How the classroom works/will work:
The classroom is rule-bound, but fun.
Whether you're a teacher candidate, or a seasoned teacher who is starting the year, students will test you. During the first week of my extended practicum in my grade one/two class, I had zero control over my students. I quickly learned that no teaching/learning can exist without establishing respect and boundaries with students. One fateful morning, while I was getting observed, my lesson went all over the place like marbles rolling out of a jar. After getting guidance from my Faculty Advisor, Meredith Fenton, I realized that it was because I did not have set rules in place. I had to take action immediately, and I went back into that classroom a completely different person. I commanded respect with my tone, posture and intention. I kept that respect, however, by reciprocating it. So what did I do?
The classroom is rule-bound, but fun.
Whether you're a teacher candidate, or a seasoned teacher who is starting the year, students will test you. During the first week of my extended practicum in my grade one/two class, I had zero control over my students. I quickly learned that no teaching/learning can exist without establishing respect and boundaries with students. One fateful morning, while I was getting observed, my lesson went all over the place like marbles rolling out of a jar. After getting guidance from my Faculty Advisor, Meredith Fenton, I realized that it was because I did not have set rules in place. I had to take action immediately, and I went back into that classroom a completely different person. I commanded respect with my tone, posture and intention. I kept that respect, however, by reciprocating it. So what did I do?
- Co-created classroom rules with students (students are involved in teaching process, and other teacher-related processes)
- Facilitated Class Meetings (sense of community)
- Acted upon most teachable moments, no matter how tiring it was (students feel that they are worth something)
As an introduction to the classroom rules, I read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud to talk about how we can make others feel comfortable and happy. I asked students how a teacher might feel when students are not listening. Because we had this discussion, it was easy for them to come up with a list of rules for the class. I then consolidated their ideas in a short, simple visual for them. What you see in the picture on the right is a list of rules, photos of the class posing as "listening" and "not listening," and on the very bottom is a photograph of the Class Contract that they signed. Included in this process are some key points in my philosophy:
- Creating boundaries
- Including students in classroom-processes
- Built Community
- Provided visual feedback of student involvement
Make students feel like they are worth something.
Archie, on the right of the photo, was constantly disturbing his classmates and had trouble in math and language arts. He often had trouble concentrating on work, and I realized that he did much better when slightly separated from peers during work periods. While some people may think that separating him may have made him feel isolated, this is just not the case. The fact is that some people do their best work when they are away from others. In order to make sure he did not feel isolated, I simply had a conversation with him. "Do you feel like you get more work done when you sit here, Archie?" "Yes," he said. And he got much more work done indeed. I also made sure he knew that he was not "in trouble" when he was sitting alone. I encouraged him by telling him how proud I was of him that he gets so much work done in that space.
Although Archie struggled with academics, he shone in visual arts. I took many opportunities to display his work to the rest of the class so as to model that intelligence does not only lie in math or reading and writing. In the picture above, he is helping Betty illustrate a three-headed monster for her fairy tale story. I know he felt a sense of pride when he was able to use his skill in a positive way. Also, because I know his parents were often getting emails about what he can't do, I decided to send them an email about what he can do (I pointed out a skilled drawing he did of liquid pouring out of a cup). Though parents need to know what their children are struggling with, they also need to know what they are gifted in. And those little positive emails can really be the ray of sunshine in their day. Key points of philosophy:
Archie, on the right of the photo, was constantly disturbing his classmates and had trouble in math and language arts. He often had trouble concentrating on work, and I realized that he did much better when slightly separated from peers during work periods. While some people may think that separating him may have made him feel isolated, this is just not the case. The fact is that some people do their best work when they are away from others. In order to make sure he did not feel isolated, I simply had a conversation with him. "Do you feel like you get more work done when you sit here, Archie?" "Yes," he said. And he got much more work done indeed. I also made sure he knew that he was not "in trouble" when he was sitting alone. I encouraged him by telling him how proud I was of him that he gets so much work done in that space.
Although Archie struggled with academics, he shone in visual arts. I took many opportunities to display his work to the rest of the class so as to model that intelligence does not only lie in math or reading and writing. In the picture above, he is helping Betty illustrate a three-headed monster for her fairy tale story. I know he felt a sense of pride when he was able to use his skill in a positive way. Also, because I know his parents were often getting emails about what he can't do, I decided to send them an email about what he can do (I pointed out a skilled drawing he did of liquid pouring out of a cup). Though parents need to know what their children are struggling with, they also need to know what they are gifted in. And those little positive emails can really be the ray of sunshine in their day. Key points of philosophy:
- Know your students' needs
- Make them feel worthy
- Connect with the parents
What approaches work and will be used:
Reading and Writing:
Reading and Writing:
- Bottom-up as well as top-down reading methods
- The Daily 5 Reading program (read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, work on writing, word work)
- Red Phonics Handbook (a privately developed phonics handbook, focused on bottom up skills)
- Math Daily 5
- Connect math to as many other subjects as possible (e.g. Use human bar graph to connect bodily kinesthetic learning to mathematical concepts)
- Encourage risk-taking and exploration
- Create opportunities for constructive feedback
- Display different techniques for different effects
- Emphasize process, not necessarily product
- Be hands on
- Explore!