New Teacher Orientation Day 2

Today was the end of our 2 day New Teacher Orientation session.  The time flew by and proved to be a success.  Our new teachers engaged in many conversations and activities about teaching and learning. I will provide a brief summary of the various conversations we experienced over the past two days.

Creating a Classroom Community:  What would be the characteristics of a classroom community?  Shared leadership, communication in many forms, responsive to the needs of both "I" and "we", shared values and beliefs, cooperation, shared environment, commitment, interdependence.  

How can we create such a community of learners?  Find out about your students.  Know their interests, what they aspire to be, what are their strengths & talents, create the conditions for a safe and caring learning environment, set up your classroom so that it belongs to the learners, include students in setting classroom rules and expectations so that they become part of the decision making.  Allow your students to have a "voice" in their learning so that they feel valued and respected.

1950......

NOW...

The discussion on creating a "community of learners" was interesting and engaging.  It gave the new teachers many things to think about  with respect to setting up their classrooms in order to get things "rolling" in the first week of school.  When determining your classroom rules and procedures you need to be sure to explain and teach those procedures.  You must be consistent with your expectations , "honor the procedure first..." and always reinforce.  We agreed that you should never make an assumption that " the kids should just know"....

however,  the one assumption we as teachers should make is to, ASSUME THE BEST ABOUT YOUR STUDENTS.....ALWAYS

Effective Classroom Management: 10 Tips

Source: http://www.edutopia.org/classroom-management-resource-guide

Classroom management can be one of the most difficult components for a classroom teacher.  Today we discussed "Ten Tips for Effective Classroom Management".  I was fortunate to be reading a blog post by Larry Ferlazzo who talks about 5 simple questions that will improve your teaching.  Today we shared one question with the new teachers and suggested they think about this anytime they find themselves in a conflict situation...

"Will what I am about to do or say bring me closer to the person with whom I am communicating—or will it push me further away?"

Back to the 10 tips...

①Build Community

②Design a Safe, Friendly,& Well-Managed Classroom Environment

③Include Students in Creating Rules, Norms, Routines & Consequences

④Create a Variety of Communication Channels 

⑤Always Be Calm, Fair & Consistent   

⑥Know the students you teach - we spent a considerable amount of time discussing the importance of really getting to know your students.  Using a restitution strategy we did an activity to help identify a persons "genetic intensity" or most prominent need.  The new teachers completed the needs survey themselves and saw that within our group we had people that fit into each of the 4 categories, namely:  Belonging, Power, Freedom and Fun.  By identifying our students' needs we will be better informed for planning learning activities as well as dealing with possible conflict situations. Source:  Diane Gossen

⑦Address conflict quickly and wisely  - Using Diane Gossen's restitution strategy of Collapsing conflict and/or  30 second interventions.  

⑧Integrate Positive Classroom Rituals

⑨Keep It Real  - Be realistic.  The job description of a teacher is infinite.  

            Unrealistic expectations of yourself can give you undue stress.  Be realistic, be prepared and always work in the best interest of students. 

            Ask for help when you are in need…

            Synonyms for help – Advice, Collegiality, Collaboration, Educational Consulting, Professional Development. – all describe the same thing.  Grow your PLN so that you have many sources of support.  We reflected on the work of Geese.  How they help and support each other.  Each goose takes a turn at the front of the V formation in order to share the work.  We can learn from the geese, ask for support when you are feeling the need. 

⑩Partner with Parents and Guardians

The classroom management discussion was considered to be very valuable by our new teachers.  They agreed that many of the "tips" we discussed were very practical and could be very helpful once in their classrooms.  In my next post, I will summarize our conversations about Planning and Assessment. 

Thank you to Rick Smith, author of Conscious Classroom Management,  for the many practical ideas on classroom management.