Classroom Management Main Page - EDEL 414 - EDSE 415
Classroom management should be a uniform understanding of what is expected by every student that is in my classroom. They know that there are many unspoken rules that should be followed, as well as the spoken and the written rules that have been established. These rules that I have come up with in my class will be stressed during the first few days of school when the school year starts, ideally. These rules will not be used to restrict the students from expressing their own individuality, but they will serve to assist the positive flow of the classroom. The flow of the classroom will be one where student will feel comfortable, safe and able to learn. This can only be achieved if there is some sort of harmony among the students themselves. This harmony will be reached if the students have an understanding that the rules are to do just that, help their growth, academically, and that the rules are not to hinder their individuality. When it comes to the actual rules themselves, it would be best if the students themselves would be able to contribute to the development of the rules that are to be followed in the classroom. By allowing the students to contribute in the forming of the rules then the students will feel that they are part of the rules, they will feel a sense of ownership when it comes to the rules of the classroom. With that sense of ownership the students will then be more aware of the infringements of the rules by their peers and will consequently want to reinforce the rules themselves, thus keeping order within the classroom. Should students not follow these rules then the class will also have an order in which punishment, discipline will be carried out.
Classroom management is something that I feel should not be spoken or even made public. Classroom management should be instilled in the minds of the students from several years back, by the time they reach secondary education. When it comes to the instruction of students, they should all be ready to do what they are supposed to be doing at school, learning. By the time students get to the secondary level of education, or high school, they should already know now they should behave and how they should not be behaving. Students should be fully aware of the value of their education, more so for the students who attend a school in an inner city or a “low-income” school. They should have the mindset that by them going to school and getting their “free” education, they could possibly be more prepared to accomplish any goal they may have set for themselves. However the nature of young people is much different, it is unfortunately much more negative. Students, young people, do not wish to take the time to really work for anything. Many students feel that they need to have immediate compensation, and great compensation for as little amount of effort on their behalf. Students want to have the easy way out of everything, they want the money, the fame and the luxury of a great person, however they are willing to put 10%, if not less, of the work that is required to achieve this. There are several different ways we, as teachers, can attempt to gain their attention so that they could successfully accomplish the required work. Students have a variety of ways in which they learn, some are introverted and there are others that are much more extraverted. Some want to have nothing but group activities because that is the way they work best. Others want to work alone because they do their best work when they work with themselves. As a teacher we must prepare for all types of personalities, even with the same assignment. There may be an assignment where we could have a couple of group presentations and we may also have individual work that is to be turned in by single students. This is becoming more and more necessary because we want to be able to reach every learn style that our students may have.
Lee and Marlene Canter’s assertive discipline would reinforce the idea that the student is responsible for his or her own reaction. A successful teacher would be one that is assertive enough to get activities started his their classroom. We must also be able take our role in the class seriously but most importantly the students must see that we are the ones should be respected and be taken seriously. Canter has the view that the students have some knowledge of what must be done in a classroom. They are to do work so that they could be able to better themselves. Not only that but when they do their work, they are to be satisfied by doing just that, they should not expect any type of reward. We are not supposed to stop and congratulate each and every student for the task they just did. Students are supposed to gain self gratification, something similar to what a teacher does, we are hardly given any thanks for what we do, we are to do what we do because we love it, as in any other occupation.
Alfie Kohn speaks of an aspect that is very important in the academic development of students. Motivation is essential for students to not only be on task but for them to continue with great progress. If a student is motivated to do work then they may very well surpass what is required of them. Motivation is to be established based on the needs of the students. Kohn offers the 3 C’s when it comes to motivation, content-interesting topics. If a student finds a topic interesting then they will do what is asked because they are intrinsically motivated to do what they are given. Community cooperative learning and a safe learning environment is needed for students to be able to work successfully and productively. Choice asking kids to thing about tasks and ways they would like to approach them, if the student are able to give their opinion on a topic they may very well contribute in a more positive manner.
Lastly Jacob Kounin simply states that if a classroom is properly managed then misbehavior will be nonexistent. Stop the problem before it starts and you will have no problem. That is the idea of what a class room should be like, a student should know from the very beginning what they are supposed to do and what not to do. We must instill that information into them if they don’t already know that. We need to establish the foundation of the class at the beginning so that we won’t have to be inventing rules as the year progresses. This would be the ideal, is it always affective? I could only hope.
B. Expectations/Policies/Rules/Boundaries
When I enter a ninth grade classroom, I have several expectations. These expectations range from the simplest of being able to read grade level material, or actually anything for that matter, to perhaps that most advanced of being able to write complete complex essays. The students should have a firm understanding of grammatical concepts as well as structure of literature and sentences. The students are to be aware that English class is one that should be taken seriously and effort must be set forth on their behalf to make it productive and fun. They know that they are in the class to work and they are there to advance in their education, as opposed to be fooling around with their classmates. The students are expected to understand that the classroom is an environment that should be respected at all times by everyone, no matter whom may be in front of the class at any given time. Students need to be aware they their attention is needed throughout the entire time they are in there.
The students are to acknowledge policies that are both written and not written. Policies are constructed to be just that, constructive in the development of the student, both academically and socially. The student will be expected to follow the rules that are established in the classroom; however there will not be a long list of rules that the student must memorize. Everything will revolve around respect. Students are to respect themselves, their classmates, the teacher and whoever may enter the classroom at any given time. By the students demonstrating this form of respect we will consequently have a classroom climate that will not only be highly productive but it will also be one that is comfortable and pleasurable for both the students and the teacher. If students have the comfort they feel is necessary to learn then a great deal of learning will be taking place. This is the ideal environment that I would like to create for my students and myself. This would greatly help the flow of the classroom.
From day one boundaries are essential for the smooth flow of the entire school year. Boundaries will not be restrictive for the students; they should never feel that they are confined to doing something that they feel is against their will. The students will therefore develop the boundaries. This will provides a sense of ownership for the students and their boundaries. They will be given the option to determine what is important in the classroom and what is not essential to have in the classroom. To accomplish this it is necessary to demonstrate to the student just how important it is to focus on an education that is free from any disruptions and from any distractions. During that first day in class the student will see just how important school is because I will do my part by providing motivation for them. I will demonstrate just how important school is because without school students will have fewer options in the near future. Every student will be made aware of just how valuable options are. Once the students are all motivated on doing their best for that school year we will then begin to establish boundaries and rules for the classroom. The students will share what are the best possible boundaries for the class. The students that come up with the actual rules and boundaries will be asked to explain just why it is important to have that rule or form of boundary in our classroom. Once the case is presented then the class as a whole will be given the opportunity to vote as to weather or not that is a valid rule or boundary. The students will have had a voice in the establishing of the rules and boundaries and consequently they will feel a sense of ownership and they will feel more resolved to follow them and most importantly help enforce them.
The expectations that I have constructed of my students are focused with the student in mind and are therefore student-centered. With having the students as the center of my classroom management plan, I feel that it has a more realistic approach to it. Having the students as the center of my plan I will be able to produce a product that will be suitable to the needs of the students. They will be thought of when it comes to discipline, rules, and boundaries from their own perspective, not from the perspective of the all powerful teacher that just wants to have a noiseless classroom where the teacher is giving the compelling lecture each and every day as the students attentively jot down notes that will help mold their academic lives. The student-centered module is essential to help the planning teacher realize that the students are the center of the classroom. The students needs have to be met; the student’s boundaries must be established in a way that is effective for the student and useful for the teacher. I shouldn’t try to establish a classroom on the premises that I am the most important element in the class. It is simply not rational, the numbers, students, are greatly against that. I must design a plan that is sensitive to the needs of the students, that is, only if I want to have a productive and effective classroom.
C. Instructional and Assessment Strategies
that Promote your Management Goals
In order for me to meet the academic needs that the students need, what I do is construct my lesson plans according to the standards that are being focused on by the school. I will take the standards that the school feels important to cover and I will use them as a guideline for my lessons. These guidelines, or standards, are for my benefit because I will be able to see exactly what the needs of the students are, based on the state appointed standards. I will then take that lesson that I have decided to use and I will assemble different versions of the same lesson plan. This will be necessary so that I could reach as many kids based on their own individual needs. I am fully aware that there are students that have different needs, such as language barriers and others that may have cultural differences or even mental differences. The development of my lesson plans is vital so that I could meet the student’s academic needs and satisfy the requirements of the school that has employed me.
The facts are that even if I have managed to produce the infallible lesson plan, there will still be students that simply feel it necessary to act out. For those students there will be modified versions of the same lesson. Several students learn in a different way altogether, some are more “hands-on” learners, where they must actively be involved in something therefore I will create, within the same lesson, an opportunity for those students to focus their energies on something that is constructive for them as well as myself. Perhaps the writing activity the class is working on is not what Sergio really is good at; therefore I will allow Sergio to perhaps prepare an assignment that he could present orally to the classroom. I could also have Sergio actually build a scale model of what it is that we are writing about, even draw out the assignment. I am fully aware that students like Sergio have different talents, I am not to punish them for being highly talented in their artistic hemisphere of their minds, I will provide for them an education that is fair for them and at the same time satisfying for the school and the state. These different methods will be incorporated into the lesson plans that I will have developed for my students. “Acting out” is something that will not easily be done, if all else fails then there are the boundaries, rules and regulations that the class has come up with for situations just like this one.
The assessment that I have developed for the students has everything to do with the management of my class. When assessing the students work with their own peers/classmates I will then be able to know which way to go when it comes to actually advancing onto the next lesson or to go over more points of the prior lesson. Even though I have designed a lesson or a plan that time sensitive, I can not advance if the students are not at all ready to proceed with the lesson. If at the end of a unit I notice on the assessments that the students did not show complete competency of the subject matter then what I will do is simply adjust the lesson accordingly. Primarily what I will be doing is delaying the next lesson so that we could go over principals that were missed or perhaps principals that I may not have elaborated enough on. Doing this will allow more students to keep pace with the class, they will be able to keep up because they will be given another chance to go over that material, one more time. The students many times need to go over something just one more time in order for them to fully grasp the concepts that are being discussed. I am fully aware that there may be a couple of times where we just have to advance, and what I will do then is simply work with the students that are having trouble with the concepts separately. The ideal situation would be to have a teachers aid with me so that I could do the work that is necessary with all the students, however, realistically that is not always going to be the case.
Adjusting to the variable styles of learning requires a variety of options for the students. The same lesson must be open to be worked on in several different ways I will do just that. There are lessons that can be done more than one way. Some portions of the assignment may be done either orally or written perhaps it could be illustrated if possible. Having these options for the students allows for them to feel a sense of comfort so that they may feel as though no assignment is ever impossible. The students may also have the opportunity to incorporate any part of their styles into the assignment. Should the student feel it is utterly imperative that they bring into the assignment parts of their culture, and then they will feel free to do just that. At no time will the student feel that they are restricted from sharing their culture or even their circumstance with the class assignment. Having different variations of the same lesson will also allow for different opportunities for students to perhaps catch up on work that they may not have completely understood. If the class is working on a group project but there are students that have not yet grasped the concepts previously discussed, then what I do at the time of the group work being carried out would be to work with these students on an individual basis. Working with these students at this time will allow for us to go over several pieces of information that they may have missed a day or two before. In the planning of my lessons I don’t take into account the difference of cultures or circumstances as a negative aspect, on the contrary, having a diverse classroom adds to the lesson. There could be different points of view that may arise from the students that I may not have thought of, this would be something that would be greatly attributed to the great diversity that is in the classroom.
The motivation that drives students to do any academic work would be “What is their reward.” Students these days want to do things quickly and they want to be greatly rewarded. Their motivation is spurred by the images that they see on the television screen. The students see how successful certain rap stars and super athletes become almost over night. This is what the students want, to come up with a catchy song and become the next DMX. They see how certain singers come from poverty-stricken homes in South Central Los Angeles and then next thing these students see is how great these people are living on MTV Cribs. They also see how certain kids like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnet come out of high school and manage to make it big in the basketball world. They hear how these great athletes were able to skip the college level and then jump to the professional ranks and at the same time manage to pull yearly pay checks that are equivalent or grater to the lifetime salaries that their parents or anyone else they know ever made.
What students
fail to see is the hard work that is involved with any field that they make
reference of. The students fail to see
just how hard DMX worked and continues to work in order for him to be as
successful and he is today. They don’t
see the many sleepless nights that are involved when it comes to making a
record or a music video. The students
also fail to see the hours upon hours that
With regards to the Short-term motivation that the students have, I would say that it is mainly because they want to see results. Students want short-term motivation because it is much quicker and because it is a more achievable goal for them. When they set out to learn or to complete a task they would like to complete it because they know that it may be time sensitive and it requires their attention for at least a short period of time. Most students have this type of motivation and they like to complete something and simply move on to the next thing. Perhaps because they become bored with any one task should it take too long?
Long-term motivation and students are very rarely in conjunction. Many students fail to see the “big picture” of things. Many students do not see school as part of their future lives because their minds are fixated on the immediate future and nothing more. There are those select few students that naturally have a long-term mindset and they then approach their education as one step at a time, knowing that eventually they will be able to see the fruit of their hard efforts. The students that have a long-term mindset are difficult to find because most students today have the microwave mentality. These students want everything done in a couple of minutes.
Most of my students do the task that they do because they have to. Being in English class students realize that this is a class that is required every year of their high school careers. They approach every assignment as a task that is utterly undesirable. The students want to get the current assignment and they want to do something that is considered fun or more engaging perhaps. However with a bit of motivation that I give them at the outset of the assignment they then give a bit more effort to the assignment and put more detail to produce a suitable end product.
I plan to motivate my students by showing them how being in school is important. I have worked using a chart that works in backward order. First I start with their goal, let’s say a successful actor. The students want all the fame and the glory that comes with the career but before that they need to get what? As a class we discuss this and we come up with the answers together. You need to be able to perform very well in a movie, but before that you must be able to understand and read the script with great understanding. The step that would precede this is that the actor needs to know the performing business, before that they need to learn as much as possible when it comes to acting. Eventually we come down to the most basic step that is understanding and mastering the concepts of English. Ironically enough those are the steps that the students are practicing in their High School classrooms. This is where they are now; all of a sudden there is a form or relevance to what they are doing now and to what they want to do in the future.
My motivational approach is that of a realist. Each and every student, not matter what their gender, culture or any difference they may have, they all have a goal that they would like to reach at some point or another. Every student wants to get somewhere no matter how distant and difficult or how easy and near that goal may be. I motivational approach can easily be connected to all goals. Simply by working in a backward order the students will come to realize that there is some sequence that is required to achieve their goal and they should consequently see this phase in life as a stepping-stone to their great futures.
E.
Vision
When I enter the classroom on a Monday morning, I see that every student is present and eager to start learning. The moral in the classroom is very high and every student is willing to participate with whatever task awaits. There is a sense of tranquility in the air, the students all feel comfortable with one another and there is no friction of any sort that may be looming in the air. The students are ready with a pen a paper at the ready and they are willing to discuss the previous assignment that was given in class. The students have all done the reading that was assigned to them for the weekend and we are not ready to have a discussion on the chapter read from Animal Farm. The students are all participating with the questions that are given, everyone is volunteering and there are not awkward moments of silence in the class. With the answering of the questions that I give to the students, all of a sudden there is a meaningful, text related, discussion that spurs between the students. They are all enthusiastic about continuing with this highly intellectual discussion as to how the governments of Animal Farm parallel to the governments that have existed throughout the history of the modern word. Every student is acting in a way that deems respect from myself, the teacher. I see that the students are all sincere in their efforts of having a productive class session. The only problem that I am encountering is that the students all want to talk when other students are talking because they all want to get their point across. The way the problem is dealt with is simply by referring to the social contract that is posted on the board in front of the classroom. “We should respect and allow one student to speak at a time.” Once the observation has been made then the students quickly calm down and they all raise their hands to speak when it is their turn. After the discussion had ended we then move on to having a reading of part of the following chapter together in class. Once again all of the students want to take part in reading and they all volunteer to read a page or at least a fraction of one. They ask questions about the text as we are reading, questions ranging in difficulty from what does this word mean to questions like why do you suppose there was such a power struggle between Snowball and Napoleon? The class then begins to discuss what is going on in the book and they all want to continue the discussion but I have to keep the class focused on task.
The class is very well aware of the expectations that they have set for themselves and the ones that we have discussed at the beginning of the school year. There is a great social comradely between the students because of the social construct that was established at the outset of the school year. The classroom reality is that all the students are there to help one another advance academically and that they all have the common objective of not only completing the course but of doing as best of a job as possible. The classroom reality is also one that goes beyond the social interest but it is a place that is suitable for all types of learning abilities. Every student feels that they could do their job and progress at a pace that is best for them. They all feel a great comfort and they don’t hold back from asking questions or from simply discussing what they feel about certain subject matter or how they feel about their abilities in the classroom. This classroom reality is one that benefits everyone at least one way or another.
This is the ideal classroom for me. Students are all working together and they respect one another and the teacher in the classroom. The students all want to better their lives by doing well in school and they all want to maximize their time in the classroom as opposed to playing around and talking about senseless themes with their friends. Every student would want to be there on a daily basis and not see it as an hour that they just want to get over with for that day. On the contrary, students want to get to this class and are awaiting their English class to begin when they are in other classes. When the time comes for the class to end they don’t want to leave because they have done a lot but that did not satisfy their thirst for enriching themselves by staying in the classroom for a mere hour. They want more and they can’t wait to return to class the following day to school.
In writing this I honestly do think that I could reach this for the students, I have to work a lot harder in my planning and I have to focus on overcoming the problems before they surface, this “dream class.” This could very well be within my reach, I just need to focus work harder and try to get the student more involved, oh and praying never hurt anyone either. I really think that I could do this for the students.