Bringing in the Dean of Students

I have been trying many different processes with my algebra class in order to improve classroom management.  I have changed assigned seats, changed classroom procedures, called or emailed parents, sent kids to the front office, and written referrals.  I’ve had teacher detention with disruptive students,  whole class meetings about behavior, and had students make commitments and set goals.  It is a long road, and we seem to be taking as many steps backwards as forwards.  I’ve had my mentor come observe the class and the class behaved beautifully while he was there. Unfortunately, this meant he couldn’t give me feedback on what I was looking for: how to improve classroom management.

This last week I asked the Dean of Students to come and observe my class with the purpose of making suggestions to me about how to improve classroom management.  Again, the students behaved beautifully while he was there.  Perhaps I should have a mannequin in the room dressed to look like someone?  The biggest learning for me that day was a particular student who is frequently off task, and who started the class wanting to go to the nurse because he didn’t feel ready to learn that day.  I pushed him to stay and give it a try and told him to check in with me after the first 10 minutes.  He ended up having a great day of learning and effort and I believe it was because the classroom was much quieter than usual.   I now know one thing more about this particular student: if it is quiet then he’ll focus and learn, but if it’s even slightly noisy then he’ll make it noisier.

After the observation, I had the chance to visit with our dean and learned some interesting facts, such as almost 90% of his discipline conversations are with 9th graders.  While I was relieved to hear that it wasn’t just my 9th graders, but also a system issue, I also saw that I need to adjust my lesson plans.  He observed that the kids seemed to be able to focus for about 20 minutes before they got squirrely.  Using just the mathematician’s dyads doesn’t seem to have enough peer interaction for most of my 9th graders.  They are conditioned in junior high to work in tables. I am considering using the seminar model where the students come to the center for 10-20 minutes and then work in groups during the rest of the classtime.   I work closely with the other Algebra teacher in my SLC and she uses the seminar model.  It is a model that she’s been adapting for math and I’ll benefit from her coaching.

Jan 8 Algebra lesson plan, rationale, reflection

Here’s the link to this day’s lesson plan.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AXxJ1gaN0eqJZGYzd2M1bV8zMnhqcDRzNThq&hl=en

Here’s the link to the rationale.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AXxJ1gaN0eqJZGYzd2M1bV8zMGcya3NubWd6&hl=en

Reflection

I followed the plan, but we ran out of time to get the exit task done.  I was busy helping different groups and forgot to assign a timekeeper.  Being a PCT Friday, our classes were 40 minutes long instead of the typical 55 min.

This day’s lesson went well because we had only minor classroom management issues, which was a big improvement from the day before.  I think this was for a few reasons.

1. The previous day’s lesson went so horribly due to classroom management issues that I contacted my mentor and asked him to come observe this class and he did.  I think having another teacher in the room changed the dynamics and the students behaved better.

2.  While this is day 4 of solving equations, the students were struggling with solving equations and frustrated.  Yesterday, they worked with partners and it wasn’t helpful because there weren’t enough students who “got it,” translating to the blind leading the blind.  One of my students asked if I could teach like the substitute did (we had a sub on Wednesday.)  Ouch!  One of the other students said that the sub just put her head down and did problems and didn’t address the misbehaving students.  I realized that my students were frustrated by the “discovery” process and partner work and just wanted to be shown (again) how to solve equations.  While I’d done some direct instruction when we’d started 4 days ago, it wasn’t enough.

Today, I decided to give direct instruction, telling them that I wanted them to just watch, listen, take notes, and wait until we’d gotten through the first example before asking questions.  I had been stopping and taking questions while going through the first examples and that was taking too long and not allowing for a train of thought to be fully developed.  I will not do that anymore.  Direct instruction went so well that I really learned a big lesson.  This may be a class that needs and wants more direct instruction, with constructionist practices sprinkled in…. the balance had been too constructionist.

3.  I had not been getting enough sleep.  When given the choice between working on a lesson plan or going to bed,  I chose to stay up late to get prepared and in the process getting less and less efficient.  I’m currently reading brain rules by John Medina for one of the ARC classes and it became obvious that I wasn’t doing those things that will make me a successful student.  (I moved from my seat to the treadmill and read the rest of the book while walking 1.2 mph to get my oxygen flowing.  Not fast, but a pace that allows for me to read and still walk. ) I then went to bed 2 hours earlier than usual and woke up earlier than usual.  Between the call to my mentor and getting extra sleep, I felt more relaxed than I had all week.  I’m sure that my more relaxed state contributed to a better lesson.