Description:
This week we
read chapter 11: Effective Learning Environments (Slavin, 2015). The chapter
explains the why and the how of classroom management. It opens with, There is
no magic or charisma to make you an effective classroom manager (Slavin, 2015,
pg. 272). This struck me to the point that I wrote it down. I think this is an
important point. There is no magic formula and while the bones may stay the
same, the teacher has to be willing to be flexible and adapt each year based on
the group of students for that year.
The chapter
also addressed why classroom management is important, other than keeping our
sanity! Keeping students engaged most of the day because we have a precious few
hours with them each year. If there are students openly disrupting or just talking
to a neighbor, they are not engaged. When they are not engaged, they are not
learning. Our entire job is to teach our students each year.
Analyze:
“Students learn
an average of 60% of allocated class time” according to a study done by Karweit
and Slavin in 1981 (Slavin, 2015, pg. 274). This is a terrible percentage! We
spend about 6 hours a day instructing students. 60% is 3.6 hours. While we do
not need to make sure the students are 100% engaged 100% of the time, we do
need to maximize out time with them. Ways that were discussed were avoiding interruptions
such as people coming in, sending notes to the office, etc… Another huge time
waster is procedures. Teachers should practice routines until students
understand that routines such as transitioning from point A to point B or
lining up for lunch should take seconds not minutes (Slavin, 2015, pg. 275).
The most common
theme throughout was creating a clear expectations. Before the year even
starts, teachers need to have clear and specific plans as to how they expect
students to act/perform in various situations. Once you know what you expect,
you need to spend as much time as necessary practicing these rules. In the
upper elementary setting this can take several days. Once you have the basics
down, how to line up, how to walk in the hall, behave in the bathroom, etc… you
can move forward to more focused inside the classroom procedures. These could
be anything, such as how to behave in a group, how to transition from group to
group, etc… At this point, you are following your kids around and watching
their every move. You should not be doing other things at this time. Your focus
is on them learning the right way to behave in your classroom. This can take
1-2 weeks. Once routines are clearly established, you can move onto your real, yearlong
teaching (Slavin, 2015).
While you are
focused on routines, students should still be working. They should not be given
busy work, but they should be given simple, enjoyable activities (Slavin,
2015). This too is a way to practice routine.
Another way to
increase student engagement is to teach highly engaging lessons. When students
see you excited to teach, they are generally excited to learn. While every
lesson cannot always be a three ring circus there are ways to engage students.
The text discussed a teacher trying to get her students to mimic Hemingway’s
writing style. She could have just told them to do it. She could have laid out
guidelines and let them go. Instead, she pulled them in and hooked them by
telling them that they were going to steal Hemmingway’s style, not mimic (Slavin,
2015, pg. 271).
Reflection:
This chapter
brought back so many thoughts of my first year. I struggled so much with what
to do and how to do it! I am thankful I was hired in December and only had to
make it 6 months! Undergrad did not prepare me for managing a classroom of 24
little people! Now, my classroom management is MUCH better and I do nearly all
of the things mentioned in the chapter. I think the one area I still struggle
is arranging my classroom. I love having the kids in groups, but groups invite
talking. I find myself rearranging the classroom at least monthly which is
funny because my house has not been rearranged in 15 years! Over the years I
have just begun to accept that 8-9 year olds are never going to be quiet all the
time. This may be a cop out, but I have not found a solution that works 100% of
the time. My way of dealing with it is that I do not mind as long as they are
not talking while I am talking or during other predetermined times. This works
pretty well although, there may be others that disagree.
Slavin, R. E. (2015). Educational Psychology: Theory
and practice (12th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson
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