Mama Bear

For Valentine's Day, one of my students gave me a very funny gift... a teddy bear wearing a shirt saying "Mama Bear." So, you are probably wondering "why is that funny?"

Here is the story.... As a part of our classroom management, I tell the students that when they are misbehaving "Mama Bear" is going to come "growl" at them and that I would rather "Mama Bear" not have to come out. It is a light-hearted way (yet serious at the same time) to to remind the students to check their behavior when they start to make the wrong choices. As all parents and teachers know, there are times when we have to "growl" at the students. And when I say "growl" I mean giving them "the look" and "the speech" about how to behave and what I expect. I remind the students then when they misbehave and Mama Bear has to get onto them, they become grumpy like a bear who was woke up too soon from hibernation and so does Ms. Bishop. When the students see another student starting to misbehave, they quickly tell them "You don't want Mama Bear to come out!" This is just one of the many strategies I use as classroom management. The students really seem motivated to do what is right; they think the concept of Mama Bear is funny but at the same time they know they don't want Mama Bear to growl. Now we have a "real" Mama Bear to remind the students to behave!

Fellow teachers, what classroom management strategies do you use in your class?