Engaging resistant learners in the classroom is something that every teacher needs to take in account. I want to highlight a key few aspects that I found important. To start off I would like to talk about having a positive classroom environment, giving out verbal praise is something that every student loves. They love to be told what they are doing right, whether that is something in or outside of the classroom. Students also love to get notes, having a notebook where you can write feedback for them is something that every student can cherish, written feedback is also very meaningful, students can go back and look on what they did right and feel a sense of encouragement at any time. Sending a note home to a parent or guardian is also very powerful, not only do students love getting praise from their teacher, but they love getting it at home. Some students hardly get any of it at home and something a simple as that can make a students day. Students also love classroom incentives or celebrations, having a reward system for students gives them a challenge and a reward at the end of the day for working hard and doing the right thing. One thing you have to steer clear of is making it a personal or single student thing. Make it about the class itself so not one student feels left out and they all get to participate in the classroom celebration. Another way is to display work in the classroom, show students that what they did needs to be noticed and praised, students love to show off their work especially during parent teacher conferences when they can show their parents what they have been working so hard on. One of my favorites is holding an award ceremony, I can still remember to this day what award I got in the second grade, it has a big impact on the kids and it gives them a sense of accomplishment as well. Every student throughout the year does something really well worth noting. Be an ally with your students as well as the parents, make sure you are positive, visible, and approachable. You want to be active with your students and make sure there is always a way for you to contact or be contacted by the parents. The last thing that I want to talk about is using time wisely and making sure that you spend all of your little time on task. Have your room arranged to where you can move easily around and everything is easily accessible for the students. Make sure you stay firm with your expectations and procedures so the students know how to act and what to expect year around. Transition well from subject to subject and take in account where students come from whether it is recess, physical education, or lunch. Last but not least, prepare for class and what to expect from your students being prepared helps maintain the flow of instruction and keeps students on task.
Effective Instruction and Management
We all know that student success starts at the very roots, the teacher gives the students all of the necessary materials and interaction to set up a foundation for success. Effective Instruction and Management are those roots and the foundation that is set by the teacher. How does Effective Instruction and Management Work? Effective Instruction starts by having the teacher supporting the student in any way possible. The teacher needs to make sure that the students do not get distracted through the class period by having good proximity in the classroom. With that being said the teacher should set up the room to make sure he or she can see all of the students all of the time. This limits the amount of distractions caused by other students. Teachers also need to do a good job of modeling what the expectations are, and staying consistent with those expectations year around. One of the biggest forms and my personal favorite is positive effective feedback. Notice how I said positive, as teachers we want our students to stay positive at all times, it takes away the negativity in classroom and also their minds. Teachers also should have engagement at a high level, keep the students active and give the students opportunities to respond to where they are always in the right mindset and fully engaged in the lesson. Teachers set the foundation for student success, we need to come into classrooms and try to build relationships, get to know our students and have them feel comfortable in our classrooms. Positive teaching environment translates into student success and student success is the reason we all chose to be in this profession!
My Classroom Best Practice
Classroom practice can mean a lot of things from Task Difficulty, Sequencing and Choice, and even just normal classroom expectations. When thinking about something that I would want to use in my Physical Education classroom I thought of Opportunities to respond. Now there are a few reasons why I picked this practice. To start off I don’t want or need to be talking the entire class. Physical Education is a way to blow some steam off from the busy day of school. Decreasing the behavior is a huge part of opportunities to respond. It gives those students activities to work on and keeps them more engaged in the lesson that you are instructing. Something that I really believe in is, positive feedback when saying anything at all. You want to keep the students at ease and want to encourage them to keep doing the right thing as much as possible. Physical Education is one of the few subjects where you want to give your students the most time away from lecturing, they need to be free and express themselves. Normally teachers in the classroom should not talk anymore than forty to fifty percent of the time. My goal in my physical education classroom would be even lower than that at maybe a thirty to forty percent of the time. The more the teacher talks the more he or she takes away from the students time to either learn or stay on topic and engaged. Creating different ways for students to respond also keeps them more engaged and less dependent on others around them. As a teacher giving them the positive feedback only helps their attitudes towards the class but also helps the attitude of the teacher as well, happy students make a happy teachers and vice versa.
What Guides my Behavior Plan??
Behavior in the classroom is always a tough thought, there are many teachers out in the classrooms that are still unsure about this topic. Having a behavior plan can help you as a teacher stay on task and guide your expectations throughout the year. There are a few key concepts that I think are important when setting expectations for myself as an instructor. One of the most valuable things as a teacher is set expectations, as a teacher you want to be able to stick to those expectations year around and make sure that you don’t ever steer aways from those. If you give one student special treatment then others are going to expect the same. You want your students to be safe first and foremost, that means in the classroom, hallways, playground, and cafeteria. You have to set the expectation of walking slowly and in a line, having inside voices things of that nature. Respect has a lot to do with behavior in the classroom. Teachers need to be respectful at all times and make sure the students know that the teacher will always be respectful and positive no matter the situation. If the teacher remains positive and respectful, most of the time the students will give the same attitude back that you are putting in. Letting your students know that responsibility plays a key role in what they can and can’t do. Students need to be responsible for things like there own belongings, reporting instances that happen outside the teachers watch, and over all honesty when it comes to anything school related. Not only do we as teachers try and teach content but we are teaching life skills and how to help these students become better human beings when they leave the classroom. Now if an issue does occur where there are students that do not want to follow classroom expectations then teachers have to follow there own protocol. Now in my classroom if I am teaching a lesson and I see someone that is not being responsible and respectful to my teaching time by playing on there phone or staring off into space, then we as teachers have to address that and get them back on topic. Making sure you as a teacher maintain to the on task student first and foremost. You don’t want to get off the flow of instruction because the students who are doing the right thing need to stay on the right track and not steer off. Doing simple things like positively reinforcing your on task students may help when trying to steer the off task student in the right direction. Teachers should give little attention to those who are off task to ensure that the student knows they will get little to no help if they continue to stay off task. If you see that the student doesn’t get the hint, you may say something very briefly and positive to try and get them back and engaged in the teaching. Trying to stay on task and maintaining the flow of the instruction is the main key. All in all making sure your students know your expectations and follow your expectations is key when trying to set a plan of action in the classroom. If the teacher sticks to the plan the students will know how to act and be more engaged in the classroom activities. Being a teacher we all know our classroom and students will never be perfect. To only help yourself out you have to have those expectations and a thought out response for those who are being more resistant. Making sure you stay positive and gear them back towards the lesson is a must. Avoiding escalation is the main goal when trying to get students back on task. Staying positive and encouraging goes a long way for a student who may not be in the best mood. Trying to find expectations that fit your classroom is sometimes tough but these are some of the main things that I would try and implement in my own classroom setting.
Colvin Chapter 1
Throughout the chapter there are a lot of ideas, good and bad that stood out to me. Growing up I have seen almost every single one of these instances in a class where the teacher decided to choose one option or the other. Chapter one key 1 talked about students who disrupt classroom discussions or students who want to have side conversations when being taught a new lesson. I really enjoyed how the author talked about not escalating things to the next level, as it will only lead to more distractions from the regular classroom activities. Growing up I have seen many different strategies for this exact behavior. My teachers would always call specifically on the student for the next question thinking that they wouldn’t be paying attention and wouldn’t know what was going on. Nine times out of ten it would stop the student from having side conversations, I found that students normally don’t like to be put on the spot and get shy or embarrassed that they couldn’t get the answer correct.
I always liked how they would tie in and correct the disturbance without breaking stride from the lesson. In my experiences in being a student behavioral intensity, escalation, and de fusion all depend on the students being addressed. You can have students that are more intense, and you’ll have students that are less intense and will de fuse a lot faster. As a future educator I want to be able to understand my students and their backgrounds. The behavioral chain can be easily solved if you know how the specific students ticker ticks. I plan to treat every kid the way they need to be treated, some students may need a tougher approach by calling them out in front of others. Some students may need to be pulled aside and asked what is wrong. Students may have something going on at home where it may be distracting and an unhealthy work environment. If a student becomes violent and poses a threat by swinging his or her arm like in the chapter, then yes that is out of your hands and needs to be addressed by a higher authority. Keeping kids in the classroom is the one of my main goals throughout this behavioral construct.
The behavioral chain is also something as a teacher you have to avoid and be very careful of. One wrong thing said could trigger a student and all hope for that situation could be lost. One of the things that I believe works when you have problems in your classroom is positive reinforcement. Praise and notice the ones that are doing the right things in your classroom, don’t spend all your time and energy on the students who cause the most trouble. Of course you have to address those students from time to time but praising those students sets a standard for those who may be more problematic.
My First Blog Post
Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.
You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.
Why do this?
- Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
- Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.
The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.
To help you get started, here are a few questions:
- Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
- What topics do you think you’ll write about?
- Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
- If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?
You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.
Adam EDU 