Friday Spanish III Class

After reading some of Fred Jones' suggestions for starting language class, I put up three verbs on the board and wrote "Conjugate in the present tense".  This was on the board when they arrived.  However, not one student noticed that it was a job for them.  I think because it was written on the board, they just thought it was leftover board writing from the class before.  The routine of having to do something immediately upon entering the room needs to be better established.  According to McLeod et al,(2003) "...routines or procedures are specific ways of doing things that, for the most part, vary little during the course of the day or the year."  Since this is a new routine for this class, I need to make sure it is taught properly to them.  I am still wrestling with the amount of socialization in this group and unfortunately, had to raise my voice today to settle them down. 

Thursday Spanish III class

Tried a new approach at the beginning of class today.  Put a journal question on the board right as the bell rang.  Students knew it was "Diario" time, went to back of room to pick up their journals, and began writing.  Worked pretty well to settle them down more quickly.  Can't journal every day so will look for other solutions.  Posted the problem on teacher.net and am looking forward to receiving suggestions from others.  Kept a closer eye on the dynamics of the room today to see if perhaps the seating arrangment has anything to do with their excessive socialization.  Tim on task was good for the first 10 minutes today because of the journaling.  There were two verbal management strategies for a student off task (same student).  He is in the front row and continues to turn around to talk to the student behind him.  Putting him in the back row would solve that problem I think.  I will try that tomorrow to see if it makes a difference.  My directions were all followed well today and they did what was instructed.  Partner activities also went well and they were excited to finally receive their workbooks.  Who would have thought they would be excited to get the books that they have to do their homework in!!

Wednesday Spanish III class

Everyone (minus five sick students) was back in class today.  Several had stopped by earlier to see if they had missed anything on Tuesday.  They know that I expect them to check in if they miss class.  I need to reinforce that expectation with the remainder of the class.  rted class with the "A responder" on the vocabulary pages.  Class was very talkative and had to patiently wait for all to quiet down.  I said nothing but waited for students to realize they had to be quiet before I could play CD.  After their initial talk time, they remained on task for the rest of the class period.  We did writing exercises and partner exercises.  Made sure I wandered through the room during both in order to keep them on task.  Lesson to be learned today is - how do I settle them down faster at the beginning of the class period?  Maybe tomorrow I will try putting up a warm-up activity on overhead for when they walk in the room.

Tuesday plans gone awry

Well, you know what they say about the "best laid plans of mice and men".  They didn't include women!!
I knew there was the education fair Tuesday and I also knew that some juniors would be going.  What I didn't do was count up how many from the 2nd hour class would ACTUALLY be gone.  So, when the second bell rang, there I was with four students instead of 28.  I couldn't really teach the lesson and then try and catch up 24 others on wednesday.  So it was drop back 5 and punt.  We went to the commons and grabbed some breakfast, sat and talked for awhile at a table, returned to the room and they worked on some of their other homework.  We also looked at their grades which had gone out for progress report Tuesday morning.  What did I learn?  Be proactive!  I should have figured out ahead of time how many would be gone and had something special for the boys to do.  We could have even had our own mini-education fair.  I have made a note in my planner so I will be better prepared for the same thing next time.

Monday's Spanish 3 class

Today was a 2-hour delay schedule which meant that classes were only 30 minutes long.  It also means that the students were able to sleep in this morning and they were in my class later than their usual time.  That means that their behavior is not typical on days like today especially after last week's homecoming festivities.  I knew I couldn't fit in a complete lesson but wanted to get started on the new chapter.  The first problem was getting them all settled down.  I waited patiently in the back of the room not saying anything and finally they caught on as the "shhh" message moved through 28 students.  Using the time on task chart 3.7 from HQET, I found within the first 15 minutes I had two verbal managements of off task behaviors, one to group with a por favor, and one to a particular student by calling his name.  Once I started asking questions directly to individuals, things quieted down.  Seems to be a good strategy.  Toward the end of the period, did take a Dew away from a student's table without saying anything.  He waited until everyone left to ask politely if he could have it back.  Again, the non-verbal action seemed to work well and avoided any arguments.  Will see how things go tomorrow with a full class period and full lesson.

Educ 782 Assignment 2

I have started this blog in order to reflect upon effective classroom management in my classroom.  I will be analyzing my students' behavior during the following week and posting what I find and any suggestions I may have.