Classroom Management is Like a Box of Chocolates...

By this point, I’ve done some teaching. It’s been challenging, because no matter how much I seem to prepare, the most difficult part to master is the classroom management. My mentor teacher mentioned to me that once I get a good handle on managing my classroom, all the rest of the parts seem to fall into place rather easily. There’s a lot going on that you simply don’t think about until you’re actually trying to improve the things that you do in front of the class that help keep the students engaged.

One thing I quickly came to realize is that middle school students only have a 10-15 minute attention span. Once I get them working on something, I only have a short window of time in which they can work independently on one thing before they begin to grow restless and noisy. Obviously this makes certain longer activities, such as 30 minutes of Silent Sustained Reading much more difficult, since the students grow bored of whatever they are doing far before the activity is complete. A way that I’ve learned to get around this is to break up an activity 10-15 minutes into it and refocus the students by asking them questions as a class to check for understanding, or reiterating the directions of a section that I notice them struggling with in my observation as I walk around checking their work over their shoulders. Optimally, this will also help influence the way I structure my lessons in the class, since I know I need to segment them into small bite-sized chunks for the students to take in small doses before they change focus and reset their attention spans.

It can be tough to get a class back under control once I’ve lost it. Part of the challenge is asserting myself as just as important a teacher as the mentor teacher I’m learning from. I’m attempting to get across to the students that I’m not just a substitute; I have the same authority as their other teacher, and I deserve the same level of respect and obedience. This has been a challenge, but In working with them each day, I know they are starting to treat me better. Some of the ways I think I’ve managed to procure their trust and respect is that I’ve been around long enough to begin to know and share their interests and different personalities. I try to greet them all at the door, and I ask them how their day is going. From my classes, I’ve learned that this is a fairly effective strategy, especially when you know that some of the students possibly haven’t had any adult in their life take an interest in them personally, that day.

My mentor teacher summarized her stance on classroom management as “creating an environment where all students can feel safe and secure both physically and emotionally.” Secondary school is a tumultuous time for students. They need to feel that they are someplace where they are safe. If I am in control of my classroom, the students, on some level, know that they are safe there. If I lose control of the class, the students will turn towards the next person who can give them the sense of safety that they crave, and this is usually the class clown or an outspoken student. Once that happens, it becomes extremely difficult to gain that control back.

It’s a struggle, each day, but I’m learning as I go, and I believe I’m developing strategies and techniques that are working. Hopefully things will have gelled between the students and I by the time I take complete control of the classroom for several weeks while I solo teach.

"Wolverines!"

So one of my students was presenting a report on a career in the military, mentioning that they'd like to bomb the enemies of America, including Russia. It was unsettling to the other teacher, but I thought it was pretty funny. While Russia is certainly an ally now, I simply saw it a side effect of the fact that Russians still play a large part of "enemy forces" in a lot of popular video games, such as Modern Warfare 2, which more or less plays out a "Red Dawn" scenario of Russians invading US Soil. This, working in tandem with the fact that so many beloved movies deal with the looming confrontations of the cold war, make it difficult for younger students who aren't aware of global current events to the level that adults might be, to interpret and understand the current state of non-fictionalized relations between the US and other countries.

Raining and Pouring

Teaching in rainy weather is TOUGH! The students are noisier then they might have acted otherwise, probably because they’re wet and uncomfortable just sitting their in the dampness. There’s water everywhere. The sound of thunder causes all of them to excitedly chatter about the noise, disrupting any focus I may have had with the students. Oh, and then there’s the smell. Students simply toss their soaking clothing in the corner instead of hanging it up or tossing it in the drier. Over time, the damp smell begins to grow into something more odorous. The concept of mold prevention hasn’t caught on yet…

It really is a challenge, but it does introduce some fresh excitement into the classroom. Just gotta keep up the ‘go for gusto’ spirit, right?

"First Impressions"

I still feel the ache of nervousness. It’s terrifying and exciting to be here, finally. To finally find myself at the end of my comfort zone. No amount of training and theory seems to help, though, I still feel unprepared for all this. The only thing that will help me now is experience, and the only way to get experience is to plunge forward and simply get in front of my classroom and teach. I have people here to help push me along, and watch my back as I do so, but that doesn’t seem to make it any easier.

I teach my first lesson in another day: my first real lesson in front of a full set of classes throughout the day. I find myself sabotaging my own confidence with doubt and worries. I know what my capabilities are, and how I’ve taught before in more controlled settings. There’s a teacher beneath this nervous wreck and I just need to find a way to stop over thinking it all.

My mentor teacher gave me some good advice. This is a group of middle school students so all I need to remember is that “I’m the smartest guy in the room.” It’s good advice, but we’ll see if I can just push through how I feel and teach like I know I’m meant to.

My first impressions of this student teaching have been mixed. Although this is probably more due to the fact that I’ve had a lot of changes in my personal schedule very suddenly, I’ve found myself struggling to keep my energy up between teaching all day, working on homework and lesson plans in the evening, and my general sense of stress and worry. I suspect this will all change once I begin to get more into my groove and solidify my confidence a bit more.

My experience has probably been a little more different than some of the other student teachers because my cooperating teacher has already asked me to teach. It was one of those lessons that went badly at first, but as I got towards the end of the day, I began to get the hang of what I was trying to do with it. 6^th Period got the best version of me. My first class could have gone better. I felt like I did more lecturing than engaging students. Eventually I let the students get on with their writing, and some of them got a good head start on writing their essays. Some of the other students who were either less interested or struggling to understand got left behind. I know there’s a lot of ways I can improve what I did, but this is all practice after all. Still, it feels a little sad to subject students to substandard teaching just for my sake, doesn’t it?

Maybe it’s just so surprising right now because I shouldn’t really be teaching yet, based on the way they’ve tried to structure this new “Clinical Practice” program. I don’t know if that says a lot about my cooperating teacher’s confidence in me, or that I just ended up in the wrong place. I didn’t feel ready to teach just yet, but at the same time, I don’t think I’d ever feel ready if I didn’t have someone there to push me.

All in all, it was a good week. I learned a great deal in a short period of time. I’m learning strategies through observation, and through my own trial and error in my lessons. I’m finding ways to fill the discrepancy between the way I believed things might be with my theory classes, and the realities of teaching a group of students. I have a long way to go, but I am having fun.

Welcome to my Blog!

1-4-2010

Hi, everyone. This is the new blog that I'm starting to help record some of my thoughts, feelings, and experiences as I go through the final stages of my teaching credential and student teaching. There's a lot involved in the process, and I'm learning as I go. I might also include entries that share some of the processes I go through, and what sort of outside stimuli are currently affecting or inspiring my thoughts and actions. Enjoy!