Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Week 5-Montague
Lately I have been noticing that a lot of children are confused about what they are to be doing and when they are to be doing it. This has been a little frustrating, especially knowing that this is their fifth week of school so they should be used to the procedures of our classroom. After sitting back and just trying to observe why these kids are starting to get confused, I have noticed that there has actually been a lot of inconsistency in the classroom coming from the teacher (and I). For example, it takes the students an immense amount of time to line up. This happens EVERY time we have to get lined up to go somewhere (lunch, recess, specials, bathroom, etc.). Well it's no wonder this is happening. The first problem I have noticed is that we have given the children ordinal numbers so that they know where to line up-this shouldn't be a problem. However, when we are not consistently USING these ordinal numbers, it is hard for the children to get in line without a bunch of commotion. The kids never know WHEN they are supposed to line up in ordinal numbers and when they are not. Even I have a hard time telling when the teacher wants them lined up in this way. Another thing with the line is that sometimes we have the children line up with 1 square away (1 tile away) to leave space between each other but then half of the time we don't. I have noticed that several children get in trouble for not doing this so I have tried to help remind them to do it. When I try to remind them, I am told not to help any of them. So then again, I am not even sure when we are supposed to be lining up with 1 square away.
The line issue is one of the many inconsistencies I have noticed happening lately. It is important that we get more consistent with what we are having the children do so that they can do it correctly. I know this is possible because I didn't see these issues at the start of the year nearly as bad as I do now! I think that this important to recognize because teachers need to have these routines and rules set in stone and the children need to know exactly what to do and when to do it so that if they are not doing it, the consequences (which also need to be consistent) can be handled appropriately and if they are doing it correctly, their being acknowledged for doing so.
I think that if we can fix these issues that the class would run a lot smoother. At our school, we recently started a school wide behavior system where children can earn 10 dollars a week and get to shop at the store at the end of the week for good behavior (if they get at least 10 dollars). Hopefully we can be more consistent so that children know what to do and this system starts working a little better.
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It is always revelatory for me to hear about the interns' own revelations. Indeed, you present your case in a very vivid and convincing way, and make a great argument for what classroom management researchers have been saying consistently: it is important to be consistent. Seeing it up close and personal, however, makes the argument even more real and convincing.
ReplyDeleteI would say that there are two things you can do (now and during your GLT) to ameliorate these problems (which of course are very common problems - trouble with having children line up has existed since time immemorial). First, as you yourself say, try to make an active effort to be more consistent with the routines you want to enforce. Second, you might start by having a discussion with the students, justifying and explaining the rationale behind these routines, "It is important that we line up in ordinal numbers every time so...", "It is important to leave one space because...". This will help the students, and you, be more consistent because you know that these routines are not arbitrary but actually have a rationale behind them.