Going into my second year of teaching I have done a lot of professional development work. I’ve attended a three week workshop on Modeling Chemistry and will soon attend a short Dorm Parent Workshop. At the moment however I am in attendance of a classroom management workshop located at Trinity Pawling. This workshop has had a lot of valuable information that I will try to recap here for my own benefit, and possibly even yours.
The term “classroom management” holds more to it than I first thought. Not because I didn’t know all its parts existed, but rather I never considered them. I began this workshop hoping to understand how better to “control” my classrooms – specifically, well behaved and disciplined. However, the management of a classroom is far more than maintaining control, and control comes from many more places than discipline. Management also includes participation, pace of class, student interactions, and more. While I learned a lot of suggestions for behavior and discipline, I learned a lot too about the classroom as an environment and teaching as a profession.
Our first of four days was relatively short, having only a two hour evening session after registration and dinner. After a number of stories to set the mood, we, as a participating class of about 30, broke into groups of 4 to discuss what we recall as characteristics of our favorite teachers. When the class reconvened we shared and compiled our lists – followed by discussion and comparisons many of the traits on the list were repeated, many went hand in hand, and some contradicted. I will not write the entire list but give you some of the ones I felt most valuable:
Shares passions
Stern
Interested in the student’s life outside the classroom (appropriately)
Genuine
Organized
Safe
Listens
Gives credit when credit is due
This is a short list that I felt were highlighted in my mind. I think on these terms some as one who was, and often still is a student, and also now in reflections of how I would like to teach. Of course I want to share my passions. As an algebra teacher I’ve spent much of my time learning “tricks”. I don’t want to know them to short-cut lessons or avoid big ideas, but rather in learning how and why the trick works I better my understanding of material and draw connections that I might never have seen before. As for stern; a line must exist between fun and work. That does not mean work cannot be fun, but the class of students must know when the time for fun and jokes are over. For knowing one’s student, it’s almost guaranteed at a boarding school. But, it’s important to know the whole student. What they do, how they feel. Knowing the student lets them know you care about them as a person, not just a grade.
Genuine, Organized, Safe and Listens are perhaps the most important. Organized I believe goes without saying, but there’s no reason one cannot always improve on such a topic. Genuine: teach to your strengths and be who you are. Let your passions show and don’t try to act like any other teacher. It’s easy to observe a class and feel it was taught better or worse. But that is a reflection of far more than the style of the teacher. You need your own style or the style won’t succeed. In Dr. Seuss’s words, “Be who you are and say what you want. Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” Safe and Listens go hand-in-hand. A student must be able to trust their teacher. That is why they poke and prod and test. A student wants a teacher who hears the problem, not the solution. Solutions come with understanding and understanding cannot happen without taking the time to hear the student out and know their problem. It’s so easy to try to re-explain a situation, without realizing that the problem is something that you – the teacher – know so internally that you assume it and don’t remember to tell the child.
I saved offering credit when due for last because it paired with a common theme throughout this workshop. I think its easy to justify giving credit when due, but its less often done. We all remember bad moments so much more than good. Its easy to criticize poor behavior, but good is expected. As a result, students that do good work and behave well can often feel unnoticed. There is a power in praise. Tell the kids who improve when they improve. Tell the kids who do good work that there work is good, even if it always is. Let students know that you see them and are proud of what they’re doing.
Our second day had a heavier emphasis on how to structure class in such a way to improve classroom management. This was one case where it became clear that good management did not have to be strong discipline. We started the class this day discussing how to make your room a positive environment. If the class is safe, fun and enjoyable, it will make the students want to behave, and it will make the students want to engage.
Since I’ve already discussed it I’ll mention it as a reminder, but not repeat myself. Use to your advantage the power of praise! Not only does praise emphasize good work and recognize stronger students, but praise is unifying. If students see you congratulating the work of their peers, they will want to earn that same praise themselves. But, praise must be specific. When giving praise be sure to be clear to the specifics of what you are giving merit to and why. Remember when you get frustrated at a student to not isolate the class. It’s not the class that upset you, so keep yourself under control and remember that most of the class is on your side and wants to keep going.
So, we know we want to keep the class positive, but how should we structure our class? We first need to remember to be organized. Down time undermines everything that we try to do in the classroom. So, have plans to avoid causing it and keep the students working. When they aren’t working they feel that what they’re doing isn’t important. Include routines. That isn’t to say all of every class is one, but there need to be norms. Norms give both you and the student a level of safety and comfort that both can fall back on. Start class with entering – homework out and begin a “do-now” as we check the homework – begin new material. Most of those steps need to be done, so that is a valuable routine to make clear. Be careful when setting up routines. Do not accept if the class did it alright and was chatty. The way it’s done when you set the routine is how the routine will be remembered. It’s far easier to become less firm than more. Start strict – only then can you loosen up.
A bit towards discipline, preventative measures are both easier and more pleasant than repercussions. Give seating charts. Yes, the kids are growing up; yes, you don’t like making them; yes, the kids don’t like having them. But… they help. From my own experience last year, some students prefer it. Perhaps they have friends in the class but know that sitting with them will make it harder to learn. Is it so wrong to help them and mandate their separation? Move around the room. Don’t isolate yourself in the front. You can see notes and work and the students feel you are more a part of the room. Keep things moving! As was mentioned before, down-time is the bane of class success. Keep the urgency high. Lastly, don’t accept answers from kids who shout out. Accepting those answers is a positive response to calling out, which is a negative behavior.
There are lots of ways to discipline kids, but none of them are fun. The best classes, the ones best managed, are the ones where discipline never happens. Make your class one that students want to be at. Teach your lessons in such a way that students want to know how they end. And don’t let your students put themselves in positions where temptation for trouble is high. And remember… Praise success!
No comments:
Post a Comment