In my previous blogs, I've kind of talked about how the students seem anxious for the end of the school year and how it's affected their behavior. Why is it that at the end of the year it always seems like the teacher starts to lose a little bit of control? Kids seem to be getting in trouble more, the teacher's are a little more frustrated. It seems like this is a reoccuring thing at all schools.
At my placement right now, I can tell that the teacher is a little frustrated with his classroom environment. He seems to be a little crabby at times, and when he's quick to punnishing the students recently and taking their recess away. Even if a kid is talking a little bit during class, there is no tolerance for that and his or her recess is gone. It's been a little awkward for me at times, because I want to try and be friendly with the kids and help them out, but I feel like I should step away a little bit and just observe. I've really enjoyed the times where I've gotten to take a group of students to a different classroom and work with them, because then I can really interact with them and get to know them.
Anyways, the teacher has been yelling at the kids a lot to sit down and be quiet. You just get that awkward feeling and not a good vibe for that classroom environment. I feel bad for the students, but I do feel bad for the teacher because the students are out of control at times. I do wonder though if he brought this upon himself, by the way he set the bar at the beginning of the school year. Maybe he let kids get away with things at the beginning and now he's paying for their behavior. If that's the case, then I definitely don't think that these kids deserve some of the punnishment that they are receiving.
That's another issue that has been going on. A kid lives for his recess and to take it away from him might just ruin his day. Threatening a kid over and over again is not really the answer at all, and all it does is make the student scared of you. I remember certain experiences when I was in school where a teacher might threaten me if I didn't start behaving properly and it really turned me off from the teacher. I know that teachers get frustrated, and I'm sure I will too but I want to make sure that handle myself in a Christ like manner. Handling discipline issues has been of the main things I've been trying to learn throughout my aiding experiences. This is probably the one thing that I'm most nervous about, because I remember what it's like to be a student and I wish some of my teachers would have done things differently.
A few things that I have come to realize especially during this aiding experience is it's important to set the classroom rules up right away and create an environment in the first week that you are willing and able to maintain. If you can start the year off by showing your students what you want your classroom to be like it will help everyone out. The students might do a better job of staying out of trouble which will help you out. But, it is very important to maintain this kind of environment. I'm sure it won't be easy at all, but it's very important. My teacher should have done this, because now he is paying for it at the end of the year.
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Jon,
ReplyDeleteI think that you hit things right on the head in the last part of your blog. THE most important thing is to set up the classroom rules at the beginning of the year so that students know what you expect of them and how to properly behave in your class. Many young teachers, and some more experienced ones, have trouble drawing the line between authority and friend. I am not saying to not be your student's friend, but they need to know where the line is. I had a former teacher elaborate on this to me. He told me that he always wants his classroom to be somewhere that students can come and relax. He wants to have fun just as much as they do, but at the end of the day he is still the teacher. If they get out of line, they need to understand the consequences. This leads back to establishing a good set of rules to be followed all year long.
One other thing I wanted to comment on is your teacher being ready for summer. We have been in the student role and we are now just starting to see the other side of the spectrum. We can all remember how it was sitting in class counting the last days down in May and planning our summers. The truth is, teachers are just as ready for summer as the students. Granted, it sounds like your teacher is having a little more trouble than most would like, but in the end, we are human too. It is good to see that no matter how ready you are and how short your fuse is, you want to maintain a Christ like manner.
I think that at this time of the year all the students are struggling. I know in my aiding class the students have been very naughty lately. It was a world of difference to me because I aided in the same class at the beginning of the year and the students were typically pretty well behaved. I think you are correct that the excessive amount of issues are partially the teachers fault, but I would not place all the blame on them. As the weather gets nice, and the school work becomes repetitive I think that the students loose their patience. They want to be outside burning off energy and they can't. So, they choose to act out in class instead. I definitely agree that by setting a good classroom management plan at the beginning of the year, it will help lead to better behaving students at the end of the year. It is also scary for me to think about how to maintain control over my classroom, while still being a teacher that relates well to my students. I think that by establishing rules and letting the students know what kind of behavior is expected of them that we will both have no problem managing a class.
ReplyDeleteJonathon,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your last paragraph of your blog. It is important for teachers to set the classroom rules up right away in the beginning of the year and create a positive learning environment in the first week that they are willing and able to maintain throughout the rest of the year. In chapter 12, we learned about creating rules and classroom procedures as part of creating strong classroom management and a positive learning environment. Students need rules and routine, and strict classroom structure that is consistent. It’s also a good idea to allow students ownership of developing the classroom rules at the beginning of the year, with the teacher’s approval of course. I would hope that a teacher is able is to say goodbye to their classroom at the end of the year on a good note and not with a sigh of relief that their students are finally out of their hair. I can also relate to the uncomfortable feeling you get when your teacher yells at the students and you begin to feel uncomfortable and all you can do is stand back without any expression and observe. I hope all you can do is learn from the experience of being in a classroom such as this at the end of the year and develop more effective strategies to handle behaviors that your teacher is faced with.
Jon,
ReplyDeleteI think it too is important for teachers to establish their class rules and make sure the environment is a good one for learning. One thing that I never want to do is be that teacher that is yelling at their students. It really doesn't help students, yelling is distracting and not a good thing to implement in the class. Also, I completely agree about how discipline is such a hard thing to think about. It is such an important thing and it is good to have a plan, but there will always be something out of the ordinary that as teacher we will have to deal with. In the class I was aiding my teacher did a good job of establishing her class while allowing her students to learn and have fun. In the class, even at the end of the year, there was not too many discipline problems which was good for her and the whole class environment.