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| She Speaks the Truth |
| posted by: Jill | October 06, 2010, 02:12 PM |
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I have been so excited reading this email chain from my friend regarding classroom management. She is in the midst of her first year of teaching high school. (Though she's a seasoned educator at the community college, the change to high school has been an adjustment. No surprise.) She and I recently discussed classroom management and some of her new experiences. I couldn't help but share my thoughts on procedures, rules, class jobs, etc. And I referred her to First Days of School by Harry and Rosemary Wong—the quintessential "oldie but goodie" in the education world. My friend is quite a sharp woman and I have no doubt that she will master the art of classroom management. Her emails point directly down the road of success. Her willingness to talk about her concerns, review her options, work towards improving herself and the classroom experience for the students is the right combination. Email #1 "Just wanted to say thanks for talking through some [classroom management] ideas with me tonight. It may sound kind of nerdy, but I'm actually kind of excited to get a plan organized and try it out. I'm really organized when it comes to planning and instruction, but I really need that to spill over to discipline... :) " Email #2 "Just wanted to report that day one of implementing the classroom management plan went well. (I think there were actually a couple of kids who had looks of excitement on their faces). I can already tell the biggest problem is going to be the talking without raising hands. It's even trickier for me than I thought. I'm used to asking questions and allowing the entire class to answer...To me, this is acceptable behavior. But, what I'm trying to avoid is students talking to each other when I don't want them to, if that makes sense. Do you have any suggestions for this? I need to figure out how to make that distinction clear. OR I may just have to train myself to not allow any talking without the hand-raising (so that it's less confusing for students and for the sake of consistency). Thanks again!" Email #3 "Thanks for the suggestions. I'm definitely going with the t-chart. I think it will lend itself to good discussion about the reasons behind the rules... I've already told them the rule list could change, so they should be prepared for this. P.S. I think one of my favorite parts of the day was practicing the procedure to pass in papers. We had to do it a few times for them to get it right, but they were really motivated to see how fast they could do it." Good job, dear friend, for creating an atmosphere that is conducive to learning. Students want parameters, they want expectations, they want responsibility; this will bring success.
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