Classroom Observation Post

What?

          During one of my observations, I watched a co-teaching classroom where one of the students repeatedly used his phone in the classroom.  The teachers in the classroom allow the students to use their phones for music only while they write, but this student was clearly texting or fooling around with his phone.  The "leading" teacher gave the student a verbal warning, then the "secondary" teacher also gave him a warning.  (Side note: for this specific period, one of the co-teachers has taken the lead to instruct writing while the other teacher takes a secondary role and conferences with the students.) After the third warning, the teachers agreed to press the button and a member of the restoration team came up to the room.  Before the member enters the room, the teacher has to fill out a referral form and give it to the member of the restoration team.  The team member takes the student out into the hall and talks to them,  then they call the teacher into the hall for a conference with the student.  From here, the teacher and restoration specialist decide on consequences and take the proper action.  In some cases, the student will be sent back into the room and in other cases they will remove the student for the rest of the period. I also learned that this specific student was a repeat offender and constantly took advantage of the opportunity to use his phone in the classroom.     

So What?

           There are also two things to unpack from this experience: 1.) how this specific school deals with behavioral problems and 2.) how these specific teachers dealt with this case of behavior / their classroom management strategies.        

1.) School Behavior Management
          I honestly respect and appreciate the idea of a restoration team that comes in as a third party to settle any problems in the classroom.  It is great that they listen to the student's side of the story and then bring the teacher and have a conference between both parties.  This is a model of how to successfully solve problems in a professional and mature manner and it is very important for students to see this model.  It also takes some pressure away from the teacher and allows both the teacher and student to look back at the situation and explain their sides of the story.  The teacher in this case explained that she had given him numerous warnings but he didn't listen.  At the same time, the counter is that this method takes ALOT of valuable class time, especially if there is only one teacher in the room.

2.) Teacher's Classroom Management and Situation
          Thinking back to our classroom management panel, I remember that one of the teachers explained that you must have clear and concrete rules for the students to follow, otherwise they  will push you around or try to test your limits and take advantage of you.  The teachers have a no-phone policy (as does the school), but by offering the use of phones as a music device, I can see how students would be willing to test the waters.      

Now What?

          I have seen the gray area that occurs in classroom rules, and I will not allow students to use their phone under certain circumstances and not in others (this applies to every rule not just the cell phone rule).  The gray area makes sense to me and I will make sure that my students are clear about what the rules are, and what the consequences are for breaking them.  With that being said, I will take some of the CF behavioral procedure into my own classroom.  Regardless of what the school's behavioral policy is, I want to be able to conference with the students (and a neutral third party if possible) to discuss the situation and come up with appropriate consequences.  Our students are maturing adults and they need to see how real people should deal with rules.  In the workplace the students will have to consult their boss when things are done incorrectly, so in the classroom they should talk to the teacher.  We owe it to our students to tell them what the rules are, what the reasons are behind the rules and how the student broke the rules.  If we treat them with respect and explain the situation to them, there is a better chance that they will not break the rule again.   

Classroom Management Panel

        

        As a future educator it really hit home when one of the teachers explained that you can't teach unless you have a well-managed classroom.  So many times in our education program we are simply being told that classroom management is important, but not receiving any instruction or tips to having good classroom management.  This is why I was very grateful for the panel this week!  

        At the same time, I found it interesting that some of the most important management techniques are things that we were already taught like proximity control, eye contact and putting a hand on the student's shoulder.  I know that I am contradicting my first paragraph, but I am seriously wondering why so many education candidates feel that they are not prepared for classroom management (myself included)? 

        I think it starts with a few important points from the panel.  First off, we have to know our students.  Unfortunately, we don't currently have relationships with the students we teach and for myself specifically, I have to observe different classrooms at different times of the day due to my busy schedule.  It would be extremely beneficial for me to watch the same class throughout the week and see what their strengths and weaknesses are.  Another teacher on the panel explained that classroom behavior depends on each individual student as well as the time of day and what has happened throughout the day.  I have a feeling that the classroom management pieces won't click for us until we are able to fully integrate into a class and interact with the students on a constant basis.  

          The most important advice that I took away from the panel was to ask for help!  It is better to ask a veteran teacher for advice and help than to have a small problem turn into a huge issue.  I can totally understand the feeling of wanting to do everything right on your own (I often feel that in my personal life), but I can see how important it is to get through to the student(s) before their behavior escalates.  We need to always have our students' best interest at our core, even if it means admitting that you need help.  

          If you are still stressing about classroom management, I found this great link to 6 Classroom Management Tips for every teacher.  The first one "take charge of your class" really made sense to me.  The author explains that this doesn't meant telling everyone to be quiet, but simply engage the students so they are focused on you.  A statement like "how many of you saw The Hunger Games this weekend?" will get the students to be quiet and engaged in what you are saying.  From here, simply transition to the lesson and you should be in a good position.   

Questioning!

        This week we talked a lot about questions.  One of the most important things that I took from the lesson was that in order to ask a question (as a teacher) you need to know the answer that you are looking for.  If you are asking a lower lever question, you are going to get a lower level answer.  It just depends on what you want the students to tell you.
      
        I also realized that after doing the questioning activity, that it is easy to look at the questions you want to ask and convert them to a higher or lower level question.  This is something that helped me a lot this week as I prepared my SPED 433 lesson plan.  At first I found myself asking mostly lower level questions... until I thought back to this lesson and remembered to just change the way the question is asked.  Rather than asking "what does this word mean", I started to shift to "compare the use of this word and this word". 

        This week, my goal is to try and reflect on the questions that I ask every day.  I want to become aware of the questions I ask and also think about the answer I am looking for.  I am hoping that if I practice asking and answering questions now, I will be more comfortable when I am put in front of a class.

      I have also included yet another chart of different questions based on their respective levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. 

Are you "all questioned out" yet?
If you find any other exciting resources leave a comment so I can check them out :)

Co-Teaching Lesson Plan

          After watching the lesson planning process last class, I couldn't help but wish that someone could ask me the tough questions when I prepare my lesson plans.  As a student, we are expected to ask these questions ourselves and bring ourselves back from tangents.  I wish that our program would implement a talk through lesson plan where the students could meet with the professor and discuss their idea for a lesson (much like a conference about a paper).  This way we could practice getting feedback and hearing the questions like "where's the point of this lesson" and allow us to bounce off ideas with our instructor.  I have found lesson plans to be very hard to conceptualize because I'm not sure how students act in a classroom.  Having a peer to bounce ideas from would be a great resource that we could take advantage of.

          I also liked the lesson plan format that we were given from the session.  The student learning targets are right at the top which follows the UBD backwards design process.  The objectives are the first thing to think about, then how do they compare to Common Core standards?  It was also interesting to see a section about "language".  Since we are currently working in an urban school setting filled with many cultures, it is important to think about language conflicts that might arise.  Are there words that the students haven't encountered yet?  Are there things that the student might not have prior knowledge to draw off of?  In the same top section there are sections for "per-assessment" strategies and also "evidence of learning".  For anyone who is observing the class, all the information they need is right at the top of the lesson plan.  Basically, here's what we want to accomplish and here's how you can see it was achieved.  

          Watching the lesson planning process helped me to see what I've been missing; I need to visualize my class.  Of course this sounds silly and like I should have thought of it sooner, but I found it hard to teach people that I didn't know.  One of the teachers in the demonstration easily knew her students' strengths and weaknesses and was able to adjust her lesson accordingly.  I need to imagine my students (or try to learn the students from my observations) enough to understand how I should differentiate and adjust my lesson.  

Did you guys have trouble visualizing your students? 
How did the lesson planning demonstration influence your process? (Or not?) 

Ch. 9 - Book Clubs

What?
     Chapter 9 focused on implementing book clubs for every classroom.  Ideally, the teacher would produce a list of books ranging in reading level that all revolved around the same subject. Students would choose a book based on interest and form book groups around their choice. Students would develop a reading schedule and lead the discussion in their groups.  The class would create a book club rubric that they could self-evaluate for participation grades, and the teacher would monitor discussions rather than lead them.

So What?
     This strategy allows students to take responsibility for their education.  We want to create life long learners and book clubs will encourage students to pick materials that they want to read. Students will also experience and practice cooperative group work, which is the most successful way to have students work in groups.

Now What?
     I can't help but worry about students who don't complete their reading assignment.  I understand that I will obviously tell if they don't complete the assignment and I can give them less credit, but if they miss one reading assignment they will be far behind their group.  Plus, the group members are depending on each other to spark discussion and if they don't read then they will all lose out.  
     Book clubs are also something that we will have to develop over the year as a class.  You can't just start a book club any random day, there needs to be immense planning with lessons on reading strategies and cooperative group work.  Sure, having the clubs meet every other Friday for 20 minutes isn't a lot of class time, but the amount of preparation and planning that goes into book clubs will take quite a while.  Like our administration panel explained, we will need to sell this activity and really get students hyped about book clubs.  Is it something that could be implemented anywhere? Perhaps.  
     This link is another resource that suggests book clubs in the high school class, and reading it made me feel more confident.  Perhaps I'm just over-worried because I haven't been in front of a classroom yet!  The author of this blog taught her students to brainstorm solutions to problems as they arise which allows the students to accept responsibility and self-reflect.  I really like the idea of students taking control of their education and learning with each other.   
Do you think this is a strategy that could be implemented in an inner city public school?

Ch. 6 - How to Use Textbooks

    

     There were a lot of great strategies in this chapter that offered extra guidance and practice for students while they are reading textbooks.  In my last two blog posts I kept saying that we need to teach out students how to navigate textbooks, but I honestly had no answer.  I was happy to have some answers, but I was also a little weary of some of the techniques. 

     Jigsawing through a textbook seems like a great technique that can be used for all grade levels.  I would love to implement this activity in cooperative groups where students each have a job (after they all read the text).  Students could even create a presentation on the section of the textbook and use large post-it paper to diagram the section out.  The modifications that I made to the lesson would probably be used for a section that I have chosen to expand rather than contract.  At the same time, it would be a good idea to have students Jigsaw a section that we are "glazing over" to allow students to interact with the text, but also not spend too much time on it.  The only challenge that I can immediately think of is how much class time will be dedicated to Jigsawing.  Would I have the students read the section in class and then discuss it?  Or should the students know what sections to read for homework and come in ready to discuss?  What if certain students don't complete the homework and the group suffers?  

     While reading about the "Guide-O-Rama" and "Textbook Circles", I can't help but question if these two strategies are geared for younger students.  With the "Guide-O-Rama" I can see how a teacher would be able to pose guided questions or help prompt students' thinking, but I can't help but question if the students would use it to their advantage.  In my own experiences in high school I know that the majority of the "honors students" wouldn't have used the guide and instead would have read the textbook straight or tried to copy the answers from another student.  I can see how the "textbook circles" would work, especially by giving each student a specific role in the group.  I think maybe the idea of book clubs or circles is seen as a younger activity and I wonder if high school students would think that they deserve a more challenging activity.  At the same time, "textbook circles" would allow the students to work in cooperative groups and explore the text with their peers.  I would be interested in trying the activity out and getting  the students' opinion of it. 

     While looking for strategies online I came across this website which offers the advantages and disadvantages of textbooks in the classroom but also gives you advice on how to improve on the disadvantages.  Its easy to say something doesn't work, but this site gives you some answers about how to fix the problem!

Were there any strategies that you particularly liked or disliked?
Did you find this like helpful? 

     
     

Textbooks For Reference

     This week we had a lot of important readings, but one of the most important facts that stood out to me was that textbooks are created to be reference books.  Would we ever have students read the dictionary or an encyclopedia from cover to cover?  (I know teachers that used this as punishment!)  The answer should be "no!", so why do we see teachers repeatedly forcing students to read every chapter in a textbook?  As teachers, it is our responsibility to teach students how to read/use the textbooks. 

    "Textbooks are designed to inventory huge amounts of information that can be looked up when needed"(40)

       Our book explains that there is too much information for students to digest at once.  We need to show our students how to look up the information they need, and when they can simply skim a section or chapter. Not every picture or figure is necessary to every topic, and sometimes students are forced into information overload. Follow this link to see some textbook strategies directed toward college students.  The method of looking at headings, subheadings and pictures before you start reading the chapter is a great way to break information up into sections or topics.  

     "Central topics are not covered in enough depth to give student a chance to truly understand them" (39). 

     In this case, we (the teacher) need to provide additional resources and information about certain topics.  If the textbook grazes over a large topic,event or person we need to open up the topic and provide extra sources.  At the same time, we can use textbooks to provide background information or to show the connections between topics.  The textbooks provide a skeleton or outline of what we can cover as teachers, but we need to "open" certain topics and bring the information to life.

     This chapter helped me to understand that sometimes textbooks are necessary (especially if they are required by law) and we need to make the best use of the mass of information.  Should students read textbooks straight through and constantly answer the end of the section questions? Definitely not!  But they should learn the skills to navigate through reference books and how to use primary sources to fill in the gaps!