106: Assignment 3

The article "Assuming the Best" essentially says that students come to school with a desire to behave well and learn in a safe and structured environment provided by the instructor; and that we, as instructors, should be aware that students come in with such a mindset.

It goes on to provide a variety of methods that would allow us to create such a safe and structured environment that would allow us to reach pass the "noise" that prevents us from communicating clear behavioral expectations effectively. Those strategies include using volume, tone and posture to communicating firmly but in a manner that displaying a genuine sense of caring. A two-by-ten strategy is also mentioned, where teachers spend two minutes a day caring on a conversation with a problematic student regarding anything the student may want to talk about. This forges a positive relationship with the student and in most cases the student’s behavior improves. Breaking things into steps, something I do frequently in the classroom, is also listed – as are behavior rubrics (something RSMS uses with Zone 0, Zone 1 and Zone 2 [levels of noise]) and the use of visuals.

I feel I can be much stronger in the area of two-to-ten. We recently had a family literacy night at Barnes and Nobles where students came after school to do a read aloud and an activity with their teachers. R was one of the first students that came. He constantly proves to be a challenge to work with in class – he is always wiggling around uncontrollably, making disruptive noises, drumming on his desk and forgetting his homework. Whenever I communicate my expectations when he begins to display misbehavior, he often rolls his eyes and on a rare occasion will fix behavior only to resort to the same misbehavior five minutes later. From my perception of the situation, I thought R must have thought lowly of me – that his eye rolling was prompted by a strong dislike for me as a teacher and for school in general. When I walked into Barnes and Noble that night, R caught a glimpse of me walking in from the corner of his eye. The biggest smile came across his face and from across the store I could hear "Mr. F!" being yelled. He, with friends in tow, ran up to and gave me the biggest hug I’ve received this year, from any student. I was surprised – was this the same student that constantly rolled his eyes at me at class? Perhaps this student is longing a positive relationship with me – perhaps I can make the school environment a safe and more structured environment for him where he feels like he is a valued and appreciate part of the class and of my life.

The second article "Warm Demanders" follows in a very similar vein to the first. It focuses on building a strong relationship with students that makes them aware of the fact that you truly care for them. The article talks about holding high expectations and simply not holding them but insisting that students meet them. I know students are aware of what my high expectations are, but I don’t know if they feel like I truly believe they can meet them. Over the next year, I will need to insist that all of my students meet those expectations and make it very clear that I believe each student can.

Another question the article raises for me, is whether or not I am truly in touch with the culture that my students come from. Although I speak a little Spanish, my pronunciation is always corrected by students when I attempt to speak it in class. I know little about the life style in the area that I teach – what a normal weekend looks like, what religious beliefs are held. All of these things occasionally make me feel as if I am an outsider in my own classroom – which creates an obstacle in fostering relationships with my students. Additionally, I tend to forget that many of my students come from different cultures and backgrounds, and that I need to go beyond attempting to simply reach out to the Spanish-speaking cultures that are present in my classroom. Each student has a different life and it is my responsibility to become more in touch with what their life looks like outside of school. So far I feel like house visits have been incremental in doing so – but again, I am simply not able to do 80 house visits for the 80 of my students. I am motivated, however, to find away to truly get to know each of my students and their respective cultures.

106: Assignment 1

What is your plan for meeting the needs of each of the four types of misbehavior in your classroom? (Attention, control, boredom, and inadequacy):

Students who have a strong desire for attention, and occasionally create disruptions in order to receive such attention, will receive positive reinforcement and attention for good behavior. Value rockets (which work like raffle tickets) will be handed out to students who are behaving well. Students who need attention will be rewarded, the same as (or perhaps more) than other students in the class who also display proper behavior. This will encourage students starving for attention with a way to receive attention in a non-disruptive manner. Disruptive behavior prompted by a desire for attention will be ignored, unless it is to an intolerable extreme.

Students who need to control will be provided with the option of choice. They will get to choose between activities or worksheets – providing choice during instruction. Behavior issues will also be approached through choice, providing these students with a degree of control over their situations.

Students who are bored because they are advanced will be challenged with differentiation. Perhaps more challenging worksheets will be provided, or they will be pulled aside at points during the day to work on a different subject matter.

Students who fear inadequacy and act out will have to build their confidence. Starting them out with easier work and gradually getting them to a point where they feel comfortable participating in a positive manner will help to eliminate behavioral issues prompted by a sense of inadequacy.

106: Pre-Assessment Post

What is one high point and one low point so far in your first weeks of teaching?

One high point is definitely the overall great behavior that my students appear to be exhibiting while in class. Having 80 second graders throughout the day, I imagined, would be stressful. However, I feel management has, overall, been rather solid.

I’d say that a low point is trying to tackle the behavioral issues of a handful of students that I encounter throughout the day. I have one student who speaks only Spanish, and the language barrier makes communicating behavioral expectations quite a task.

What are two things going well with classroom management?

I think my students are really starting to buy into the school culture. I hear them using the core values as part of their daily speech. When I forgot to handout a bunch of letters to go home from the school administration to my first class of the day, I had to send another student in a later class with the letters to the class which I forgot to hand them out to. The student I handed them to said, "Mr. F, that wasn’t showing responsibility;" responsibility was a core value we talked about the week before.

It is difficult to pick out another very specific item that is going well. Students are fairly well behaved and show respect during the lesson. Most of them listen attentively and on the whole things are going fairly well.

What is your main challenge/area for growth with classroom management?

One area for growth in terms of classroom management is attempting to get my classroom to "run itself." When students are asked to move their clip down (a form of consequence), they also need to put a symbol in a chart which represents the action they did in order to solicit a consequence. I always have to stop and remind students what symbol to put in the chart for their behavior. It takes a good deal of time away from the lesson. And at four weeks into the school year, this should simply not be occurring.

What questions do you have regarding classroom management?

Besides having a bilingual partner for my Spanish-only student, how else can I clearly communicate behavioral expectations? I find that even my bilingual students do not always know how to translate particular words or phrases.