Reflecting on Week One

The end of week one has arrived and I find myself realizing that it is going to be very difficult to leave come November. Not only do I love the students and their eagerness to learn, but I feel like I have been welcomed into a family of professionals with the warmest hearts you will ever know. I fit in here well and enjoy every second of the day I am within the walls of Cold Springs Middle School. Sure it is hard work, and yes there are those students that try your patience, but isn’t that what this age group is all about? Shouldn’t I be expecting those trying times for after all, this is my moment to learn how to deal with them and to refine my skills so that I can become a great educator?

        This week I found the class room techniques that work best and those that do not. Raising my hand and having them hold each other accountable for getting themselves and their peers to be quiet works wonders. I can usually quiet them down inside 10 seconds. My lead teacher, a veteran teacher for nearly 30 years or more still uses the old school techniques of raising the voice, and I found that it takes the students roughly 45 seconds to a minute to quiet down, and even then he needs to readdress it during that time. I have not yet used the marbles in the heart dish I purchased as a noise-induced attention-getter, because the students have not taken it to that level. The beginning of the day is easier to manage them than at the end of the day, but then I am a parent and already know this with my own kids. When I gain full control of the classroom, this will be my time when I get them more mobile in the classroom for instruction and this should help with them being agitated in their seats. Though my lead teacher is an incredible instructor and full of valuable skills, I do see and realize why UNR teaches us the new techniques for managing the classroom. It’s more positive for the students, and by thanking them for managing themselves and passing out reward paws dollars for them to purchase things with at the student store, is by far a more effective and rewarding way to discipline than to constantly yell at them and only pay attention to bad behavior and the consequences to that.

        This week I tried a technique that I learned in Dr. Virginia Beck’s students with special needs class. I have a student, we’ll call him Student M, that has some behavioral problems. When I greeted him in the morning he was not interested in returning the greeting. Rather than trying to suck up to him to “get him to like me” I walked away. When I was asked to pass out some handouts to the students, I utilized Student M’s assistance and it turned his behavior right around. We had a good day, and he even smiled. Just by giving him that opportunity to be important for a moment made all the difference in this kid’s day. His behavior towards me in the class was that of all the other students and it reinforced to me just giving them that moment to shine can make all the difference. I will definitely be using this technique again with this student and others.