Strategies Implemented and Results

The issue at hand that I gathered strategies to resolve was classroom management. When
I implemented my pretest I was able to deduce that there was a lot of room for improvement.
Within my hour long lesson, I had 31 individual incidents of undesirable behavior and 6 full
class disturbances. The individual behaviors consist of shouting out, distracting others and
bullying. I watched a video of my teaching and noted all the times I talked to individual students
as well as nonverbal cues for correcting the behavior. For the class disturbances, this was the
number of times I had to talk to the whole class about noise level or small group chatting. Based
on these results, it was clear that I could benefit from implementing new strategies.
When researching strategies for classroom management I found proactive management.
Through this strategy I found various techniques to implement in a classroom. In the journals I
read, I found that this strategy can be very effective in minimizing disruption, undesired behavior
and reducing teacher stress. With this in mind, I began to utilize the strategies found in the
articles. I began to use attention getters, set clear expectations and over plan activities.
Prior to the pretest I was nervous to use attention getters because my cooperating teacher
never used them. But after seeing the video, I realized I needed to find a more effective way to
get students attention. While this is not a strategy that is included in proactive management. I
think it is important to note that I implemented the strategy anyway. I think it was necessary and
benefitted me greatly.
One of the main strategies I found very helpful is over planning. I will plan the
assignment out, but there are always students who finish earlier than other students. I began
planning other activities that students can work on. This cuts down on students disrupting others

upon completing regular class work. When students finished work I had them either work on
another project, silently read or work on an engaging extra activity.
The other point to proactive strategies is preventing management through clear
expectation and procedures. I now state exactly what I want from the students and also state the
consequence for not following the expectations. This allows the students to know what is
expected and what will occur if they do not follow instruction. It also is beneficial to for me as a
teacher because I will have pre planned the consequence which will allow for it to be equal for
the undesirable behavior. An example of how I use this strategy is in our math lessons. I have had
issues in the past when students are waiting for their paper to be corrected. When I have to
correct 17 papers but also have a number of students with questions, it can take some time to get
to everyone quickly. This leads to disruptions. I now state, before allowing students to work
individually, what I want them to do once completing the assignment. While they are waiting the
students are to silently read a book. If they are reading, then I know they just need their paper
corrected. If they need help they raise their hand, if they have a question. This helps me know
where to go to first and keeps students who are done on task and not disturbing others. This helps
students know what I expect and cuts down on group and individual disruptions.
I ended up implementing my posttest week 13. After using my strategies for about 8
weeks I felt like it would be a solid representation of the effectiveness of the strategy. I used the
same criteria for the posttest as the pretest. Individual disruptions were shouting out, distracting
others and bullying. The group disruptions were talking to the class about noise level or small
group chatting. This chart represents my pre and posttest:
Student

Pretest Individual Disruption (2/18)

Posttest Individual Disruption (4/19)

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Total
Individual
Disruptions

0
0
7
0
0
0
5
0
0
2
1
0
0
7
9
0
Student Arrived:4/19
31

Total Groups Disruptions: 6

1
0
Student no longer in class
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
0
1
8

Total Groups Disruption: 3

Based on this chart I think it is clear that there are significantly less individual class
disruptions. The amount of group disruptions was cut in half as well. I did have one student leave
half way through student teaching and a new student arrived the day of my posttest. With the
students changing this could play a role in my results but I still think overall this was a very
productive strategy to implement.
Over the 15 weeks I have been student teaching I was able to pinpoint weaknesses and
develop strategies to correct said weakness. I implemented preventative strategies in my daily
lessons. After completing my pre and posttest, it was clear that the strategy was effective. I have
found these new strategies beneficial and am excited to implement them in my own classroom.