Cathy Boerner April 5, 2010 ED 201

Field Reflection Two: Classroom Management Based on my observation and interactions in the classroom and from reading Chapter 7 in the Powell text, what can I say about the social and physical environment? How do rules and procedures in the classroom relate to student conduct and academic work? What is the overall management plan based on my readings and classroom observations? My time spent observing in Ms. Studers classroom has been very rich with opportunities to compare two very different ways teachers can enforce rules and the effectiveness of their procedural and disciplinary choices. This is because Ms. Studer shares her classroom with another 3rd grade teacher, Mr. McCleane. The classroom is a small size for the two to share, and because of this it is unavoidable to notice what is going on at the other side of the room. This is particularly because Mr. McCleane has a much louder voice than that of Ms. Studers. While the two teachers appear to have the utmost respect for each others classroom management styles, they maintain quite different classroom climates. Lisa enforces rules and norms just as often as Mr. McCleane does, but she seems to have a more balanced system of incentives and consequences. This is covered in Chapter 7 of our reading, where it stresses the importance of maintaining clear consequences for what is unacceptable, in accordance with incentives for what is acceptable.

An example of this is the way they enforce the schools card system procedure. This system models what Chapter 7 refers to as an extrinsic and individual consequence strategy that is enforced through a symbolic system of colored cards. Each child has a pocket slot on the wall that has five colors inserted, with the face card showing. Throughout the day, students are told to get up and change their cards depending on whether the behavior is considered negative or whether it is positive. The green card signifies Great day, the yellow card Warning; orange, Go to the thinking chair; red, Lose recess and note home, or call home; and purple, Go to another Classroom with work, office referral, and call home. All of the consequences correlated with each card are suggested as good strategies for early childhood through elementary school. In my observations I have yet to notice a student that has been asked to get up and move their card to a color that signifies improvement in behavior. Yet, the procedure is enforced regularly and often results in at least two children with red or purple cards. Ive noticed that it is quite disruptive when Mr. Mc Cleane tells one of his students to change his or her card. He stops his lesson, yells quite sternly amidst all of his students, and continues to nag the individual in front of all others, (not to mention Ms. Studers class) regarding how terrible the students behavior has been that day. Ms. Studer on the other hand, is less severe. She appears to enforce the card-changing rule just as much as Mr. McCleane yet she rarely raises her voice loud enough for the whole room to hear. She looks directly at the student and says now you need to change your card.

Ive been very impressed with Ms. Studers frequent encouragement and positive reinforcement. I often hear her telling her students good job raising your hands and very good participation today. When she catches a student misbehaving she seems to keep in mind the focus on behavior, not the person rule, as discussed in Chapter 7. There is a very obvious difference in the overall mood on each side of the classroom. I sometimes find it difficult to hear Ms. Studers students responses to questions due to the noise level on the other side of the classroom. It is not the students I hear on the other side, it is Mr. McCleane. Ms. Studer also appears to have a very good handle on her time management skills. One tactic I like and want to use when I have my own classroom is her use of a stopwatch. She keeps it by her side or in front of her, and this allows her to go on with her lesson without standing the chance of losing track of time or needing to stop and look up at the clock. Her students have consistently shown their respect towards the importance of time management, as well as many other things. So far Ive been very happy to observe Ms. Studer and her class. She has a very calm demeanor that seems to be very helpful with maintaining a good learning environment. The students are delightful and all so eager to participate. Something very important that Ive discovered, is how eager the students are to learn, regardless of the success of their benchmarks or where they are in their development. Im lucky to be able to compare two very different climates within the same room; this has proven to be a part of my observing that I was not anticipating.