Just got my Fred Jones' book, Tools for Teaching. I bought the same book 4 years ago but misplaced it. Come to realize yet again why I failed so miserably last year as a 1st year high school teacher. Yes, I had taught for 3 years before, but last year I felt green again and was making mistakes like I had during my rookie year. Basically, I did not implement and practice procedures during the 1st 2 weeks and was in essence a "nag" the whole year!!! I had forgotten about that term and how telling students to "stop this and stop that" ended up falling on deaf ears and I nagged the entire time. Even stuff like walking quietly into the classroom wasn't done. Students arrived whenever.... they dropped off bags, binders, papers.... then went to the bathroom. All of this was my fault and I got lax with everything. I'm fortunate to have another job. This time I'm gonna teach and practice procedures on everything. This includes walking into the classroom and dropping their cellphone into the proper slot and walking to their chair. Raising hands and answering questions properly. Even teaching them the proper way to get their phones back at the end of class has to be taught. Someone please add to the list of possible things that I have to teach. Like handing in work? Or borrowing and returning calculators? The place where work is handed in is at the back table. The calculators will be there, too. I'm still weak with doling out consequences for misbehavior. I might end up with writing behavior slips (1st one is a warning slip, 2nd is a conference + slip, 3rd is call home + conference + slip, 4th is sent to office). The school has 2 break times built into the schedule. Maybe lunch detention in my room and a writing punishment (e.g. What I Did Wrong and How Will I Fix It) as part of this? The district allows paddling but this didn't help me last year. I feel this year will be my last chance to get classroom management implemented correctly and effectively. Any words of advice and encouragement greatly appreciated!
https://www.amazon.com/Teaching-Out...1135&sr=1-1&keywords=teaching+outside+the+box I liked the first edition of this book because it's by a high school teacher. It's been updated a couple of times.
Here are my suggestions, im not saying I'm the best but I have found these to be useful: Expectations made clear at the start of the year, and it's much more positive environment to speak in the positive e.g. Instead of don't walk off to the bathroom without asking, please check with me before leaving the classroom, it's only polite. Have consequences that you can follow through with, once you don't follow through, you lose the position of authority. And in your interactions with them, be firm but respectful. At this age, embarrassing them in front of their peers or screaming is not going to help your classroom management in the long run.
The book I am currently reading: Discipline Without Stress Punishments or Rewards : How Teachers and Parents Promote Responsibility & Learning https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008J3Y2S6/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 So far I am liking the content.
Oh boy did I learn that last year. Fred Jones described my management style last year perfectly.. NAG, NAG, NAG..... No wonder I couldn't control the classes. I hate that I performed terribly but I have to put that behind me, learn from my mistakes, and take charge again. My 2 years teaching only 6th grade ended up spoiling me and I got lazy. Last year's attempt at mgmt was bad. I'm gonna read my mgmt books from cover to cover to find ideas to try. I'd forgotten about the red-yellow-green zones of a classroom. I stuck myself in front of the room and didn't stroll as much as I needed to. I just let too many things slide.
It sounds like your lack of discipline was the problem to me - not the lack of making fully capable near-adults practice routines. Procedures should be demonstrated once, when they first occur in the classroom, and then expected to be followed. If, and only if, it continues to be an issue for a large chunk of the class then practice it again. Show your kids your respect their ability to be students and human beings and you'll go farther than forcing them to practice like children. Hands down the most effective classroom management is to create a classroom students want to be in. Make it safe, make it orderly, but please, above all make it human.
Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. When I attended my first Jones' seminar he would make statements like, "This is what ineffective teachers do ... ". I tried to slide down in my seat and disappear. I looked around the room and everyone else was sliding too! Then we spent the next three hours (all morning) discussing "furniture arrangement". I had no idea placing desks, especially the teacher's desk, is critical. You are exactly correct regarding the importance of "working the crowd" or management by walking around. Common sense says a student is likely to be on-task if the teacher is 6" away and play the odds of not getting caught if the teacher is across the room. And the cost for the teacher? A few extra steps. Yet, in most classrooms (I was one) the teacher does not move especially when delivering a lesson or teaching small groups. When you don't move the go-to technique to save steps is, "You two over there! Stop talking and get some work done!" ... nag. Guess who just became the biggest disruptor in the room? Anyway, a major portion of improving one's management skills is admitting the need for improvement in the first place. No one ever failed at classroom management because she/he knew too much about it.
With regard to furniture arrangement, my room is quite large. But, because of population size and the split of grades for upper and lower math, class sizes for the my HS classes might be 12-16 per class. I'll get all the 7th and 8th grade students so maybe 23-26 students for those. I have desks that are suitable for grouping (flat tops) so I'll be back in the classroom to arrange accordingly.
It's kind of sad that by high school they have to be TAUGHT that they're supposed to walk into a classroom quietly. It's not like this is their first year being in a school.
They don't have to be taught it - that's my point. They just need to know it is important to that teacher. I've walked into plenty of classes where the teacher couldn't care less how the kids came in. If I had 6 different new bosses every single year I'd need to be told the expectations as well. I sure don't need to practice them though.
I keep reminding myself of The Karate Kid and the scene where Daniel-san is practicing kicks. Mr. Miyagi walks in and asks something like "You try to learn karate from book?" My point is I won't get better without real practice with real students!
What a difference a room design makes! I rearranged the desks to give me access to an "interior loop." Then I stuck a meter stick on me pointing outward and walked around the loop. From anywhere inside the loop, I'm only a meter away from 12 students!! And, the distance between the two farthest students took only 6 steps!!!! Only drawback I see is with the type of desks that I have. They aren't the separate chair and desk that some places have. I can see students fighting to get in and out of them. Especially those whose seat entrances are blocked.
Yep, as I continue reading the book, I came across this: "It takes one fool to backtalk. It takes two fools to make a conversation out of it." I clearly made myself look foolish with backtalk.
Backtalk is one of the toughest disruptions to deal with. Knowing it's not wise to engage the student is the easy part. Doing it is the hard part. When several colleagues and myself trained with Jones at his seminar we got on our feet and practiced "remaining calm". One teacher played role of lippy student - whining, blaming, denying, insulting and even profanity in attempt to rattle partner playing role of teacher. Hardest gesture for me to suppress was smiling. Returning from seminar we practiced after school once a week - all voluntary. It was at these review-practices dealing with backtalk was fine-tuned. BTW - If you want to see Fred in action at one of his seminars PM me and I'll send you a link.
