Based on both my review of the text and my short time as a
teacher thus far, I create a learning environment that is conducive to learning
by being consistent. Students walk in to
my room and know what I expect. I voice
my expectations to them beginning on day one.
This includes how to have class discussions, how to turn in homework,
what notes should look like, what you should be if you are not understanding,
what to do if you want to push yourself.
Basically, I seek no idle time. I
want to use every minute I have with my students as productively as
possible. In addition, I do not want any
students “hiding”. All students need to
feel accountable, and as if their voice matters. At first I foster this by making the students
do team building games, then I make them repeat each other, then I build to
whether or not they agree with, etc…
In my experience, the main thing is that I must be well
planned. In addition, I need to have a
good idea of the kind of thinking and questioning I want to foster with each
class.
When the students do not meet my expectation, I tell them or
provide them feedback via email for example.
As far as the high school case study, my continuum (starting
with 1) for dealing with the misbehavior would be as follows:
1.
Ask why my students have time to text in the
first place? If I were in my class would
I text and pass notes? (Consider my
procedures, planning, rules, class norms.
Have I failed to properly communicate them? Have I not required high things of my
students? Make adjustments accordingly.
2.
Do I simply need a better seating arrangement?)
3.
Consider the level of work I am asking my
students to produce versus what they are capable of. Is it unobtainable? Is it too easy? How can I ensure that the work I have them do
will get them invested?
4.
Research my students – how are they doing for
the rest of the building? How have they
done in the past in my subject?
5.
Have a dean/administrator/colleague come in and
observe my class. What am I missing?
6.
Speak with my students about what is working and
what is not working. Construct a plan
of action based on their feedback and implement it.
7.
Contact the students parents.
8.
Conference with the students and the parents and
possibly other teachers, especially if this is a pattern.
9.
Get the administration involved (with full
documentation of all my approaches.)
I like your step-by-step procedure to dealing with your case study. It's great that you are stopping to ask yourself, "what can I fix?- what am I doing wrong." Your students feedback will also be very important when deciding how to adjust your classroom, lesson plans, etc. I especially like how you talk about your classroom at the beginning of your post. It is very important to not have idle time and it seems that your students know that you have a plan and you mean business when they walk into your classroom.
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ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you on the fact that as teachers we need to questioning our way of handling things. Some teachers have a tendency on blaming the students for ever single negative action. They believe that they are perfect and that their class management is perfect. In reality, some students misbehavior might be the result of a lack of clear expectations or perhaps a boring instruction.
ReplyDeleteI love the step by step procedure! Instead of asking students all the questions we as teachers should question our selfs. I agree with Asmaa teachers point the fingers at the students but not because they think they are perfect but rather they are lazy. Some teachers do not want to put in the effort it takes to fixing the issue.
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