Classroom Management

Over the past few weeks, I have been reflecting on the advice given by Marzano's chapter on classroom management. There are three areas that I have been working on. Through the grid below, I will let you know the goals that I had, how I tackled those goals and the results that I saw.

Goals	Strategies	Results
Stay Consistent with Daily Routines	On the whiteboard I always list everything that will be done throughout the day. I made a point to stick to that list as much as I could. I was also very observant of the order that I wrote it in. I tend to shove too much into the day. Some of my students become overwhelmed. Last week I made sure that I was teaching with quality over quantity.	The students of mine, who read the schedule daily, loved that we were following the schedule how it appeared on the white board. They are very observant and find comfort in a daily schedule. I also felt more relaxed at the end of the day when I wasn’t trying to rush them through something that was added sporadically. They are already totally overwhelmed with the holidays, so sticking to the plan helped with classroom behaviors.
Set Classroom Goals	Timed Test Meetings – I met with all of my students before their weekly timed test to go over their past score/time. We talked about their goal for the next timed test. Writers Meeting – I met with each students after they had written their sloppy copy for their Holiday Traditions paper. We talked about ways to explain the RDF a little more and found some grammar errors that could be fixed.	These meetings gave each one of these lessons/assessments a purpose. I feel that my students just, “do the work” without thinking about the importance of the activity most of the time. They enjoyed the individual time that they spent with me and I felt that they tried harder on the final writing project and timed test. After the timed test, I could see them counting their problems to see if they had actually met their goal. It did take a large chunk out of my day to have these meetings, but I think that they were worth it.
Set Expectations	I set up a behavior plan for one of my students who struggle to follow classroom expectations and who also struggle with respecting his classmates.	The first week went ok, but the following two weeks were a struggle. He did fine in the areas that were set up on the plan and moved his behavior struggles to other times within the day that were never problems before. Almost every student struggles with behavior right before winter break, so this was not the right time to set up a plan for him. I will make changes to his plan after break.

Educreations App

For the past three months, our Power Half Hour has focused on Foundational Skills. Our grade level did not have power half hour last week, so I did a little review project during that time using Educreations. I instructed my students to have five pages in their slide show. They had to make an individual page for synonyms, antonyms, verbs, adjectives and nouns. On these slides they included a picture and some sort of writing. When they recorded their voices, they had to explain each element. I was very impressed with the results of this project. They were able to explain the skill, and went a step farther by giving examples of each skill. Most impressively, they were able to find/take pictures, add text and voice, and save their slide show. They enjoyed every minute of this project. Some students chose to work together while, some preferred to work by themselves. I liked using this app as a review project. I will definitely use it again. They catch on to the technology side of things so quickly! I included an example of one of the slide shows that was created!
Example of Slide Show

New Tech Tool

Animoto Book Report

Over the last week we have been reading holiday stories during our regular reading block and I have also been reading a short picture book during teacher read time. The kids love it and they enjoy learning how others celebrate! Today I put every holiday story out for them to create an Animoto book report. We only have the free version on our Ipads, but they still enjoyed creating a small book report! On the SAMR model, this is only a substitution for learning the reading concepts. I do feel that my students are gaining technology skills through manipulating the Ipad with this app. Making a video is very technical and it requires my students to follow many steps in the correct sequence. For these skills I defiantly feel like I am moving up the SAMR ladder. These are the steps that my students followed to create their holiday book reports. I also included a sample of a quick book report!  

Step One - Go to the ANIMOTO App

Step Two -Press Create

Step Three- Take PICTURES

·         Cover, Main Character, Setting, Problem, Solution

Touch the pictures you are using so they have a green check mark .......Press USE

Step Four – Select Style and Music ......Press Next
Step Five – Name Video (Your Name) Open Up the Middle (TRICKY)
Step  Six  – Add 5 Text Slides  - Make sure that they are in the order you want them in! Include Jot Dots!

Character  ___________________

Setting __________________________

Problem ________________________

Solution ________________________

Rating ______________________

Step Seven – Press Preview then Save Video – Press Play
Holiday Book Report

 

Favorite Holiday Lesson

I love teaching the kids about Hanukkah! We read Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel. This is a fantastic book. Hershel travels to the haunted synagogue at the top of the hill to save Hanukkah! He tricks several goblins along the way into lighting the menorah candle! The kids love that this holiday story includes scary goblins! I accompany this lesson with letter writing. My students create their own "good" goblin. They create the goblin with construction paper adding as many eyes, ears, arms, etc. as they see fit.They glue their goblin to one side of a large piece of construction paper. On the other side my students write a letter to Hershel, coming from their created goblin. They love naming their goblin! We also play the dreidle game when everyone is finished. I will post some pictures when my kids complete this assignment next week.

Example of Letter
Dear Hershel,
       Thank you for saving Hanukkah! I would like to tell you that I am nothing like my brothers and sisters. They are naughty and I am nice! I love celebrating Hanukkah! Eating potato latkes and playing the dreidle game are my favorite traditions. I am so embarrassed that my brother tried to steal your gold! I am so happy that you tricked him! Thanks again!
                                                                    Your Biggest Fan,
                                                                      Buck the Goblin

Tech Tool

The new tech tool that I have integrated over the past two weeks is the app, Fluency Pro. Lori shared this app with me and showed me how she uses it class. I love it! This is a very simple app, which makes it very easy to integrate, and my students have been able to do it independently at a center. This app focuses on fluency. Last week, I shared the four main components of fluency with my students; punctuation, accuracy, rate and expression. We talked about the importance of each component and practiced what they sounded like. The students took turns throughout the week visiting the fluency center. They recorded themselves using Fluency Pro for one minute. They then listened to themselves with a self evaluation form that Lori gave me, and evaluated themselves in each area. At the bottom of the sheet there is a spot for a reflection goal. It was very cool to see what area they felt needed to be worked on the most! This will become a fluency tool that is used weekly or every two weeks throughout this year, and probably on to the next!
I progress monitor 6 of my students using the FAST progress monitoring system. When they read, I recorded them on Fluency Pro too. When they were finished progress monitoring, we listened to the recording. It was so cool to see them listen and actually think about where they can make improvements in their reading.
Fluency Pro = Very Simple and Cool App!

Instructional Strategies

Marzano's list of instructional strategies was a helpful reminder. I liked the comparison of strategies to a chess game. There are so many moves that we can make as teachers. Three strategies that I need to make improvements on are...

•  Asking students to generate mental images and draw pictures to represent what they are learning
• This type of strategy would be great for all students. Through this type of reflection and generation of ideas, I will be able to tell if they have fully grasped the concept and if they are able to go a step farther, making connections.
• Providing feedback and learning goals throughout a unit
• This strategy is so important, but I always find myself saying that we do not have any time! I need to make time! The value of setting goals and knowing where your expectations are is very important. I would like to set goals at the beginning of large projects and units.
• Asking students to assess themselves throughout a unit
• I rarely ask my students to reflect on how they are doing. I would like to set up graphs for their timed tests. I would also like to show them how their writing and reading fluency has been improving throughout the school year. They will be proud of their accomplishments and will be able to see the value in learning. These reflections will help them become accountable for what they are learning and hopefully drive them forward.

Teacher Level Factors

I totally agree with the factors that Marzano identifies as significant. Before reading chapter eight, I thought that the school environment would have a greater impact on student achievement. I am partly relieved that as a teacher I have a high level of control. I am the one who has the choice to be an effective teacher to my students. I feel that the factors that I am the strongest in are classroom curriculum design and instructional strategies. I have wonderful classroom management with “good” kids but I do feel that I struggle with students who have behavioral issues. This is an area of weakness for me. I wonder if I am an effective teacher to those students. I need to find and work on strategies to help these students, so I can be equally effective with them.  Curriculum design is a passion of mine. I love to create and make new lessons. At times, I feel stressed that I cannot use the “regular” curriculum with most of my students. For example, I have two students in class who are testing out as an average second grade learners. Most are far above grade level and six students need extra accommodations to learn second grade curriculum. This factor is my strength, and I truly love finding a way to teach students at their level.  I would have added goal setting to the teacher factors. I feel that we need to know where we are going to reach our learners.  I like that Marzano focused on three factors. They are huge, but I totally agree that teachers need to be strong in these factors to be effective.