In my future practice, I plan to use nonverbal cues to communicate with students and have students communicate with the teacher or peers. For example, I plan to have hand signals for commonly asked questions that will be introduced and reviewed at the beginning of the year. This form of nonverbal cues will lessen distraction and increase student time on task.
Throughout my experience as a pre-service teacher, I have implemented various management strategies. Although verbal management strategies are important, it is evident that nonverbal cues influence the student's behavior whether the educator intends to or not. I have been using nonverbal cues throughout my experiences within the classroom. Through reflecting on this practice, it is evident that nonverbal cues influence the student greatly. If the educator is telling the student to sit on their bottom while smiling (the nonverbal cue of positivity), the student may not take the teacher seriously. If the student is talking and the educator looks at them sternly, the student will understand the nonverbal cue and correct the behavior.
In my future practice, I plan to use nonverbal cues to communicate with students and have students communicate with the teacher or peers. For example, I plan to have hand signals for commonly asked questions that will be introduced and reviewed at the beginning of the year. This form of nonverbal cues will lessen distraction and increase student time on task.
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Increased time on task = increased learning Throughout my time as a pre-service teacher, I have had various opportunities to collaborate with my peers. Recently, I have had the opportunity to implement instruction for a portion of my class. This is beneficial because it provides additional experience, and it provides the opportunity to have peer feedback related to the effectiveness of instruction and usefulness of activities in future practice. Recently, in collaboration with peers, I lead activities related to "making the most of classroom time" (provided below). The chapter discusses the importance of making the most of classroom time and minimizing distractions. This may be done through maintaining activity flow and minimizing transition time.
In order to express the importance of effective transitions to maximize time on task, My peers and I implemented an activity in which the class creates their own transition chant/song. Through having the class create their own transition that would be effective within their current internship placement and in their future practice, they are more likely to comprehend the importance and implement it in the future to minimize transition time. Through sharing what the class created, each person received an idea that they may implement in the future. This experience provided me the opportunity to better comprehend the text read this week - students learn through teaching - and it provided me the opportunity to receive peer feedback related to the effectiveness of my interruption and activities. In order to be adequately prepared to become an educator, I have had the opportunity to lead an activity within my courses. Below is the PowerPoint that I used while presenting the content to my peers. The content relates to nonverbal cues within the classroom. Throughout the class activity, we discussed the article, Good Body Language Improves Classroom Management, led discussion activities, and assisted my peers with creating a quiet critter.
The article, Good Body Language Improves Classroom Management, examines the use of body language while communicating with students. Effective teachers use body language to communicate with students, build rapport with them, and to make the students feel safe and supported. The article examines various “do’s” and “don’ts” related to body language. The educator should stand up straight, use the whole classroom, be aware of facial expressions, make eye contact, smile, and adopt different poses. The educator should avoid folding arms, avoid standing behind a desk, and avoid using barriers References: Good Body Language Improves Classroom Management. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2016, from http://www.nea.org/tools/52227.htm This experience provided me with the opportunity to lead a class of pre-service teachers with varying insights and opinions. Through leading this class activity and discussion I was able to see the opinions of my peers through an alternative perspective. My peers provided feedback related to the lesson and activity implemented. They were excited that the activity and information was relevant to their future careers as educators. Below is a photograph of the activity implemented in which we created quiet critters. These quiet critters are used to within the classroom to make sure that the students remain quiet and remind them that we are in the classroom. Classroom management is strategies or techniques that educators implement within their classroom to promote a productive learning environment. Classroom management should result in an encouraging learning environment that fosters collaboration and positive peer relationships. Through an activity completed in class, the below model was constructed from Play Doh to represent my initial philosophy regarding classroom management. Through completing this model, I learned that my philosophy heavily related to a student centered learning environment in which the students were equally held to standards. Once the model was constructed, we completed a gallery walk in which we wrote comments about each individual’s model. Below are the comments made about my model. These comments assisted in further developing my philosophy regarding classroom management. Harmony was used to describe my model various times. Through reflecting on this, it is important the classroom management is implemented in a manner that is harmonious so that it may be effective. Another term used was inclusive; this was not originally in my classroom management philosophy, however, it is evident that inclusion is crucial in all aspects of education. These aspects of classroom management will relate to positivity and a happy learning community. Through making these expansions on my philosophy, my peers have provided me with a further insight into my personal philosophy.
Throughout my internship, I will implement this philosophy through holding all students to the same standards. I will also engage in more community building activities, which will assist in implementing classroom management strategies and techniques. Through these community-building activities, I will foster peer relationships and a sense of classroom culture. This experience provided me the opportunity to establish a philosophy regarding classroom management and how it should be implemented and relate to the classroom and students. An important component of creating a positive learning environment is getting to know your students. Although one quarter has already passed, it is still important to maintain a positive classroom environment. The act of “greet every student and learn something about each one” is beneficial to creating and maintaining a positive classroom environment. Recently, I went to each student’s desk, said good morning, and asked him or her about something that they did this weekend. I was able to learn about what my students did in their spare time. Completing this task provided me with an opportunity to connect to my students one-on-one. Throughout the remainder of the day, I felt as though the students felt much more positive towards me.
Through this experience, I was able to see how students respond to explicit attention. A particular student that stands out to me is one that may not be considered a “morning person.” He usually enters the classroom quietly; either ignores the teachers “good morning” or replies in a mumble. However, in this situation (still in the morning) the student had a length, enthusiastic conversation. Through practicing this, I learned that students’ value individualized attention. It is important to remember that greeting every student brightens his or her day. In the future, I plan to greet students individually whenever possible. This experience will influence my future practice because I have seen the benefits of greeting students individually. It relates to the students feeling of self-worth and importance within the classroom. Through greeting students individually, their self-worth and importance is enhanced and will (hopefully) result in both academic and personal success. Attention getting strategies are important in the field of education. They are usually quick, effective, and sometimes fun ways to gather the attention of all students. Through my time as a pre-service teacher and student, I have observed a variety of attention getting strategies. In my current internship, my CT uses the attention getting strategy of saying “class, class” or “classity, class” and the students reply “yes, yes” or “yesity, yes.” I have had the opportunity to practice the attention getting strategy that my current CT uses various times to gather the attention of the class. The first time that I used this attention getting strategy, I was teaching a lesson that required students to discuss with their partners. The class was getting rambunctious and off topic so I implemented the attention getting strategy of “class, class” and all of the students turned and said, “yes, yes.” I had the students’ full attention to redirect and ensure that they were on task.
This experience is important to my education as a pre-service teacher because attention getting strategies are crucial to educators. Gaining this experience will assist in selecting effective strategies to gather student attention in my future classroom. Through using an attention getting strategy that my CT already uses, I was able to see the effectiveness of continuously reinforcing procedures. Effective attention getting strategies are critical in running a cohesive classroom. This experience will assist in making decisions regarding which strategy is best to my future students. It has also provided me with an insight into how these strategies should be implemented. I have completed this management task multiple times since initially completing it. Each time I feel as though I gain experience and insight into how to gather attention effectively. The performance task observed and performed is writing something on the board or poster. In honor of Spanish Heritage Month, my CT selected the country Dominican Republic to explore during social studies instruction. The country is also supposed to be exhibited on the door or wall outside of the classroom for all to see. I created a poster that exhibited the heritage of the Dominican Republic. The poster was than lined with the country’s flap that the students colored in order to exhibit student work. This relates to my courses because in incorporates multicultural approach to education that honors various cultures/heritages. It also incorporates student work, which enhances the positivity within the classroom environment because students feel as though their contributions are important. This experience is important because is has provided me the opportunity to gain experience in creating a poster that everybody will see. It also exhibited the importance of incorporating student work whenever possible. This experience will assist my in becoming the best educator that I can be in my future career.
The next time that I complete a poster that will be exhibited on a wall (or anywhere) I would like to discuss with the students why the poster is was created. This poster was created at home and posted outside prior to students arriving to school. In order to include the students, I would recommend that the next time that I preform this task the information is examined and discussed. The physical environment of the classroom plays a major role in a student's education.The task that I observed and performed/assisted in is trying a new seating arrangement within the classroom, which directly affects the physical environment. Earlier in the school day, my CT expressed interest in altering the seating arrangement that reflects Kagan style. She informed me that Kagan style classrooms are arranged in groups of four so that students may have shoulder partners and face to face partners. The problem with arranging desks in groups of four was that my CT only has three book shelves that hold all student items (textbooks, pencils, scissors, etc.). We discussed multiple possibilities in arranging the desks and altering placement of other items. We finally reached a consensus and arranged the desks in a manner that promotes collaboration. This relates to a majority of my courses in many manners. Throughout my courses, classroom environment is a major component. Through rearranging the seating arrangement, the classroom environment is altered. The new arrangement promotes collaboration (face to face partners, and shoulder partners, or whole small group), discussion, and lessens distractions.
This experience is important to my future career as an educator for various reasons. The seating arrangement affects student achievement, participation, and collaboration. It is important to have a conscious understanding of what seating patterns foster collaboration and which do not. The educator is also responsible for creating a positive classroom environment; and the physical arrangement of the classroom relates to classroom environment. I will use this information in my future practice while I am considering how to arrange or rearrange my personal classroom. Next time, I plan to consider the academic standing and personalities of the students with in the classroom while assigning seats. When completing this task in the future, I would like to alter another physical environment. For example, construct a bulletin board or content area station. Throughout my time as an intern/pre-service teacher, I have observed and assisted my CT in lining up the students and take them to specials or lunch. Although I have assisted in the act of lining up, and monitoring the line/getting the students to the destination, I had not completed this task individually. Recently, I was able to line students up and take them to specials (P.E.). I lined up the students, asked the line leader to stop at the designated area (first corner, end of hall, etc.), and dismissed them when the specials teacher arrived. This relates to my future career because lining up is something that happens extensively throughout the day, and it is important to understand how to effectively complete this task.
It is crucial to line up the students quickly and safely when transitioning to another section of the school grounds. This experience allows me to gain knowledge in relation to the procedure. I learned that it is important to communicate with the line leader where to stop prior to continuing. This allows the line to stay together effectively. It is also important to monitor the line to ensure that all students are present. Next time that I preform this task, I plan on involving the students in some type of game (Simon says, the quiet game, etc.) so that they will have the opportunity to enjoy walking in line. This will also allow the students to get some energy/giggles out so that they are better prepared for the academic portion of the day. Throughout the last week I was able to plan and implement a read aloud. Prior to completing the read aloud, I was able to observe my CT complete (half) of a read aloud for the novel Yoko. The read aloud that I planned and implemented was for the novel The Dot, in honor of international dot day on September 15th. Throughout the read aloud, I asked students to make observations based on the illustrations throughout the novel in relation to the characters emotions and actions. I sectioned the novel into three parts (beginning, middle, and end). After each section, I had the students turn and talk about what happened (in the beginning, followed by the middle). As a group, we filled out on chart paper what the students discussed. Finally, the students were required to answer what happened at the end in their notebook. Throughout the read aloud, the students were quite interested in the story, and what was going to happen next. This relates to course ideas/concepts because I was able to complete a read aloud which children enjoy, while tying in the reading lesson/curriculum.
Throughout this experience, I learned how important it is to stop and discuss what is happening throughout the story. This allows the students to stop, think, and remember the page(s) that was just read. Through providing think/discussion time, the students will have the opportunity to better comprehend the text. This experience is important because read alouds are something that should be done in every grade level, and through practicing, I will gain insight and experience in planning and implementing read alouds so that I may become further prepared in completing read alouds. I also learned that it is important to keep an eye on all students to ensure that they are on task. I will use the information that I learned through this experience in my future practice it many manners. Through this experience I have gained some insight into how to properly plan and implement a read aloud, which is crucial in my future practice. Next time, I would like to provide the students with a larger version of the text so that all of the students are able to see the text. Throughout my read aloud, I felt as though the students would benefit and become less distracted if the novel was larger. This means that in my future practice as an educator, I will ensure that the novel is large enough for all students to read. Additionally, I would attempt to acquire the text in another language for ELL students within the classroom. I would also like to complete read alouds throughout the other content areas such as mathematics, science, and social studies. Artifacts: |
AuthorAmanda Silebi Archives
March 2017
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