Monday, January 25, 2010
Classroom Management
Through your experiences as a student in elementary, middle or high school, describe a classroom management technique that a teacher used (don’t worry about the name of the technique, just describe it). How did you feel about the management technique as a student? If you were the teacher would you use the same technique? Why or why not?
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My teacher used to make sure that he had the attention of everybody before beginning the lesson. If students were talking he would use some way other than yelling to get their attention. Usually he did this by just talking to them and relating to last nights sporting event or something along those lines. Then once he had their attention he could transition smoothly into the lesson for the day.
ReplyDeleteAs a student in elementary and even into middle school, our teachers often used the "Give Me Five" saying to get our attention. They would say the phrase and we would all be expected to hold up one of our hands until our teacher had the attention of every student in the room. If some students would not be noticing what was happening our teachers would start to countdown from five. As the countdown came closer to one and/or zero, we would always say something to our classmates who were still not following because we didn't want to see what would happen if we reached one or zero. This seemed to get our attention every time, just because we didn't want to have to get scolded or lectured to about our behavior if our teacher made it all the way to zero. We all knew what was expected of us, so in order to avoid hearing the expectations over and over we would just bring our attention to our teacher. I think I could use a similiar technique in my classroom. If not the exact "Give Me Five" technique, maybe something similar like "Hands Free, Eyes on Me" like I observed in my Level 1 Experience, which seemed to be very successful in gathering classroom attention and allowed my Level 1 teacher to gain control of his classroom. Those are my thoughts on the issue!
ReplyDeleteIn early elementary, I remember my teachers sometimes flashing the lights off and then on again to quiet down the classroom. This was usually a successful attempt at gaining our attention, and it usually resulted in us quieting down. I think I would be able to use this in early elementary during a craft or some kind of project in which I am not in front of the entire class teaching. Since I plan to teach a higher level of education, I do not think I would use this technique in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteIn third grade I remember my teacher used word searches to help get our attention. We would do one in the morning when we arrived, after each recess, and after lunch. I really enjoyed this technique becuase it was competely effective in getting us to regain focus, without being obvious. (Not to mention I got pretty good at word searches by the end of that year!) I would definitely use this technique in my future classroom to help my students to focus because it was so effective. I don't think I would use it as often as she did, but I would definitely use it daily. The word searches were also a great way to relieve stress, so another way I could incorporate them into my classroom would be to use them before or after a test to help the students be relaxed and focused.
ReplyDeleteAs an elementary student I remember several techniques that teachers used for classroom management. One of them was that the teacher would clap once and the students would clap, then the teacher would have control of the classroom. I thought this was very effective because the students had to respond to the teacher, giving her control right away. I also saw this in my Level I experience at Hansen Elementary. It was very effective. Another way I have seen was when the teacher wanted the students attention she would raise her hand, and the students would also raise there hand when they had their full attention on the teacher. Again, another way of getting the students to respond to the teacher. I will defiantly use these techniques as a teacher.
ReplyDeleteI noticed several techniques for gaining the students' attention in my field ecperience this morning. First, the teacher clapped a pattern and the students would copy the pattern. This is sort of like what Kelly talked about in her post. The teacher also used an orange piece of paper as a method. Once she held up the brightly colored paper, the class knew to put down their objects and listen. Lastly, the teacher held her watch up near her face. I didn't really get what was going on, until she said, "If you're going to use my time, it will be your time later." The class responded by immediately quieting down.
ReplyDeleteI think all of these methods could be useful as a teacher. It is probably good to mix it up so the students aren't always responding to the same technique. I'm not sure if I would use these techniques in a Junior High School classroom, but they suited the fourth grade classroom well.
In third grade our teacher used a punishment system. She had RECESS written on the board and every time we were not paying attention she would erase one letter. We would then have to copy a definition from the dictionary. As a student, this never motivated me to pay attention because I wouldn't lose anything by talking. I do not think this was very effective because everyone kept talking. It just made everyone in her class dislike the word 'leaf' because it had the longest definition. I would not use this technique in my classroom because the teacher reaction doesn't match the student behavior.
ReplyDeleteEmily, I would have to agree with your statement. I don't feel that a punishment system is a good way to gain conrol over the classroom again. I feel that it would make the students more annoyed and sway them to lose their focus even more instead of regaining focus.
ReplyDeleteI think it really depends on the teacher establishing a good classroom climate early on in the school year, and then following that every morning to set the tone for the day. By having a good classroom climate, the teacher can use multiple management techniques to gain control of the classroom
My junior high teacher used a technique when someone was talking while he was lecturing. If a student wast talking while he was lecturing he would stop the lecture and look at the student. Once the student realized that he was in trouble he would stop talking. At this point the teacher would then say. "No go ahead. If what you're talking about is so much more important than what we're talking about, go ahead." The student would then get embarassed and not want to talk and then the teacher would continue with the lesson. After this would happen the students wouldn't talk out of turn for a long time. As a student I didn't want to talk out of turn because I knew what would happen if I did. As a teacher I might use this technique because it was very effective.
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteI have also had teachers that would use this technique of getting kids attention. I think it was really effective because the students could see that the teachers really cared and they were more likely to listen to them when they could relate to the teachers.
Matt, I also had several teachers that used 'importance' method. It worked really well because no one wanted to be in the spotlight. They also took it further and asked to see them after class so there would be a consequence with their behavior.
ReplyDeleteAdding onto lowem's post in elementary school we had a "stoplight" in our gym/cafeteria. The light was always supposed to stay on green but was sound sensitive, so the louder we got, the more the color changed. If the light turned yellow we would all get a warning, but if it turned red we all got "tickets" and would miss recess. This system was pretty effective because it made noise and got everyone's attention. As elementary students we were all pretty terrified of the "stoplight" going off! I think the using color to grab student's attention is a very effective way to manage your classroom.
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