Reflective Journal Entry Seven- Classroom Management

            My first classroom observation experience took place during my first year of college in my mother’s classroom. She was a second grade teacher at the time and I had volunteered to teach an art lesson to her class. Even though I was not an education student at the time, I was able to recognize remarkable things taking place in her classroom. There was a true sense of unity and family, the students knew their jobs and were all actively engaged in their learning, and I heard my mother using phrases like, “I really like the way you are helping your partner with her work.” I felt excited for those students to have that type of learning environment and proud of my mother for creating it.

            The thing I was not aware of at the time is the amount of work that goes into creating that type of a positive, engaging learning environment. It took many more observations of her and other successful teachers to develop an understanding for the need of routines, procedures, and expectations in the classroom. During my journey as a student of education and since my time as a teacher, I have had the opportunity to observe many classrooms, and have discovered that classes with teachers who use effective classroom management methods are easy to pick out. These are the classrooms where students are actively engaged in their learning and behavior issues are minimal. Slavin (2012) states, “Creating an effective learning environment involves organizing classroom activities, instruction, and the physical classroom to provide for effective use of time; to create a happy, productive classroom; and to minimize disruptions” (p.317). Unfortunately, classrooms that lack effective classroom management methods are even easier to pick out because of the lack of student engagement in learning and the abundance of behavior problems that exist in these classrooms. This weeks discussion posts show that a majority of teachers have encountered classrooms with effective and ineffective classroom management methods. Some of the posts were also quite candid in personal teacher learning experiences where least intervention strategies were not used and became learning experiences for the teachers themselves. These included instances where teachers admit they probably could have avoided distracting from the lesson by using nonverbal cues and reminders. I believe we have all made these mistakes as teachers, and should use them to grow and develop better methods of classroom management. Many peer posts also listed mismanagement of time as a key contributor to behavior issues in observations and in their classes. I have also observed this to be the case and have learned over time that it is much better to be over prepared and provide more for students than not enough. Students who are engaged are simply too busy to participate in questionable behavior.

            I am setting a goal for myself this year to create a more student-centered classroom. Slavin (2012) states, “In more student-centered classrooms, children are likely to be spending much of their time working with each other, doing open-ended projects, writing, and experimenting” (p.325). I will still provide my students with rules and procedures, as these are still necessary in this setting, but I plan to involve my students more in setting the standards for acceptable behavior. I teach reading, so I need students to be able to work collaboratively in reading groups and quietly so that students who are reading will be able to focus and comprehend what they are reading. I believe that involving students in the development of class expectations and standards will help them understand the need and importance for them if we are to be successful in respecting each other as we learn.

            I believe that classroom management is the key to creating positive, effective learning environments. I continue to learn from my own experiences working with students from various backgrounds and with different personalities and needs. I am thankful for the teacher role models I have had, like my mother, who demonstrate effective classroom management and what learning should look like when students are actively engaged in their learning and thriving in their learning communities.

Reference

Slavin, R. E. (2012). Educational Psychology: Theory and practice (10^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education.