Chapter 4a
I find that my classroom management approach tends to align most with Ginott. This type of philosophy works great in developing strong relationships with students, but is not as firm in discipline as other theories. As a science teacher the layout of potential classroom environments is varied. I like the idea of having a separate laboratory space, especially in the middle school setting, because it allows me to establish separate learning environments for students each with different expectations. Getting to know students is the best part of being a teacher, learning about who students are as people will in turn help you relate what you are teaching to their lives. I can say since starting student teaching the hardest aspect of teaching is the interruptions to learning. Every day a different student is sick, on a field trip, or even parent excused for a vacation. Keeping track of students' missing work is near impossible, and establishing a system to manage this issue is a must to catching students up.
Chapter 4b
Being prepared by having established procedures and consequences prior to "The First Day" is essential to a successful school year. If the school does not have its own discipline system in place the teacher need to create and display classroom expectations and consequences. Teachers have different first day of school plans based on their teaching style and methodology. I would initially assign seats using a periodic table activity, then after an explanation of classroom expectations and procedures I would incorporate a mini lab so I can explain laboratory procedures. Having a warm-up activity is a great all around strategy; students come into class knowing what is expected of them, the teacher has time to take attendance, can be used as pre-test, review, critical thinking, etc.
Christina,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about the vision of your future classroom. Ginott's approach can be extremely helpful in a middle school classroom since there is a lot going on in a pre-adolescents life it is a good idea to step back and look at the situation and address that not just addressing the student.
Christina,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing about your first day plan. I really like how you incorporated a warm up activity. What do you think about classroom discipline?
Thank you, Christina:)
ReplyDeleteI found that keeping an assignment folder, for each class, helped me to keep track of missing students. If I had a hand-out, I would simply put their name on it and keep it in the folder. Then, when the student returned, or if I received a request from the office, all of the materials would be right in one place...