Reflection- Classroom Management

Reflection- Classroom Management

At the end of ED640, I set a few goals for my full-time spring internship. My first goal was to establish my own classroom rules and procedures that I can take with me when I become a teacher of my own. My second goal was to familiarize myself with the curriculum and start to develop my own lessons and units. My third, more broad goal, was to become a better classroom manager specifically from a disciplinary perspective. The first and third goals certainly relate to this week’s topic of classroom management, and my internship experience and the readings from this week have already changed my perspective on these goals slightly.

    Establishing my own classroom rules and procedures is a tricky thing to do during an internship because I’m working with a mentor teacher in that mentor teacher’s classroom. I don’t want to come in and completely change the way things are run in the classroom, but I do want to gain some experience as the head of the classroom and simultaneously adopt classroom management ideas according to the suggestions made by my mentor teachers. Fortunately, my current mentor teacher is very flexible, and starting in February when the third quarter begins, I’ll have more control over the classroom. Until then, I’m adding ideas to my repertoire that I can use in the future. One routine that I really like is starting every class with a warmup and using a timer to keep students on task. This is an idea I got from the mentor teacher I worked with in the fall at the middle school level. As students are entering the classroom, she displays a timer on the screen that counts down from 5 minutes. Students have those five minutes to write down their objectives and complete the warm-up. During this time, the teacher can take attendance and help any students who may have been absent. After the warm-up, the teacher can then read the learning objectives, review that warm-up, and go over the agenda for the day. I really like this approach because students are immediately productive when they enter class, especially once they become accustomed to the routine. I hope to use this in my future classroom and extend this idea to the end of class for conclusion activities.

    This week’s readings also provided me with a lot of great advice regarding classroom management that is supported by research. For example, Marzano and Marzano (2003) noted that having high quality relationships with students was the most important factor for successful classroom management. They go on to add that classroom management benefits from having clear rules and procedures with clearly defined consequences. Furthermore, these rules work best when they are mutually established by the teacher and the students (Marzano & Marzano, 2003). This is great advice that I can use in my own future classroom. Taking the time to get to know students seems to have a tremendous impact on their behavior, and I’ve seen firsthand that students are more comfortable when they know the teacher. Allowing students to take a part in making rules is also sound advice that I will follow because it gives students partial ownership over the classroom rules and procedures. Consistently and fairly enforcing those rules is key to maintaining the classroom once those rules have already been established.

    In terms of being a better classroom manager from a disciplinary perspective, Crouch (2016) notes that being a good classroom manager prevents many disciplinary problems in the first place. There’s no doubt that I will improve in this regard with experience, so I hope to use the second semester this spring to try out some classroom management ideas for myself. Like Marzano and Marzano (2003), Crouch (2016) states that getting to know students and establishing a positive classroom environment is best for limiting behavior problems. When those problems do arise, it is often best to place yourself near the misbehaving student, which often solves the problem. I’ve seen this in our classroom many times already. Simply letting a student know you’ve noticed their behavior is often enough to change that behavior.

In conclusion, I haven’t had many issues regarding classroom management during my internship so far. Most of the students seem to respect me, and I always have my mentor teacher to lean on if I have any trouble. There are a few students who tend to act out, but I’ve been able to handle everything thus far. My biggest concern is keeping students productive for the entire period. Some students work so quickly that I need to constantly find new things for them to do while their classmates are finishing. Other students would rather sit around and do nothing for the whole period. In my experience, it’s best to over plan for a lesson so that you always have an extra activity or two to fall back on for the students who work quickly. For the students who work too slowly, we’ll usually say that any unfinished work must be completed for homework and most of the students will want to avoid that. This issue has less to do with behavior and more to do with engagement, but both are relevant to classroom management. I hope my internship experience this semester, coupled with our MAT program coursework, help me fulfill my goal of becoming a better classroom manager.  

References

Crouch, D. (2016). Stop Disciplining – Use Classroom Management. Retrieved from http://edu.stemjobs.com/classroom-management/

Marzano, R.J. and Marzano, J.S. (2003). The Key to Classroom Management. Educational Leadership, 61 (1), 6-13. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept03/vol61/num01/The-Key-to-Classroom-Management.aspx