It seems like the past few days, I have had more
issues than usual with behavior from students. Particularly my focus class
(Honors English 2) has been disruptive during student discussion. We had a
fishbowl discussion the other day (similar to what we did in our methods class)
and I had multiple occasions where I had to give the stern look toward three individuals (on the outside of the circle)
who were constantly talking. Finally, I would have to say something, but it
still didn’t fix itself. Ultimately, they lost significant points from the
fishbowl discussion grade, but it has prompted me to reflect on classroom
management and potentially try out some new methods.
The National Education Association (NEA) suggests
giving particular focus to the problem
students. I feel that I have done that in regard to the “looks” that I give
them whenever they are being disruptive in class. However, they also suggest
potentially turning the discussion to them when they are being disruptive. For example,
if I were lecturing, they suggest calling on one of the disruptive students to
answer the question rather than a student who is being attentive in the
discussion.
However, the NEA also suggests that I should let
students choose their own seats. My mentor teacher and I have allowed the
students to do this since the beginning of the semester, but it has slowly
gotten worse rather than better. Some students do tend to behave better when
choosing their own seats (as the NEA mentions) however many of my students are
not behaving well. We have even tried moving individual people, but the
problems still persist. Tomorrow (Wednesday), we are going to implement a
seating chart that I designed specifically based on what I know about the
students and that I turned in to my MT for approval. I hope that it will
resolve some of the issues that we are seeing.
I do plan to have specific procedures in place in my
own classroom. I’ve been trying to use a hand signal (hand in air) to call for
silence among the students, but because it is a procedure they are not used to,
it has been somewhat difficult. I’ve been trying to teach them to start using
the procedure, but they are still slowly working toward it. I definitely
realize the importance of implementing the procedures on the first days of school (Wong and Wong) and
plan to do so in my own classroom come August.
Finally, I found another interesting strategy that I
might try with my Honors 2 class but that I definitely will be implementing
with my own classroom next year. An educator on the blog, We Are Teachers, suggests coming up with some sort of game to
implement at the beginning of class such as a sharing activity. They suggested
sharing what the students did over the weekend, but I might tailor it more to
what did you read this weekend or something along those lines. I feel doing an
activity like this or bellwork before breaking into the main lessons for the
day will help settle the students down and get their brains ready to think!
I would love to hear your stories about classroom
behavior issues that you have dealt with so far in your internship as well as
the methods that you have implemented to try and improve those behaviors.
Thanks for reading! J
References
5 Quick Tips for
Secondary Classroom Management That Actually (I Promise You!) Work. (2015).
Retrieved February 23, 2016, from http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2015/06/25/5-quick-tips-for-secondary-classroom-management
Foley, D. (2015).
6 Classroom Management Tips Every Teacher Can Use. Retrieved February 23, 2016,
from http://www.nea.org/tools/51721.htm
Wong, H. K.,
& Wong, R. T. (2005). How to be an effective teacher the first days of
school. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications.
Mr. Naylor,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your honesty in the frustrations you're experiencing. I also feel like some of my classes have been trying to push back as I begin to take full control of the classroom. My biggest problem so far has been managing what my placement school calls Tier 1 and 2 behaviors (in other words, nonviolent behaviors that disrupt my teaching or other students' learning). It is so easy to try to correct these behaviors in front of the whole class. Even when I remember to go up to that student personally and talk to them quietly, it seems that they go out of their way to publicly announce that I'm talking to them and asking them to stop a behavior. Lately, I have just been trying to establish positive relationships with each student in an attempt to improve the effectiveness of my classroom management.
I think the new seating chart will be a good idea and it sounds like you put a lot of thought into helping students succeed. Good luck!
Chris,
ReplyDeleteWow! Great job proactively seeking out solutions to unwanted behaviors! The seating chart sounds like a fantastic way to help curb some of the disruptive conversation that occurs in your classroom. Carefully placing each of your students in your classroom based on their needs and personalities is a great strategy to try. Rearranging seats in my most difficult class has shown some positive results! I think your attempts to move specific students in the past have been unsuccessful due to the fact that you hadn't previously implemented assigned seating and because it could have cause that student to feel singled out and less likely to respond to redirection. It sounds like you have plans in motion in order to foster a successful and well-behaved classroom environment! Keep working! Just remember that honors classes usually need a little extra attention (though it may not always be perceived this way) in terms of their behavior. I like your idea of establishing and developing routines, but in my honors classes I also try to incorporate games and interactive and lesson related activities to rid my students of some their extra energy.
Great job!
Alexis
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI understand your struggle, I have the same battle with a few of my classes as well. I feel that behavior management will always be an issue, especially in large districts with large classes. I think that while it may not be recommended by every source, seating charts really can help - I know that my sophomore English classes would be less focused without them and it is still a seemingly constant struggle.
One thing that I found helps with my difficult classes is timing although I'm not sure how helpful that will be in a discussion - its certainly a delicate balance because you want kids to have these fantastic conversations and it is hard to stop them. I use an online digital count down and I tell my students "you have 10 minutes to get this done" or "I'm going to give you twelve minutes to talk about this" and then I display the timer on the screen and let them go.
Sometimes if my students are going over on time but they're actually on task, I let it go a little longer. A lot of the time, we move on which sounds harsh but it is effective and serves as a way to let our kids know that you mean business. If they don't get the task done because they were wasting time, it's on them. Of course I have to be careful with that, and I have to make some exceptions - some kids just need more time. Sometimes it backfires and the kids constantly look to the screen and make a show of counting down because they are ready to be done, but doing this consistently seems to have an effect on their behavior - most days. Again, I'm not sure how that would work with a fish bowl discussion - I've only ever used it with literature circle discussions.
It sounds to me like you're doing the right thing- you're looking for answers and trying new things. I think that is the best we can do. I also agree that it will be a little different in our own classrooms. We'll have a little more authority and we will have set up our own expectations.
Hang in there. I think you're doing a fantastic job!
- Holli
Mr. Naylor,
ReplyDeleteI have also had difficulties implementing a new attention signal in one of my classes. My CT usually does a count down from 5, but I do not have as loud of a voice as she does and in my 9th hour the signal just doesn't work for me. When I began teaching this semester, I taught them a new signal I wanted to try which is saying loudly "May I have your attention please" and sticking my hand in the air. We practiced the first week on what it looks like and that when they see my hand, they should put theirs up in the air as well as being silent. We had to work on it a lot because I would have to wait many seconds to get everyone quiet and to get the stubborn quiet ones to just put their hands in the air!
It has been hard because that is the only way I can get the whole class quiet so every. single. time. I need their attention, I have to do that signal and they just take their sweet time getting their hands in the air. Because it is the last hour of the day, I tell them that the longer it takes for everyone to get quiet and hands in the air which wastes my class time, I will waste their after school time and make them stay after class.
I think you are onto something when you talk about having a specific activity the students must complete at the beginning of each class. My class has silent reading at the beginning of each class and that helps them come in, settle down, and get focused on the class.
Thank you for sharing your struggles and what strategies you are trying out. It stinks that your students cannot handle sitting where they would like, but if assigned seats will help them stay focused and on task, that is what they need.
Good luck on your seating arrangement!
-Ms. Rodriguez
Mr Naylor,
ReplyDeleteI think the bevy of responses here should tell you that you are not alone in trying to find ways to address classroom management. I keep saying it, but it is still true - taking over in someone else's classroom is HARD.
I think you're on the right track with establishing a seating chart and trying to find new ways to address recurring problems. Like Holli, I use a timer frequently in my class to pretty good success. Students know they have to focus on that task for that period of time and once the timer goes off, we're on to the next thing. Plus, it has the added bonus of keeping me on pace.
I have also found brain breaks to be very helpful. Even if it is simply the chance for students to stand up and take a stretch - it helps them refocus on the task at hand once they sit back down. I know you're in high school, but I will often remind my students when they get rowdy of what the classroom rule is for that situation. Generally, it gets them back on track.
I really like the idea to have a sort of game at the beginning of the hour as a way to get them started. We use quickwrites a lot, but it would be great to try something new and fun.
I will admit that the idea of giving my middle schoolers free reign to sit wherever they like gave me the chills - egads - I'm not sure they are mature enough for that! Just goes to show the difference in maturity between middle and high school!
Best of luck - with your willingness to find a solution I'm sure you'll hit on the thing that works for your class.
--Mrs. Tolbert
Mr Naylor,
ReplyDeleteI think the bevy of responses here should tell you that you are not alone in trying to find ways to address classroom management. I keep saying it, but it is still true - taking over in someone else's classroom is HARD.
I think you're on the right track with establishing a seating chart and trying to find new ways to address recurring problems. Like Holli, I use a timer frequently in my class to pretty good success. Students know they have to focus on that task for that period of time and once the timer goes off, we're on to the next thing. Plus, it has the added bonus of keeping me on pace.
I have also found brain breaks to be very helpful. Even if it is simply the chance for students to stand up and take a stretch - it helps them refocus on the task at hand once they sit back down. I know you're in high school, but I will often remind my students when they get rowdy of what the classroom rule is for that situation. Generally, it gets them back on track.
I really like the idea to have a sort of game at the beginning of the hour as a way to get them started. We use quickwrites a lot, but it would be great to try something new and fun.
I will admit that the idea of giving my middle schoolers free reign to sit wherever they like gave me the chills - egads - I'm not sure they are mature enough for that! Just goes to show the difference in maturity between middle and high school!
Best of luck - with your willingness to find a solution I'm sure you'll hit on the thing that works for your class.
--Mrs. Tolbert
Good for you for working to implement new classroom management strategies. You will no doubt find that those techniques implemented and reinforced at the beginning of the year are the most effective. Good luck to you as you continue to explore what best works for you and your students.
ReplyDelete