Hi, I'm new to assisting and need a little help with getting the kids to listen and respect me. I get put in charge of a row of around 6-7 primary's (aged 4-5). They listen to my teacher so well but when I try to get them to spread out and stand in a line, stand still and with their feet in first I can's seem to get them to stand still. My teacher has told me that I need to use a more forceful voice but I am having a little trouble. Can someone help me out a bit?

She's right about he forceful voice. Pretend you are a mother and you are telling your child somethng they need to do NOW. Not yelling or screaming. But just with conviction.

And you must look at them like you mean it.

You know what I do when my little ones are having a hard time listening?

In a forceful voice....

ONE..... TWO.... (by 2 they are usually in place) THREE!! If they're not there by 3..they sit in time out for 3 minutes.

Thanks..I'll try them both. I might even be able to make the one, two, three into a sort of competition. See who can get there the quickest. Is that ok?

Sometimes all a child needs is to feel like you respect them too. You don't need to use an angry or aggressive voice or anything just talk to them like you respect them and the respect will be returned. At least that's how it works for me in my classroom. If I ask them nicely and explain to them why it's important to stay there in position they almost always do what they need to do.

Find just one of them following a direction, and compliment them. "I like how Ashley is waiting patiently in her spot." "I like how Brooke is standing in 1st position." Praise just one, and they will all follow to get the same compliment.

I don't think it is nessesary to use a forceful voice all the time to get this age group to listen. I don't do that and my kids stand still and listen. I use Buckeye2's method and it works brilliantly. Find someone who is standing nicely "Wow, I love the way Suzie is standing", or "who has the very best first position". And so on, they get to the point where they stand still all the time in perfect first with their eyes fixed to the front in the hope that I will point out how brilliant they are (and I usually do).

Spreading out is a difficult concept for 4-5 year old kids to learn and they haven't fully developed their spacial awareness yet. I put different coloured post it notes on the floor at the front of the room and have the girls stand in front of them. They know when they are finished the exersize to always come back in front of the green post it or the pink post it. You can also use things in the room like telling a child always to be in line with the post in the mirror or something.

Oh, the complimenting one student ALWAYS works! I totally forgot about that!

I don't love to use the 1,2,3 approach because sometimes I feel like it can be a little too intimidating for them, but when they are REALLY acting up, and me asking them more than 3 times to be in their spots doesn't work, that is when I use it. But making it into a game could definitely help as well. In fact, you don't even need to do the "1,2,3" to make it a game. You can just say, "Excuse me girls! I want to see who can stand in first position the fastest and stand still the longest! The winner gets a sticker/stamp/etc!!" Once the girls see that ONE person wins a prize, they'll all want to win a prize.

this year we had two pretty rowdy classes. A great solution we found was to buy a bunch of dry erase markers and keep "score" on one of the mirrors. They got points for getting ready the fastest, being quiet, smiling, pointing hard, whatever we felt like. Obviously, we made an effort to make sure all the kids got points, but there were definately kids who got more points than others. We eventually stopped once they settled down, but every so often we do it agian, just for fun.

The kids loved it, and it was great keeping score where they could see it the whole time.

I personally never made a big deal about who got the most points, but I would tally them up at the end and write the total. I let the kids deal with how many points they got on their own. By the way, I only had one mom say complain and that was because her daughter got very competitive about it and I had honestly overlooked her a couple of times. But that was easy to fix.

WOW, thanks guys, you've really helped me out with this. My next class is Saturday so I will have to tell you how it went.

Another thing I have my assistants do is to tell the kids "Let's surprise Miss Teacher by standing in 1st position (or whatever we want them to be doing)". I have never seen a group that doesn't respond to this. Then I will walk in and pretend to be surprised at whatever they are doing. Since they love to be praised, this works everytime.

I agree that using lots of positive reinforcement (compliments) will help!

Also versus always being competitive, I like to get the kids to be cooperative. "Let's all show Miss Dance Teacher how quiet we can be!" "Let's surprise Miss Dance Teacher and everyone be in first position!"

Also it sounds like you may be a soft-spoken individual. It is not about being more aggressive, but rather learning to project your voice better. You can practice at home speaking up (increasing the volume of your voice) and lowering the pitch (speak in a deeper tone). I think you will find that the kids will be able to HEAR you and then they may be willing to listen. Also don't slug over and speak at the floor. Make eye contact with the children and do not be afraid from time to time to get at their level when you speak. Try to bring excitement to your face and/or voice. (I find when I open my eyes big, the children sense the excitement and suddenly want to participate.)

I teach a class at a local preschool where there are 3 little boys in the class of 6. They were basically stuck in the class to raise attendence and I think to get them out of the teachers hair and into mine for a while - they are not very well behaved. They have extremely short attention spans and when we're in ballet I just repeat "heels together! toes out!" and that clicks more with them than "first position". Try and see if it works!

i would try counting 2 5 and then taking away something for not listening like fun song at the end of class or sticker or stamp or something like that

I use this...

When my little ones aren't listening I say "pat your head if you can hear me." The ones listening will pat their head. Then I say "clap your hands if you can hear me," Then some more join in and clap their hands. By the time I say something like "rub your tummy if you can hear me", they are all listening...then I can tell them what I need for them to do. It works and you can mix it up. I got that from my daughter's school teacher.

When my little ones aren't listening, I count to five. Either that or I'll use compliments also. I'll say to the people listening, "Thank you, Jada, for following directions" and usually the others want to be complimented too and will fall in line.

Thanks for all your help guys..My latest class with them went much better. I had a couple who were still a little bit of trouble but the majority tried really hard to listen to me and kept on trying to impress me with nice posture and happy faces!!
Its a miracle!
Thanks Again

I always tell my kids to make sure their "heels are kissing" some of them laugh and giggle but it gets them there.

For my preschoolers I have them skip, gallop, etc. to a corner then they hide their eyes then I place letters out in the middle of the floor in a line and they skip, gallop, etc. back to find it and stand behind it. I started that this year and has worked wonderfully!

I tell them that when we stand in 1st postion we are standing like a duck. They love that, or you could make up something else to grab their attention. I also tell them that i gave them a special spot and not to move because they do not want anyone to steal their special spot.

for spreading out in a line, i tell them to stand in a line with their arms out to the side. I then ask, "is anybody touching anybody else with their arms?" usually the reply is "Yes!",

"okay so let's move down so everybody has room, thank you."


that usually works well.