Reflection: This week marked the end of the honeymoon period of teaching and the beginning of some serious classroom management issues. Because of reading assessments, the students did not have English class this week and instead had twice as much math. I, unfortunately, did not adequately prepare for close to two and a half hours of instructional time each day and things quickly unraveled.
It was also a week of “firsts”- first content-based lessons, first real, homework assignment, and the first quiz. I felt like I was constantly reacting to issues that arose opposed to proactively preempting problematic situations. It was so frustrating to feel like the whole class period was spent trying to figure out who had the next turn for the bathroom, how to stand in a line correctly, and how to defend myself when I was unfair because “she kicked me first!”
Additionally, it seemed that I had forgotten everything that I learned this summer regarding having an objective, agenda, checks for understanding, key points, etc… and creating an air-tight, student-focused lesson plan. The day we went over how to find the Greatest Common Factor of two or more numbers was a great example of these shortcomings. I had a packet for my students to complete, and I knew what I wanted them to learn, but I had not fully rehearsed what I would say nor had I pretested to know their previous knowledge regarding the subject.
This meant when a couple students reported that they already knew how to find the greatest common factor, I assumed that the entire class had previously mastered the objective, so I simply skimmed through the steps, believing the class was following along with me.
Unfortunately, even briefly reviewing was nearly impossible because of the noise level in the classroom, and I am not sure that all students could have heard my instructions even if they trying. When the homework was returned, it was obvious and extremely disheartening that less than half of the students completely mastered the objective. My biggest fear is that students will shut down if they believe that they can’t do the work.
Fortunately, the weekend provided adequate time to reflect upon the previous week, and I am now prepared with a system to revisit the objective, with a new classroom management plan that includes more immediate consequences AND rewards, with tighter lesson plans, and with some much-needed rest. Week 2 was hard, but certainly not defeating, and I am expecting good things in the upcoming week!
PS: Thank you to all teachers, everywhere who are overworked and underappreciated.
No comments:
Post a Comment