Classroom Management
In my classroom I have three general rules, “We are respectful, responsible, and fun to be around (or safe).” We hold a class meeting where the students come up with the details and they describe what these rules look like and the behavior that complies with these expectations. When the students set the definition and description of the expectations, they share in the ownership of them. If they miss anything, I scaffold it for them until they get there. For student teaching, I eased into my role as teacher in charge, mid-semester. There wasn’t an obvious time to have the “expectations” meeting. Even though I didn't begin the semester with the meeting, we met and outlined the expectations. The above artifacts are the notes from our meeting. There was a marked improvement in their behavior afterward.
Children need to know the expectations and they need to be constantly reinforced. After our meeting I kept a post on the whiteboard that read: “We are: respectful, responsible, and safe.” I also made a “voice level reminder” that I got from the art teacher. She had one in her room and I asked her about it. She emailed me the images. I used it occasionally but the students relied more on verbal direction than the visual reminder for voice level.
Children need to know the expectations and they need to be constantly reinforced. After our meeting I kept a post on the whiteboard that read: “We are: respectful, responsible, and safe.” I also made a “voice level reminder” that I got from the art teacher. She had one in her room and I asked her about it. She emailed me the images. I used it occasionally but the students relied more on verbal direction than the visual reminder for voice level.
Part of my philosophy of education is that students take ownership of their learning. This goes hand in hand with differentiation and classroom management in that students work at different paces and they can and should find something else to work on. It is important to be prepared with options that challenge them when they finish their regular work.
I set up a system for students so they would always have something to do. I collected several activities related to our curriculum and put them in files in a crate in the classroom. The activities included word searches, crossword puzzles, geometry nets, and different types of mazes. I called them “freckles” from the acronym F.R.E.K.L. which stands for “Finish Real Early Kind of Learner.” I set up the crate and told the students that they had options for when they finished their work; silent reading is always a good option, but they could always chose a F.R.E.K.L. too. The crate also holds the files with the differentiated spelling activities. When I came to my host class each student used a netbook to practice math skills on Khan Academy and each spelling list was uploaded to spellingcity.com. A few weeks into the semester, however, Khan Academy stopped working on the netbooks and the netbooks lost half their value. Students would spend a small amount of time practicing their spelling words and then play on CoolMath.com. We also ran into some integrity issues when it came to taking the test on spellingcity.com. My host teacher gave me the green light to put the netbooks away and teach spelling in a more organic way. I created a spelling log (some teachers have “contracts”) where students got to choose their spelling practice activities but they had to have five different ones throughout the week. By the end of the week they should get a really good grade on their test (if not 100%). I found many different activities on-line and provided copies in the file folders in the crate. Other activities students could complete on their own lined paper. I posted examples in the room. This system allowed students to work at their own pace, chose their practice method, be creative, and increase the likelihood that they would remember how to spell the words beyond the test. The spelling lists started out being comprised of words from the Houghton-Mifflin curriculum. Those ran out shortly after I implemented this new spelling curriculum so I got to create the lists. I pulled words from the science unit and from the literature book we were reading, “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio. When we came across one of our spelling words during reading someone would inevitably loud-whisper, “Hey, that’s one of our spelling words!” I would round out the list by including some words from the lists of “Most Frequently Misspelled Words” for sixth grade. The kids really liked the new system, especially the “Spelling Scribble” because it was an artistic way of practicing spelling. My host teacher is keeping the system. |
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