Many first year teachers struggle with student discipline. By answering the following questions, recognize the behavior strategies used by your cooperating teacher that work or do not work in the classroom.
How are expectations for behavior, routines, and learning explained? What are the guidelines for classroom behavior? How is appropriate behavior encouraged? How does the teacher react to inappropriate behavior? What techniques both verbal and nonverbal are used to cue appropriate behavior? What strategies does the teacher use to prevent problems?
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In my preschool classroom there aren't really a set list of rules or expectations for the classroom. The motto I always hear used is "be safe and be kind." My teacher trys to encouarge the class to try and solve problems on their own rather than tattling on each other all the time. If someone tells her that someone did something she usually says "tell them that you don't like it and could you please stop." The teacher really tries to stay out of problems as much as she can, obviously if there is a big problem she will get involved. She is really stressing the fact that as the children are getting ready for kindergarten they need to start solving their own problems. Some strategies the teacher uses for preventing problems are telling students to move away from each other if they are talking or playing with each other when she is trying to talk, saying she doesn't like when other people talk while she is talking, just putting her hand up to signal a student to be quiet if she is talking so she doesn't stop her lesson and disrupt the rest of the class to address on specific student.
ReplyDeleteThe expectations for the students are based on their age. If they are goofing off too much, the teacher will remind them to act their age. Usually, she just asks them to stop but in certain cases with certain students that continually act immaturely, she will yell more strongly. In one instance last week, she yelled at a child for acting like a five year old in front of the class, seemingly embarrassing him.
ReplyDeletePut downs are not accepted in the classroom, even as a joke. Also, she emphasizes Christian behavior since it is a Lutheran school. She gives the students looks as well as verbal reminders.
Sarah-I think that it is really awesome that your teacher is wanting the kids to learn how to solve problems on their own.
ReplyDeleteExpectations for behavior, learning, and routines are explained at the beginning of every class. My teacher will explain the basic objectives that will be covered that particular day. He will then let the students know what he expects from them, by telling them what they will be responsible for remembering on the midterm. As far as behavior, he lets his students know if they aren't paying attetion, by calling them out. For instance today he had a few girls talking and not doing the aerobics at all. He asked them first to stop and participate. When they continued he raised his voice explained that everyone else is paying attention, and if they want to get their participation points for the day, they need to cut it out. This girls stopped immediatly and started to pay attention, and participate. The guidlines for classroom behavior are posted inside the gym. They are 1. listen and follow directions, 2. Be respectful to others, 3. take care of the equipment. If kids act up he will say what rule are you breaking, if they can't tell him right away he will say go read the board and let me know before you can keep participating. Appropriate behavior is encouraged through positive reinforcement. He compliments his students for doing the right thing, and encourages them to be respectful by giveing them extra participating points. My teacher reacts to innapropriate behavior like I said earlier, he lets them know when they are misbehaving, gives them a chance, if they continue he calls them out and expects them to make an adjustment. Some verbal and nonverbal cues used to address appropriate behavior are: clapping, patting them on the back, pulling them aside to let them know he is proud of them, or letting them know after class what they did. To prevent problems he reinforces the rules when someone does good or bad. This is a good way of doing it because the students get multiple views. They know what is expected when students do something right, and when they do someting wrong they understand why it was wrong.
ReplyDeleteAlly, I agree that students should act like their age. The only thing that alarms me when teachers base bahavior based on age, is the fact that some kids mature late, and don't know how to act. This might put them in a tough situation because they don't know whats expected of them, and might not be able to perform at that level.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I like the fact that your teacher enforces the rules when someone does a good or bad thing. I think it is important to understand the rules and like you said the students get multiple views and know what's wrong and right for that particular class. Does his strategy for giving a warning and then calling a student out when they are doing something wrong work every time or does he sometimes have to adjust his strategy for different students?
ReplyDeleteI feel if a teacher set a good example for her students in the classroom then the students should see the appropriate behavior the teacher is using. If a teacher uses profanity in the classroom the students may feel it is ok for them to use it as well. When the teacher has class discussions if they keep everyone involved and make it interesting for all students then there should be very few behavioral issues.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher reacts to inappropriate behavior by giving that student a warning at first. If it still continues after the warning she sometimes has to talk to them in private.
ReplyDeleteAlso there is one student with a behavior issue. When he acts out sometimes if it's bad enough she has to send him to his counselor.
The students are awarded for getting small rewards such as being able to eat a snack during class. The teacher prevents problems sometimes by seperating certain students from eachother.
I agree with the first part Anna, but i think that students should not have to be rewarded for doing something that they are suppose to do in the first place. The student should be treated just like any other student.
ReplyDeleteIn the classroom before class has begun and after it has ended, the students are to sit in their seats but allowed to talk. Talking is the biggest problem in the middle school classroom where I am observing. Middle schoolers seem to never shut up haha. The teacher always says something like "it's my time to talk" or is quiet and looks at them until they are listening to him. He even makes hissing noises to get their attention. But he always encourages them when they stand up without talking or put their stuff under their chair quietly. He never forgets to mention what good they have done. But he is always strict when it comes to paying attention in class. And they respect him very much. I believe that not compromising, as my teacher so effectively demonstrates, shows the students that you are in control and will not back down on any rules. The students learn that you are to respected.
ReplyDeleteI find Andrew's comment on Ally's post very interesting. It is true some students don't mature as fast as others, but I don't think that should be an excuse for acting the way they sometimes do. I believe that no matter their age or maturity level, the teachers should show the students what they expect of them and then hold them accountable for that behavior.
ReplyDeleteLaura-I agree that teachers need to set expectations because setting those, the student is forced to mature more quickly. Maturity is learned behavior, not something that comes with age but with experience.
ReplyDeletethe class that i observe is made up of mostly juniors and seniors so the basic rules of the classroom should come easy to them. there is a list of the building rules posted by the door and the students have a discipline review every semester with their principal. as for the classroom rules, the teacher goes over them at the beginning of the year and really deosnt have the need to re-explain them. by the time a student is in high school, they shouldnt need frequent reminders. because of this, when a student misbehaves they dont usually get a warning. in most cases, the student will just get called out or talked to after class, but in extreme cases the student will get written up. one thing that the teacher does stress is how to behave while being an audience member. it is a speech class and the students are expected to pay attention and help critique the speeches. for example, today a student was listening to their ipod during a speech. first, the teacher told the student to put it away and when they didnt listen the teacher took it. overall, the teacher has great control over the class.
ReplyDeleteally, you said that the teacher you are observing yelled at a student in front of the class causing him to become embarassed. i feel that embarassing a student isnt really an effective way to discipline them. personally, i would rather pull the student aside after class and discuss the problem with them rather than handling it the way that teacher did.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom there are a set of class rules posted on the wall that are numbered and all the students know them by number. When someone is acting up or if the whole class is doing something that they are not supposed to be doing at that time the teacher will say, "let me see rule two", and the students will straighten up and do whatever the rule is. At recess if they are fighting verbally or physically she calls them over to her, ask what happened and who started it and she tells that person you know we don't hit so you owe me the rest of recess today and the following day and that student has to sit out the whole recess right by the teacher and miss the next day. From what I have seen my students are very well behaved and don't fight with each other or have discipline problems with the teachers. They are very disciplined and in a routine that they don't seem to break.
ReplyDeleteLaura I agree with you with how the teacher is doing good by not compromising and being respected and letting the students basically know who is in charge.
ReplyDeleteThis past week I started my practicum in a middle school and got to see how both my cooperating teacher and a substitute teacher handle inappropriate behavior. My cooperating teacher has established routines and ways of dealing with students's behavior. For example, she uses the "If you can hear me snap once, twice..." to get them to be quiet and focus again. It worked quite well, they do get loud again after some time but that's only normal I think. When she is busy talking to a student or checking their notebooks the rest of the class is supposed to be quiet and work on their assignment. If they have questions they write them in a post-it and put it on the board under a sign that reads "Parking Lot" to be answered later. When students interrupt while she or another student is speaking she stops and asks them "What just happened?" and they tell her they interrupted the class and they're sorry. I think this is very good because they get to see what their mistake was and realize it was wrong (since many times they aren't even aware they interrupted someone else), instead of getting scolded or anything like that. While I think my cooperating teacher handles student's behavior quite well, I thought the substitute was having a harder time...This, I think might be due to the fact that she was not aware of the routines the kids were used to. Also, I think predisposition too plays a role in getting the students' attention and respect. The substitute teacher seemed quite unhappy to be substituting in that school in the first place and had little patience for students talking or getting up in class. In my cooperating teacher's class students are allowed to get up if they need to, as long as they don't interrupt the class. They can have a snack, as long as they do it quietly and without distracting everyone else. The substitute teacher didn't seem to agree these things should be allowed, but I think inappropriate behavior is handled quite well over all by my cooperating teacher.
ReplyDeleteI think what laura mentioned about the teacher telling them when they do things right is very important. Many times students only hear all they're doing wrong, and praising good behaviors is something that is many times forgotten, but that actually makes a big difference in getting student's respect and encouraging further good behavior.
ReplyDeleteAndrew - excellent reflections on what you are observing in your class. Your teacher sounds like he has effective classroom (gym) management skills. His warning to the girls worked and they then began participating.
ReplyDeleteNicole V - Even seniors need clear rules and the teacher must follow through with the consequences. Chances are when you first start out teaching high school you will not get the junior and senior level classes. You will probably start out with freshman and sophomore classes. From my experience, freshmen students were the most difficult students as far as classroom management goes. One would assume that when students are in high school they wouldn't need strict rules and consequences, but some of them made my life miserable and brought me to tears because I tried to be too nice at the beginning.
Florencia - Your host teacher sounds like she has very good classroom management - I love the parking lot idea.
All - Lindenwood surveys local principals who have Lindenwood graduates teaching in their buildings. Usually their biggest complaint about our graduates is their lack of classroom management. I think it is a typical issue for ALL first time teachers. You will learn a lot more about this topic in the class, "Classroom Teaching and Management." Hopefully, this discussion has forced you to think about this topic and start observing if and how your teacher handles classroom management.
The teacher that I am observing has an interesting method for controlling behavior. He is a band teacher, so for some classes he has to handle about seventy kids. He told that in this situation, you really can't sweat the small stuff. If he disiplined every kid who acted up, he would not have any time to teach. He really only pays attention to the worst offences of the rules. He also told me that he "plans his moods" for the day. If, on a particular day the class is worse than usual, the following day he will come in in a worse mood. He shows the kids that he means business, and that they need to behave. The next day, he comes in and teaches class as he always does.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I completely agree with you. How could a teacher possibly expect the students to behave if he or she does not behave. It all goes back to what we talked about earlier in the semester, professionalism. It is absolutely essential. I teach guitar lessons, and I know that if I didn't act like a professional, I would not get anything done, and I would be at risk of losing my job.
ReplyDeletei have always been given a syllabus, and the teacher might emphasize on a few points, but mainly, expectations have been expected without explanation. raising your hand is always expected when you want to talk and there typically arent many problems. encouragement comes from the teachers giving candy every once in a while, and just giving respect in order to get it, but not appearing soft to the students. assuring that you are in charge, but not a dictator. my teachers have always sent people out into the hall so they dont cause any more disruptions, and teachers prevent this kind of thing by having the class interact with eachother, so that they are comfortable with eachother, as well as not just being lectured to, so they dont get bored and start disrupting.
ReplyDeletei also think what laura said about praising good behavior is important. for example, at swim practice, if my coach just kept telling me what was wrong with my stroke, and didnt tell me what i was doing wrong, i would think that i wasnt doing anything right and that i might as well not try as hard. same for a student. if they are told what they do well, it will encourage them and could help them realize what their strengths are.
ReplyDeleteit is almost impossible for my host teacher to control the class (phisical education)... actually in the only way that she can control students is saying that she will call their parents... I think that some students react different because I am in the class.
ReplyDeleteI am agree with Nicole V I think that the best way to improve the behavior of students is to talk personally with them insted of do it in front of the class
ReplyDeleteMy practicum is in a first grade, private school classroom. Although the students are first graders, the rules don't have to be reminded too often. It seems as if the students know the rules and have known the rules for quite some time. The expectations for classroom behavior are pretty high. The students are definately expected to behave. When the students do act up the teacher usually remains pretty calm and tries not to make a scene. She usually handles the problem quickly and effiecently and it's over. Instead of telling the student what he or she is doing wrong, the teacher normally says, that hurts me or that hurts others. This typically makes the students feel pretty badly, and stop what they are doing. After going to public schools myself, it seems like discipline problems isn't as big of an issue in private schools.
ReplyDeletemichael, that is a very interesting way of teaching and handling things. I have never really heard of that. I have seen teachers moods effected in the moment, but not continually over the course of the week.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Jeff. Things are naturally assumed of students and should not even need to be mentioned. Such as raising their hand and not disrupting class. However, I disagree when you said you should place students who are misbehaving in the hallway. That is not a good place for students who aren't listening to the rules. In the hallway they are unsupervised and can do as they wish. It is not a punishment because they are probably having more fun out there then they are having in the class room. Just my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteExpectations should be explained through a syllabus and at the beginning of the year. That way, students don't try to push your limits. All of my teachers were different in my schooling and when something happened, one teacher would have not tollerated it while the other didn't mind. It's different for every teacher, so the student should know from the beginning your personal rules. In addition, you should explain how the students should expect YOU to act. Children learn best by example. They should feel respected as well, no matter how old they are. Guidelines for classroom behavior should be to be kind and be safe, as Sarah said. Approriate behavior needs positive reinforcement. Not constantly, but enough that the student realizes that was good and should do it again. congradulating them, offering extra credit, letting their parents know how proud you are of them will encourage the best behavior. Teacher should deal with inappropriate behavior immediately and let the class know that it is not tolerated. children can read body language, make surey our body language matches what you're trying to say. Teachers should promote a healthy, fun, learning environment. Students should want to work together, show eachother what they've learned and make you proud of them.
ReplyDeleteThe classroom i am observing the teacher has class rules and expects everyone to follow them. The tacher does not tolerate any rules being broken. the students get one warning and then they are punished if they behave again. The teacher has also been at that school for a long time so the students know how to act versus a first year teacher.
ReplyDeleteMichael i see what you saying i think you made some good points!
ReplyDeleteI have been observing band classes at a private school, and I once sat in on a regular music classroom. In the band classes discipline is not usually an issue. All the children are fourth grade and older, so most of them know by this point what is expected of them in terms of behavior. If there is excessive talking, the teacher will ask them to stop. Sometimes I think he goes a little far, like saying it a little more harshly than necessary. Overall, however, I haven't really seen any disciplinary issues. In the music class, the teacher uses the same system as the rest of the school for getting children to be quiet. The teacher will say, "Give me five." and hold up her hand before counting down. The children get quiet before she gets to one. For any serious behavioral issues, teachers issue infractions. Too many of these means a detention. For minor issues, such as forgetting materials or uniform violations, minor marks are issued. I myself went to this grade school, and I don't recall there being many disciplinary issues.
ReplyDeletePaul, I agree with your comment. Teachers in my high school tried that. One kid who was acting up in art class wandered the halls during class, and the teacher never knew because the door was closed and she didn't check on him. It was pretty ineffective, not just for him but for all of the other students who faced the same "punishment". All it did was remove the student from the room without correcting the underlying behavioral issues. The student I mentioned before was placed out in the hallway several times during the course of the year, and it was always in the same class. Being placed in the hallway did nothing.
ReplyDeletemy teacher uses a set of class rules listed on a poster. There haven't been any problems yet, most of the kids in his class are not really considered trouble makers. Some of the guidelines are: no gum, no talking while teacher is talking, use golden rule, and others. Usually when kids start talking during the lesson plan, the teacher usually politely tells them to be quite.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher also uses the behavior expectations that jeff has explained. Usually these things are expected of you, such as raising your hand, or not speaking out in class.
ReplyDeleteThe am observing in a 5th grade classroom. The students know what is expected of them and the class seems to run smoothly. It has more of a relaxed feel to it, still structured, but the atomosphere is just more relaxed. When papers are handed in, the teacher sits at the front at one of the "cluster" of desks. Homework is collected, those who don't have it, get a check mard on their behavior card. They don't complain, they know it will happen. Mom and dad have to see this and sign it. If it happens too often, a phone call is made (plus the card). I recently observed a "book club" review. This was the day that all is "out of control" as my teacher put it. I didn't see it that way. Two teachers work together often and so thier two classes were brought into one classroom. The students had to listen to presentations of book reviews by their peers. When the teachers were team teaching before the presentations began, they treated the students with respect. When asking questions, hands were raised. Those who blurted out answers were looked at sternly and then ignored. They didn't blurt anymore (amazing what a look will do). When a question was too difficult, the student that was answering was given the choice to have a friend help them. The teacher then chose another student to help out with the answer so the pressure was let off the first. There were students that were beginning to cause a disruption and were immediately separated. One was just fidgiting, told to stop. That same student began doing other things. My teacher walked over, quietly asked if he felt OK and then sent him to the nurse. She told me he normally didn't act like this and she knew something must be up. I was impressed with how well she knew her students personalities. Before the presentations, all of the students were reminded to be respectful and then during, one student stood at the front writing names on the white board. If a name was written, that student had been too disrupting. The name was the warning, for each check mark next to the name, they owed 5 min of recess (the teacher was monitoring this). After the presentations and when all was relaxed, each student had a book and was able to choose a "fun" place to read it. Some chose normal places. Others sat on or under desks. As long as they were safe, reading, and quiet, she said she was happy. I asked if all days are as easy as this. She laughed and said this was a "confused mess". She said that normally she has more structure, but during the "mess", I still saw the ballance. The students knew what was going to happen and what was to be expected of them. During the day, when it was appropriate, they were able to come up to the teachers desk and talk to her about anything(unless she was teaching). This is also an inclusion classroom. My teacher has a wonderful personality and talent for teaching students with special needs. She assists them indirectly as she is speaking to the entire class. She has one particular student placed close to the front so that she is in her periferal vision. Her eyes were always on her.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I agree that it is very important for the teacher to set a good example for the students in the classroom. A good example will be remembered by some, but a bad example will be remembered by many.
ReplyDeleteThere weren't any diseplinary problems at the classes that I watched. Aside form a couple of kids talking when there should be work, no kids had to be written up or anything.
ReplyDeleteThere is a syllabus that is gone over on the first day of class. The teachers sets up rules. Some teachers might reward students for good behavior. Inappropriate behavior can be punished with referrals or detentions.
ReplyDeleteMr. Belaska, I like how the teacher "shows the kids that he means business, and that they need to behave."
ReplyDelete