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.