Last Semester, the classroom I was in resembled the “Boot Camp” that DeVries and Zan (2012) talk about. In the “Boot Camp” classroom, “Children follow the Drill Sergeant teacher’s directions not only for arithmetic, but how to sit and where to have their hands” (DeVries & Zan, 2012, p. 11). The children in my field site were always reminded to sit with their legs crossed even though the children often wanted to sit on their knees or with their legs straight out. This was very difficult for the children because there were 20 children in the class and the limited classroom space required everyone to sit the same way. When the teachers were talking during circle or story time, the children were expected to be quiet and paying attention to the teacher. The teachers would often correct the children’s behavior by criticizing them. I also often noticed my teachers using negative language with the children which made the atmosphere of …show more content…
In the “Factory” classroom, “…the sociomoral atmosphere is pressure for obedient production of academic work. However, it is neither as negative as that in the Boot Camp nor as positive as the Community” (DeVries & Zan, 2012, p. 17). The children are expected to obey to the classroom rules, but the children aren’t criticized if they are not following the rules; the teachers simply remind them of the rules and the children quickly correct their behavior. Academically, the children are also still expected to be quiet and listen, but there is less of a focus on how they are to sit. The teachers have rarely used negative language around the children, but I have not seen the teachers and children work together to solve problems. The teachers have been very clear with their instruction of material unlike the example of the turtle subtraction problem DeVries and Zan (2012) discuss on page
Discipline is important in maintaining a positive classroom environment and influencing a child’s development. During my field experience at S.H. Elementary, I have observed Mrs. Branson using various techniques to reinforce positive behavior in her 3rd grade classroom. Mrs. Branson’s teachers 3rd grade in a charter school located in the south suburbs of Minneapolis. Her class consist of 23 diverse student learners from various racial, ethical, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Each student acquires individual wants and needs, and exhibits a range of behaviors. Mrs. Branson practices operant conditioning techniques to acquire the good behavior she wants and needs from her students.
Canter method enables teachers to take charge of their classroom by observing the rights of the students as well as those of the teacher. As a student, in Miss Jones’ Class, John, would know the teacher's expectations without having to guess. John is an 11 year old, in the sixth grade at Washington Elementary School. John comes from a single parent home. His father is not in the picture. His mother works two jobs, so his grandmother cares for him. At home, he is in charge; his grandmother has no control over his behavior. His family life affects John’s behavior in class; he dislikes having to follow the rules at school. The main problem he is having in the classroom is talking; He disrupts class by talking out of turn. The first step in the behavior management cycle: “effectively communicate explicit directions.” (Canter, 2006, p. 50) “I need everyone’s attention. That means your eyes on me, nothing in your hands and no one is talking.” Canter’s model promotes a supportive classroom, which allows teachers to teach and students to learn. Student are taught to behave and teachers use praise and other rewards ...
In my observation, I have seen the teachers address children more often as individuals than as a group. There were many times when the children need individual care or attention more so than as a group. A prime example that I observed was when a child misbehaved, and one child got hurt. At times like this, the teachers provided personal attention for nurturing and discipline. For the child who got hurt the teacher was very caring. She cuddled the child and consoled him until he felt better. For the child that required discipline the teacher was sterner while still maintaining a nurturing aspect. I observed many times individual care was needed more so than the overall group. When it came time for learning the teacher would have a group activity called “Circle Time”. All the children would sit in a group and do various learning activities such as naming pictures of animals, saying the ABC song, and doing shapes. If children could not name an animals the teacher would make the sound for that animal to help encourage the children to guess. In my opinion, the teachers were not always flexible when it came to certain activities. When the children were doing station play, this was not a flexible activity; the children were placed in small groups and had 10 to 15 min increments to explore each station. If a child did not like the station, they had to stay with that station until it was time to change. While I did see some instances, where there was little flexibility I do think, the classroom was child-directed for the most
Williams it’s very busy with learning stuff everywhere. The classroom has different section called ‘centers’ like the library. In the middle is where the desk are placed they are grouped into 5-6 student at each table. I immediately noticed some negative behavior management on the part of the teacher by yelling at the students that wasn’t listening to her instructions. Another behavior management tool that doesn’t seems to work completely well was the point system that give or take a point from any student based on their behavior or action throughout the day. Most students seem to not be so thrilled or fazed by losing a point or when they gained one. But the teacher used this system quite frequent to make her point and take action. An action taking by the teacher that I felt was problematic is when she questioned a student that was better behaved, if another student was misbehaving. This action could lead to negative behavior for child-child interaction and
When discipline is used, for example time-out, it relies on blame and shame to bring a child’s behavior “back in line”. Friedrich Frobel said, “Through punishment adults make a child bad”. However, when a teacher uses guidance rather than discipline, the children learn what they can do to fit into, and participate as a member of the class, it is used to create an encouraging classroom environment. Guidance actively teaches children to express and meet needs acceptably. As the children go through their day, part of learning social competency is conflict. Children who experience conflicts with one another, with adults, or conflicts that affect the whole class, need to be taught positive alternative behavior. The teacher guides all the children involved in the conflict through mediation, which makes all parties equal contributors to a peaceful settlement. The teacher might try guidance talks, which is when the teacher has a private conversation with the child to avoid embarrassment. Teacher and child discuss what happened and reach an understanding about why the behavior was mistaken. When a social conflict affects the whole class, the teacher could have a class meeting(s) to discuss the situation. During such time, one child speaks at a time, every gets a turn to talk, and everyone listens and respects others’ views while the teacher leads until the conflict is resolved. For supportive classroom environments, children need to be guided rather than disciplined to feel valued as a member of the classroom. When children are guided through conflicts, they are more apt to learn positive alternative behavior. Whereas discipline just shames and embarrasses the child and they learn nothing, so the mistaken behavior is likely to
In Mr. Johnson’s, 12th grade, U.S. government class, I observe how students were sitting in groups depending on how advanced they were in the class. In the front tables, the students who we were less advance were sitting in two groups, while the two back groups were full of students who were more proficient in English and more advance in the class. Throughout the class, I was able to observe how the sitting arrangement affected the students not only because of the lack of support they received from other student but because how each group was treated. For instance, while Mr. Johnson was given lecture he was speaking and giving instruction to the groups differently. Also, when two students arrived late to class. One of the student who arrived late was from the front group, the less advanced, while the other from the back, the more advanced. The student from the front was immediately told to go to a specific seat, while the student from the back table was not given any remark. Mr. Johnson seemed to be more strict on the students sitting in the front tables and punish them more than the students in back table. Some of the students in the front table seem to feel more controlled. In the article, “The means of Correct Training” by Michel Foucault, he argues a person 's behavior changes if they are constantly watched and punished. Clearly, many of the traditional schools use that to try to change the non-normal attitudes of the students because what is not normal or expected is seemed as negative. Due to the lack of support Mr. Johnson receives, he is forced to use this method in attempt to get all the student in the same level. However, it was very counterproductive. As I observed, I notice that the more the student are controlled and punished, the less motivated the student are to participate in class. In conclusion, the lack of support teachers receive can cause a differentiation
The above articles mentioned in the research study shows the important need for teachers to be mindful of behavior and reactions to student behavior. When teachers become reactive to a student or a particular situation the teacher may be causing more harm than good. Teachers need to know when to take a step back and just reinforce the rules and not allow personal feelings come into the situation. When teachers label students then students feel as though they need to be in that category and not try to change. Teachers need to be sure they are not falling into the idea that students are purposely exhibiting certain behavior. As stated in the above research studies, students are following the mindset presented by the teacher and following the teachers lead to fit into the classroom environment.
When one allows some form of behavior to thrive in the classroom without proper guidance, it quickly develops into unacceptable behavior. It is better to prevent classroom incivility than to deal with the consequences later on. The instructors can incorporate their expectations of behavior in the class syllabus and revisit them from time to time. These may include class attendance, lateness, and use of laptops during class, and side talking. Clear policies should be set regarding the punishments for breaking any of the set rules. The institution’s code of conduct and the penalties for grave breaches should also be included so that students are aware of the policies and the expectations of the institution (Miller et al.
I have observed my master teacher’s classroom for three weeks. Based on my observation of the classroom, I believe that my master teacher’s teaching style is student-centered. I would say this is true because students have a lot of freedom in the classroom. Students have a lot of opportunities to socialize with their peers in the classroom. The noise level of the classroom is uncontrollable. During the HR announcements on PA, students are very loud, and they become out of control. No one listens to the announcements on PA, and they socialize with their peers. In addition, when students are not explicitly assigned to activity, students engage in conversations with their peers. Teacher usually does not address an issue about noise when students are not explicitly assigned to an activity. The noise level of the classroom is a result of students’ freedom in the class. Students chose their own seat from the beginning of the year, and students talk too
My role in the ongoing TEMP Project (Teacher Education Model Programs) proved to be an experience like none other I have had in my years in education. My own training and experience has taken place in classrooms ranging from 7th grade to college undergraduate literacy courses. Observing an elementary math class ensured I would be a wide-eyed learner absorbing that fascinating environment.
On October 25, 2016 I observed Mrs. Boer’s third grade classroom in Orange City Christian School. When I first arrived it was read aloud time, the teacher read aloud a story book while the students listened while working on unfinished work. After that they did a math lesson. When I looked around the class room I noticed it was set up in different sections, there is a project area, desk area, carpet area and a group table area. This set up allows for different types of work and even different types of group work. The classroom environment affects student motivation. From what I could tell the students in this grade three classroom are very independent and are motivated that way at the same time they also get quite a bit of guidance from Mrs.
Classroom Observation On two different days, several observations took place in two different types of environment. I observed a teacher and her students of a second grade elementary school and a teacher and her students aged 18 months to two years old in a daycare environment. I observed the environment and interaction of the teacher and his or her students. Although both are learning environments, they have some similarities and some differences.
The school that I visited was new. It was the first year of the school opening. The school board had combined two schools into one, so the students had to adjust to their new environments and new individuals. They seemed to be getting along well with each other. Since the school is new the teacher has to adjust to new problems that araise. Times for the subjects and times for using the computer labs change. So the teacher must always be fixable for anything. In this observation of this classroom I learned about the enjoyment of teaching. How you have to adapt to each of the students.
The students that I observed in the classroom were of middle to high school. I went to see 8th, freshman, 10th , and seniors classes, they seemed excited and very curious to why I was there. The middle school was more alive and rambunctious while I observed them. The High school kids were more relaxed, more comical. Some were paying attention while others seemed tuned out to the lecture or involved in socialization with friends within the class. By the end of the class Mr. Hasgil had restored the attention of everyone by using tactics such as history jeopardy with candy as the prize with the high school kids. In both he middle school and high school the kids were mostly Caucasian with a mixture of black, Asian , and Hispanic in the classes.
Teaching discipline in the classroom is crucial to creating a positive learning environment. As mentioned in the book after a few weeks of school the students are learning what is expected of them and the daily routines. However, it still has to be taught and practiced, especially if the teacher is incorporating new discipline strategies to create the positive community. Students must be taught to understand that when classroom rules and procedures are not followed, there will be logical consequences to follow. A few of the classroom rules and procedures in my classroom consist of raising your hand when you want to speak out, pushing your chair in when you stand up, sitting in your own square on the rug, standing on the third square in the