Chapter 11 Blog Post/Reflective Journal

Describe:

This chapter was a big help for me as a newer teacher trying to figure out what classroom management strategies work best for me and my classroom.  One important aspect of classroom management is “Starting Out the Year Right”.  Slavin states, “They found that the first days of school are critical in establishing classroom order”.  (Slavin, page 316).  This is something I have heard several times throughout undergraduate school and from my peer teachers.  After two years of teaching, I can truly say that this is so right. My first year I came in teaching late in the year after a teacher had resigned.  They had been used to a strict middle aged male teacher, and I was a young excited new teacher.  I made some mistakes of not being as strict as I should, but because he had set that foundation I was able to stick to his rules and classroom management style.  My second year was a little different; this was my first year as a teacher from the beginning of the year to the end.  I thought I was starting off rather strict, but realized later that I had not been strict enough and that the students had learned who the “fun” teachers were and who the “strict” teachers were.  I was in the “fun” category. 

Another strategy that the chapter describes is “Setting Class Rules”.  Slavin states that three things should be present in this process. “First, class rules should be few in number”.  (Slavin, page 317). This means that students should not be bombarded with a class rule list with thirty rules on it.  This can be overwhelming and tedious.  “Second, they should make sense and be seen as fair by students”. (Slavin, 317).  One way to ensure that they make sense and seem fair is to include students in the rule making process. They then can take ownership and clearly understand them.  “Third, they should be clearly explained and deliberately taught to students”.  This means that teachers should take time to explain them and practice them every day. 

There are also strategies to help misbehavior that already is taking place during class. “The Principle of Least Intervention” is a strategy that Slavin explains.  This means using the “simplest intervention that will work”.  (Slavin, 329).  This means not to make the redirection or punishment a big extravagant event, but instead make it something more direct and to the point.  This will help it from being a distraction to the rest of the class. 

“Prevention” is another strategy that Slavin lists as a way to handle misbehavior.  If the misbehavior never takes place, then there is no problem or behavior to fix.  Ways to prevent misbehavior are, “presenting interesting and lively lessons, making class rules and procedures clear, keeping students busy on meaningful tasks, and using other effective techniques of basic classroom management”.  This can be done by mixing up what type of teaching techniques you use or having the students up and moving around in your lesson. 

Analyze:

The strategies listed above are all excellent ways to help with classroom management strategies in the classroom.  By setting the pace at the beginning of the year for how strict a teacher is going to be is essential in establishing appropriate behavior from students throughout the entire year.  You can always let up as the year goes on if necessary, but it is impossible to go back and try to be stricter once the students have already seen you act otherwise. 

Also, prevention is a great strategy for preventing those behaviors from occurring that are undesirable.  This will work for most students in most situations.  However, in my experience there are always those students who are going to find ways to misbehave. These students have other issues and are acting out for your attention and the attention of their peers.  Many other strategies may help alleviate some of the issues, but some of these students are going to act out no matter what.  We just have to keep finding different strategies to try until they respond.

Reflect:

Being a new teacher, I have had several learning experiences already in how I can do better in managing the classroom in the future. My very first year teaching, believe it or not I did not have any major issues. When the children would talk too much or too loudly I could easily get them back on task and they would continue to work quietly for the remainder of the period. However, this past school year, the amount of talking and the frequency of it was a big problem in my classroom as well as on the rest of my team. Our students were very talkative, and when reminded that they should be working instead of talking, they would be quiet for a few minutes, and then begin their own personal conversations again. Even when doing group work, the level of noise in the classroom would get entirely too loud and even off task. I tried several strategies from after school detentions, lunch detentions, etc. None of these seemed to work for a majority of the students. Even the "good" students were participating too much in the chatter.

After reading this chapter, I learned several techniques I can use this upcoming school year. First, instead of having students read through the rules on my syllabus and never seeing them again, I am going to make posted rules in the classroom and go over them frequently. The rules may not be specific but they will cover a variety of issues. One rule the author of the book gives as an example is "Respect others' property". As Slavin states, "this simple rule can be invoked to cover such obvious misbehaviors as stealing or destroying materials, but also gives a reason for putting materials away, cleaning up litter, and refraining from marking in textbooks". (Slavin, page 317).

Another technique I learned from the chapter and have read a lot about this semester is using positive reinforcement instead of negative punishments. I was using detentions and write ups before, but now I am going to implement praising good behaviors, and giving incentives. This will encourage students to do better, and it is preventing the behavior from happening in the first place.