For classroom management, the third period, 9th
grade, Introduction to Literature class was one that really stood out to me for
how the teacher handled herself and the students. As the students entered the
room they were loud and crazy. Their task was to get their journals from the
bin next to the door before heading to their seats. As they collected their
journals and found their seats, the noise level was noticeably lower. After a
lot of practice and repetition, the students knew what the teacher expected and
quieted down on their own. There was a Do Now writing prompt on the board that
the students completed in their journals. By now only the teacher was talking
to a few students about what they had missed the previous day. The student’s
attention was on completing the Do Now and getting ready for the English class.
For the lesson today, the students were going to work on their Holocaust
Memorial project that they had started the previous day.
The
teacher had created a rewards system to motivate the students to participate
and be leaders within the classroom. She established a raffle where the
students could earn tickets that would be entered into the monthly raffle and
be drawn from to win a special prize. When I talked to the teacher after the
class, she said that this was a very effective reward system because the prizes
were actual items that the students wanted. She said that it really got the
students motivated to speak up more in the class. At one point during the class period, the students became
louder than what was needed. The teacher asked the students to play the quiet
game so that she could explain a few more instructions for the project. The students
responded to her right away. The respect that the students have for their
teacher was clearly seen as they listened to her the first time she asked.
As for
school-wide management, I did notice that if a student was late to school, they
wouldn’t let her or her into the building. They must either have a form or have
a parent with them. This was effective because it targeted the students who
would skip or leave the school grounds so that they couldn’t come back to
school for class. This is a good way to manage the use of security. There were
also no announcements made over the loud speaker during the class periods. The
announcements were made during the transition times in between classes. At the
end of the day, I believe it was the Vice Principal that gave a little speech
to the whole school as a recap of the day.
After
observing all of this school-wide and classroom management, I believe that it
affected the students learning in a positive way. They responded really well to
the teacher and her instructions for the day. Due to the student’s response to
the teacher, the class time wasn’t affected by the teacher having to spend a
lot of time on correcting behavior. Thus, the students had more time to work on
their projects. If students listened to their teachers more often, then they
would have more time to do the lessons and not feel so rushed. The rewards system
that the teacher created also was a major contributor in the students learning.
It became a way for the students to be motivated and speak up and share their
thoughts on what they were learning.
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