The results of the votes we had in class have been summarized. The expectations that students voted on have all been summarized and a short conversation about what has been agreed upon will be had on Monday. That's really the jest of my very first lesson in a real Albertan classroom. A lesson which became a huge success in the following month with every student in the classroom increasing their ability to communicate in my classroom!
I think the biggest decision I had to make was how to deal with students who have been warned three times. Really, now that I think about it, three times is too much. Too much time between warnings really and students stopped taking me seriously.
I decided to use Barbara Coloroso’s ideas and implement a strategy that allows students to think about what they’ve done and not allow them to ignore the effects of their actions in the classroom. I am developing a strategy where students who misbehave write out a paragraph about how they intend to fix their behavior. I feel this strategy best reflects the values that I want to represent in my classroom. Using this strategy I do not have to send students away and it uses logical consequences instead of punitive consequences. There is more on this to come!
Unfortunately, this strategy really only works for individual students. If the class is unable to behave I figure it might be because they need a stretch so I have think I might make them do burpies or some other exercise. A countdown might work where anything over 5 seconds is counted against them.
Now, class layout. Of the 34 students only 12 voted to keep them the way they are but I feel that even these will change their mind as soon as they see the new layout. I changed the desks so that they are in groups of four. Not surprisingly, this resulted in a beautiful opportunity for proximity engagement and increased my ability to talk to the students one on one!
I am working on a system of monitoring sound levels within the classroom. If I can get it to work the new system will involve my computer and a program that detects mic inputs on my macbook. If the bar gets into the red then students will be reminded to be quieter. I have yet to see if this system will work. During my practicum I did not have the courage to try it! I think it has potential!
The last thing I want to address is my lesson. On Friday I was stuck at the board. I couldn’t move because all my notes were on the smart board and I had no real power to get away from it. I have changed my notes so that all the fill in the blanks and responses are hidden, all I need to do is click on them. With the help of an iPad I could be anywhere in the room and still interact with the whiteboard, thank goodness for technology. This should help with classroom management! Depends on how far the range is! We'll see how it goes next time I get the opportunity to try this! Plus when I manage to buy an iPad.
