Well this week definitely had its ups and downs. Loved the day-off in the middle of the week and had some great moments with students this week. Unfortunately I also had some moments I'd like to forget from this past week with students as well as myself.
For this week I've been working on prompting my students through verbal prompts only. It's been very different for me because I've grown accustomed to prompting students more through written prompts than verbal prompts so it took me awhile to get used to. As the week went on I tried different techniques in my classroom management, such as maintaining a quiet voice so that my students would have to be quiet to listen as well as encourage my students any time that I prompted them.
The encouraging happened today (Friday) and how quickly I failed at it. Before the day started I had asked Mrs. McLaughlin to interject any time I addressed a student and didn't encourage them sometime in the discussion. It just so happened that the second time that I talked with a student about staying on task and getting through his work do I hear Mrs. McLaughlin go "now was that encouraging?" Man I failed quickly today. It was a let down because I feel that I am great at encouraging students and really look for opportunities to do it. However, I found out that only after thirty minutes of instruction time I'm unable to do what I set out to do and encourage my students.
Even though it was only one day I think this was a great idea because I spent the rest of my day really checking myself to make sure that I did encourage my students when they needed some direction. I failed to encourage a couple more times today and looking back on it I understand why I didn't. A couple time I had lost my patience and was truly annoyed and it showed. In the future I need to practice being the encourager at all times, not just when I see something positive. I think encouragement is more valuable when something needs to be fixed and you get that vote of confidence from someone. Hopefully in the future I can be that person who really encourages and motivates others to get going.
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WOW...you are being very perceptive in your teaching! Such mature thoughts and now examining your techniques to become a better teacher. There are veteran teachers out there who aren't at the place you are! Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteHope you saw the references on some websites I sent you about the effect of technology on classroom management.
Have a good weekend. Let's beat Cincinnatti!
Kaye :-)
Mom and Dad Schlenke:
I'm very proud of the thoughtfulness of Joel and the huge amounts of progress he is making. He seems hard on himself at times, but isn't reflection what makes a good teacher. Always learning...as we want the students to do.
Hope to meet you in May!! Kaye McCrory