Blog #3

Classroom Management Plan

My teacher’s classroom managements plan is to have students give her five if they start to act up.  This means that the students put their hand up and look at the teacher with their mouth closed.   If there is a single student that is having problems the teacher will tell the students to stop what they are doing.  The teacher will give the student multiple warnings and then move their fish out of the pond into a basket.  If the student keeps acting up after that they get multiple warnings and then their fish is moved into the red basket.  If that happens their parents are informed through their behavior chart and the student then sits out for all of center time. 

This is the poster that my teacher has up in her room.

Avoid Interruptions

One thing my teachers will do to avoid interruptions is have the students put up two fingers if they have to go to the bathroom.  This makes it so a student does not have to call out the teacher can just signal for the student to go.  She also will remind students to get water when they are transitioning or during down time to stop interruptions.

Guiding Principles

1) A classroom needs to be in a positive environment where students are safe.

2) Classroom management is key to having a successful classroom.

3) The management plan needs to be the same for all students.

4) Students are constantly engaged in learning.

5) Teachers and students will be respected.

Rules

1)      Be polite and respectful at all times.

a.       I think that respect is something that all students should know about and practice in their daily lives.  It is important for the students to remember that they need to follow this rules both towards the teacher and the students.

2)      Raise your hand and wait to be called on.

a.       This helps with classroom management.  It keeps the students from all shouting out at the same time and it lets students that take a little longer to respond have some time to think.  I will ask students to raise their hand and take some time to think.  I tell them that they should all get it in their brain but do not shout it out. 

3)      Complete all assignments on time and also to the best of your ability.

a.       This would make sure students would know that they should be doing their assignments and stay on task.  Everyone should be at least trying their homework if they are completing assignments to the best of their ability.  This gives the teacher a better understand of what they have to work on with their students.

      4)     Be quiet in lines and hallways.

                 a.     This helps students to not disturb other classes;  other classes might be taking a test or trying to concentrate and that can be hard if it is loud outside.  It also helps the students to hear me if I need to let them know something. 

    

  5)      Do your best.

             a.       I chose this because students should always remember that they should try their best and that if they are doing their best that I would be happy.  All I would want is for the students to try.  They will not always succeed but if they try I would be happy.  One thing that I say is that , “I do not like to hear I can’t, I want to hear ‘I’ll try.’”  Trying over and over can help students learn by repetition. 

Classroom Procedures and Routines

         Washing hands

a.       The students should wash their hands when they cough or sneeze into their hands, when it is time for snack or lunch, and after having gone to the bathroom.  The students should wash their hands for at least 30 seconds, on the top, bottoms, and in-betweens.  For the younger students I would have a washing song that they could sing.

2.      Bell work

a.        Every day when the students get in they should do their bell work.  The bell work will be on the board, the student should write it down if needed in the right place whether it is on a worksheet, in their assignment notebook or on a sheet of paper.  It will be specified where to do the bell work on the board.  When the students are done they may do silent reading or complete any homework that needs to still be done.  The bell work might also be to clean your desk or making sure you do something.

3.      End of Day

a.       At the end of the day the students should pack up their backpacks, clean off their desks, stack their chairs and make sure that there is nothing on the floor before they line up at the door and are ready to leave.  I would remind the students that their desk or table is there area and that they should respect it. 

4.      Classroom Library

a.       For the book shelves the books will be organized by reading level.  The students can come and take one book at a time.  When they return the book they should return it to the reading level that they took it from.  There are also books that are special featured books that are about a unit that the class is learning about.  These books should be put back where the students gets them.  One thing that I will go over with the students is how to take and put away books the right way so that do not get broken or lost. 

5.      Carpet

a.       While sitting on the carpet the students should stay in their assigned spots.  These spots will be assigned at the beginning of the year and will be changed as needed.  While on the carpet the students will be quiet and listen to whoever is speaking.  They should also be sitting with their legs cross-legged and hands in their laps so the students are not bothering each other or their hand do not get stepped on. 

6.      Homework

a.        At the beginning of each day I would go around to each student during bell work time and see if they had done their homework from the night before.  If the student had done their homework I would give then a checkmark and if they did not I would write down in their assignment notebook that they need to do it and show it to me the next day. 

7.      Pencils

a.       At the beginning of the day students should look in their desk and make sure that they have multiple sharpened pencils and also erasers.  Students should
      not have to get up in the middle of the day and 
      sharpen their pencils.  I would remind the students of this for the first couple of weeks.  It is something that can be forgotten easily.

8.      Bathroom

a.       If a student needs to go to the bathroom they can put up a    hand with four fingers up.  I would then say that it is okay for   the student to go.  The best time for the students to go is at the beginning and end of the day and also during individual work time. While in the bathroom the student are expected to not   fool around and wash their hands when they are done.     Students can go while I am teaching a lesson if it is an emergency. 

9.      Raising hands

a.       When a student has something to say they must raise their hand quietly.  If a student is raising their hand, jumping up and down and shouting out the answer they will not be called on and asked to quiet down.  The students should let their fellow classmates have a chance to think and answer the question for themselves.

10.  Leaving the room

a.       To leave the room students must be in pairs.  To turn in attendance, go to library and go to the nurse students must be with someone else.  The students must also make sure they are quiet and walking in the hallways so they do not disturb other classrooms.

Disruptive Behavior

1)    1)  Proximity control- I will walk closer to the student and by just standing closer to them hopefully they will stop what they are doing.  I might have to say a word or two to get the students attention.

        2)  I will also address good behaviors that I see hopefully helping students to remember how they should act.  If I see a student sitting down nicely or raising their hand nicely I would complement them on it.  During the first couple of weeks of school I would even reward the students for their good behavior with stickers, pencils or candy.

         3)  I will also see if I can use the disruptive behavior that the students is doing to my advantage, if a student keeps on getting up out of their seat I can maybe have them pass out papers to get them moving.  I would think of what the student was having trouble with and then see if I would be able to use it to my advantage.

        4)  If I see a student that does not respond to some of the above techniques I would talk to them by themselves and address the situation and let them know what the consequences of their action are.  If a student is keeps on doing something disruptive I would give them another reminder.

5)   If that does not work the student would lose privileges.  These privileges can be computer time, play time or not getting a prize that the rest of the class might get.

6)   If I am not able to deal with a student I would ask another teacher for any suggestions.  Sometimes other teachers see things in a different way.  They might be able to tell me something that I had not thought about. 

7)   If I am still not able to stop the behavior I would take the student to the office.  This is something that I would not like to do but it is sometimes something that is inevitable.  

Classroom Map

This is the classroom that I would like to have.  It is set up do the students could work together in groups easily and also have time to work by themselves.  Reading is something that would be important in my room so I wanted the students to have a place to read where they can be comfortable. 

Observations

So far I have learned a lot in the Kindergarten classroom that I have been in.  One thing that I have observed is the teacher going over the rules for the classroom, different centers and different activities.  When she goes through these things she either posts the rules in the classroom or has a hand signal to remind the students of what the rules are.  In addition to seeing the teacher go over the rules I have also seen the teacher enforce the rules.  I have seen the teacher have to tell students to stop what they are doing and also go back over the rules to remind the students of them.  I have also seen the teacher enforce the rules by using her behavior chart which she fills out every day. 

I have also observed that there are students from all over the spectrum of learning.  There are some students who are advanced and there are some students who are below where they should be.  I have seen her do some one on one work that can start to help some of the students.  She is still trying to get in the swing of things and get the basic rules followed before she starts changing instruction for certain students. 

Teaching Style

            The teacher in my classroom has set up the classroom as a teacher centered classroom.  Most of the time the teacher is lecturing to the students; sometimes that students are able to go into their own groups and do some thinking in small groups. 

My teaching style is a combination of teacher and student centered learning.  In the lesson plans that I form I try to make sure that there is a combination of the two.  In Kindergarten there does need to be a lot of teacher centered activities because the students do not know what they are supposed to be doing.  I think that a teacher needs to be actively thinking of ways to make a classroom students centered instead of teacher centered.  I also like to keep the students constantly engaged.  With a group of students that is six years old a teacher has to always giving them options and introducing new things so the students do not start staring off into space or messing with their crayon boxes.

Incorporating the Two Styles

One thing that I am going to take from my supervising teachers teaching style is the way that the teacher talks and her facial expressions when reading a book.  She is someone that will change the way that she is talking when she is reading story.  This makes the students more interested in what is being read.  She will also change the way that her face looks depending on how the story is going.  Even when she is asking a questions her face and voice look and sound like they are asking a questions.  Being exaggerated in this way helps the students to be more interested in what is being taught or read. 

New Elements

            One instructional element that is new to me is the computer software that the teachers use.  The students are required to go through a computer game that helps the students to build computer skills and also learn words.  This is something that I like; it gives the students a chance to see something different and see something presented in a different way.  I also like that the students are getting a chance to work on computers.  A lot of the students have not been on computers before or if they have been on one they have not done a lot of them.  This gives the students the experience that they need to start forming in order to be successful in their generation.

Comfortable Elements

            There were a lot of things that were familiar to me.  The ELMOs are something that I had at my first internship, so I am already used to how they work and what they should be used for.  I am also used to seeing teachers using songs as an instructional element.  I was surprised the first time when I came in and the students were signing the “letter sounds” song that I already knew, and “the days of the week” song.  I really like using songs to help the students remember information that they are learning.   One other instructional element that I am used to is to have hand signals to let the students do something.  My teacher says, “Give me five” and the students put one hand up.  That means the students need to be quiet and have eyes on the teacher.   The students also have to put up two fingers to go to the bathroom.  

Professional Development

            One thing that I want to do next is to perfect my classroom management skills and also think of different ways to help students learn the information they need to know in a different way.  This coming week I am going to have a chance to do that.  My internship teacher is going to be doing testing on Tuesday with the students at the computer, so she is going to tell me what she wants me to do and I am going to do it while she is doing the testing.  I am also going to do my peer to peer which will be a good way for someone else to come in and tell me what they think about my teaching style.

Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.

~ Chinese Proverb

Blog #1

Since I have been in the College of Education I have taken all of the classes that are required except ESOL 3, Linking Literacy and Integrating the Exceptional Student into the Classroom.  Those classes I am taking this semester.  After this semester I will be done with all of my classes and I will only have to take my final internship!

 From all of the classes that I have taken in the College of Education I had two classes that have impacted me the most.  The first one is my classroom management and level one internship.   These classes where set up differently than normal.  They were joined together and co taught with the same two teachers.  We were also paired with the special education majors and their two teachers in both classes so we would be able to learn how to co teach.  I was able to experience co teaching from this experience and also learn more about special education than other people taking the class do.   I also really learned a lot from my teaching writing class.  We are able to work with a group of elementary school students and come up with a script and movie to film with the kids about math.  This gave me the experience of working with students while having deadlines, managing the group, and having fun at the same time. 

I have been lucky in the past couple of years; I have been able to have a lot of experiences with children.  When I came to college I got a job at a child development center.  I have been working with children from the ages of three to six for the past four years.  During two of the summers there I was able to take over a classroom of three year olds and become the lead teacher for the whole summers.  We were able to work on writing names, letters and numbers, and developing motor skills.  Then, for one of the summers I was able to be a lead summer camp teachers for five and six years olds going into Kindergarten.  I have also been tutoring students in the fourth and fifth grade in math for the past year.   From the experiences that I have had I have been able to be exposed to teaching many different age groups the past couple of years.  

Teach at the child development center has impacted me the most.  This is where I work for eight or ten hour days, so I am able to see how it is to be a teacher and manage a classroom.  It has showed me that you need to be prepared and even have extra things to do and that being organized can help a lot.  I have learned that as a teacher I have to stay on task or things will not get done during the day.

In this internship I expect to keep on learning how to better manage a classroom, I think that this is going to be one of the hardest things when I am a teacher so I want to learn as many strategies as I can now.  I will be keeping an eye out for different teaching techniques that I have not seen before.   This way I will be able to remember then for when I have my own classroom, I will be able to see if they work in the classroom that I have.   I hope that I have a supervising teacher that is very helpful and that will let me be hands on with the students, my fear is that I have a teacher and that will not let me be active in the classroom.  One other thing that I fear is that when I get up to teach some of the students will not listen and they will be disrespectful.  I think that if I have good classroom management I will be fine.

What I want in my classroom.

What I do not want in my classroom.

From all of the teachers that I have had in my life, a lot of my science teachers stick out as being good teachers.  They were the teachers that always had us doing something.  They were either demonstrating things or letting us make something or doing things to demonstrate what we were learning.  They were also always willing to listen to questions that the students had and made sure that they explained it in different ways so the students could understand what was being talked about.  They were the classes that we learned about the stars, made rockets, boats and egg car.  These teachers seemed to be happy teachers that were willing to help.

The mediocre teacher tells.  The good teacher explains.  The superior teacher demonstrates.  The great teacher inspires. 

 ~William Arthur Ward