Case Study Involving Classroom and Behavioral Management
Beginning the Lesson
Miss Walker begins the day by taking attendance and lunch count. I thought it was important to note that Miss Walker took advantage of this opportunity to involve her students and have them use their math skills. As soon as role was taken, Miss Walker had her students prepare for their first task of the day. She handed out 3 stories with questions at the end for them to answer and gave specific instructions. I think it is also important to note that she instructed the children to color the pictures on the stories when they were finished so that they would be able to stay busy.
Once the students seemed to understand their task and began working diligently, Miss Walker called the first reading group back to the reading table. During this process, the first example of classroom management takes place. As the reading group was making their way back to the table, 2 boys pretended that they were going to join the group. However, when Miss Walker looked at them, they took their seats and continued working. Miss Walker chose not to comment on this behavior. I believe this was an effective method of classroom management. Although Miss Walker chose not to verbally address the situation, the boys seemed to respect her authority enough to behave.
On page 483 of Ormrod, establishing an atmosphere that is businesslike and nonthreatening is thoroughly discussed. If Miss Walker would have laughed at the boys, they may have perceived that as the teacher thinking it was okay and even appreciated to misbehave. The atmosphere would not have been businesslike. On the other hand, if Miss Walker would have singled out the boys and disciplined them, she would have been creating a threatening environment and intimidated her students.
Handling Disruptions
The reading group assembled themselves at the reading table while Miss Walker made sure the other students remained on task. Miss Walker then took her seat with the reading group and had them go over the days of the week and identify which one contained a consonant digraph. I thought that was a creative way to start her lesson rather than just asking her students what a consonant digraph was or to give an example on their own. She then listed several words with the same consonant digraph sound and had the students identify which digraph the words had in common. Miss Walker continued her lesson and was interrupted by one of the boys who pretended to join the group earlier. Here is where the second example of classroom management takes place. Miss Walker chose to address Frank and ask him what he wanted. He told her he was tired and she responded by having him go back to work and telling him he could rest later. I thought this was an effective way of managing the class because Miss Walker addressed the situation without losing track of the lesson she was focused on.
However, I don’t know if this was an effective way of managing the individual student. Frank was most likely considered lazy, but the task may not have been challenging enough. One alternative would have been to give Frank a different task, or to let the students work quietly in groups while they were waiting. She also did not lose her patience with Frank and told him what he needed to do in a precise and authoritative manner, which he seemed to eventually respect. However, he may have gotten more out of the lesson if he would have had a more challenging task. Page 450 of our text lists several tips for conducting good in-class activities. Two of these tips are to accommodate student diversity in abilities and interests, as well as generate students’ interest in accomplishing the task. It would have been more beneficial if the stories Miss Walker handed out pertained to something the students were already interested in. One way to do this would be to conduct student interest surveys and refer back to them.
As Miss Walker and the reading group continued with their digraph lesson, Miss Walker noticed that Frank was resting his head on the desk and not doing anything. Rather than interrupt her lesson she chose to let Frank make his own decision about how he was going to use his time. This is the third example of classroom management that took place. I also thought this was an effective way to manage her class. If Linda had interrupted her own lesson to direct Frank, not only would the lesson have been interrupted, but also Frank would not have been able to make the right decision on his own. I think that because Linda waited, it was more meaningful that Frank took the responsibility upon himself to complete the work assigned.
Miss Walker gave Frank the opportunity to demonstrate self-control and make his own choices. On page 484 of Ormrod it talks about giving students a sense of control. It also states reasons on how to do this such as; providing opportunities for students to make choices about how to complete their assignments or spend class time, and enabling them to set some of their own priorities. Miss Walker made a wise decision in allowing Frank to demonstrate self-control.
Handling Transitions
After Miss Walker had practiced the consonant digraphs with the group she used an activity in which they located digraphs in words and made a tongue twister out of the words the students used. I thought this was a creative activity that would help students to remember what digraphs were and what they sounded like. Another example of classroom management took place during the actual lesson. Miss Walker made a smooth transition between the digraph task and the vowel-pair tasks. She pointed out that both of the tasks dealt with two letters, however the first dealt with the consonants, and the second with vowels. She also brought up the rule, “when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking.” I thought this was a great transition because she connected ideas and kept the students thinking without confusing them. This was an effective method of managing a classroom by creatively keeping students on task and involved in learning.
Another example of a transition involved the very end of the lesson. Linda went over the basics of a dictionary and had the students do a worksheet involving guidewords on their own. She was able to help them shift gears from talking and working in a group to working on their own. I thought this was an awesome way to end the lesson and prepare the students to work on their own again. On page 490 of Ormrod it talks about how transitions establish procedures for moving from one activity to the next. The strategy that Miss Walker used for transitions seemed to be effective in helping her students adjust to different tasks.
Overall classroom management
The final example of classroom management that I am going to discuss involves the topic of direct instruction. In Ormrod, (chapter 13, p 444) it is explained that direct instruction involves a variety of techniques designed to keep students continually and actively engaged in learning and applying classroom subject matter. Miss Walker definitely used this approach throughout the lesson. She was able to involve the students in the group by asking direct questions and making sure everyone understood. During the digraph lesson she asked each student an individual question giving everyone a chance to speak up and also creating an opportunity to discern where each individual child was at. She also went over previously learned material and presented new material in small, carefully, sequences steps. Each of the steps involved in direct instruction, listed on p 444 of our text, was somehow addressed by Miss Walker. I believe that direct instruction is an excellent and effective way to manage a classroom.
To conclude this analysis I will briefly discuss my overall thoughts about the lesson observed. I believe that Miss Walker did a wonderful job overall of using time wisely. She made sure her students understood what they were to do and worked very intently with the group. The lesson itself was creatively planned and kept the students interested in the task at hand. The students seemed to comprehend everything that was presented. The only thing I would change has to do with what the other students were doing when they were not in their reading groups. I would make sure the task they were working on by themselves was something that could keep their interest. I may also consider having them read the stories in groups because it is probably easy to get distracted while a different group is having their lesson.
Sources Used:
Ormrod, J.E. Educational Psychology, Developing Learners. 4th Edition
c. 2003 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
