Student Contributor: M. Ohland
Quiet coyote is used to get the classes attention when they are working on an assignment and it may be loud in the classroom. It is an easy signal to show that their eyes need to be on the teacher, their ears are open and listening, and their mouths are closed. This is used if you need to tell the class something quick and then they get back to work. This tool is not really a transition tool.
To form quiet coyote, you place your middle finger and ring finger on your thumb. You then put your pointer finger and pinky finger up in the air. Your thumb, middle finger, and ring finger form the mouth of the coyote. Your pointer finger and pinky finger create the ears of the coyote. Quiet coyote is an easy attention getting tool. When I was in elementary school, my teacher used this tool to get our attention. It worked really well because everyone knew what it meant and what to do when they saw it. Nothing is better than a cute coyote to get the classes attention.
The theory that best fits quiet coyote is the preventative phase. You need to start using quiet coyote at the beginning of the year so that the students can learn it and understand when and why it is used. Once they understand the purpose of quiet coyote they will use it with confidence. This tool could relate to the supportive phase because that is when you use quiet coyote. However, it would not fall under this phase because in order for it to work in the supportive phase, it needs to be taught in the preventative phase. The way this tool would relate to the corrective phase would be teaching this procedure again if the class seem to not be using this tool effectively. Quiet coyote falls under the Student Directed and Collaborative theories because every single person in the classroom has to buy into this tool in order for it to work.
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Tool Source: I got the idea of quiet coyote from my 5th grade teacher, Ms. Anderson.
Quiet Coyote is something that my students do to each other during songs when there is a part that they find to be funny and don’t want their classmates to sing. I noticed that the students only used quiet coyote during math songs so I figured it would be an easy tool to implement into the other aspects of the day. At first, it took them some time to get used to a signal for them to know to be quiet instead of simply being told, but over the next few days, the students had a grasp on what to look for. This simple gesture has had great benefits for our class both inside the classroom and outside. One of us can simply raise the quiet coyote symbol in the air in the hallway and the talking comes to an end. It has been a great addition!
Grade Level: 3rd
Number of Students: 26
Demographics: Suburban
Quiet Coyote is used often within my classroom, though in a different way. My mentor and I often use silent hands. Which has the same benefits, though a different hand formation. We use this tool throughout the whole day within the classroom. It’s most often used to get students’ attention after partner discussions. This Is a tool that was implemented within the classroom at the beginning of the year, and something that is used school wide. Therefore the implementation of this tool was not done on my part. I think this is a great supportive tool that gets students attention. Students understand that the silent hand means to turn off our voices and listen. This is not only used within the classroom, but during assemblies and lunch time as well. I believe this tool is a great addition to any classroom, and once implemented its easy for students to grasp.