Classroom Management

October 10, 2012October 11, 2012 Katie Pryde Classroom Management, Occasional Teaching

Classroom Management Tools

As a supply teacher, I was constantly in and out of different classrooms on a daily basis. I found so many great ideas that I knew I would use (or modify) when I got my own classroom. I believe that classroom management is key! It not only helps students feel that they are in a welcoming classroom, but it also diminishes the behavioural problems that could occur in any of our classes today. I created a monitoring device in my classroom to help with my classroom management. I have placed each students’ name on a piece of paper, that has been laminated with a magnet on the back. Students are responsible for moving their own name on the chart throughout the day. On my whiteboard, I have made a small area that has 4 boxes, which are labelled: I’m Here and Ready to Learn, We Missed You, Washroom/Drink Break, and On a Mission.

Each morning, students will move their name from We Missed You (those names that stay here are because the students are absent from school) to I’m Here and Ready to Learn. By using this, it makes it very easy to quickly look at the board while completing the attendance and knowing immediately who is and who is not at school. Whenever students need to go to the bathroom or get a drink, they move their name to Washroom/Drink Break, and when they return, they put their name back to I’m Here and Ready to Learn. This is a great tool to use when other students ask to leave the classroom, you can take a quick look at the board and see whether any other students are out of the room (as we have a rule that only 2 students from each class are allowed to leave the room at a time). Likewise, if students are out of the room “On a Mission” such as dropping off the attendance, getting something from another classroom, etc. then they will move their name to On a Mission. Upon returning to the classroom, they move their name back to I’m Here and Ready to Learn.

My students really seem to enjoy using this chart as well. Students can work on their self-regulation by moving their own name to whatever box they need to. I have had a lot of teachers in and out of my classroom as coverage, and they all enjoy using this chart as a monitoring system. Many other teachers have also adopted using this in their own classrooms and I hope you do too.

I also created an anchor chart to remind my students what they need to do every morning. It is October, and my students are FINALLY getting into the routine, however, it did take quite some time. After the first week of school, I got the idea to create a Morning Routine anchor chart that helped students remember what they need to do in the morning upon entry.

October 1, 2012October 1, 2012 Tina.Ginglo Classroom Layouts, Classroom Management

What a Difference A Year Makes

This time last year I had just returned from a seven-year absence from the classroom. During the seven years I was working in various centrally assigned positions, I had many opportunities to visit K-12 classrooms across the Greater Toronto Area. You could imagine my excitement! I observed many effective lessons and teaching strategies, classroom set-ups and routines. I couldn’t wait to adopt some of them for my own program. As well, I felt my literacy and numeracy program in my last school and teaching assignment was effective and I planned on resurrecting many of those strategies and routines with my new group of students in my new school.

September 2011, I was teaching a new grade (grade 3) in a new school community. I expected my classroom management to be a tad rusty and it was, but there were many initial problems that I could have avoided had I not taken some things for granted.

Prior to leaving the classroom for central positions I taught grades 4 and 5 for more than half my teaching career. I provided prep coverage to grade 3 students over the years, but I never had a third grade teaching assignment. I expected grade threes to be similar to my grade fours in terms of social emotional development and their ability to work independently. After all, it’s only a year difference…what a difference a year makes! The students were so “little” compared to my grade 4s at the beginning of the year. I started the year with the mind-set of a junior teacher. I didn’t expect that I would have to model routines such as using the pencil sharpener! This year, I began the year thinking like a primary teacher. I take time to model the simplest routines, over and over and over again. My expectations are more realistic.

I believe in collaborative knowledge building. My classroom set up has always reflected my beliefs about teaching and learning. In my last school, I didn’t have desks in my classroom. I had 6-8 tables and I never seemed to have a problem getting students to work both collaboratively and independently in this setting. Naturally, when I was setting up my classroom last summer I immediately placed the individual student desks into groups of 4. The fact that most, if not all, of the grade 2-7 teachers in the school arranged their desks in pairs didn’t register. Sometimes I need to be hit with a brick to get a message. My students were not ready to work in groups. By the end of week two, my classroom looked like all the other classrooms in the school, with students sitting in pairs in long rows. I hated it, but the students were more settled and were better able to focus. I managed to finally get them into groups of four when we returned from March Break.

On the first day of school, I did my usual spiel about making smart choices. I told the students that they could sit wherever they wished as long as they were responsible in the choice they made. I warned students that if I felt their choice was interfering with our learning I would move students. This always worked for me in the past. Of course I had to move students around, but it never was a disaster.

This year, I started the year with the students sitting in rows of two per group. I purchased three sets of calendar numbers and taped them to student desks, coat hooks and cubbies. When we entered the classroom on the first day of school, I invited all students to stand at the front of the classroom. I quickly reviewed odd and even numbers with the students. I then invited the boys to hang their bags on an odd numbered hook, pick up their name card, and sit at the desk with the same number as their coat hook. Next, I invited the girls to find an even numbered hook, pick up their name card and sit at the desk with the same number as their coat hook. There were no problems at all. I have groups of two, boy-girl groups. I have shuffled a few students around, but it really made the first day, first week, first-month of school more structured and settled. I think it is a bit of a compromise on my part. I want to keep to my belief that students should have choice and control in the classroom, but at the same time, taking the pressure off of the students who are not ready to make those types of choices right now. What a difference a year makes!

This number system really makes planning for supply teachers and lining up so much easier as well. Instead of having a floor plan prepared for supply teachers. All I need to do is leave a list, 1-22 with each student’s name beside a desk number. I can move the furniture around and not have to worry about updating my floor plan, just as long as I update my class list with desk assignments. Students also know they must line up in their numbered order. All their teachers have a copy of our class list with their desk assignments. It has made transitions so much easier on teachers and students. What a difference a year makes!

In the years I was out of the classroom, I guess I took for granted all the structure, the little details, that did exist in my past classrooms and the classrooms I visited that would go unnoticed by visitors. Structure doesn’t necessarily mean that we are taking choice and control away from the students.

October 1, 2012October 1, 2012 Sangeeta.McAuley Classroom Management, Learning About Your Students, Learning in a Real Life Context

Talking and Listening Chairs

As I look back on this past week, I realize that I spent very little time teaching curriculum and more time working on life skills. I have two choices at this point. I could think, “Oh wow, I’m really far behind!” or “I’ve made a huge investment that I hope will pay off in the future.” I choose the latter.

My students have been coming to with me problems that happen at recess: someone left them out of a game, two friends were whispering something not-so-nice about them or they saw someone being treated badly and didn’t know what to do.

When we talk through these problems, it’s obvious to me that they have the answers on how to solve their issues, but they need a tool to help them do so.

So, I introduce the talking and listening chairs. One chair is marked “T”, the other “L”.

We use one of the problems that happened to illustrate how to use the chairs. For example, “Bill” was upset that “Megan” was not listening to his ideas when they were trying to solve a math problem together. So, Bill sat in the “T” chair and Megan sat in the “L” chair and each had opportunities to talk about what was bothering them and listen to how the other person was feeling. It quickly became evident that they was room for compromise on both ends and they seemed relieved to be able to move on from this problem.

Like most tools, the talking and listening chairs also have boundaries, which I discuss with my students:

* If the person you want to take to the chairs is not ready, you may need to wait.

* If you go out to talk, you will need to attentively listen as well.

* If the problem takes longer than 10 minutes to solve, you may need some help.

* When classmates are using the chairs, we can show respect by giving them some privacy.

* If there are many students involved in the problem, we may need to discuss it as a whole class.

When students ask to use the chairs, I keep track of what time they step out in the hallway and occasionally walk by the door, so the talking and listening remains positive and focused.

As a tool, it can be very successful at helping students who lack confidence to speak up when something is bothering them. I especially enjoy watching, when some of my students who are still learning English approach a classmate to say, “I need to talk to you.”

I have yet to teach a curriculum subject that is more rewarding than that moment.

September 24, 2012September 24, 2012 Roz.Geridis Classroom Management, Learning About Your Students, Planning

Flexibility

I have part of a new assignment this year. In the morning I am covering prep. Due to re-organization, my schedule is changing again for Monday. I have completed many get to know activities, learned students’ names and just found out some classes I still have and others are new for me. That being said, it will all work out! Everything does. The students get attached very quickly and now I will get to know even more students.

My afternoon, I teach English, Math, Health and Pool to a grade 6 extended French class. The grade 6 curriculum is the same for me but now I teach a smaller portion of it. I will be busy sharing my plans with the other teacher who now has my class for Science.

That is teaching; change and flexibility. My morning will work out and I have worked out my plans to have the next days covered. I just needed to adjust a few items and have been able to use my current plans. As a school, you may have to go through re-organization. It is difficult. Deciding which students will excel in which environment, which students need to be separated from each other, balancing the girls and boys, special education and ELL needs. It is a very difficult task which also needs to be completed after a long day of teaching a class of 52 kids.

As I need to get teaching (with the new classes) in order to have enough assessment for the Progress Report card, I have decided to incorporate my get to know activities with the curriculum. I am planning to find ways to incorporate these activities as much as possible with my new classes. I plan to start with appreciation fans to help build the community within the classroom. The students all know each other and many know who I am but I need to get to know their names (better).

June 4, 2012June 19, 2012 Erin.Grewar Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Planning, Resources, Year End Activities

Summer’s Here! Oh yeah, it’s only the beginning of June (Part 1)

At this time of year, there seems to be a most distinct correlation between hot sunny weather and a drastically decreased output on the part of students (and if we’re being really honest, teachers as well). It’s been my experience that anything that doesn’t involve soccer baseball is met with a combination of disbelief, outrage and downright disgust. The secret is to engage your students in projects that are just too much fun to pass up. One such activity upon which I rely for such occasions is the “Annuaire” or class yearbook. With enough hype and enthusiasm on your part, they will buy into it as well. I usually give them a rough copy template with the following headings:

Nom
Sobriquet
Classe
Moment mémorable
Bête noire
Ambition personnelle

As with all assignments, it’s important to give students an exemplar for reference, brainstorm useful structures/expressions together and have all information visually accessible in the form of anchor charts. Again, you could also help them out by giving them sentence starters as well. Something that will no doubt grab their attention is if you fill out the sheet as you would have in grade 8 and of course, provide a picture of yourself at that age. In the past, this is what I have used as an exemplar so it serves a dual purpose. I think you’ll find this project will get them focused and productive and also provides a great opportunity for review if you’re discreet about it (le passé compose, le futur proche, les constructions avec deux verbs, etc).

Once complete, you can have the yearbook of each of the separate classes on display (and even use the yearbooks from previous years) – they are naturally curious about the work of their peers and love to reminisce about former students.

*For this to be really successful, it helps if you provide them with the materials they need such as bright, coloured paper, watercolours, markers and pencil crayons. What I also found is that it was much easier if I took their pictures and had them developed so that each student had a picture to accompany their page.

May 31, 2012June 19, 2012 Alison.Board Assessment, Celebrating Success, Classroom Management, Communication with Parents and Guardians, Planning, Report Cards, Use of Technology, Year End Activities

Celebrating Our Year

We often think that the last two months of school will be all about reflection and reviewing, yet with so many other demands outside of the classroom – our last weeks can feel rushed and frantic. Teachers are often asked to think about planning for the following year, before they can fully complete the one they are in.

To stay present and celebrate with your current classroom community, here are a few suggestions:

1. Consolidate learning – Spend two or three weeks in June reflecting on the students’ learning and giving them time and opportunity to make connections between topics or skills. As a class, you can can discuss the highlights of the year and chart them, or have students work in small group on their shared topics of interest. This may evolve to look like a yearbook that they make with words and images or a story they create in comic form on the computer.

2. Celebrate learning – Provide students with an opportunity to invite other classes, learning buddies, or parents/friends to the classroom before their projects are sent home. Students can make invitations, create portfolios of work, or set up the room for an open house. The celebration may look like a gallery walk, a dramatice presentation, a sharing of portfolios, or a relaxed poetry cafe.

3. Outdoor Classes – In the last week of school when you are sending home work and generally cleaning up your classroom, take students outside for activities that you would normally do inside. This could look like a read-a-loud, visual art activities (such as sketching), visits to local parks or public libraries.

We are completing our assessments and writing reports now, but with a little planning for the next few weeks with reflective exercises and opportunities to make connections, the students will be more engaged and value their last weeks at school as meaningful and rewarding.

May 25, 2012 Erin.Grewar Assessment, Diverse Learning Needs

Assessment Strategies for the Communicative Approach

I’m not sure about the rest of you but I’ve sometimes found that it is difficult to assess a summative speaking task. In response to sitting through the umpteenth (sometimes tedious) round of presentations where one has to equally focus on assessing the presenters while keeping the rest o the class quietly engaged, I was forced to diversify my methods. To deal with the latter problem, I found peer assessment to be an effective and useful tool. I constructed a rating chart with levels one to four focusing on the following criteria: spoke clearly with confidence and expression, spoke using vocabulary and language structures taught in class, spoke with natural flow and only minor hesitations, spoke using a variety of communication strategies (asking to repeat, using gestures, asking for clarification), came prepared to present and was focused during other people’s presentations.

I divided the class into strategic groupings beforehand to balance out the “distracted” students, varying levels of ability and particular dynamics. Once in their groups, students took turns presenting while the others evaluated and provided feedback. At the same time, I was circulating around the class and also simultaneously evaluating those students who were presenting. If I missed someone, I came back and asked them to repeat a portion of their presentation. To finish off and showcase some of their work, I asked each group to nominate one person/group to present to the class. At the end, students handed in their written evaluations providing myself and each other with valuable feedback and insight. What was also a major accomplishment was we had also managed to have everyone present in one period as opposed to the course of a week.

Using the same rating scale (minus the bit about being focused and on-task during other presentations), I also had students come up to see me individually. Asking them 4 to 5 theme-related questions, they had to answer them spontaneously. This allowed me a true insight into their level of speaking and an opportunity to hear them talk without any kind of prop. At the workshop I attended, they had suggested videotaping each student so that you could go back and evaluate from the footage but I found that this would make many students self-conscious and thus impact the results and in all honesty, I knew I wouldn’t have the time to do so.

The results were definitely interesting and in some cases surprising. I would strongly recommend attempting this as a final assessment once students had frequent opportunities to become comfortable and familiar with the vocabulary and pronunciation through the many opportunities of practising in class.

May 14, 2012May 15, 2012 Alison.Board Building Inclusion, Classroom Layouts, Classroom Management, Diverse Learning Needs, Learning About Your Students, Planning, Wellness

Demonstrating Community

Last week my Grade 1/2 classroom was open as a demonstration classroom. In the morning, we went through a condensed version of our regular day, and in the afternoon we debriefed in the staff room. Every time I attend or host a demonstration classroom, I feel energized. And with the end of the year approaching, some re-charing is beneficial.

What interests me, is the feedback from the visiting teachers. There is always the usual talk about curriculum planning, instructional strategies, and classroom environment. But last week, there were comments about how the children shared their thoughts and ideas, and how they listened to one another with respect and patience. The visiting teachers also noticed that while at the carpet for dicussion, some of the children sat on chairs they brought over from their desks, and a few got up to perform a quick task, such as check on a date in their agenda to confirm a fact.

Although I am aware of our daily sharing and community building, it has become so interwoven into the fabric of the day now that it is less obvious. However, I know that back in September we spent most of our time on routines, expectations, and classroom community building. In The Heart and Art of Teaching and Learning, all of Chapter 3 is devoted to Building Inclusion. There are other areas in the book that also provide ways to sustain community, such as the Morning Check In described on page 101. We started doing this exercise when we were studying our Big Idea, “What is Well-Being?” It gave us an opportunity to talk about how much sleep we had, whether family members were home or away, and how we felt in general. We have continued this in the morning – as it has informed us of one another’s feelings and encouraged empathy. Over the year we have also set limits but allowed a certain amount of movement, free choice, and variation to expectations throughout the day. This has resulted in a more engaged learning and responsibility for the children and less classroom management. Discussing with the visiting teachers the intentions in planning and community building that is needed in September, confirms how effective the outcomes are.

May 2, 2012May 7, 2012 Alison.Board Building Inclusion, Diverse Learning Needs, Planning, Resources

Say, Show, and Do

In my Grade 1 and 2 classroom, it feels like we have been focused on writing for many months. Writing narratives and reports, using graphic organizers, and editing drafts into published pieces. The children have been “saying” and “showing” a lot, and as their energy is rising with the warmer weather, I think it is a good time for some “doing.”

A couple of weeks ago, our class was invited to watch a Grade 3 class present The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest. It just happened that we were enthralled with reading a book about saving trees too, Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa. When we returned to our class to discuss the play we had watched, the children were inspired to create their own based on the book about Wangari. I realized that taking the opportunity to watch the Grade 3s perform was beneficial as they modelled for the Grade 1 and 2 class how a non-professional play looks.

Our current big idea is “How has the world changed?” with a focus on structures and movement (Science curriculum for Grade 1 and 2). The book, Wangari’s Trees of Peace is a text that lends itself to many other big ideas such as environmentalism, women’s rights, education, and world peace. When we read the book together for the first time, the students also saw its connection with the idea of hope, which was the inquiry question we started with back in September.

This project has revitalized our classroom. We wrote the story into a script format, dividing most of the story into parts that will be read by four narrators. Then we added a few lines for the characters. We discussed the scenes in the story and decided on three scenes. Children readily volunteered for parts in the play, to paint the background images, to create costumes, and to change the sets between acts. During our inquiry periods, I look around the classroom and see some of the children working on draft versions of the background settings, while others sit in pairs or groups practicing their lines and discussing the various roles.

Today, the narrators and actors read their parts in front of the class for the first time. I couldn’t help but notice how attentive the rest of the class was, as I thought their attention at the carpet was previously waning. They offered suggestions to the readers or actors and represented themselves as a community of learners. This play project emerged at just the right time in the year, when the children are comfortable enough with each other to take risks with acting and ready for a new challenge.

I am not sure how long it will take us to prepare for a presentation of the play, as I am learning along with the children. We plan to invite their parents and definitely the Grade 3 class that inspired us!

May 1, 2012 Samantha.Perrin Classroom Management, Learning About Your Students, Occasional Teaching

Using Positive Reinforcement for Persistent Misbehaviours

Recently I taught as a daily occasional teacher in a special education, mostly behavioural classroom. This was my first experience with the kind of group of students where correcting misbehaviours and classroom management was critical to getting through the day safely and working to complete the regular teacher’s goals for the day. As a daily occasional teacher, I felt some apprehension knowing that an already challenging class could be even more challenging for a new teacher that is out of their familiar routine, but was prepared to face the challenge to the best of my abilities.

One thing that I noticed upon entering the classroom, was that the teacher had laid out a daily behaviour log for each student. It was broken down into time blocks (corresponding with entry, class periods, recess, lunch and exit) and it included a rubric consisting of levels 1-4 (which corresponded with expected behaviours for each level). When going over this student information, I recalled reading in Chapter 4 in the Heart and Art of teaching about positive consequences – reinforcing positive behaviour that is consistent with creating a learning focused classroom environment. I decided that I would begin with this approach to set a positive tone to the day.

When the students entered in a less than orderly fashion, I commended two students for their ‘Level 3 ½’ entry, and mentioned that their classroom teacher would be pleased to learn of this when I make my notes at the end of the day. I saw a smile as one student was particularly pleased that I had noticed. The other students overheard, and while some students chose to continue with their off-task behaviour, a few others took their cue and directed their behaviour towards positive praise. In commending those two students, I also gained two helpers who were inclined to assist me in the classroom routines (i.e., getting out the nametags, advising me who should not be taking washroom trips together etc.).

If you take look at the Venn Diagram on page 59 of Heart and Art (Students Who Rock, Students Who Are Deciding, Students Presenting Challenges) , I would say that the class demographic was made up of ‘students who are deciding (on their behaviour), and students who ‘presented challenges’. With positive reinforcement, I think I was able to encourage a few of the ‘students who were deciding’ to be a little more helpful and focussed, and in this I feel that I averted some additional behavioural challenges that could have existed.

While it was a challenging day, I found that approaching the students initially with kindness and praise sent them a message that I knew what was expected of them, and that I would follow through with the regular classroom culture of behaviour tracking, reward and consequences. While not all students in the class ‘bought in’, I do feel that using a positive-reinforcement approach increased the potential of the students wanting to be successful, and decreased the ‘us Vs. supply teacher’ mentality that some students can develop. This is an approach that I think many teachers already use in their classrooms, but I hope that it serves as encouragement for occasional teachers to employ in any challenging classroom environment.