Wondering whether using hand signals could be right for you in your classroom? Then this is the post for you!
Using hand signals in your classroom could be the perfect classroom management strategy for you! As a teacher myself, it has certainly been a game changer for me!! But it can be hard to know where to start.
In this post, you will learn the benefits of using hand signals in your classroom. Plus, everything you could ever need to know about how to start using hand signals in your classroom today!
This post is all about using hand signals.
Using Hand Signals
What are hand signals in the classroom?
Hand signals are a great nonverbal communication strategy for students to use. The idea is that you have an agreed upon hand signal for certain key needs that students might have throughout the day. For example, in my classroom, if a child wants a drink they show me 3 fingers. This way, children can communicate their needs without having to actually speak and interrupt the lesson.
Then I can simply nod to approve their request without breaking the flow of my teaching!
Why are hand signals important in the classroom?
Have you ever been in the middle of your lesson, posed a great question, called on a student for their answer, only for them to ask for a drink or to go to the toilet?! I’ve had it happen to me countless times (even during observations!) which was super annoying. It breaks up the flow of your lesson and wastes time.
Or maybe you’ve been working with a group but have had so many interruptions from other students asking to sharpen their pencil or get a tissue that you feel super frustrated and don’t get the most out of your small group teaching. Again, I’ve been there!
This was one of the main reasons why I decided to start using hand signals. I was sick of the constant interruptions!! My students can now just show me the hand signal to communicate their need, rather than putting their hand up to ask verbally. And I find myself feeling calmer and less frustrated because of this.
Using hand signals has also been super beneficial for one of my students this year who has selective mutism. She wasn’t able to communicate her needs verbally but could let me know using hand signals when she needed a drink or to use the bathroom. This would also work well for children with other anxiety disorders or speech and language issues.
Plus, if you have children who are new to English, they can still communicate their basic needs with hand signals.
What you need to get started:
1. Decide upon the actions you want to use hand signals for
Think about which actions your students ask you to do most in your classroom. This will be different for everyone, depending on the age you teach and the setup in your classroom. For example, if the toilets are part of your classroom, you may allow your students to go whenever they need and therefore not need a hand signal. For me, the toilets are located down the corridor so having a toilet hand signal was the most important one.
In my classroom, we have a signal for:
- going to the toilet
- getting a drink
- sharpening their pencil
- being read
- agree/ yes
- disagree/ no
I also use just a normal ‘hands up’ for answering a question.
Other things you may want to consider include:
- not ready
- I have a question
- I have an answer
- I need a tissue
- first aid/ see the nurse
2. Which hand signal will mean which action?
Now you know which actions you want your students to be able to communicate nonverbally, you need to decide what the signal will be. Keep it simple – you don’t want the signal to be more of a distraction that actually just asking!
Using fingers/ one hand or two hands/ touching their head or shoulders all work really well. It needs to be simple and easy for you to see.
3. Create the hand signals display
Now you need to create the visual to remind your students which signal means which action. This can take a while to make, so if you are short on time (what teacher isn’t?!) you can check out my ready made hand signals display. It is also fully editable so you can customise it to suit your own needs.
Depending on the age of your kiddos, you might want to add some pictures as an a visual aid to help remind them what each hand signal means.
4. Decide where to put the display
Now you have got your hand signals display ready to go, you need to decide where to put it in your classroom. Ideally, you want to place it somewhere where everyone will be able to see it. In my classroom, I have them displayed on my whiteboard.
How to introduce the new system to your students
Okay, now it’s time to introduce the new system to your students! I found that it works best when you introduce one signal at a time so your students learn them gradually. Over the course of a few weeks, you will have it nailed!
Be sure to reward students when they remember to use the signals and remind those students who forget.
At first, you might find lots of students asking to use the bathroom just so they can show off their amazing hand signals, aha. This happened in my classroom but the novelty soon wore off!!
Other top tips:
- Remember to write about the hand signal system in any sub notes you have. This way, the sub teacher knows what is happening when the students suddenly start holding their fingers up in the air, haha!
[Related Post: Here’s Exactly How To Set Up Your Substitute Teacher Binder This Week]
- Share this new system with any other adults that work in your classroom so that you can make sure the message is consistent for your kiddos. This will help you embed the new system much more quickly.
- Remind your kiddos of the expectations around using hand signals in the classroom. Remind them to use the hand signals if they forget and don’t say yes if they ask verbally (unless it’s an emergency of course!)
- Be sure to keep revisiting the hand signals after each break to keep reinforcing the system to your kiddos.
Good luck with implementing hand signals in your classroom! Let me know how you get on 🙂
This post is all about using hand signals.Â
