bubbles before leaving to ensure we are ready to be quiet in the hall.
This strategy connects best to the preventative phase of influence. By holding our bubbles, we are trying to avoid noise during inappropriate times. In other words, holding our bubbles prevents us from making noise when we are not supposed to. The theory of influence that this connects to is collaborative and teacher-directed. Although the teacher is the one implementing the silence, she/he should also be holding their bubble when appropriate just as the students are expected to do. Students are also encouraged to remind other students when it is time to hold their bubbles while in silent environments, they can do so by pointing at their own bubble while looking at the non-bubble holding student.
More Information –
Tool Source: Placement School
This tool is so useful for getting the students ready to learn in the classroom and when they are walking in the hallway. This helps remind them to stay quiet and to not disrupt other students’ learning. This tool sticks well with the kids and they now do this on their own to show me that they are self managing and ready to begin whatever is next in the school day. This is also fun for young kids and helps them use their imagination in a way to also benefit their own learning.
I tried the “Hold Your Bubble!” management tool at my 1st-grade placement. There are 13 students in my classroom, and surrounding them is a rural area. I chose this management tool because my mentor and I had noticed that students were having increased difficulty with keeping their noise level appropriate when walking in a line down the hall. Implementing this tool was easy and took no prep. It was actually rather fun teaching the students this new way of walking down the hall. Before going to the library, I first asked the students “Who can hold the biggest bubble in their mouth?” then after they had their fun and excitement puffing up their cheeks as big as they could I explained to them that we were going to walk down the hall holding our bubbles as best as we can and when we get to the library I’ll be telling the librarian our secret word of the day that will work as the pin that pops their bubbles. This management tool has worked great and the students have received various compliments from teachers who have had their doors open as we walk down the hall. Having a “secret” word of the day that works as the “pin” that pops students bubbles is an adjustment I made to the tool because I feel that it made it more exciting for students to partake in.