Methods, Week 2, Day 1: The Beginning
Today was our official first day of Methods. Erin and I were instructed to observe quietly in the back of the room, take notes, and have zero interaction with the students. The cooperating teacher wanted us to get a sense of how her language arts/reading classes flow and try to decipher the personalities of each blocked class.
The first block was already tracked as a gifted and talented group. The students were absolutely terrific. The teacher spent a lot of time discussing the happenings of the weekend, talking about announcements and fundraisers, and just general chit chat before starting the day. I think this opening five minutes helps the students feel connected to the teacher. Students participated in a hands-on activity - creating the dimensions of a prison cell with painter's tape on the classroom floor. This went along with their Life in Prison novel the class is currently reading. It was interesting to note that the students started gravitating towards traditional gender roles. The boys grabbed the tape and yardsticks while pretending to be "men." Most of the girls stood along on the sidelines, arms folded. The teacher did a great job of encouraging the girls to participate, making sure people had a job, and rotating the jobs. Students really enjoyed this activity, which brought the book to life. Students also learned about I-statements to manage conflict resolution. This block does not seem to have too many issues with working together. Students generally stayed on task and did not argue. However, that was not the case for all blocks in which this teacher worked.
The second block definitely had a different personality than the first block. The second block seemed to be very energetic. The students were more willing to take chances and jump right in with the cell building activity whereas the first block was cautious and more strategic. One student was very "mouthy" to the teacher. He would get stuck on one thing and couldn't move past it. The teacher ended up moving this student away from the others. Of course, the student made a big scene by slamming his papers down and scraping his chair across the floor with added emphasis. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to ignore the annoying/irritating behavior until the rest of the class is working and then conference privately with the troubled student. It seemed to through the class off track and frustrated the teacher. Waiting to conference privately might take the emotion out of the situation. There was definitely a lot of emotion in that room. Later, the teacher worked on I-statements with the class. The troubled student was asked to fill-in the blanks of the I-statement on the board. The student was only able to verbalize what he didn't like but had a difficult time of knowing how to verbalize what he felt. Students seemed to need to work on basic emotional vocabulary. Since students don't have these vocabulary words, they tend to act out rather than voice their frustration and how they would prefer things to be.
The third block was interesting. The teacher said the third block typically had the most behaviorial issues; however, today, I felt that the second block topped the third. The third block had different pockets of students who liked to antagonize each other. Other students felt like they were helping the situation by yelling "Shut up!" really loud across the room. When the teacher asked them how they could quiet the other students without yelling across the room, then finger snapping at each other started to be the more favorable action. I don't think the snapping really helped the situation! I think I will try the "Give Me Five" signal when I start teaching. I have seen students use this signal to quiet other students when the classroom gets too loud for them to work productively. Maybe it will work in this classroom, too.
Overall, I am excited to start getting to know the kids and building relationships. I want to make sure that I am seen as a fair, fun but stern teacher. I want the students to know when it's time to work and when it's okay to joke. Most of all, I want to see student progress while I'm teaching in the next eight weeks.
The first block was already tracked as a gifted and talented group. The students were absolutely terrific. The teacher spent a lot of time discussing the happenings of the weekend, talking about announcements and fundraisers, and just general chit chat before starting the day. I think this opening five minutes helps the students feel connected to the teacher. Students participated in a hands-on activity - creating the dimensions of a prison cell with painter's tape on the classroom floor. This went along with their Life in Prison novel the class is currently reading. It was interesting to note that the students started gravitating towards traditional gender roles. The boys grabbed the tape and yardsticks while pretending to be "men." Most of the girls stood along on the sidelines, arms folded. The teacher did a great job of encouraging the girls to participate, making sure people had a job, and rotating the jobs. Students really enjoyed this activity, which brought the book to life. Students also learned about I-statements to manage conflict resolution. This block does not seem to have too many issues with working together. Students generally stayed on task and did not argue. However, that was not the case for all blocks in which this teacher worked.
The second block definitely had a different personality than the first block. The second block seemed to be very energetic. The students were more willing to take chances and jump right in with the cell building activity whereas the first block was cautious and more strategic. One student was very "mouthy" to the teacher. He would get stuck on one thing and couldn't move past it. The teacher ended up moving this student away from the others. Of course, the student made a big scene by slamming his papers down and scraping his chair across the floor with added emphasis. Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to ignore the annoying/irritating behavior until the rest of the class is working and then conference privately with the troubled student. It seemed to through the class off track and frustrated the teacher. Waiting to conference privately might take the emotion out of the situation. There was definitely a lot of emotion in that room. Later, the teacher worked on I-statements with the class. The troubled student was asked to fill-in the blanks of the I-statement on the board. The student was only able to verbalize what he didn't like but had a difficult time of knowing how to verbalize what he felt. Students seemed to need to work on basic emotional vocabulary. Since students don't have these vocabulary words, they tend to act out rather than voice their frustration and how they would prefer things to be.
The third block was interesting. The teacher said the third block typically had the most behaviorial issues; however, today, I felt that the second block topped the third. The third block had different pockets of students who liked to antagonize each other. Other students felt like they were helping the situation by yelling "Shut up!" really loud across the room. When the teacher asked them how they could quiet the other students without yelling across the room, then finger snapping at each other started to be the more favorable action. I don't think the snapping really helped the situation! I think I will try the "Give Me Five" signal when I start teaching. I have seen students use this signal to quiet other students when the classroom gets too loud for them to work productively. Maybe it will work in this classroom, too.
Overall, I am excited to start getting to know the kids and building relationships. I want to make sure that I am seen as a fair, fun but stern teacher. I want the students to know when it's time to work and when it's okay to joke. Most of all, I want to see student progress while I'm teaching in the next eight weeks.
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