1 List the classroom rules in your
classroom.
I did not see a specific set of rules
posted anywhere in the classroom so I am not sure if there is a set specific
list or if they build up rules as they go through the year.
Some of the ones that they acted on were
being respectful of others and being nice to each other. The teacher also reinforced working together
and solving problems in groups.
Where
are the rules posted?
The rules are not really posted anywhere
around the room. When rules are
discussed in the classroom, they discuss and the teacher writes down what they
say in two columns, what to do and what not to do. Then the teacher picks a volunteer to model
correct and incorrect behavior. They
repeat the modeling routine each day, while referencing the list they created
the first day of learning the routine, for a while, till the behavior and
routine in engrained in the student’s minds and therefore does not need to be
posted.
2 Briefly describe at least 12 procedures
that are being followed.
What
procedure is used . . .
.
. . for taking attendance?
After students first walk into the
classroom and set down their items at the their seats, they walk up to the
Smart Board and drag a tile with their name on it into the column that
corresponds with which lunch option they would like; hot lunch, cold lunch, or
bag lunch. Once everyone has completed
this task, the teacher freezes the image and uses that to take attendance as
she has free time at the beginning of the day.
.
. . for lining up?
My cooperating teacher has students line
up in a boy line and a girl line. She
dismisses students by table (which are labeled with colors so she says, “The
green group may come line up”, etc.).
Once all students are lined up, she turns and leads the group to their
destination.
.
. . for getting drink?
Students are free to get a drink
from the fountain in the room during free time or longer transition
periods. If the teacher sees that
someone is getting a drink when they need to be paying attention to directions,
participating in an activity, etc. she
will say their name and tell them that now is not the time to get a drink.
.
. . for using the restroom?
The teacher has a section by the door
with hanging tiles that say, “boys”, “girls”, “office”, and “library” on
them. When a student has to go to the
bathroom, they get up and grab the corresponding tile and set it at their spot
on the table and then go to the restroom at the back of the classroom. This allows the teacher to know where the
student is if they are out of sight and prevents germs from getting on the
passes that students touch frequently.
.
. . for going to recess and lunch?
In my cooperating teacher’s classroom,
the students go to recess before lunch.
They line up using the management routine described above and then the
teacher leads them into the hallway where they pause in a line. Then, a different adult takes them outside to
recess and monitors them. That adult
then leads them to lunch after recess time is over. This gives the classroom teacher a longer
lunch and prep time for the afternoon.
.
. . for transitions from one subject to another?
To end an activity, the teacher asks
the students to put away their supplies and either get out different supplies,
sit quietly for lining up, or go sit on the carpet. So far this year, the students are pretty
behaved during activities but they get chatty and loud during transition
times. Overall, I think this is the part
of classroom management that my cooperating teacher has a hard time with
because of their attention spans and ages.
.
. . for students who come in late?
Students haven’t really been late to my
cooperating teacher’s classroom because they mostly travel in a group so they
wait till students are ready before they leave.
Sometimes a student forgot to put on tennis shoes for gym, etc. and the
group leaves without them but the student just finishes their task and heads to
the next activity. As far as I can tell
so far, there isn’t any consequence for being late.
.
. . for students who do not finish their work?
Students turn in their work to a a “black
basket” so their papers are often jumbled up.
My cooperating teacher has some papers she corrects by circling errors
and starring all of them for completion and records a star in her grade book
for the assignment being complete. For
other assignments, such as quizzes and tests, they complete them in class and
turn them in and they are graded out of points.
From what I can tell, there isn’t a whole lot done about an assignment
being late other than the teacher possibly reminding the students about the
assignment. So far in my observations,
this issue has not been addressed.
.
. . for collecting classwork?
When students need to turn something in,
they turn it into the “black basket” which is near the teacher’s desk. Some students do this automatically but most
of the time the teacher tells them to turn in an assignment and reminds them to
turn it into the black basket.
.
. . for collecting homework?
When students need to turn something in,
they turn it into the “black basket” which is near the teacher’s desk. Some students do this automatically but most
of the time the teacher tells them to turn in an assignment and reminds them to
turn it into the black basket.
.
. . for passing out supplies?
The teacher often passes out supplies
when the students are at a different activity so the supplies are ready to go
before the students are in the classroom, saving time and allowing for more
instructional and activity time. If
passing them out early is not possible, she often will have the supplies in the
back of the room and students are instructed to grab supplies from there.
In addition to this, each table has
a center organizer that contains crayons, colored pencils, scissors, and a
myriad of other items. Each student also
had a nameplate that has room for them to store their pencils. Since the students have tables, there are
drawers around the room that have each student’s name on them that acts as a
place to store their folders, workbooks, etc. (The items you would normally
store in a desk). So when students need
those supplies, the teacher will asked them to get out the item and they all
disperse to their drawers, collect the item, and return to their seats.
.
. . for Daily Five: Read to Self?
Students during this time are
supposed to take the book box and find a quiet place to sit in the classroom
and stay there. They are supposed to
read quietly to themselves and not distract anyone else by talking to them,
etc. Students are provided time during
free time and other scheduled times to switch out the books in their book boxes
for new ones at their reading level.
.
. . for taking a test?
When students take a test, the teacher
passes out the papers and students are instructed to grab a privacy folder and
set it up at their spot. Then they take
their pencils and sit and listen for instructions on what test they are
taking. Once they are finished with the
test, they put away their privacy folders in the crate they grabbed them out of
and turn in their test to the “black basket”.
Then they listen for further instructions on where to go.
.
. . for taking papers home?
Each student has a “teacher” bin in
the back of the classroom where the teacher puts items to take home throughout
the day. At the end of the day, students
take out their folders and put the papers from their bin in their folder. Each pocket of the folder is labeled, one
with “bring back to class” and one “keep at home”. Students divide up the papers into those two
categories and then take the folder home in their backpacks. This allows them and their parents to know
what they need to send with their student back to school.
3.
What type of classroom management philosophy is being used in your classroom? How do you know?
My
cooperating teacher told me during prep time that she has a positive philosophy
and does not believe in detention or negative punishments for students. When is student is off topic, she will hold
up two twisted fingers so they can see and say, “reset” to cue the student into
the fact that they are not doing what they are supposed to be and to reset into
what they are supposed to be doing.
She
also addresses off task behavior by asking them to make a better choice. Students will often respond to this and
switch their behavior fairly rapidly.
Overall, she has many strategies to address negative behavior without a
large consequence.
If
a student is causing a significant amount of trouble, she will give them a
warning. If students receive three
warnings, they have to sit on the bench for 2 minutes during recess. If the classroom is causing a significant
amount of trouble, they can also receive warnings. These warnings, if too many, can result in a
plastic bear not being put into the jar on the side of the room or possibly
losing a bear. The idea behind this is
that if they behave, the get a bear in the jar for the morning and afternoon
(aka they receive a bear for being good).
If they are misbehaving, they risk not earning a bear and if they get
past that, they can lose a bear. This
allows the teacher to teach the students about consequences of behavior without
having large or significant consequences.
4. Write down a description of the classroom
management plan you would use if you had your own classroom.
I really like most of the classroom
management techniques that my cooperating teacher uses and would use most of
them. Some of the management techniques
I would do differently are line-ups, correcting behavior, and some
transitioning between activities routines.
For
lining up, I would probably have students line up in two lines, regardless of
gender. I would probably assign each
student a number and they would line up in that order so to check if everyone
was in line, they would count off. This
would help solidify counting and ordering skills as well as make sure all
students are in line.
For
correcting behavior, I would like to have a chart with each student’s name on
the left and three columns to the right of their name. At the beginning of the day, each student has
three smiley face Velcro pieces in the columns.
Throughout the day, students can lose and earn back smiley faces based
on their behavior. I want there to be
the three smiley faces at the beginning of each day so students know that each
day is a fresh start and a chance to have positive behavior. I also want students to be able to earn back
smiley faces so they have positive reinforcement on their behavior if they have
changed it from the poor behavior.
And
lastly, for the transitioning between activities, I would try and have some
routines about having a certain number of seconds/counts to get their
activities and that they can whisper-talk to each other during transition times
but that it needs to be quiet enough that they can still hear me if further
instructions are needed. I think that if
students are rarely allowed to talk to each other, they will talk to each other
anyways so if you give them specific times to chat about what they want to, it
will be easier to not talk during focus times.
The book I read today was called Yoko writes her name by Rosemary Wells. I had never heard of this book before but it was fun to read to the class because it is about an ELL student who speaks and writes Japanese. The students were very interested in how they write right to left instead of left to right and how their number representation symbols are different. The reason I found this particular book fun to read is because I can speak a decent amount of Japanese, as I took four years of it in high school. I wish I had more time to teach a lesson on Japanese numbers and using those numbers to do math problems. I think that would be really fun.
