or even just moving closer to the students is enough of a reminder to get them back on task.
I've witnessed this being done in the classroom. It really does work more than you would think. Students get nervous if you move closer towards them and if you linger, they may redirect their focus back towards you.
Praising students for merely meeting expectations may reduce student behavior over time as it “cheapens” your praise.
I'm glad this is in here because I didn't even think about that aspect! I might struggle with this as I feel like I sometimes overcompensate. It will definitely take some practice.
Good & Brophy (2008) maintain that praise does not work as a positive reinforcement as well with adolescents as with primary-aged students.
I'm not sure that I agree with that statement. Even as an adult, I enjoy hearing that my efforts are recognized and it does help push me to keep being successful. Granted, it may not work for everyone, but I have witnessed it working in several cases and to varying degrees (including teenagers and adults in the workforce). I can't tell you how many times I've heard the saying "It's nice to just feel appreciated".
Am I in an acceptable state of mind?
Sometimes there were teachers that I had growing up, you could just tell they came to school in a bad mood. This is obviously something we should avoid. I read an article once about exercising before school to get in a better mood. However, I don't want to come to school all gross. Does anyone have any ideas how to maintain a good work/life balance so as not to let the stresses of the day affect the home life, or vice versa?
Narrate what students do well, not what they do wrong.
I've learned that this is crucial for teenagers. I coach a competitive softball team and the girls on the team tend to shut down if you are correcting them too much. It's a balance, truly. I feel like highlighting what someone does right helps to soften the correction. Regardless of the correct answer or way to do something, people want their efforts to be acknowledged.
Formative Assessment Strategies
I really liked the video about how to aggregate our students' scores. It seems much simpler and easier for a new teacher to do versus other ways that I have seen.
Formative assessment includes all the practices teachers use to check student understanding throughout the teaching and learning process. Often, formative assessment is said to be an assessment for learning.
Even gauging understanding about a topic and asking questions at the beginning of a lesson is a form of Formative Assessment.
contend that teachers must develop skills to differentiate between different types of practice to ensure that the evidence they collect aligns with their stated learning objectives.
I believe this is saying that if my objective is to have students describe the difference between Greece and Rome, but have them do a test as their assessment, then it doesn't really align with the objective. Instead, I would have them either write an essay or perform a project where they are differentiating between the two civilizations.
This means that teachers should plan to integrate multiple forms of assessment and use the data to understand how well their students are learning the content and skills specified by the learning objectives.
I know that my technology course taught me somewhat about how to gather assessment data, but that is something that I would like to discuss more in this class. Once we have the students take their assessments, how do we know when to move on, or how long do you stay for another student who may be struggling etc? I know that we may have to use our best judgement, but those are things that I worry about. I don't want to knowingly move passed material that students haven't grasped.
Move away from students who are speaking
I thought that was the point of a teacher moving throughout the room? If they are being disruptive, wouldn't you want to move closer to the student so the behavior stops or does this mean that when a student has the floor and is speaking in front of the class or giving their input? Not necessarily being disruptive.
Consider how well you will be able to gain access to every student
I guess layout would also depend on the size of the classroom that you have as well as how many kids you have in all of your classes. In my Pre-I, the only option that would have worked was the one option she had. I feel like the amount of students played heavily into her decision to have more of a traditional layout. Also, it allowed her to move up and down the aisle's. Which she did when the students were being a little rambunctious. It seemed to calm them down once she moved closer to the more talkative students. So an important factor that I need to keep in mind would be that I need to be able to move freely throughout the classroom. Does flexible seating work well in the high school?
They can also be more work to maintain. If you are starting a new school year, then, a good strategy is to decorate some of the walls or bulletin board space, but not to fill it all immediately.
I've been telling my husband that I need to save money for my future classroom decorations. He just keeps reassuring me that the school has most of the stuff I would need. I am curious as to what options the schools really have. Will I have to provide storage options, my desk, my chair etc? I have bought some things for the walls, but not sure if I should be on the lookout for other supplies.
The “best” arrangement depends on what your students need and on the kind of teaching that you prefer and feel able to provide
Since I will be teaching history of some sort, I have been contemplating a split classroom where half of the students are facing the other half. Has anyone had experience with their classroom being laid out in this manner? It felt like a suitable option for debates and such. I have only had traditional classroom layouts with the teachers desk in the back and the students face the front.
Extend Your Learning
The links aren't working on my end.
standards-based approach
It seems like this grading would be aligned well with standards, but I wonder how well this grading would be interpreted. It also seems a little confusing for the teacher to keep up with different skill levels.
Confidence Question: Do my grading practices contribute to student confidence or do they raise anxiety?
I don't think I would be confident about my grades if I didn't experience a little bit of anxiety about it. If the worry aspect was taken away from grading, I don't think I'd care much about my grades. Granted, I care a lot about my grades and I take great pride in my accomplishments. It hasn't been easy for me, in fact, I dropped out of college when I was 18. So the fact that I am doing well has been a driving factor in my success this time. However, I strive hard to make good grades and I push myself to go above and beyond on assignments.
then teachers need to handle missed work in some other way than assigning an F or a zero.
But then the work the students who did the assignment would be in vain right? Am I understanding this correctly? Because surely teachers aren't just overlooking missed assignments on purpose and not assigning a zero.
(What should we do with late or missing work?
I know that we aren't necessarily here to argue policies, but I feel that teaching students to turn assignments in on time is a life skill. Neglecting this aspect could hurt them when they are unable to meet deadlines for a job and get fired because of it.
school districts are using web-based grade management systems that allow parents to access their child’s grades on each assessment and the progress reports and final grades.
Something that I seen in my Pre-Internship I is that parent's seem to not really care that their students are getting bad grades. I seen several instances where this was the case and it seems like there is a lack of engagment from some students to even complete simple assignments. Is that a phenomenon everywhere?
This step requires that you understand a variety of assessment types and their pros and cons in order to select the best format for your assessment
I would use multiple assessment strategies throughout my lesson. You don't want to get too far into your lesson and leave several students in the dark without checking for understanding and asking questions throughout the lesson. Honestly, asking questions before you even start your lesson plan will dictate how much depth you should go. For instance, if I was teaching Oklahoma History, and all of the students knew about the Trail of Tears because their previous teacher went into great detail, I might briefly cover some areas, so I could go over Reconstruction in greater detail. Assessment is probably one of the best tools that teachers have at their disposal and can come in many different forms.
requires you as the teacher to determine what form of evidence you will accept as evidence of student achievement of the learning objective. In this stage, you will either select or develop the assessment task that will provide the specific evidence you need.
This seems odd to the way that I would go about the lesson planning process. As a history teacher, my instruction will be pretty lecture-heavy and follow a timeline. However, some lessons I will want to implement different elements (group work, debate, technology, presentations, etc.). I would probably ensure that I am going over the Oklahoma Social Studies standards and covering all of the topics in that era. Then check for understanding and assess (throughout and at the end). I guess what I'm trying to say is that I usually plan the assessment at the end of the lesson planning process. Does anyone else plan the assessment towards the end of the lesson planning process?
Specific: Tell students what to do and how to do it.
I think it's also important to note that a few simple steps at a time are best and then grow in complexity, correct? It's difficult, even as an adult, to remember several small steps to complete. So it might help, to keep students on task, to break things up frequently.
In the video below, watch how the teacher’s posture, facial expressions, and tone change based upon her interactions with her students and her perceived objectives.
I have never had a teacher who greated us at the door in this way. Has anyone else? I do find it refreshing because it lets the students know she cares about them by greeting them by name. I feel as if it also teaches students how to maintain eye contact in social situations and how to properly greet people. Therefore, it's helping students learn social aspects that are beneficial to them.
Words chosen carefully Symmetrical body posture Standing up straight Steady eye contact Chin up Hands clasped or behind back; simple, controlled hand gestures
I was in 4H all throughout my years in school and this is something that they taught me when giving speeches. I think that practicing it does help, so you don't have to think too much about it, and it begins to come naturally. My best advice would be to practice in front of family/friends and in front of the mirror. I have practiced my teacher voice because I wanted to envision myself as a teacher and consider whether I thought it was something that I could do.
Do Not Engage: Don’t stray, stay focused on the current issue
I feel like this is something that I will have to work on. It's easy to get distracted, and I want to encourage students to think critically about history. Is there a way to assure students that you will look into topics during discussions without engaging? Would you just acknowledge their statement, make a note, and keep lecturing?
If students do not understand the reason behind the consequence or do not care about the impact of the consequence, then the chances of the consequence changing behavior decrease.
I always ask my children "do you understand why you are in trouble" and I make sure that they can repeat back to me the reason. I feel like it really helps gauge their understanding and whether I'm wasting my time and energy.
Classroom behavioral norms can be planned either by the teacher alone or by the teacher with input from students
I want to have my class make their classroom rules and sign it like a contract. I loved when my cooperating teacher had her 8th grade class do that.
positively stated,
One thing that my husband and I do with our kids: we give them two or three options and sometimes one of the options would be something clearly negative. It has helped because my daughter knows that she doesn't want that option. Therefore, she usually gravitates towards other options. Meanwhile, I feel like it's helping her critical thinking. Does anyone have any experience with this type of reinforcement for behaviors? Do you think it would work in a classroom setting?
Consistency
I have noticed when managing my own children that they thrive in an environment where I am consistent. I do notice that they start to act up more and more whenever my husband and I aren't on the same page about the expectations we have regarding their behavior.