Lindsey Hegenauer Dr.

Garrett Observation & Reflection EDU106 April 11, 2012

2 Classroom Management StyleKounins Behaviors According to Kounins behavior model, there are three techniques that all teachers must utilize to have effective classroom management. These behaviors are withitness, overlapping, and lesson momentum. Mrs. Stay demonstrates withitness various times throughout the day such as when Wesley misbehaves during the phonics activity and the classroom environment is not affected by this disruption. The class was not affected because when she was speaking to this student, she was aware of what was happening in the classroom and directed students to clean up their letter boards. In an interview with Mrs. Stay, I asked her how good leadership skills are important to be a classroom teacher. She responded that these skills are essential to classroom management because it limits unnecessary time spent. Mrs. Stay utilizes classroom management to maintain lesson momentum through the use of daily schedules. At all times students know what to do when they arrive, what to do when they finish a task, and what they are going to do throughout the day. On the first day of my observation, I saw a great example of overlapping. We walked in during story time and she continued to read the story while signaling to all the student teachers that she would be only one more minute. After finishing the story, she told the students to sit in their seat and she formally introduced us. Through this great use of overlapping, Mrs. Stay was able to keep the attention of the children, continue with the lesson and speak to us, while keeping effective lesson momentum.

Classroom Management StyleRules and Routines A key rule in Mrs. Stays first grade class is to always say and do nice things. Since there is not a poster or a display of rules and routines, I asked this question to Mrs. Stay and she

3 explained her inspiration with this one rule. In the classroom towards the back of the room there is a bulletin board with all the students names on buckets, which comes from a book called: Have you filled a bucket today? by Carol McCloud. This book teaches and encourages students to use positive behavior throughout their daily interaction between teachers, as well as their classmates (friends). At the end of each day all students gather at the carpet for compliments, which is when students say something that their classmates did well. Then by the end of the week the compliments are added and on Friday the two students with the compliments get their name in the weekly newsletter. An important routine that is used in the classroom is for attendance and the checkout systems. When the students arrive in the morning, they must move their star to the other side, which means that they are present. Students also use the checkout system for the bathroom by moving their star to the bathroom column when they leave the room. Another routine in the classroom is things they must do in the morning. The students have to look at the list on the board of what they must accomplish before the morning meeting. This gives them independence because they are able to complete tasks without the instructions of the teacher.

Effective Relationships Mrs. Stay is a great example of an effective teacher because of the relationships that she has created with each of her students. In order to build these relationships, she used three tools: conversation journals, love notes and their families project. Each student in the beginning of the year was given a memo pad, which they would use to have written conversations with the teacher. Mrs. Stay explained that she writes notes in each of their journals every week so that the students can read the note and reply back with a note back to the teacher. In this lesson, the

4 student understands how to properly write a letter and replying by answering and asking questions. Mrs. Stay also explained how in the beginning of the year the questions were a tool to get to know the student but then as the year progressed she was able to ask questions that were specific to what is happening in the childs life. Another strategy that Mrs. Stay uses to develop relationships is through love notes. On the board next to the daily schedule Mrs. Stay will put three notes directed towards three different children, which said something awesome that they did that day. Lastly, in the beginning of the year, students were asked to brainstorm different characteristics of their families, which provided the family dynamics within the classroom. These exercises lead to the bag project, which required each child to go home and find five objects to get to know the family, along with a picture of the family on the outside of the bag. Developing interpersonal relationships between students is one of the most important aspects of being an effective teacher. One strategy that Mrs. Stay uses when creating these relationships is during the morning meeting. Students will choose a morning greeting and this was a great way for students to remember each others names throughout fun activities. One greeting that has been very popular is name cards. In this activity a stack of name cards are placed in the middle of the circle and as one person flips the cards they must go to that person and greet them by shaking hands and saying, good morning Ms. H, good morning Emma then Emma would sit down in my seat and I would have to choose a name card. Then the cycle continues until there are no more name cards. After the morning greeting, students have show and tell, which is done every morning on a rotation. Throughout this strategy students are able to share to their friends about their interests and it helps the class understand how to create openended questions. Lastly, the last strategy used is to change the students seats every month, which helps the students get to know everyone in the class and not only the people who are sitting at

5 their table. Mrs. Stay explains when students are sitting at the same table for too long they get too comfortable with each other, and get very chatty, which demonstrates the importance of switching seats frequently when teaching a first grade class.

Teachers Instructional Style The cooperating teacher that I work with does not have a specific teaching style that she uses. Since I am working in a first grade class, the technique changes throughout one lesson. In the writing workshop, Mrs. Stay takes a more direct teaching approach through phonics or drill and practice, which gives students the ability to understand how a word is spelled in their storybooks. These storybook projects help facilitate the technique that she uses, which helps students create a sequence of thoughts and develop colorful sentences. A colorful sentence is a term that is used often in the classroom to encourage fluid sentence structure. Another strategy used in the classroom is demonstration. Each week, Mrs. Stay will read a poem with trick words. Through demonstration she will direct the students to highlight the words and draw a picture that corresponds with that poem. Then those trick words will be demonstrated again in their writing workshop so they can truly understand and use these words. Throughout my observation and knowledge of the instructional continuum I have realized that working with younger children, teachers need to utilize various strategies.

Self-Reflection This experience observing a first grade class has been outstanding. Mrs. Stay has been an excellent example of what an effective teacher should do and achieve excellence when it comes to classroom management. The only complaint that I have about this experience is that we are

6 only there in the morning, where we see the same lessons, day after day. After my full day in the field, it was confirmed that I knew teaching was for me. I was able to talk to Mrs. Stay and she explained about different aspects of the classroom, as well as the different ability levels of each student. My talk with Mrs. Stay made me realize I want to teach first grade because I want to create a solid foundation for these students throughout their educational career. Through this experience, I know that teaching first grade is what I want to teach and Mrs. Stay is an excellent example of what I want to be in the future.