By Johnny C. Talioaga
Contributor
Focusing
Be sure you have the attention of everyone in your classroom before you start your lesson. Don’t attempt to teach over the charter of students who are not paying attention
Inexperienced teachers sometimes think that by beginning their lesson the class will settle down. The children will see that things are underway now and it is time to go to work. Sometimes this works, but the children are also going to think that you are willing to compete with them, that you don’t mind talking while they talk, or that you are willing to speak louder so that they can finish their conversation even after you have started the lesson. They get the idea that you accept their inattention and that it is permissible to talk while you are presenting a lesson.
Direct instruction
Uncertainty increases the level of excitement in the classroom. The technique of direct instruction is to begin each class by telling the students, exactly what will be happening. The teacher outlines what he and the students will be doing this period. He may set time limits for some tasks.
An effective way to this technique with the first one is to include time at the end of the period for students to do activities of their choosing. The teacher may finish the description of the hour’s activities with.
The teacher is more willing to wait for class attention when he knows there is extra time to meet his goals and objectives. The students soon realize that the more time the teacher waits for their attention, the less free time they have at the end of the hour.
Monitoring
The key to this principle is to circulate. Get up and get around the room. While your students are working, make the rounds. Check on their progress.
An effective teacher will make a pass through the whole room about two minutes after the students have started a written assignment. She checks that each student has started, that the children are on the correct page, and that everyone has put their names on their papers. The delay is important. She wants her students to have a problem or two finished so she can check that answers are correctly labeled or in complete sentences. She provides individualized instruction as needed.
Students who are not yet quite on task will be quick to get going as they see her approach. Those that were distracted or slow to get started can be nudged along.
The teacher does not interrupt the class or try to make general announcements unless she notices that the several students have difficulty with the same thing. The teacher uses a quite voice and her students appreciate her personal and positive attention.
Modeling
Teachers who are courteous, prompt, enthusiastic in control, patient and organized provide examples for their students through their own behavior. The “do as I say, not as I do” teachers send mixed messages that confuse students and invite misbehavior.
If you want students to use quite voices in your classroom while they work, you too will use a quiet voice as you move through the room helping youngsters.
Non-verbal cuing
Non-verbal cuing cues can be facial expressions, body posture and hand signals. Care should be given in choosing the types of cues you use in your classroom. Take time to explain what the students to do when you use your cues.
Environmental control
A classroom can be a warm cheery place. Students enjoy an environment that changes periodically. Study centers with pictures and color invite enthusiasm for your subject.
Young people like to know about you and your interests. Include personal items in your classroom.
Just as you may want to enrich your classroom, there are times when you may want to impoverish it as well. You may need a quiet corner with few distractions. Some students will get caught up in a visual exploration. Have a quiet place where you can steer these youngsters. Let them get their work done first and then come back to explore and enjoy the rest of the room.
Low-profile intervention
Most students are sent to the principal’s office as a result of confrontational escalation. The teacher has called them on a lesser offense, but in the moments that follow, the student and the teacher are sweet up in a verbal maelstrom. Much of this can be avoided when the teacher’s intervention is quiet and calm.
An effective teacher will take care that he student is not rewarded for misbehavior by becoming the focus of attention. She monitors the activity in her classroom, moving around the room. She anticipates problems before they occur. Her approach to a misbehaving student is inconspicuous. Others in the class are no distracted.
While lecturing to her class this teacher makes effective use of name-dropping. If she sees a student talking or off task, she simply drops the youngster’s name into her dialogue in a natural way.
Assertive discipline
This is traditional limit setting authoritarianism. This is high profile discipline. The teacher is the boss and no child has the right to interfere with the learning of any students. The rest of the class doesn’t seem to notice.
Assertive I-messages
A component of Assertive Discipline, these I-Messages are statements that the teacher uses when confronting a student who is misbehaving. They are intended to be clear descriptions of what the student is supposed to do. The teacher who makes good use of this technique will focus the child’s attention first and foremost on the behavior he wants, not on the misbehavior
Humanistic I-messages
These I-messages are expressions of our feelings.
A teacher, distracted by a student who was constantly talking while he tried to teach, once made this powerful expression of feelings. “I cannot imagine what I have done to you that I do not deserve the respect from you that I get from the others in this class. If I have been rude to you or inconsiderate in any way, please let me know. I feel as though I have somehow offended you and now you are unwilling to show me respect.” The students did not talk during his lectures again for many weeks.
Positive discipline
Use classroom rules that describe the behaviors you want instead of listing things the students cannot do. Instead of “no-running in the room,” use “move through the building in an orderly manner.” Instead of “no fighting,” use “settle conflicts appropriately.” Refer to your rules of expectations. Let your students know this is how you expect them to behave in your classroom.
Make ample use of praise. When you see good behavior, acknowledge it. This can be done verbally, of course, but it doesn’t have to be. A nod, a smile or “thumbs up” will reinforce the behavior.
References: McDaniel, Thomas R. A Primer on Classroom Discipline: Principles Old and New. 1986. Phi delta Kappan.
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