Overall, my knowledge on pedagogy and other aspects of a
classroom has grown substantially. After
being in my CT’s classroom this semester, I see a lot of things I will take
into my future classroom and something’s I will definitely keep out. While I was at Sheridan, I noticed a lot of
behavior management systems that I absolutely despised! They follow a whole
school behavior management system. The
students get “Super Sharks” if they are behaving in a “safe, ready, responsible,
or respectful” manner. I think this is
super vague and the students do not really respond to it. When I first got to Sheridan, I noticed that
the students have “Behavior Folders”.
This is a folder sent home every day that says what color the student is
on at the end of the day. The parent
must sign it and return it. This creates
such a time consuming task every day at the beginning and end of the day, for
something I consider pointless. I think
there are other ways to have parental involvement in the classroom. For example, in my last clinical, my CT would
send home a paper everyday typed. It
said what the student did and what they should be doing for homework. It also included special happenings. I thought this was great because the parents
would sign it every day and write any notes they may have for the teacher. It was a great way to stay organized. I also saw a lot of literacy and math
worksheets in my clinical. I found how
boring it was for the children and how much they did not learn. I implemented
my literacy lesson with hands on materials and the students seemed to really respond. This was one of my goals that I really wanted
to accomplish this semester. I also
gained the goal of knowing all of my students.
Although I did not gain the connections that Mrs. Bohac has with her
students, I feel as if I went in the classroom every Wednesday and made a difference.
This always made me feel good and I really feel as if this is what I am meant
to do. Mrs. Bohac also taught me a lot about transitions. Since this is one aspect that I really wanted
to take away from this semester, I was happy that transitions went well in this
classroom. She always dismissed in a
unique way. It could be what color shirt
they are wearing, vocabulary words in a lesson, or by row color. I always saw the students engaged during transitions,
and fascinatingly I never saw a meltdown, which I expected being in a
kindergarten classroom.
During
this semester, it is safe to say I have strengthened my relationships with
teachers and staff out in the field, as well as my peers. I feel as if I have a safe and secure network
of people I can rely on to vent to, ask questions, bounce ideas off of, and for
them to also do the same. I am so sad
that I will not be seeing this group on a daily basis, because we already practice
these aspects of being a professional and having a network. I believe that throughout the activities and
lessons presented to us at ISU we will be able to keep on following up with
each other and looking out for each other.
I could not ask for a better group of teacher candidates to share in our
adventures of getting through student teaching and learning so much!
Jordan, it was interesting to hear about your thoughts and experiences at your clinical site this semester. It is obvious that you have some very strong beliefs and opinions regarding their whole school behavioral management system. As you stated, “I noticed a lot of behavior management systems that I absolutely despised! … This creates such a time consuming task every day at the beginning and end of the day, for something I consider pointless.” I understand that this is something that does not coincide with what we have been learning in our courses concerning classroom management, but have you been considering what you will do in response to this if your student teaching placement follows a similar plan? And if you do have negative feelings in regards to this, I challenge you to keep this in mind in regards to when you are looking for a full-time position and consider what the school uses as a management system. There are some benefits to having a whole school management system in that everyone is on the same page with discipline, but again, if you are not comfortable with this then I would encourage you to look into your future job options carefully in regards to this.
ReplyDeleteJordan Manley,
ReplyDeleteYour last blog post was a very good way to wrap up the semester. We have all built a strong network this semester. Over past semester we all worked together but not in anyway like we have this semester. I think that it is so important that have learned to work together, look out for one another, and support each other through tough and trying times.
I think classroom management has been the base of almost everyone’s posts and goals that I have read so far. We spend a lot of time learning about classroom management and how to implement it, but by being a clinical student we don’t always get decent opportunities to put that into effect. This is information though that we will take forward and hopefully be able to implement in student teaching or just in our first year of teaching.
Many of us have been challenged, pushed, and reminded to complete our goals this semester. Is there anything you wish you had done differently or worked harder at? This semester has been the busiest and most trying experience I have had in my education (which I think is how they set it up), but I am very thankful to have gone through it with such a great group of girls. I made life long friends that I will never let go of.
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
-Aristotle
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that some parts of what you were seeing this semester did not jive with what you had been learning at ISU nor what you are feeling in your heart. I agree with Leah, that learning more about this for student teaching and beyond will be helpful. Let's be sure to chat through this tomorrow!
:)Kira