Classroom ManagementThere are a variety of ways to maintain classroom management in an effective, yet meaningful way.
One excellent website with many fantastic ideas is found here: Classroom Management Techniques. Another example of a website with several ideas of how teachers can develop ideas for classroom management can be found here: Teach Net One of the best things that I would recommend for classroom management is to let the students in the classroom have a voice in setting their own rules as recommended in the first link above by Dr. Thomas Petersen. This has also been recommended by several of my professors at both Collin County and TAMU-Commerce. This allows students to actively participate in the creation of the classroom management goals and gets them engaged in setting responsibilities that they feel are important. In addition, they are more likely to uphold goals that they set for themselves and their peers when they create them in a group setting while everyone is present and accountable. The way you accomplish this is simple. The procedures for accomplishing this, as I understand them, are the following: have a prelist of rules that you create that are normally the unbreakable school wide policies such as no hitting, no talking when the teacher is talking, etc. then ask the students to add some rules as a class. You will find that allowing the students to add to the list will actually accomplish the behaviors listed above much better then coming into a classroom with a pre-written list you have made yourself. Discipline Issues?Please be careful not to let this happen when disciplining a student. Teachers should learn how to accurately manage their own classrooms to keep this type of situation from happening. If this particular "problem student" does appear in your classroom, there should be many other options available to encourage positive behavior before sending the student to the principal's office. :-) Need help? Don't ever be afraid to ask a neighboring teacher for advice concerning proper classroom management and/or discipline concerns.
Policies & ProceduresThere are many policies & procedures that I find useful in keeping students on task. However, with special education students these constantly have to be updated and changed according to the students’ capabilities and needs that you are working with.
One of the best examples I recently observed in the classroom of a life skills' teacher, which I will definitely adapt for future use, is the use of a timer to keep students on track when they are in certain activities. For instance, after they had completed their math assignments without acting out then they could choose a "special" activity to do: whether that was computer time, carpet time with educational games, or reading time. Once they decided what "special" task they wanted to do (which for these two boys was almost always computer time) the timer was set to five minutes and they were allowed their "special" time. When the timer went off, if they immediately went back to the schedule and started the next assignment without being instructed by the teacher, then they were rewarded with a special treat (in this instance because it was close to Halloween it was an orange marshmallow), if not then they were not allowed their "special" time. The use of a timer for life skills' students is something I will definitely be using. Another method this particular teacher used for these students, which I will utilize, is that she had brightly colored duct tape that labeled all of the cabinets, bins, desks, floor space around the desks, spots for them to line up, etc. that was the same color and was in their favorite colors for each child in the room. For example, if one student's favorite color was blue then his duct tape color was bright blue and everything that belonged to him including his spot to line up was labeled with bright blue duct tape. This clearly labeled that he "owned" that spot to not only him but all the other students in the room and kept the other students from arguing about where they were supposed to stand. This will be another fantastic technique that I will employ when and if I teach a life skills class in the future. These two examples of classroom management procedures would lead to effective learning because they will allow the teacher more time to teach and less time having to explain tasks to students. Since the routines of the day are already understood by the students, such as where to line up and what is expected of the student, then there is much more time for active learning. In addition, students are better able to stay focused without having to be finding pencils, etc. because they know exactly where they are if they are in labeled, color coded bins that are in their favorite colors, like in the colored duct tape, life skills’ teacher room. Active learning is much easier to establish with the use of proper classroom management. |
Diversity PhilosophyThe teacher should accept and respect students with diverse backgrounds and needs. In addition, the teacher should know strategies for enhancing one's own understanding of a student's diverse backgrounds and needs.
Remember to pick books and images to include the classroom library that reflect multiculturalism and pluralism. Keep in mind that due to culture, special education, gender, language, and many other reasons that parents may also be diverse in today's school environments. Check out the video below for an excellent example of how diversity affects children in schools today. It also includes a wonderful song that can be taught to students that not only teaches the different colors, but also teaches them that all children look different but are also the same on the inside. (And don't worry, I promise your speakers didn't break. :-) The first few minutes are supposed to be read only, but you will start hearing sound after a few minutes into the video. If you don't, then you might check your sound settings.) |