Classroom Management

These past few months I have seen the importance of classroom management. I understand that it is needed to have an effect and safe learning environment. One thing I have really experienced and learned about it is making expectations clear to students. I feel that it is important for students to understand what their expectations are and why they have them. I have experienced many classrooms some having excellent classroom management and others having very little. Today I wanted to comment about how important it is to have expectations.

I feel that a well managed classroom will function whether the teacher is there or not. I have experienced a classroom in which I feel the lack of classroom management affects the students learning. I feel that the students are not respectful to their teacher or any other teacher that works with them. I believe that this is not their fault though. I do not feel like they have learned how to act or what is expected of them. The teacher does a lot of yelling in the classroom and I am 100% against that. I feel that it does not solve anything in fact it makes the problems worse. If a teacher is yelling the students one, are embarrassed and two, may not understand why their behavior is wrong. I have also experience very well managed classrooms where the students have high expectations in learning and behavior and the students understand those expectations. I have seen classrooms function with the teacher not there and they are well behaved and the classroom continues as it would if the teacher was there. In one classroom I was in there was a problem with tipping chairs. I noticed this and pointed out that they could get hurt and they need to keep all fours on the floor. The teachers plan was to have the students write their names on the board if they continued to tip. The students in this class were very honest. They would put their name on the board if they found their self tipping without me saying any thing to them. I feel that these students understood their expectation and wanted to help themselves by giving a consequence.

I have learned a lot from the experiences that I have had. I have learned what not to do as wells as good things to do in the classroom, as far as classroom management. I have seen why I believe in not yelling. I have seen that it does not work or solve any of the problems that are occurring. I want to help my students learn to interact with others and I feel the only way to do that is help them understand the correct way too interact.

Integrated Curriculum

Throughout the semester we have explored what integrated curriculum is. I have learned many things that are included in an intergraded curriculum that I did not know before. Integrated curriculum connects multiple subject areas. It means taking one subject area such as animals and integrating that into all subjects. It also helps the students see how subjects are connected. By integrating subjects students see how you can learn about something in many different ways. Integrated curriculum also involves personal experiences. It is important to connect to students lives to what they are learning. Integrated curriculum allows students to have being there experience to enhance learning. Learning is more meaningful to students when it is connected to real life experiences because they are able to see why it is important to them. Integrated curriculum involves a lot of planning. Teachers need to first look at their students. They need to understand their needs and interests. Then they look at standards and base their integrated units on the standards for that grade. They then will develop the key points that students will explore throughout the unit. Integrated curriculum also involves giving students choice. Students can choose the things they want to further investigate or how they want to learn about a subject. I feel that integrated curriculum is very important to use in the classroom simply because content areas such as science and social studies seem to be put on the back burner, especially in the primary grades. I feel that integrating science and social studies into a literacy lesson is the best way to solve this problem. Students can learn about science and social studies while they are gaining literacy skills. I believe that developing an integrated curriculum takes dedication but I feel that it is needed for students to learn to their fullest potential.

Classroom Management

Since writing the theories part of the paper I have looked at many different theorists ideas in depth. I had a hard time picking just a few because I feel that they all could be implemented into the classroom in some way. I have really pulled things from Alfie Kohn and Nelsen and Lott. I have realized that I value building a community more than I thought. After seeing how they works in a college classroom when only seeing each other in class once a week I can't imagine how they can be with a class of students that are with each other everyday. I feel that in a community students will be more comfortable and cared about. I feel that having a community built within a classroom can lead to less misbehavior. I feel like Alfie stated that creating a community helps meet the emotional needs of students which often is the reason they misbehave. After reading about Nelsen and Lott and class meetings I see how community circles can be turned into a discussion rather then just sharing. I feel that class meetings are also important because it lets the students know that they have the opportunity to discuss what is going on in the classroom comfortably.

Reflection/Appendices

After reading the Appendices I realized how much I have learned from this class so far. It discusses study trips and teaching context that relate to real life uses. I realized that I did this without even thinking about it in my lesson. I taught my lesson on Monday to the kindergartners. The lesson was on fall and leaves. I thought that the students would get more out of the lesson if they went outside and view fall so the students and I went for a fall walk. As we walked we looked for signs of fall. They looked for butterflies, falling leaves, leaves changing color, flocks of birds, fall and Halloween decorations such as pumpkins. We stopped at trees that changed color and discussed how it is different than in the summer or spring. The students all got a bag in which they collected leaves and acorns. They really enjoyed it and were very excited when they found a cool leaf! Then we went inside and they got to observe their leaves as well as their peers. We made a math lesson out it by graphing the leaves and deciding what we had more of. They also got to complete leaf rubbings of the leaves they found. We discussed what they do with the leaves and what others may do with leaves. They got to relate to the topic and experience fall in an educational way. I know they can go outside and see leaves everyday but I am sure they do not think about them changing color. I learned first hand how important being there experiences are. I feel that it wasn't a big "study trip" but it was something that can be done easily and still have a big impact on the students.

Part D Reflection

The little section about science as core really made me start thinking. This section discussed making science the core of your planning. I have always heard teachers say to start there but I did not know there was a reason based on the brain. This section explains that science is a great equalizer. Students’ differences in science backgrounds are not as expanded as they are in language. It also explains that science is the subject with the most sensory input therefore there is physiological change which means more learning is taking place.
As I thought about this more I realized how important it can be to start with science. Children are very curious and science is one subject in which they are able to explore their curiosities with hands on experiences. I believe there is so much to science that it would be very difficult not to start there. After reading this and learning how the brain works it makes more sense about exactly why integration should start with science. I also feel that it is great to use science as a core because it is a subject that can sometimes get pushed aside. If science is already integrated in to the curriculum then it will not be pushed aside and students will be able to have great hands on experiences.
I have already used science as a core for my unit plan. I started with animals and then I am going to integrate it with math and language arts. This will definitely be something that I use when planning curriculum in the classroom. I will first look at the science or even social studies standards and then I will base my units off of a few of those standards. This is a great way to plan units to make sure the students are learning the most they can.

Classroom Management

I have been substitute teaching on Fridays. It has been a great experience for me. I really feel that it is helping me prepare to become successful in classroom management. By going into different classes as well as different grades I am able to see how each classroom is managed. I am also able to see how it changes from early elementary grades to older elementary grades.
Since I am only subbing in one school district I do see one behavior plan that is used by many teachers. The students start off on a green card. If they misbehave they pull a card and they are on yellow which is just a warning. The next color is red, which means inside at recess, and the last card is black which means call home and visit to principle. It tends to work on most students but I find that it doesn't faze the students that tend to misbehave all of the time. I do not see this kind of behavior method in the older grades. The last class I was in the students had to write their names on the board but I was not sure what their punishment was if that happened.
In a first grade classroom I had a student that was misbehaving and I tried to discuss the problem with him. Like in the section in Chapter 5 “When Behavior Agreement are Broken” I explained that he is not going to be punished but I needed to understand what was wrong so that we could work it out. We talked about it and he seemed to do better for about two hours then something else happened and it was another thing to work on. I believe that if I was in the classroom everyday it would help this student because I feel he needs an adult to listen to him.

Classroom Management

I was excited to go into my classroom the second time because I wanted to see how the students had progressed. The teacher explained that they were going to be able to start a behavior system. She explained that the behavior system would include them getting a sticker if they were good for the whole day and if they got five stickers for the week they would get a piece of candy. If they filled up the whole chart they would get a piece of candy and a pencil.

Since I have learned to try to stay away from giving rewards like that I did not agree with this behavior approach. I also do not think that it will be effective with kindergarteners. I feel that they need something that is more short term. I also feel that they need something that needs to be done at the time the misbehavior occurs. It does not seem right to wait till the end of the day to tell them they have been good. I feel that Kindergarteners need to be explained what they are doing wrong (or right) and why it is not (or is) right to behave that way. They also need to be shown the proper way to act in certain situations.

Even though this is what I will be learning in this class I have an idea about how my management would be different. I feel that kindergarteners need to be taught why certain behaviors are not appropriate. In my classroom I would have something that the students would have to do right when the behavior occurred and then I would try to take a minute to explain to them why they were wrong. I do not feel it is right to take away their recess, which I know a lot of schools do but I do not feel I have learned enough to figure out a classroom behavior management plan.

Teacher Interview

I interviewed my teacher very briefly because it is a very busy classroom. She explained that it is important but often hard to do in a Kindergarten classroom. This is her first year teacher all day Kindergarten so it may be easier to integrate than half day. She explained that science is integrated throughout her curriculum. Students are learning about the season of fall. In the classroom she is reading fall literature to the students, completing counting activities using leaves while discussing the different colors they are, and they are learning to spell their names using "apple" seeds. She suggested for my lesson to use the leaves that we find outside and graph them according to size and color. I hope to discuss it with her more in the future.

Unit Details

I mentioned that I am going to do my unit on animals. I am going to focus on animals found in Indiana. We will discuss shelter and why it is important for animals to survive. While studying this they will be able to recognize that animals live in many different places. I will show this through children’s literature as well as science resources. They will also learn that the animals eat plants and other animals for food. We will also discuss why they need water, food and air. One of the first grade science standards is to have students identify when stories give attribute to plants and animals, such as the ability to speak, that they really to do not have. This also ties in with a lang. art standard which is distinguishing fantasy from reality. I will do this by reading children’s literature. Writing will be integrated in the unit when students write a brief expository describing a certain animal.

Maletta-Chapter Three Reading Response

I have read and learned about the multiple intelligences before but chapter 3 extended my knowledge greatly. Before reading I only knew that it was good to teach using different multiple intelligences because not all students learn the same way. After reading this chapter I understand more about why multiple intelligences are important and why we teach with them in mind.

Everyone is born with all intelligences but a person tends to develop the ones that are valued by the culture in which they live. It was interesting to learn the multiple intelligences are different ways students solve problems and produce products and each operate form a different part of the brain. Each intelligence is independent for another. The paragraph that compares MI and modalities helped me understand the difference between the two. I now understand that the different between them is modalities is how students take in information (visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic) and MI is how they process information inside the brain in order to making meaning and then use it.

I have always based lessons on MI but I now understand why it is important. After reading this chapter I will not just include the MI in my classroom but I will also help the students to explore and develop each intelligence.

Unit Idea

I am student teaching in a first grade classroom. I have spoken with my cooperating teacher and she suggested plants or animals. After looking at the standards and the teacher handbook I think I have decided on animals. I want to include science, lang. arts and math into this unit as well as music and movement.

Reflection #1

Today was my first experience in a Kindergarten classroom. It was a very different experience for me. The students in the class are high risk students. It was interesting to me that there would be a kindergarten class with just high risk students in it. There are 21 students in the classroom. This is the first year of all day kindergarten. Today I spent most of the day observing and helping students.

I had a very busy and interesting day. I am not quite sure what to think of it. My teacher is nice and was very eager to include me into the classroom and the activities that they will be doing. It was very interesting to observe a Kindergarten classroom. I feel that it is very different from other grades. Kindergartners are just starting off and they have to be taught how to behave in a classroom setting. One thing that really surprised me was that there did not seem to be an assistant. I thought that every kindergarten room had at least one assistant. It is hard work dealing with 21 kindergarteners alone. Another thing I noticed was that there did not seem to be a behavior management plan. I felt that it was very hectic and noisy at some points in the day. At one point during the day I read them a story. It was very difficult because students were interrupting or not paying attention but I was not sure on how to discipline them because there did not seem to be a plan.

Today I learned how important it is to have a behavior plan. The students continued to act out because they were not disciplined for their actions. I believe I still have a lot to learn about classroom management and discipline but I believe that this class will challenge me to think about how I would handle different situations. This has also helped me realize how much I have grown in that I noticed something was missing and feel that something should be done about it.

Thematic Units

Thematic units are important to implement into the classroom. I have not experienced much with thematic units. I did, however, go to the workshop that included a teacher that taught his curriculum based on different themes. It was interesting to learn how he implemented each theme into the curriculum. Chapter four helped me understand the practical considerations to have when implementing thematic units. The considerations are: scheduling, resources, mandated curriculum, administrative support, parental involvement, and evaluation and assessment.

One thing that I found interesting while reading this was the techniques that were given to assist teachers in managing their classrooms when students were involved in a variety of activities. One suggestion that was given was to have the students’ record their group working together so that the teacher can listen to the tape to determine if the students need assistance. Developing a monitoring system in order to keep the teacher and their peers informed about their activity is a great way to keep track of student progress. Another suggestion that is given is to have a place where students can sign up for a conference with the teacher. I believe that this allows the students to take responsibility and decide when they are ready to speak with the teacher. These strategies allow students to become responsible for their learning.

I plan to implement thematic units into my classroom. I think that it provides an opportunity to include students’ interests into the curriculum. I believe that it will take a lot of planning; however, it will be very beneficial. I believe that the most difficult part will be to be sure that the standards are being addressed and met by the students. This chapter has helped me understand how to schedule my time to make sure the students are getting the most out of each unit. It has taught me how to use my resources to create a unit that will benefit my students. I have also learned how important it is to gain administrative and parental support if I wish to implement thematic units in the classroom.

Twenty Questions

1. I believe that students should behave in a positive way. An effective teacher teaches students how to behave and react positively in different situations. I feel that children learn to be more positive as they encounter different social situations.

2. I feel appropriate behavior is what is expected of the students. It means handling social interactions in a positive manner. Appropriate behavior would be helping other and being truthful. Misbehavior is behavior that is not appropriate in a certain situation. Two examples of this is annoying others and stealing from others.

3. Misbehavior is bad because it distracts other students learning. Misbehavior often takes time out of teaching because the student needs to be disciplined. The flow instruction is interrupted and often it is hard to get back on track.

4. There are many reasons why students misbehave. Often students copy certain behaviors from their peers. Sometimes children don’t know how to act different or the right way because they have not been taught how to react positively in certain situations. They also may have something happening at home that is causing them to misbehave. Students may also misbehave because they are confused in class and do not understand what is being taught.

5. A teacher should understand their student’s needs very well. They should understand their strengths and weaknesses to help them learn to the best of their ability. They should also learn what interests their students. If a teacher teaches in a way that the students can relate to then they will get more out of the experience.

6. “Positive” discipline is encouraging students as well as teaching them how to be positive. A teacher should relate to them personally and teach them to take responsibility for their actions. When a student is disciplined in a positive way they are told why they were disciplined and encouraged to think how they could handle the situation in a different way.

7. A teacher can help students behave properly in many different ways. One way is to create a positive learning environment in the classroom. When creating a positive learning environment they should build community and teach students how to behave appropriately in a social setting. They should also model appropriate behavior for the students to follow.

8. I feel that teaching methods do affect behavior. If a teacher does not teach the students they way they learn then students will become more disruptive. Students need hands on learning experiences. If they are taught just through lecturing they will not learn to the best of their ability and become disruptive.

9. I feel that physical environment affects behavior greatly. A classroom should be full of enrichment for students to learn. It should be organized with little clutter so the students are not distracted.

10. If there is not a positive psychosocial environment then I feel the students will not learn to deal with their emotions in a positive way. If a community is not built within the classroom then students will not be feel safe or comfortable sharing their feelings.

11. Communication plays a vital role in the classroom. Teachers need to communicate with their students to help them understand the difference between positive and negative behavior. Teacher also needs to communicate with their students to understand their needs so that they can be met.

12. A teacher can help students work productively by modeling positive social interaction. They should build students social skills before they put them in groups. Students need to first learn how to act in a social interaction before they are expected too work together productively. Once the students are in groups then students should be assigned a job that is explained clearly by the teacher.

13. Parents play a big role in discipline. If parents continue modeling positive behavior at home then children are more likely to pick it up. If they also discipline their children in a positive way then students will be able to learn from their misbehaviors positively.

14. Teacher can establish good relations with parents by communicating with them. They could send out a weekly newsletter to inform them what their child will be working on in the classroom. They could also call or send notes home to discuss certain behaviors or just to tell them something positive about their child.

15. Students need to feel safe and trust their teacher. If a student trusts their teacher they will be more likely to communicate and share their feelings. Teachers need to have good ethics and exemplify this in the classroom. They should treat each student the same and make ethical decisions when disciplining the students. If a teacher is charismatic then students are going to behave positively. The students are going to be more motivated when a teacher is excited and interested in what they are teaching.

16. A teacher should handle misbehavior positively. They should address the misbehavior as soon as it happens. The students should be given an explanation or guidance to understand why his behavior was wrong.

17. To handle a problem in the classroom a teacher should look at why the problem is occurring. If the problem is affecting the whole classroom then it should be addressed to the whole class and solved with the students help. The students need to learn how to solve problems in life and it will be a great learning expedience if they are taught how to solve problems positively.

18. I feel that there is conflict because there is a problem that is not being addressed. The teacher should find the problem that is causing the students to conflict and work on that with the students. Students should be involved in figuring out how to resolve the conflict.

19. You can make your class energetic and lively by showing charisma. Show the students that you are excited about the actively they are going to be doing. Explain to the students what is expected of them so that they are not afraid to show excitement.

20. Students need structure. They need to understand that they have to follow rules as well as why they have rules. The teacher should establish the classroom rules early on so that the students understand what is expected of them. It is important to have an organized strategy so that students know that it is not accepted when they do not follow the classroom rules.