Countdown to Readiness

Classroom Management

Summary

Students need recognizable, consistent signals for everything, including listening to directions.  Countdown to Readiness is one method for getting your students' attention quickly so that you can give direction, not a lesson.

How To

Count from five to zero, with explicit directions in between.  Students stop what they are doing and turn to listen to the teacher immediately.

Example

"FIVE, that means stop.  FOUR, put down your materials.  THREE, fold your hands.  TWO, eyes on me.  ONE, you're ready to listen."

Note

There is no cleaning up during this process, because cleaning up actually takes longer if you don't give explicit direction.  Countdown to Readiness is ONLY for preparing to listen to direction.  After you give direction, you can tell students to clean up and transition to the next activity.  As students become familiar with the process, you can move toward simply counting 5-4-3-2-1, without the explicit direction of what students are to do at each step.