Classroom+Management

Classroom Management
I decided to put this strategy in the Classroom Management section of this wiki because I feel that involving students in classroom functions and giving them responsibilities helps build the sense of community and serves to pro-actively develop a healthy classroom environment.
 * Helping Hands! (Eddie)**

My AT runs a program in her class called "Helping Hands". She began the week by asking each student to trace out their hand and cut it out of a piece of paper. Students were then invited to colour and decorate their "Helping Hands" as they wished. At the end of the week, my AT collected all the "Helping Hands" and revealed the "Helping Hands" board. On the "Helping Hands" board are a variety of classroom activities, such as:

a) Post lunch clean up. b) End of day clean up. c) Materials distributors. d) Board cleaners. e) Chair stackers. f) Textbook dispensers.

Each week my AT will give each student in the class a "Helping Hand". This means that for that week, the student is responsible for completing that classroom task. I think this is an excellent strategy because it makes the students responsible for their own classroom, it brings structure to the classroom, and ensures that every student is actively engaged. But most importantly, it helps build community. And from my perspective a healthy community is the first step to effective classroom management.

After being in placement for the past 3 days, I'm kind of sad to see it come to an end (well for a couple of weeks anyways). My AT has been teaching at the school for 13 years, so she's got the classroom management techniques down to a tee, which is great for me because I learned so much in just the few days I've been here. My best experience (well one of the best) happened on the very first day, my AT left for 15 minutes and a "sub" came into to supervise, it was amazing to see how quickly the class broke apart and started acting like completely different students than when my AT was present it was a great scene to witness. Overall my placement has been great and I really can't wait to go back at the end of October :) Is this what we really want? (Robin) // Good point. I'm working now on my speech to give the students when they'll try to climb all over me in October. Something along the lines "I know you are very well behaved students because I've seen you in September, and I also remember the class activity that built the class rules about no put-downs toward students or substitute teachers". Although, at this point it seems unfair from my part to automatically assume they have magically turned into monkeys within one month (despite receiving a number of assurances that they would :) (Doina) //
 * Perfect Classroom Management** (**Girthiga)**

A strategy used by my AT to curb unacceptable behaviour in the classroom is called three strikes. As she explained to her students, if she observes an acceptable behaviour she will call their name as a first warning,the second time she will ask them to leave the room, go to the water fountain and come back. On the third time she will send them to the office. According to her she has never gotten to the third strike with any of her students. This strategy must be working for her because she does get behaviourily challenged students in her classes. In my opinion, it works because she establishes a positive rapport with the students in the beginning by being friendly, flexible, humorous and by portraying herself as a human capable of making mistakes but learning from them. Robin and Alfie's Rebuttal
 * Behaviour and consequences: (Samina Salman)**

Being in a grade 8 class, my AT made it very clear to myself, and the students within my class of their expectations for the term. She has chosen to pick at a few things that need improvement from the students to improve over a given week or two (ie, walking on the right side of the hallway, writing in agendas when work is assigned, etc...). After developing these expectations and creating a standard among the class, she will move on to other student activities. My AT does want to give students their space and opportunity to make their own decisions, but also prepare them with learning skills for highschool. By not picking at every student activity the first week, she prevents herself from sounding picky and therefore losing a rapport with the students.
 * Defining Expectations: (Greg Lemieux)**

Teachers are people, and sometimes students need a reminder of that. During the morning of the first day of class, my AT related a fault she had, as truly all humans have. A fault of hers is her ability to lose things, such as forms or assignments, that belong to students. She went on to say was that she has a system in place to ensure that she doesn't lose anything, and proceeded to explain the use of an inbox near her desk (not on it) for homework or forms to be placed into. This would ensure efficiency and security for students work, and seemed like a way to turn a "fault" into an easy way to help her stay organized.
 * Honesty: (Amy LaRue)**

My AT was very friendly to me upon meeting her. However, I could also tell she had a no-nonsense approach and that would extend to every student in her classroom. While we have been told it's a good idea to be strict for the first while so the students know what they can or can't get away with. However she maintains very high expectations of her class and is strict about them if they aren't met from September to June. I can see how successful this was based on the grade 7 class she taught when they were on rotary to visit her, as compared with her homeroom grade 6 class. The grade 7s even in a new year came and sat in desks quietly, while the grade 6s love to talk no matter what. It would be very interesting to see what the classroom dynamic is like and how it changes come next June.
 * Expectations: (Amy LaRue)**

One strategy that my AT used for classroom management was to have the students do a scavenger hunt that she made up of all the different resources in the classroom. It gave the students a chance to find things (ie., pencils, pens, markers, tape, microscopes, graph paper, chart paper, coloured paper, etc.) that they may need throughout the year and to get a feel for the organization of the room. My AT is a VERY organized person and she really wanted to stress the importance of keeping everything neat and in the same places so that whenever someone needed something they knew exactly where they could find things.
 * Scavenger Hunt: (Jessica)**

Another strategy was a classroom behaviour list: My AT has a board at the side of the room with a red pocket, a yellow pocket, and a green pocket (Green is good, yellow is a warning, red is bad) --> Every students name is in the green pocket to begin each day, however anytime a student does something inappropriate or against the classroom management guidelines/rules, their name gets take out and put either in yellow or red depending on how bad (i.e., today a girl "accidentally" swore in class and had to be the first student in the yellow zone). At the end of each day they are put back to green to start the next day, but the AT records each days events and at the end of the month, students may get a phone call home if they have consistently been inappropriate. Robin's Video Thoughts about this Approach
 * Punishment Disguised (Jessica)**

One strategy employed by my AT was to have the class brainstorm ideas about what characteristics they would want in a good employee, if they were their employer. Students worked in pairs and then shared with the rest of the group. The AT then wrote down all of the reoccurring ones, then told the class that these are the expectations that they will have for them. The AT will consolidate the expectations into 5-6 succinct bullet points, but have the original brainstromed expectations right up there next to the summarized ones, so the students can see where each one comes from. I think this will be effective as it allows the students to have input into the actual class expectations (there were no official ones setup before this exercise) and buy into and take ownership of them. One thing I didn't like was that employer/employee was used, in essence hiding the actual intent of the teacher, but perhaps this was done to make the students more honest? I'm not sure... I think I would like to try trusting what the students would want as class expectations and being completely honest with them (and allowing them to take full responsibility for those expectations, as nothing would be hidden), but it seems as though this strategy "as-is" will work as well.
 * Student Creation of Classroom Expectations / Rules (Nathan)**

One strategy used by my AT was to select a couple students to be "in charge" for the week. These students are responsible for reading announcements, distributing handouts, updating the homework board and class website, leading prayer, etc. At the end of the week, they are responsible for choosing who is going to be the S.I.C. for the following week, and training them in their duties. My AT never has to waste time trying to choose a volunteer when there is a job that needs to be done and it allows the students to practice leadership and responsibility.
 * Students-In-Charge (S.I.C.) (Michelle)**

Today a mother came to my AT and discussed how her child was being bullied. My AT talked to the student in question in a very calm and collected manner (one on one). He wasn't in trouble for "tattling" and he wasn't being rewarded for bringing it to the attention of his mom and the teacher. Instead, he just wrote down his story, the people who were involved, and asked the student if there were any details left out. Then, throughout the day, the teacher had one-on-ones with the students who were involved (and any others whose names might have come up) and wrote down their stories. At the end, he had a pretty good picture of what actually happened. He found the two people who were most directly involved (the root of the problem) and had a final talk with the two of them at the same time. He made it clear that they weren't in trouble and just talked to them about how being kind to each other can be as simple as giving each other some space. He recognized that it might not always be possible to get out of each others' way but in those cases, they have to at least get along - they don't have to be best friends. And that was it. No phone-calls or anything. Just papers to document what happened should the need ever arise.
 * Bullying Incident and Resolution (Steve H)**

//**Flexible Lesson Plan (Brian)**// One lesson learned on my practicum was to be flexible and always have a 'plan B'. On the Friday morning announcements it was stated that a school wide picture would be taken outside at 12:30 pm. Thus when classes resumed at 12:05 pm, my AT had planned a 25 minute lesson plan .... but at 12:15 pm, the principal anounced that the picture would now happen at 2:00 pm. We now suddently had to change course and present another activity to fit into the timeframe. Have to be prepared and flexible to have a backup plan to teach something that will fit into the 'administrative' timetable. Most interesting to see how reaction is a major requirement of the teaching day.

Verbal warnings should not be delivered across the classroom because this can marginalize the student and belittle them in front of their classmates. The teacher moves in close to the student and lets him know what he is expected to do. For example, Steven is sitting sideways in his chair and keeps messing with things on Maria’s desk. The teacher approaches Steven and says "Steven, I expect you to turn around in your seat and get on with your assignment. This is your warning. What is the next step?" Written warnings are even more effective. The student is approached and handed a slip or a note into their agenda. The teacher has checked an item on the slip and may ask the student to fill in the information at the top. They are told that if no further problem occurs they will be able to throw the slip away at the end of the period. If the misbehavior continues, the slip will be collected and turned into the office.
 * Verbal and Written Warnings (Christe M.)**