Student Contributor: S. Myklebust
In a kindergarten classroom, when there are multiple behaviors occurring at once, it can be hard to get the attention of the class and redirect the behaviors. Using an alternative to Simon Says, students follow actions I say, such as “if you can hear me put your hands on your head” and progressively get quieter until I have all students’ attention.
This tool is a GREAT attention getter for students when there are multiple misbehaviors occurring and you need to intervene. When you notice multiple students misbehaving, such as at circle time when the volume gets loud and students are not following circle time procedure, you start by saying in a louder voice, “if you can hear me, touch your nose” then get a little quieter, and say “if you can hear me, put your hand on your head” then finally end with a quiet voice, “if you can hear me, sit on your pockets, facing forward”. By the end of this, student’s attention is back on the teacher, and they are ready for the teacher to correct the misbehavior. This works because some students will hear the call right away and do them, and other students will notice that the students around them are doing an action and follow in their footsteps. As my voice gets quitter with each direction, students start to connect that they too should lower their voice. This is similar to Simon Says, and you can use any form of direction that you can think of. It is helpful to end with a direction you want them to be doing, such as sitting on their pockets facing the teacher, so you can address this when correcting the behavior. I often use this during circle time, or when students are playing at centers, and it works great to get their attention so I can correct the behaviors.
To correct student’s behavior, you need to first get their attention. I put this tool in the corrective phase, because as I stated earlier, it allows the teacher to gain attention of multiple students, to correct a behavior that many students are doing. I do not think it would relate to the other two phases, because it is aimed to redirect students during learning time. I would say the If You Can Hear Me tool would fall under the teacher directed theory because it is the teacher taking initiative in getting the students attention, to correct the behavior.
More Information –
Tool Source: I found a kindergarten teacher explain it on Tik Tok.
I tested this took in a first-grade classroom with 20 students in a suburban community. This tool was relatively easy to plan for but took more time during the teaching process. As you can expect, introducing a new attention call half-way through the school year takes some time for students to adjust. During the first day teaching it, the students were eager and engaged. Like the original post describes, the “if you can hear me” prompts are similar to the game Simon Says. I think the aspect of familiarity to a game made the students excited to participate in this attention call. We practiced this attention call multiple times throughout the day after teaching it in order to allow plenty of opportunities to remember it. After multiple practice runs, this attention call was very successful. Students would become quiet and attentive after two different “if you can hear me prompts”. I noticed that after you have the attention of the class, it’s even more beneficial to give one or two more “if you can hear me prompts” to help them transition and center their focus on the teacher. I really like everything about this tool. I would only suggest that it is taught at the beginning of the school year, as most classroom management policies should be.
I tried this management tool in my rural, first-grade classroom with 19 students. This management attention grabber was very easy to incorporate into all subjects, even transition time. It takes very little previous explanation of your expectations of them because you are telling them what you need them to do every time you make an “if you can hear me” call. I made the first couple if you can hear me calls larger motions in hopes to grab more students’ attention quickly then as my voice got quieter the motions got smaller. I also did 2 or 3 if you can hear me calls once everyone was back on track and I had everyone’s attention just to get the group back together and intentionally keep their attention for longer. The kids thought this was a fun activity and so that is always a great alternative for getting frustrated at your students for being off track.
I tried this tool with about 20 1st grade students in a suburban school. This tool was super easy to use because it doesn’t require any materials, and it does a great job of getting students’ attention. I imagine it reminds them a little of “Simon Says”, which makes them more inclined to listen because they are used to doing it in “Simon Says”. The students responded very well to the tool and did what I asked when I used this tool. The students understood right away what they were supposed to do, as this tool is really simple for them to get the hang of because you are telling them what to do. Even though students picked this tool up really fast, the more I used it, the more students became used to it and would immediately recognize what I was trying to do. This was a great corrective tool and I will definitely be using this in my future classroom.
I tested this with my third grade class of 18 students in an urban area. I LOVE this tool. Its one of my favorite ways to grab my students attention. Rather than doing a call back like “class class” or “Reeeedddd Robin” I chose to do this and I loved it and so did my students. I loved it because I was able to get them moving but I was also able to be as loud or as quiet as I wanted to be or needed to be, or I could start SUPER quiet and move to a normal talking tone until I had all of my students attention. The students also loved being able to move and having something different than normal. We also really enjoyed being able to change it every single time. Sometimes it was “ If you can hear me touch your chin” and other- less serious- times it would be “if you can hear me make a silly face”. All in all we really really loved this corrective method and I will certainly be keeping it in my tool box!
I used this tool with my 25 kindergarteners in a rural school. As we were waiting for other students in the hallways, it was getting very noisy as they were waiting for their classmates. I used this opportunity to say to students, “If you can hear me, touch your head,” and I demonstrated touching my head. Immediately, voices went off, students knew what to do, and most of the students gave me their attention. The students who did not have their hands on their heads were nudged by the person sitting next to them to put their hands on their heads. Having the students’ attention directed toward me gave me the opportunity to remind them that when we are in the hallway, our voice level should be at zero. How I can make this management tool more successful is by using the same movements I asked my students to do if they could hear me and by initially using a quiet voice and gradually increasing my voice level to volume two.