Effective Environments (TPE 2) 

When I began my student teaching this semester, Jessica Ojeda asked me, what is one thing you want learn the most from me? I quickly answered, "classroom management!" Without classroom management, students would never learn and a teacher would never rest. Students benefit from clear expectations, consistent routines, and well-defined procedures. Establishing a structured classroom environment helps students feel safe, secure, and focused on learning. 

Making other students feel safe was one of the classroom management strategies I tried to focus heavily on. In a fifth grade classroom students are at different levels of social emotional development and I was always scared they would get angry with me for being too strict. Especially since they talk poorly about one of the yard supervisors that is really strict with them. Nevertheless, I learned that fifth graders can be spoken to as adults. One day we were playing a kahoot and one student was getting so upset he was slamming his desk or hitting his ipad. I had him stay after class to talk about what happened. He said, "I was just upset" and I had to tell him "there is a difference between being upset and being aggressive, you were being aggressive." This explanation clicked for him because he didn't realize that his behavior had gone into aggression and other students in the classroom were feeling unsafe. From that moment on when I would catch him handling a situation well, I would give him positive praise. I talked to him respectfully and he understood where his behavior was not appropriate and made adjustments (TPE 2.1). 

At the beginning of the semester I found it difficult to move around the room. It could have been because I was nervous but it became one of my goals because if I was continuously at the front of the classroom I missed seeing when students were getting distracted. This helped maintain an effective environment because now students were following me with their eyes and I could prevent side conversations by simply standing near the students talking. Students were expected to be ready to be called on at any moment. (TPE 2.5). Also, Students were aware of classroom procedures such as the key words: cover-hover and Chin-it when working with white boards. Students knew to hold a thumbs up after being asked to talk to their group/shoulder partner as a way to say they are finished. During my two-week takeover, I had to remind students that they were still expected to do their classroom jobs because one afternoon the ipads were in piles on top of the ipad cart rather than placed inside by our ipad keepers. Moreover, when students were coming into the classroom in the morning they were forgetting that they should be working silently and independently on their weekly goals (TPE 2.6).   

To encourage positive interactions amongst all students I incorporated many different ways of selecting pairs/group for think-pair-shares. One was the use of equity sticks to pair students up. At the beginning of the semester students were also given randomly assigned colors that could have been blue, orange, yellow, or green. I could ask students to partner up with someone at another group that is the same color, a different color, or a certain color. There are also lessons when I strategically group students for collaborative assignments. For instance, during a Wit and Wisdom lesson that asked students to read an excerpt I created groups with students at diverse reading levels to ensure each group was able to finish with the amount of time given. Another lesson I had my lower readers in a group with me so that I could support them throughout read a chapter from The Phantom Tollbooth (2.2).