http://socyberty.com/education/effective-pre-k-and-kindergarten-classroom-management/
This article specifically addresses pre-K to K aged children. The author of this article lists several different examples of ways to promote effective classroom management.
1. Classroom Helper- Each student is given a daily duty in the classroom. This is a wonderful example of the SLT where students are engaged with the teacher and with one another at different points in the day. By not having the students bored, helps with them paying attention more.
2. Line-up Manner- When going from place to place, the students form two lines and are required to hold hands with one another. The author talks about helping to keep the line in order and so as not to lose anyone. I do not see any connections to motivation or NOL in this technique. I do see a connection with the BLT as the teacher is establishing this as a routine knowing they line up and hold hands with a partner.
3. A reward system-star chart- Throughout the day a teacher can give a student a star which they get to put in their star bag. Once the student reaches 20 stars, they get to earn something out of the treasure chest. I think this is a great way to motivate students to behaving well, paying attention and being respectful of one another knowing that with these good behaviors they could earn something. This falls under the BLT learning theory by students being rewarded for their positive behaviors thus encouraging them to continue to have the positive behaviors.
4. Good day/bad day chart- Any time throughout the day a student can be asked to move their clip down, depending on their behavior. If their clip is moved in a day, they are ineligible to turn in their stars that day. Each day the student starts over at the top with good day. While this technique motivates students to have good days, it does not give students the opportunity to change their day around. If the student has a really bad morning, they stay at that level all day, not giving the student incentive to behave. Also, the article doesn't mention any other motivating factors to stay at the good day level other than if they move down, they are ineligible to redeem their stars. I could see students not being motivated to have a good day unless they have all of their stars to redeem. If a student doesn't have all of their stars, nothing is motivating them to have a good day. This technique seems redundant of the reward system and a little overkill. It could be tweaked to include the option to move back up to a good day status or a reward if you stayed in the good day status throughout the day.
5. Using sign language to signal needs- The students are taught sign language to signal needs such as water or using the restroom. This takes place of speaking aloud and disrupting the class when a student needs something. I am not a huge fan of this technique. While I like the idea of teaching students sign language, I feel that it breaks down positive and effective communication between a student and teacher. I do not see where this technique ties in to any learning theories, NOL or motivation.
6. Every activity associated with a song- This technique uses music to help transition students to one activity or another. Students learn the "clean-up" song or the "reading" song. This uses the SLT in that students are engaged with one another as well as the CLT in which they are actively mentally engaged to help motivate them to clean up and switch to another activity.
7. Using music to help students relax and refresh- This technique allows students to have a mini-break with singing a song or listening to music while dancing. The thought is that if students are able to clear their mind, they can easily get back on track. I have to disagree with this technique. I would be worried that students would lose motivation to whatever activity they were working on and be hard to bring back together after they are signing and dancing around. I'm not sure where the connection is to any of the learning theories, NOL or motivation.
When reading through this article, a lot of the techniques use positive motivators to get students reach a certain goal. The star chart and the behavior chart (if used correctly) are great ways to teach the children about self-efficacy and that they are in control of things they earn through their behaviors. This could also focus too much on extrinsic factors and motivators for students. By giving rewards, the students are not learning for themselves, but rather for their teacher.
When thinking of these techniques and how they apply to the nature of learning, I am struggling. If you were to use the reward chart and reward students on their effort on learning something or effort on an assignment, you would be teaching the students that leraning takes time and effort and doesn't come easy. The teacher could explicitly tell their student that is why they are earning that award.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Further Evaluation and Implications of a Lesson Plan
http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/2730.html
This lesson plan I evaluated is about teaching children how to connect letters with their sound. When I first evaluated this lesson, I felt that it used the CLT well by having the student's actively mentally engaged when speaking the letters when they are writing them down.
To change the lesson based on the theories we have learned in class, I would not use clay for the children to mold the letters out. I would use the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model by having objects to show the students and saying the word and letter it matches with. I would then have the students tell me the sounds the letter makes with different objects. The students would then be paired together with a peer and work on flashcards with pictures and the letter the sound makes. After the students have been able to work in pairs, they would then have a worksheet where they are required to cut out the letters and pictures and then glue them in matching fashion. They would be encouraged to say the words and letter out loud as they are cutting and glueing them. By having the peers work with one another I am utilizing the SLT. By having the concrete examples of the object, flashcards and then the worksheets I am utilizing the DLT. By having the students actively mentally engaged by using the GRR, I am utilizing the CLT. While working with the students as a class, I would ask them questions such as what does the lowercase letter look like and then have someone go to the board to draw it. Or the the uppercase letter. By asking these questions, I am using scaffolding and having the students think further about what they are learning. By having such a mixture of ways of learning, all students across the board should be able to connect with one of theories and learn the material.
During the time of me working with the students and the student's working together, I will be making formative assessments and then making necessary partner changes based on those assessments. This will allow students to work with a MKO and help those who may have not grasped the concepts.
For the Nature of Learning I am a not sure how to do this explicitly for Kindergartners. I feel that drawing their attention to the NOL and to boost my students self-efficacy, I will not praise them for the results of what they are doing, but make specific positive comments about their effort towards their work. For example I would say; "Sally, I like how you wrote the capital A a couple of times until you got it to look like the example" or "Billy, your sounding out of the letters keeps getting better the more you say it. Continue repeating it when you see objects that start with that letter". By them hearing the positive on the work they are doing instead of the results, they are hearing that I am pointing out the work they are doing is coming from them and not something I am telling them. (Source of Knowledge). They will also hear that their repeated effort takes time to get the result they want. (Rate of Learning). After asking these questions, I could then point out and discuss with the students that they learned that the information they are learning is coming from them doing the work themselves and that it is through their effort that they are learning the material.
This lesson plan I evaluated is about teaching children how to connect letters with their sound. When I first evaluated this lesson, I felt that it used the CLT well by having the student's actively mentally engaged when speaking the letters when they are writing them down.
To change the lesson based on the theories we have learned in class, I would not use clay for the children to mold the letters out. I would use the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model by having objects to show the students and saying the word and letter it matches with. I would then have the students tell me the sounds the letter makes with different objects. The students would then be paired together with a peer and work on flashcards with pictures and the letter the sound makes. After the students have been able to work in pairs, they would then have a worksheet where they are required to cut out the letters and pictures and then glue them in matching fashion. They would be encouraged to say the words and letter out loud as they are cutting and glueing them. By having the peers work with one another I am utilizing the SLT. By having the concrete examples of the object, flashcards and then the worksheets I am utilizing the DLT. By having the students actively mentally engaged by using the GRR, I am utilizing the CLT. While working with the students as a class, I would ask them questions such as what does the lowercase letter look like and then have someone go to the board to draw it. Or the the uppercase letter. By asking these questions, I am using scaffolding and having the students think further about what they are learning. By having such a mixture of ways of learning, all students across the board should be able to connect with one of theories and learn the material.
During the time of me working with the students and the student's working together, I will be making formative assessments and then making necessary partner changes based on those assessments. This will allow students to work with a MKO and help those who may have not grasped the concepts.
For the Nature of Learning I am a not sure how to do this explicitly for Kindergartners. I feel that drawing their attention to the NOL and to boost my students self-efficacy, I will not praise them for the results of what they are doing, but make specific positive comments about their effort towards their work. For example I would say; "Sally, I like how you wrote the capital A a couple of times until you got it to look like the example" or "Billy, your sounding out of the letters keeps getting better the more you say it. Continue repeating it when you see objects that start with that letter". By them hearing the positive on the work they are doing instead of the results, they are hearing that I am pointing out the work they are doing is coming from them and not something I am telling them. (Source of Knowledge). They will also hear that their repeated effort takes time to get the result they want. (Rate of Learning). After asking these questions, I could then point out and discuss with the students that they learned that the information they are learning is coming from them doing the work themselves and that it is through their effort that they are learning the material.
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