End of Week 2: Things I Will Do Differently

Hello my blogging friends, I am sorry I did not write all week last week. The week was a busy one.

I absolutely love my school though. It is wonderful. I am learning a lot about teaching. I am learning things that I will use in my own classroom and also coming up with other ideas for my classroom. There are some things my cooperative teacher does that I will do differently but that does not mean the way she does it is wrong. It just means we have different ideas.

One thing I will do differently is create a student chart. This chart will have all of my students names on it and be used for when my students need to use the restroom, for attendance and discipline. I will have the students move their tag when they are in the restroom and also at the start of the day. This way the students are not interrupting during teaching time to ask to use the restroom. They know if someone else is in the restroom and wait until that person returns. Attendance will be easy because all I have to do is look at the board to know who is missing.

I will also use the board for discipline by having the students turn their cards when they break a rule. This helps them take responsibility for their behavior and will help with control of the classroom.

Now I am not saying my cooperative teacher does not have control of the classroom. She does. The kids are great and they are not disruptive. But she is at a school with a lot of parent support so the kids know they need to behave or their parents will discipline them at home. Most classroom teachers do not have that so must find ways to discipline students and help them make good choices.

As for the restroom and attendance. The chart just seems easier for me.

I learned this past week that kids do respond best when the teacher is always calm and speaks to them in a calm voice. The teacher can never lose control even when the child does.