Follow up:
For those of you who asked me to do a follow up on my experience and involvement within the classroom I am happy to report that these last two weeks have certainly progressed from where I was in my last blog post. Although there are still times when the class is independently working and does not need any help, my cooperating teacher has been very inviting and enthusiastic about including me into classroom discussions, activities, and the "behind the scenes" managing power points and grading tests. I look forward to the relationship between the students and I progressing and that they become comfortable enough to ask me questions about school related content or telling me how their weekend/day was.
As I began to think about what I wanted to teach my class for the upcoming unit-plan I realized that I had become more consumed worrying how the students would behave while I taught my lesson and less consumed with thoughts of how they would benefit from said unit-plan. Immediately, I became a little anxious about teaching the class. Not only am I still getting to know the students but now I am at a standstill wondering how or if it is my place to discipline/redirect students during my time in front of the class. Because this is a Senior class they possess many of the stereotypical traits for this age range. They are talkative, more socially advanced (referring to content), and some seemed to have already "checked out" for the year/day. As I have said once before my cooperating teacher seems to get along great with the students, is very fun and converses with them in a manner that is familiar to them. However, as a person on the outside looking in, I see this student-teacher relationship backfiring at times. There are times when the class in constantly talking while she is lecturing or explaining instructions, and other times when students are using their cell-phones. The most recent incident that surprised me was when she was giving instructions on the essays they would be correcting. One of the students then stated "are you dead A miss?" My cooperating teacher then said that she did not understand his question and then proceeded to give notes on the essays when the same student said "I said are you dead a**. I don't want to," Some of the students laughed and my cooperating teacher ignored it and went on to the next slide. As our Wong and Wong textbook from Core 1 explained how establishing good classroom management practices from the very beginning resulted in fewer behavioral issues you will deal with later on, I am unsure on if it is my place to say something to students if they do happen to be disruptive during my scheduled teaching time. Once I teach my lesson this will be the first (beginning) experience I will have as the teacher, and since it is not my classroom I am not sure what to do?
What do you guys recommend I do? I am already plan to talk to my CT about my concerns, but I am curious to know what you guys would do in this situation? Would you feel comfortable semi-disciplining students?
Destinee,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I am right there with you on this issue. This semester is not too bad so far, but the classes I am at my school for are both pretty well behaved. I am concerned about next semester though because my CT has told of the challenges he faces in some of the other classes. I feel you are on the right track about beginning to assert some dominance, if you will, in the area of classroom management. If not now then when, and will they even respect your position in January if you don't start asserting yourself now? Though I agree with you and with Harry Wong, I, too, am unsure how to best go about it.
I think it is definitely a conversation to have with your CT. I told my CT at the very start that one of the areas I needed to really work at was classroom management. I would ask your CT when they feel it is OK for you to step in and what actions would they like you to take (or not take) in response to behavioral situations.
Another thing I have started doing, when applicable, is asking my CT what to do when a situation occurs. The other day a student who is notorious for not participating had fallen asleep during individual reading. My CT was prepping for the next class and I noticed it before him so I asked what he would do in the situation (ie. make a big scene, lightly tap the student on the shoulder, rap on the desk, etc.). My CT showed me what he does by simply walking by, tapping the student on the shoulder, and very quietly telling him to start reading. When this only worked for few minutes, my CT then gave me the opportunity to mirror what he had done. This also did not work for long and so I had the opportunity to see specifically what steps my CT took as the situation progressed, and after it was resolved we discussed what had happened.
I find this kind of dialogue very helpful, maybe you could ask your CT to work with you in this way, letting you mirror their techniques or start addressing specific issues when the arise (like talking in class or cell phones out) and then discussing the situations later to reflect on what worked and what did not. I hope this helps girl, and if I have anymore good experiences in this area, I will share with you.
Have a fabulous week,
Krystal
Destinee,
ReplyDeleteI just have to say that I really enjoyed that memes. I can relate to them. I am also in a senior classroom so I understand your concerns with their behavior. I can also relate to not knowing what to do when it comes to classroom management since it is not "our classroom". I think in these situations what we need to do is try our best to establish our relationships with the students as best as we can and try to enforce our own rules on how we want them to act around us or when we are teaching. We need to do this in a way that is effective such as talking to them how we would want them to talk to us. It's a little nerve wrecking thinking about having to teach these students that are technically not our students. But it is important to establish those rules and to establish that environment in the classroom that we are comfortable with since at some point throughout the school year they will be our students and we will be in charge of the classroom. I have not had any problems so far in my class but I am a little nervous about having to take control of these senior classes in which the majority of the students are taller than me!
Hang in there Destinee. This can be a rather difficult situation to be in, because your CT and students seem to have already established their comfort level. This probably leads to some feelings of alienation as well. There are times when I feel that I am overstepping my role in the classroom by calling out a student, when my CT may have just let it go. One thing to keep in mind is that we are titled as student teachers, but it has been mentioned through the various e-mails sent from our educational supervisors that we should be treated as co-teachers. I feel that at this stage, we should be practicing classroom management skills more often then simple observers. You are there to widen your teaching horizons, but you're also taking on responsibility as an adult within your placement. You have the right to take on a more authoritative role, but I think it would be great to talk to your CT about the whole situation as well.
ReplyDeleteKrystal, Gaby, and Lucky: Thanks for providing such thoughtful, detailed, encouraging feedback for Destinee. I am on board 100%!
ReplyDeleteAnd, Destinee, thanks for writing a post that inspired so much feedback and conversation.
Kudos to all of you!