“We’ll Manage”: Classroom Management.

I will say that the system of classroom management in our 4th grade classroom is just that – management. Most the times it seems to me that we (my CT and I) are simply reacting to situations instead of pre-acting. In general, it seems that we have not taken the initiative to set up a proactive system of classroom management, that our students were not given the necessary guidelines at the beginning of the school year to follow.

Now, I’m not saying that my teacher does not institute any sort of discipline in our classroom (because she does), but I am insinuating that the system of expectations and disciplinary actions could have been more distinctly emphasized at the start of the school year. For example, we began the school-year with a “ticket-system” – the students would recieve or have tickets taken away when they had negative or postive behaviors. This in itself was sort of a fiasco, as we started out with the tickets being a negative (as in they started out with 25 at the beginning of the week and then would have tickets taken away), and then we changed it to a positive (as in students would begin with none and then have to “earn” them througout the week). The end reward was “choice time” on fridays if they had the correct amount of tickets. It seems that the switching between the tickets being a positive and a negative were consfusing to the students and they system was not so effective.

This lack of stability in classroom management somewhat worries me for my own Full Time teaching experience – I am worried that I will not be able to maintain an appropriate level of discipline and productivity in my classroom as my students are not used to one particular system. I am worried that the sort of behavior system that has been modeled to me by my CT is going to effect my own confidence in “managing” my classroom.

Needless to say, this is something which I will need to focus on throughout this coming semester.

“Classroom Management in Inclusive Settings.”

It’s been wonderful to start out this semester with fresh eyes. I feel like the rest and rejuvenation which I got over the winter break was a great way for me to get enthusiastic about coming back to my 4th graders this semester. As well, I must say it was wondeful to get back to seeing my Case Study student everyday. I am not going to be facetious by saying that I enjoy his presence every second of every day (he can create some frustrating situations in the classroom at times) BUT, in general, he is a charmer, and a joy to be around. And for that, I was excited to be back.

The article we read this past week was a great refresher and encouragement for dealing with the average inclusive classroom. It was a great way for me to jog my memory about many of the things we have spent time in conversation about last semester.

“In recent years, the number of students with learning, behavioral, and other educational disabilities being taught in general education classes has more than tripled.“

This was a fact that I definitely did not realize about inclusion classes in our educational system. While it seems that this is a major feat, and I am excited to hear it, it also makes me wonder what they are considering as true “inclusion” classes. I feel as though I have heard on some occasions that schools have advertised inclusion classes and programs, but they only take place a third or a quarter of the day, not allowing for a total main-streaming experience. I am not trying to seem a pessimist, I just want to make sure that when we are talking about inclusion classrooms, that we are all on the same page as to what really makes an inclusion classroom (with time, environment, expectations, etc).

In general, the use of the term membership in the article, to me, really seems to encompass the overall idea of an inclusion classroom – this idea of a child’s right to belong and to have access to the same opportunities and experiences as other children of the same age. Therefore, schools that advertise “inclusion” programs but pull certain students out for resource 2/3 of the day are doing a dis-service to those children – they are breaking down the community which is being built within the traditional classroom.

Further, this idea of social learning mentioned in the article seems to going along with the idea of membership as students promote their own learning and understanding through interactions with their peers – talking, discussing, reviewing, brainstorming, etc etc. If these types of opportunities are taken away from students, they are left having to learn in an “out-of-context” kind of way. While it’s easier said than done (much easier), leaving children in the classroom for as much of the day as possible will help them to collaborate with other students, depend on others for academic and emotional support, and develop skills that they may not have otherwise been able to develop in a one-on-one resource situation.

Taking a look, a broad look.

To be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to approach this article. Mainly because “being political” is not something I’ve ever been inclined to be, or do, persay. This is not to say that I am not interested in knowing about political issues, etc., just to say that I’ve always been a left-brained concrete kind of girl, appreciating the practice much more than preach.

In general, having encountered an education system (based on NCLB principles) which seems to do a lot of theory talking, I’ve been looking forward to the day when I can literally do all the things that we have learned about this past year and a half. I am looking forward to when I can see for myself how district, state, and national standards effect my classroom; how scripted curriculums meet the needs of my students; and how I am able to collaborate with other teachers to create an integrated classroom. Perhaps once I have had these first-hand experiences, I will better recognize the significance of an educator’s role in policy. And perhaps I too will become involved at the political level.

All this being said, I have truly enjoyed my student teaching placement this year for this main reason: (the no. 3 key aspect of Literacy Policy listed in the Edmondson article) Who is likely to benefit?. Being in my classroom this semester and having some experiences with individual students, small groups, and whole class, I have developed more compassion for the needs of my students. I have gotten to know some of them very well and have been able to track their progress throughout the semester. Therefore, I have found myself thinking of them during PLC and Literacy Training meetings.

For example, during a PLC meeting when discussing the books to be included in Guided Reading , I immediately think of student A and student B who have no interest in these mandated books and will therefore most likely not develop the skills introduced through them. Or during a Literacy Training meeting when discussing the increased amount of time mandated for Writing, I immediately think of student C who has trouble focusing on Writing for more than a short amount of time and will likely become disengaged.

Needless to say, even with my limited time in the classroom, I have been able to observe the effects (negative and positive) of national/state/district policy on my students. This, I think, has been a lesson learned in preparation for next year.

“Every time we read aloud to a child or class we’re giving a commercial for the pleasure of reading.”

-Arts-based Read-Alouds, Claudia E. Cornett.

Motivation + Confidence = Better Readers.

“Children are redefining what it means to be literate in the twenty-first century.”

To me, this sentence by Mrs. Amy Seely Flint captures the whole thing.  The idea that it’s our students, our children, that are defining what it means to literate, and not us, is just great.  I think all to often we have the preconceived notions of what it means to be “successful” or “accomplished” or “smart” or even “literate.”  Traditionally, if a student can read multiple books, non-fiction and fiction, retell the story, and give perfect classroom answers about these stories, they are considered literate.  However, this is not so much the case any more, at least not in the “twenty-first century.” 

Students these days are computer geniouses, texting maniacs, instanst messaging left and right, and googling everything they can think of.  So are we still going to define “literate” as reading and writing only within the context of the traditional classrooms standards?  I would hope not.

Now that I have said that, I understand that our current society does not necessarily provide success for students who are unable to read or write in this so-called traditional sense, and therefore, students who are considered as such should be provided with the appropriate reading and writing instruction to get to a negotiable level.  In this previous post of mine, I described the Hill RAP (Reading Achievement Program) which my school uses for rote literacy improvement.  The program was developed and provided by the Durham Public Schools system and uses many skill and drill activities to help students rapidly improve their grammar and code-breaking skills.  While I would hope to steer away from this sort of literacy activity in my own classroom, this type of individualized program has proved effective for students (3, 4, and 5 grades) that are far behind in reading and writing skills.

Additionally, I thought that “partner reading program” suggested by the Flint text is wonderful.  I can remember doing this as a young 5th grader myself and have seen is done in my own Student Teaching placement. 

“The struggling older reader now has a purpose for reading easy books.  Before reading the book to the younger reader, the struggling reader should practice … [enabling] the struggling reader to wrok on fluency in an authentic manner.”

To me, this is truly an authentic activity.  The struggling older reader has a purpose for reading, an audience to read to, and (most likely) a better reading skill set than the younger reader they are reading to – obviously helping to boost the older reader confidence while building interest for both students.  I mean, what young elementary school doesn’t look up to an older 5th grader? I know I did.

One last thing – I love that this chapter mentioned extrinsically motivated readers and the example of Pizza Hut’s Book It program.  While I was a fairly motivated student in elementary school, there was nothing like getting FREE PIZZA from PIZZA HUT.   What a dream.

Just in case …

… you were wondering who I spent my Thanksgiving weekend with, it’s these two.

While they look like studious readers here, my many attempts at having “story time” were failures, as they were more interested in their other uncle – he had candy.

Literate Lives – Developing Readers and Writers.

Interestingly enough, many of the skills and idea which were listed in this chapter of the Flint text reminded me of my Case Study student – while there are many things he can do while reading and writing, many of the things listed in this passage are emergent or inconsistent in his repitoire of reading and writing skills. 

For example, I would definitely agree that my student would say that a characteristic of a good reader is to “read fast.”  Mainly, because many of the times which I have asked him to read aloud to me, he has sped through the text, not taking time to pay attention to syntax and/or meaning and definitely not taking time to make self-corrections in his oral performance of the text.  As well, I would argue that even though he can read fast (and often times reads with expression and good flow), I am uncertain as to whether his comprehension of the text matches his seeming fluency. 

Addtionaly, when talking about repeated readings, this is defnitely a strategy that could work wonders for my Case Study student.  He loves this one particular series of books called the “Bone” series, written by Jeff Smith – and I am absolutely certain that he has read many of them more than once.  While I would be concerned that he is only able to read these texts because he has read them before and they don’t challenge him, I would not argue that re-reading these texts most likely does help him to develop fluency and comprehension within this particular series.

As well, the strategies for developing meaning making skills while reading is definitely something which my student could benefit from:  accessing literal meanings from the text, drawing inferences/conclusions, making links to prior knowlegde, interpreting texts, and constructing figurative meanings in the text.  My student has not yet discerned how to make inferences and is not generally to make connections between a text and his own life (even when prompted).

Additionally, from what I can tell, retelling could be a great avenue from understanding for my Case Study student – while he loves to retell stories from his own life (about vacations, trips, books, family, etc), I believe developing his skill of retelling stories could be beneficial for him learning to understand passages as a whole as well as reflecting and drawing conclusions afterwards.  On this train of thought, I also think this would be a great way for my student to understand the Critical model of literacy development – learning to understand that all authors write with a purpose, with a particular bias in mind.  (It seems most students, sadly even through high school, do not make this connection.)

In general, as suggested by the Flint text (pg 246), I think my student would develop his understanding of literacy if he was able to have good conversations about literacy and thinking – he would be able to understand his own perceptions and develop his literacy thinking around those and around others perceptions (because, as we have discovered, literacy is socially and culturally situated).

Great chapter – very practical ideas.