As a first year teacher, I often feared that I was the most ineffective member of my teaching team. Comparing my behaviors to the key behaviors for effective teaching was a validation of those fears. Lesson clarity was my biggest weakness. I found that, no matter how many times I rehearsed the instructions, there were always questions due to a lack of clarity in my wording or presentation. Student engagement was my second biggest weakness. I could tell, based on their blank stares and occasional snoring, that my students had no interest in the lesson I had poured my soul into. Thankfully, Borich offers some suggestions to combat student disengagement, including ensuring assignments can be completed independently and providing assignments at …show more content…
As a neophyte in the world of education and lesson planning, my greatest struggles were with transitions and closure. I found that my transitions were usually jarring for my students, as vague directions and expectations hindered them from smoothly shifting to the next learning activity. I realize now that this was due to my failure to establish a consistent classroom routine (a mistake I will remedy this year). I realize now that I cannot expect my students to follow a routine and set of expectations without first firmly establishing it! My other weakness was in providing closure for each lesson. My timing played a large role in my failure to adequately close a lesson, as the bell frequently interrupted me before I could reach a concluding statement. Also, I could sense my students losing interest in the lesson as the time for dismissal grew near. I understand Borich’s emphasis on properly closing a lesson, but I would appreciate some suggestions on how to properly allocate time for learning activities. I think this would be beneficial for keeping students engaged, facilitating smoother transitions and providing clear closing statements. When reflecting on my classroom management issues, I also realize that I gave students assignments with a negative or sarcastic tone. I believe my emotions stemmed from stress, a lack of sleep and a
One of the main struggles within the lesson was how to effectively use time to cover all the goals of my plan. This lesson was challenged by the time constraints of having a 50-minute class period and a quiz that was taking 25 minutes of the class. When planning the lesson I thought it would be possible to place students in groups to do close reading questions. I quickly discovered, after doing poetry brackets at the beginning of class and then discussing the main points of Act I, there was very little time to actually do the activity. Students were only in groups less than 10 minutes and could not really look at the text too closely before I needed to move them on. I felt that this cause several problems with the presentation o...
Once this becomes the norm for teachers they tend to become uninteresting, and students are the ones reaping the consequences. Rose acknowledged this cycle of learning apathy, writing, “But mostly the teachers had no idea of how to engage the imaginations of us kids who were scuttling along at the bottom of the pond”(1989, p.2).
Time is a scarce resource in the classroom. It is very important for instructors to be able to effectively work the clock when conducting their lessons. Setting time limits throughout the entire lesson is a key component to ensuring all learning goals will be accomplished. During most of Mrs. Peterson’s lesson, she looked for non-verbal cues from students to determining when to move on to the next activity instead of
All effective educators need to find ways to motivate their students. The kids that fill our classrooms have different strengths and weaknesses. It is critical that teachers recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their students so they can use the right classroom management strategies to motivate their kids. In this particular case, the student named Jodie is inattentive and uninterested and neither the teacher intern or classroom teacher have a clue how to handle this situation. Ms. Marcia Thomas, who is the young intern feels that Jodie is just a problem child that lacks motivation and there is nothing she can do for this particular student. Ms. Thomas and the lead teacher Ms. Egan both lack the needed classroom management strategies that are necessary to motivate and engage students in a positive learning environment.
In my twelve years of teaching experience, one thing that most of my colleagues have struggled with at some point in their career has been classroom management. Classroom management is one many keys to instructional success. Unfortunately, many have left the teaching field due to lack of knowledge of classroom management best practices.
“Formed through the interplay of past performance… teacher expectancies have an undeniable influence on students’ learning. Skinner and Belmont (1993) point out the following about teacher behavior: 1) Teacher behavior influences students’ perceptions of their interactions with teachers. 2) Teacher behavior influences student engagement.” (Bruns 3)
- thoroughly internalize the lesson by completing the student work first (i.e. independent practice and exit ticket)
I stared down at the exam, holding back the urge to crumple it up and throw it in the trash. It was the third marking period and I was holding yet another test that I failed. I furrowed my brows and sighed. There was a combination of frustration, defeat and indifference. I was sure that I was going to fail the class for the first semester and ultimately drop my grade point average. As the curriculum got more challenging, I was struggling to keep up and it seemed like no matter what steps I took, I could not get my grade above a 65. When I went to confide in my leadership teacher to express my concern, she just gave me a reassuring smile and told me that I could pass the class. I would have to be the one to take action by expressing my worries with my math teacher. That's all she had to say? How could she think that so late in the marking period, I was going to drastically change my grade?
One of the areas I felt I needed the most professional growth in and so the focus of my Professional Development Plan (PDP) is effective classroom management techniques, particularly in the area of behavior management. I feel I struggled in the beginning of my practicum with maintaining student attention and managing behaviors. As an effort to improve I sat down with my Cooperating Teacher (CT) and discussed different techniques and options that could help.
It is difficult in a school setting to teach where students come to class each day not enthusiastic about what they are expected to do and without the basic foundation to perform the tasks. From a psychological perspective, student disengagement is associated with situational threats to feelings of competence, self-determination, and/or relatedness to valued others (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Most students enter kindergarten with a healthy curiosity and a desire to learn to read and write. By the end of 2nd grade, we start seeing the first referrals by classroom teachers because of learning and behavior problems. From that point on, increasing numbers of students become disengaged from classroom learning, and most of these manifest from some form of behavioral and/or emotional problems.
Dreyer, personal communication, 13 February, 2016). I was hungry for information on classroom management following a substitute teaching experience with seventeen kindergartners. The session only lasted for an hour and I wished I could have had eight hours of instruction on the topic. R. Dreyer modeled setting expectations, with step-by-step procedures that can set the right tone for the classroom from the very first day. I have further research to due in the area of Accountable Talk, but I did take away two gems from this lesson that I have already started implementing. Firstly, setting specific expectations for students from the very beginning is helping me put forth the type of authority I desired in my teaching. Letting students know what tasks we will be conducting and what behavior I expect from them has already changed the way I substitute teach. Secondly, understanding that students will do what you allow them to do, not what you tell them to do has helped me set boundaries. I have a tender-hearted nature and would overlook an infraction here or there, but now realize that was undermining my authority. Now, after having set clear expectations, I lovingly hold my students to
The job of a teacher is never easy but we have seen how cooperative discipline and enabling students to feel capable, connected and contributing can improve classroom management and maybe even our own moods. If we create an environment of mutual respect and give our students legitimate power of voice and choice in the classroom we will see positive results in improved student behavior and student achievement. Because when our students believe that they can succeed, they will.
My teaching career has been spent learning how to provide appropriate support, guidance, patience, & understanding, as well as to enhance academic growth & success, for all students. My purpose as a teacher is to enrich and inspire the lives of young students with moderate/intensive needs by providing access to information instead of functioning as the primary source of information for students to flourish. My teaching methods will be to create an environment ripe with opportunities for discovery and exploration which will allow all students to learn at their own pace, generate questions and construct knowledge, while providing hands-on practice of skills in authentic situations as well as to make learning intriguing and meaningful to all students. Carefully planned and constructed learning environment will also allow the teacher more time to meet the individual needs of each student. Another important factor to a well-prepared learning environment is to facilitate learning, and providing students with balance and consistency (2004). Young students require a balance between various classroom dimensions, including activities guided by the teacher and independent work, quiet work and active work, gross motor and fine motor activities, and open and closed aspects to the curriculum and classroom materials (2004). Consistency is also a required condition for learner success. Schedules (daily and weekly), the enforcement of classroom rules, and student expectations should not be in flux but remain consistent. Without a sense of consistency in the classroom, school life would lack the necessary feeling of safety and reliability young children need to focus, to take risks, and to t...
In the process of completing this coursework, I have realised that every teacher should be all-rounded and equipped with adequate skills of educating others as well as self-learning. As a future educator, we need make sure that our knowledge is always up-to-date and applicable in the process of teaching and learning from time to time. With these skills, we will be able to improvise and improve the lesson and therefore boost the competency of pupils in the process of learning. In the process of planning a lesson, I have changed my perception on lesson planning from the student’s desk to the teacher’s desk. I have taken the responsibility as a teacher to plan a whole 60-minutes lesson with my group members. This coursework has given me an opportunity
Not every child learns at the same level, pace or even the same way. Some are visual others have to be stimulated by hands-on or interactive activities. I find it easier to learn when I have been given the conclusion and reason this is beneficial to me. We all need to understand the topic before we can successfully understand the meaning. Everything we do is just a portion of the whole picture. Time management is truly a scholarly activity. Teachers must manage time in the classroom. Time not managed is a setback. Just as we must allow time for the