Classroom Management

Note: All names are pseudonyms.

In this reflection I would like to start by talking about how I am doing in regards to the goals I set in my first reflective post.

I feel that I have a great start on my goals! I have all 33 names down in my English classroom (and all 11 in my math classroom).  While I do not know what all of my students are reading, I do have a good start. Seven students are reading a book in the Hunger Games series, two of whom are reading the book based on my recommendation.  Two students are reading Lost Boy which they are actively discussing with one another. One boy is reading Twilight, because he is interested to see what all of the buzz is about.  Three other books being read are Uglies, Fallen, and Where the Sidewalk Ends. For all of you wondering, this means I know what 40% of my class is reading.

Now that I have updated everyone on my goals, I wish to move onto the main topic of my blog; classroom management. This topic is of particular interest to me, because I have two cooperating teachers (CTs). My English CT is a wonderful woman named Ms. Iron. My Math CT is another wonderful woman by the name of Ms. Stone. Now while I love talking and e-mailing with both of my CTs, their classrooms are completely different environments, and I don’t mean because they teach different subjects.

It is not an exaggeration to say that at least ten minutes of class time is wasted every day. I use the word wasted, because this time is spent by students refusing to follow directions, and Ms. Iron scolding her students for their disrespect. Now I know many of you are asking the same question. Why do the students not follow directions, if Ms. Iron is constantly telling her students how they are misbehaving and how to correct their behavior? The answer is that she is not doing this constantly. There are many times where students are obviously off task and misbehaving and Ms. Iron intentionally ignores those behaviors.  This has led to two consequences for me as a pre-student teacher in Ms. Iron’s classroom. First, the students have a total lack of respect for me as an adult in the room. Second, I now need to get procedures in place to improve instructional effectiveness while I am teaching. While I am up for the challenge, it has become a battle with some students who are completely convinced that they run the classroom.  Before I move on, I have one more example of a complete lack of classroom management in Ms. Iron’s room. No matter what is happening in class (i.e. lecture, group work…) Ms. Iron always allows students to leave her classroom to go to the water fountain or bathroom, rather than making them wait for a more appropriate time.

Ms. Stone’s room does not waste more than two minutes every day. Kids will be kids and are bound to get off topic if given a chance. Luckily, Ms. Stone is always there to make sure students are right back on task. There is an air of respect in the room the moment you walk in. Ms. Stone always comments on how she appreciates the class’s appropriate behavior, which seems to fuel their fire for always being on task. In addition to this, when students are off topic a simple correction from Ms. Stone or myself changes the behavior almost immediately. Of course some students have bad days and are a little harder to work with, but the majority of the time they are excited to be in the math classroom. Ms. Stone’s classroom management is consistent and effective. This has led to two consequences for me as a pre-student teacher as well.  First, every student in the classroom in the room respects me as an adult. Second, I do not have to worry about setting any groundwork before teaching my students.

In essence, these first few weeks have proven to me the importance of effective classroom management and what that looks like from the outside looking in.