How does this relate to the work you do in your classroom?
Since I have an exceptionally challenging group of students this year, this domain is very important to me. I have been working all year on devising a plan to help nourish a classroom that is respectful and free of behavior issues. I have also been working with a behavior specialist to help me think of new ways to manage this particular group of students. Let me explain a little farther: I have 5 extremely active students, along with 16 others who are feeding off the excitement, and one little quiet girl who doesn't quite fit into the group. Reading the article, the blog, and watching the video reinforced the conversation that I had with the behavior specialist just last week. It is helping me to realize that what worked before is not working now, and that I need to find a way to reach these students. It is not the students problem, it is mine.
I was very happy to read that the suggestion and ideas that I have discussed with the behavior specialist were validated in all three types of media that I observed. I need to not focus on the negative, treat all students equal, and respond to positive behavior. I am finding this to work quite well, as long as there is consistancy. This is the most challenging part. I am not sure if I am alone on this, but it is so easy to become involved in the lesson, reprimand a student, and forget to give praise.
I am also realizing that constantly calling out the bad behavior is definately reinforcement for that behavior to continue. The students thrive on whatever attention they can get. Lectures, detention, behavior plans, etc. do not seem to work. I found each article, video, and blog focusing on gettting rid of those types of management.
Since I am working on this domain in real time, I am finding that it will be very helpful to use this as my inquiry plan.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Task 4 Continued
You will be reading this a little backwards, as I hit post before I was completely finished with the assignment. Read on to the other blog of Task 4 for the complete response.
Question for the group:
How do you manage a room with multiple behavior issues and high energy? How do I get them to focus on instruction and be respectful to each other when I don't think respect is something they have used as of yet in this point in their life?
How This Looks in My classroom:
2a: Environment of Respect:
I am struggling with this. While I am trying my best to encourage students to treat others the way they would like to be treated, I am definately struggling in this area. One area I am really focusing on is having students listen to each other when they speak. Just as if I am speaking to them, I want them to listen just the same when another student is speaking or answering a question. At this time, my students will talk over each other and over me.
2b: Establish a culture for learning:
I do feel that this is an area that is blooming. Students know that I have high expectations for them, and they are striving to reach them in their work. I have a Proficient and Distinguised wall in my classroom where students can hang their best work. They are all beginning to want their work up on that wall. All of the teachers in our building are also hanging this work around town in different businesses, so that their best work can be displayed in the community. This is something else the students are really striving for.
2c: Managing Classroom Procedures:
I feel that this area in my classroom is also beginning to bloom. With the high energy group of students that I have this year, it has been a challenge. I have found that by being highly organized and making sure that students know exactly what is expected of them has definately started them on the road to being productive. The first hour and a half of school is used for small group instruction. The students are broken into 3 small groups. 1 group is meeting with me, 1 group is doing seatwork, and another is doing center work. The students have directions and rubrics to help them through the work and also have rules such as "ask 3 before me" so that small group instruction is not interupted.
2d: Managing Student Behavior:
This is the area I am struggling with. I have several students who are constantly off task, invading other peoples space and property, off task, and picking fights with other students. Many of these students cannot even take a restroom trip without supervision. I have an aide that comes in for 30 minutes during small group instruction to help manage these students, and 2 of them are currently being sent to other classrooms as to break up the amount of problems and distractions in my room. I am really having trouble in this area.
2E: Organizing Physical Space:
As I state in my later in the blog, this is where I am most comfortable. Students are broken into groups that separate as many of the behavior issues as possible, while also placing them in areas that will not draw attention to their behavior.
Question for the group:
How do you manage a room with multiple behavior issues and high energy? How do I get them to focus on instruction and be respectful to each other when I don't think respect is something they have used as of yet in this point in their life?
How This Looks in My classroom:
2a: Environment of Respect:
I am struggling with this. While I am trying my best to encourage students to treat others the way they would like to be treated, I am definately struggling in this area. One area I am really focusing on is having students listen to each other when they speak. Just as if I am speaking to them, I want them to listen just the same when another student is speaking or answering a question. At this time, my students will talk over each other and over me.
2b: Establish a culture for learning:
I do feel that this is an area that is blooming. Students know that I have high expectations for them, and they are striving to reach them in their work. I have a Proficient and Distinguised wall in my classroom where students can hang their best work. They are all beginning to want their work up on that wall. All of the teachers in our building are also hanging this work around town in different businesses, so that their best work can be displayed in the community. This is something else the students are really striving for.
2c: Managing Classroom Procedures:
I feel that this area in my classroom is also beginning to bloom. With the high energy group of students that I have this year, it has been a challenge. I have found that by being highly organized and making sure that students know exactly what is expected of them has definately started them on the road to being productive. The first hour and a half of school is used for small group instruction. The students are broken into 3 small groups. 1 group is meeting with me, 1 group is doing seatwork, and another is doing center work. The students have directions and rubrics to help them through the work and also have rules such as "ask 3 before me" so that small group instruction is not interupted.
2d: Managing Student Behavior:
This is the area I am struggling with. I have several students who are constantly off task, invading other peoples space and property, off task, and picking fights with other students. Many of these students cannot even take a restroom trip without supervision. I have an aide that comes in for 30 minutes during small group instruction to help manage these students, and 2 of them are currently being sent to other classrooms as to break up the amount of problems and distractions in my room. I am really having trouble in this area.
2E: Organizing Physical Space:
As I state in my later in the blog, this is where I am most comfortable. Students are broken into groups that separate as many of the behavior issues as possible, while also placing them in areas that will not draw attention to their behavior.
Task 4
Which component from this domain are you most comfortable with?
I chose domain 2. The componant that I am most comfortable with is organizing physical space. I am working with a group of students who are very high energy and feed off each others behavior. When I started out the year I had my desks arranged in a horshoe shaped design, with rows facing each other. I could walk in the center and each child was basically in the front row, no matter where they were sitting. However, after the year began, I realized that I had a very challenging group as far as behavior and a few student's were pulled to the front to keep them from distracting others. This made things much worse! After collaborating with a veteran teacher, we worked for 2 hours on a seating arrangement that put the students in groups of 4 and five, with each behavior student facing away from each other. They were also given seats that were not in the front of the room. This helps keep them from being the center of attention and has cut down alot on the distractions in my room. Since discussing this with my collaborating teacher, I am much more comfortable and proficient in this area.
Which component from this domain do you believe most strongly ties to instruction?
I believe that 2D most strongly ties to instruction. I might not have answered that question the same before this year. But as I have mentioned, I have a very challenging group this year that possess a very high energy level. I think that until I can manage their behavior effectively, no learning will take place.
Which component from this domain would you like to zero in on in your own instruction?
Since I believe that 2d (managing student behavior) is very important to my classroom this year, I would like to concentrate on this area. I feel that once I can handle that, I will be able to deal better with the other components in this domain. I am also currently working with a behavior specialist from our OVEC office. Collaborating through this class and working with her seem to be my best options.
I chose domain 2. The componant that I am most comfortable with is organizing physical space. I am working with a group of students who are very high energy and feed off each others behavior. When I started out the year I had my desks arranged in a horshoe shaped design, with rows facing each other. I could walk in the center and each child was basically in the front row, no matter where they were sitting. However, after the year began, I realized that I had a very challenging group as far as behavior and a few student's were pulled to the front to keep them from distracting others. This made things much worse! After collaborating with a veteran teacher, we worked for 2 hours on a seating arrangement that put the students in groups of 4 and five, with each behavior student facing away from each other. They were also given seats that were not in the front of the room. This helps keep them from being the center of attention and has cut down alot on the distractions in my room. Since discussing this with my collaborating teacher, I am much more comfortable and proficient in this area.
Which component from this domain do you believe most strongly ties to instruction?
I believe that 2D most strongly ties to instruction. I might not have answered that question the same before this year. But as I have mentioned, I have a very challenging group this year that possess a very high energy level. I think that until I can manage their behavior effectively, no learning will take place.
Which component from this domain would you like to zero in on in your own instruction?
Since I believe that 2d (managing student behavior) is very important to my classroom this year, I would like to concentrate on this area. I feel that once I can handle that, I will be able to deal better with the other components in this domain. I am also currently working with a behavior specialist from our OVEC office. Collaborating through this class and working with her seem to be my best options.
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