Field Week 4: Classroom Management

Field Week 4: Classroom Management

Well that is a wrap on our first field rotation. Overall, I already feel like I have learned more than I did last semester in practicum. I feel way more comfortable in the classroom and working with students. I also feel a lot more confident in my teaching abilities as well. I taught my lesson on Tuesday, and the plan was to use a Geogebra applet as a launch for about 10-20 minutes, then work through the guided notes together. It was interesting, though, that the night before I wasn’t super nervous. I kept thinking to myself, I should be more nervous than this… But, I thought to myself hey, I am allowed to be okay and ready to teach. In my opinion, this already shows much more growth than I could’ve imagined would happen in just about a month. 

My lesson, though, did not go as planned. The applet that was supposed to take about 10-20 minutes ended up taking the whole class period. Whoops. But, this was good though! I was able to talk to every single student and help them out. Along with that, the students seemed to be enjoying their time and having fun using the applet. When reviewing the worksheet I had created to go along with the applet, there were some answers that I hadn’t even thought about that came up. This again, was good! One student brought up the concept of slopes when seeing if the lines were parallel. Mrs. Goney said to me after class that this was a really good insight because later in the unit they will be further exploring slopes of parallel lines. On top of that, many students that don’t usually participate were volunteering to share their answers and their work! This was another thing my mentor teacher pointed out and she said she was surprised at how many were responding!! I’m hoping that this carries over to the next rotation (and I think it will) because now I have high hopes for my unit plan.

The applet I used, drawn on to illustrate the connection between alternate interior and alternate exterior angles 

The one downside that I would say of my lesson was the classroom management aspect. When transitioning from the small group work with the applet to going over the worksheet together, I struggled to get the students' attention. This caused Mrs. Goney to step in and essentially tell them to all quiet down and go back to their seats. This is definitely an area I need to work on as I know I am soft spoken, so even if I’m talking at a normal volume sometimes I’m afraid I’m yelling. And we all know that just is not what you want in a classroom. So in this instance, I think this was more an issue of hearing as opposed to classroom management, but I suppose the two go hand in hand. Other than this though, I felt like I was able to ‘manage’ my students, especially during the time where students were sharing their answers. In second hour, we ended up using the ‘popcorn’ technique to go over the worksheet. Though, I can’t take all the credit as this was one of my student's ideas. But, it does remind me that sometimes classic classroom management techniques are pretty effective and fun (when you know your students and classroom dynamic). 

When my mentor teacher is teaching, there isn’t a whole lot that happens in terms of classroom management. This is mainly due to the fact that the students are older and responsible, and don’t really do a lot to cause disruptions or anything. The students all know to pay attention and follow along in the notes, and they know to work on assignments when it's work time. This is most likely a direct implication of classroom norms that have been set up this year and many years ago. The majority of the students have had my teacher in previous years for different math classes, so they all know her pretty well and her classroom rules/teaching style. Again, this illustrates the importance of having those classroom norms and consistency.

Well, this has been quite a fun few weeks. From various drills to refreshing my memory on high school geometry, I have had the high school experience all over again. But, with a fresh new perspective! I look forward to discussing our experiences in class, as I do have some questions that I’d love to hear others’ opinions on (for example, are guided notes student centered? How do you implement student centered and discovery based learning without overwhelming students and taking up valuable time? This was an issue I contemplated after my lesson, and can’t really ever get a direct answer on, especially when it comes to math). 

Anywho, I think we all have earned this fall break, even if it is only 2 days. *sigh*

Until next time!