Classroom Management for Dummies

The biggest thing that teachers struggle with is classroom management. As an aspiring teacher I want my classroom to be exciting and the environment to be safe. Students with orderly classrooms and fewer disruption learn more. In the organized classrooms teacher have planned and talked about the rules of the classroom since day one. As a teacher you have to lay out these rules in the beginning so the students know what to expect. A way to do this is modeling and practicing, this will get the students into a routine. Anita goes into detail about what makes a good teacher. The first aspect is teachers care about their students, exercise authority, and make learning interesting by being creative. Students that feel like they belong in school are least likely to drop out and more motivated. It is important that teachers put their students before anyone. Anita did an excellent job of explaining how to manage your classroom and techniques that some teachers might use.

The video gives some examples of how to manage your classroom. In the beginning of this video you can get a clear sense of what classroom management really is. I recommend watching this video because it will show you ways to excel in classroom management.

Good Ol' Procrastination

Anita first starts off explaining what procrastination is. A good way to explain this word is looking at this blog. I only had three more blogs to do for Anita's podcast, but I waited the last minute to do them. According to Anita's research procrastination is "extremely prevalent." A high statics for college students was 80-95% of students procrastinate their work. That is a lot of students pushing their work aside. The work that is done the night before is usually poor quality, more errors, less original, and borrowed from other people. Even though Anita makes it seem that procrastination is bad, she highlights what good comes from it. If you gather material for your essay beforehand and have a background knowledge of what your doing. Anita then asked a question, why do people procrastinate? The obvious answer is either the task is too challenging or the dead line is later on in the semester. I have a problem with putting things to the side. In the middle of the semester when a professor hands out an essay that is due at the end. I won't look at it until it's the week of. That is a habit that I and many people suffer from. We are consumed with other work that needs to be handed in before that one specific task. A good way to avoid procrastination is taking little bites from the assignment. Each day do a little bit and eventually the work will get done. The other aspect that I liked was setting goals for yourself. Every time you reach these goals you reward yourself. This podcast was very helpful and I think every college student should listen to this podcast. It doesn't matter how many times  listen to this podcast, procrastination will still be my biggest weakness.

Oh Tests!

This podcast starts off with some soothing music that makes an entrance into Anita. Her main focus on this podcast is talking about test taking skills and how to succeed in test. The first thing she mention is how anxiety makes the students panic and no learn the material. I can relate to this podcast because I suffer from test anxiety. During high school, I would start panicking and my body would start to shake. Having this anxiety did not help me do well on tests and learn the material. Anita talks about good ways to fight this anxiety. One way that she tells us, is to have a good strategy for studying. Anita then goes through a step by step for before, during, and after the test. The strategies that she supplied us with would help any student that has anxiety. I really liked how she explained what to do during the test. The student has to make sure to focus on one question at a time. She also states if you feel nervous breathe and take a break for a second. This podcast was very insightful for me and my test taking. All the key strategies that she explained I will used during every test.

Final

The final project that I constructed shows all the information that I learned in this amazing course. In this project I showed my ideal classroom and what type of philosophy I would be using. The two different websites I used were Google Docs and Present me. This was my first time using Present me and it was easy to work with. The only problem that I faced using Present me was adding a video along with my speech. It would not allow me to post my slides from Goggle Docs which made it difficult for my class to follow along. Overall this presentation tied up everything I learned in this class into one PowerPoint. The other aspect that I really liked was adding my presentation on Live Binders. This allows other people to access my work and read about my ideal classroom. There are two links below that have the PowerPoint and the audio. I hope you enjoy :)

My Ideal Classroom

Presentation

Cognition

For the create-evaluate-relate I decided to make a mind map to convey my ideas. The first picture shows how I use metacognition and explain how I use it everyday. There are a few examples that I posted on this map.

 

 

For the evaluate part I also created another mind map. Instead, this time I used the map to show the different steps of how to clean a dish. I know this seems pretty basic, but in your head you are always thinking about what comes next after you are done with each step.

 

 

 

The last part it asked us to visit a website that helped think cognitively and explored different ideas. Exploratorium is a museum of experience. The thing that interests me about this website is, you don't have to specifically visit this museum to know what's inside. It has different links that you can click on to find out more information. Looking through the different sites, the one that caught my attention was the Tactile Dome. The name its self sounds pretty cool. According to the website this dome is designed for you to be in complete darkness. You never know if you are going to slide, turn, bump, etc. This dome is created to develop your senses (mostly touch). Overall this site gives a lot of information on the museum and you can see how it helps people cognitively.

 



 

 



Behaviorism

The PowerPoint that I created gives you many ways to use the behaviorism theory in a classroom. I hope these three ways help you become more aware of this theory. Within this PowerPoint I focused on two theorists. Towards the end you can see that there is a video that goes into depth with one of the theorists. I hope you enjoy this Behaviorism  PowerPoint.

Tests

Personality Test
This website makes you click on a picture that you think is more attractive. From that picture it gives you an analysis of what you might be. I ended up picking the introspective sensitive reflective. Below it briefly describes that that means.

Introspective sensitive reflective

 

 

You come to grips more frequently and thoroughly with yourself and your environment than do most people. You detest superficiality; you'd rather be alone than have to suffer through small talk. But your relationships with your friends are very strong, which gives you the inner tranquility and harmony that you require. You do not mind being alone for extended periods of time; you rarely become bored.

 

 

Color Quiz

Like the test above the color test is to determine what your personality is like. I personally enjoyed taking this test because it was like a matching game. My overall results were:

 

Your Existing Situation "Very emotional and artistic, enjoys being surrounded by beauty and art. Looking for a partner who always has an eye for beauty and who enjoys close, loving relationships."

 

Your Stress Sources "Has high standards and wants to make friends with those who have equally high standards; however, she has been unsuccessful in building these types of relationships. she is feeling under appreciated and her self-esteem is damaged because of it. she is uncomfortable with the situation and wishes to escape, but refuses to make compromises or lower her standards. Puts off resolving her problems because she afraid of the conflicts it may cause. In order to feel secure, she needs to feel appreciated by others so they will do what she asks of them and respect her opinions"

 

Your Restrained Characteristics "Tries to participate and involve herself in things going on around him; however, avoids conflict and arguments to reduce stress and tension." "Seeking to broaden her horizons and believes her hopes and dreams are realistic. Worries she may not be able to do the things she wants and needs to escape to a peaceful, quiet environment in order to restore her confidence." "Believes her hopes and dreams are realistic and sticks to them stubbornly, even though circumstances are forcing her to compromise. Very precise in the qualities she seeks in a partner." Although she is able to find contentment through sexual activity, she feels hopeless to change her problems and difficulties and continues to make the best of what she has." "Believes her hopes and dreams are realistic and sticks to them stubbornly, even though circumstances are forcing her to compromise. Very precise in the qualities she seeks in a partner."

 

Your Desired Objective "Longs for a loving, caring, and supportive relationship, and fanaticizes of living in perfect harmony with others. Has a strong desire for tenderness and affection and enjoys things which are artistically pleasing to the eye."

 

Your Actual Problem "Impressed by unique and one of a kind things, and by people with exceptional personalities. Tries to takes the characteristics she likes in other people and apply it to herself as well as coming across as a unique individual."

 

Your Actual Problem #2 "Feeling tension and stress brought on by situations which are out of her control, leaves her feeling helpless, anxious, and in adequate. she tries to escape into a fantasy world where things go her way and her desires are easier to reach."

 

I decided to do two IQ tests because it's better to have two different takes on something. Through these two tests they were spot on with my personality. I know sometimes these tests can mean nothing, but I can relate to the different results. These tests can be used in a classroom to help students discover who they really are. They are also easy enough to take because you don't need any prior knowledge.

 

 

Violence?

Violence is prevalent in today's society. As teachers we should know how to handle this problem and take action. We can see violence through television, video games, at home, etc. In order to fully understand the concept of violence we need to fully asses what makes children cause violence. I made a PowerPoint on the different causes and hopefully these three video will help you understand the importance of stopping violence in schools.

Why All The Violence?

Caitlin's Presentation

Logical-mathematical: Matt

Linguistic: Erin

Musical: Rachael Smith

Spatial: Dad

Bodily-Kinesthetic: Erin

Interpersonal: Alyssa

Intrapersonal: Mom

Naturalist: Erin

Journal Writing(linguistic and intrapersonal)- Each morning I would have my students write down anything they are thinking about. Then I would take a moment and let everyone share their ideas. It can either be a picture or words. 

Dr. Kohleber's Theory

One of the YouTube videos I watched was a description of Kohleber's theory. Before watching this video I thought it was going to be dull and not interesting. When I started watching it there were some funny parts and they related his theories to movies. His main theory was focusing on the moral development with different age groups. Kohleber had three different stages of development. The different stages are:

1. Preconventional- Values in external events   
2. Conventional- Preforming right roles 
3. Postconventional- Shared standards, rights, and duties

The most important factor is that children DO NOT skip stages, they simply build upon each stage. One of the stages I am most interested in is the first stage. Seeing as I want to be a childhood teacher Preconventional is the most important stage. During this stage children are egocentric which means they care about themselves. In order to fix this I would have to build a lesson plan on sharing. This will help build a foundation of sharing and eventually move up to the conventional stage. Childhood is the most important grade to teach because that's where children begin their learning. Teachers have to understand that whatever they teach the student will grasp their concept. Meaning if a teacher is simply teaching the student the wrong way to spell, they will still carry that on in the next grade. It is so important for teachers to know basic skills.

 

This picture clearly shows how children can be egocentric. Everyone goes through this stage when they are younger. Whether it be over a toy or even a friend. The child does not want to share what they have. 

Parents

As teachers we have to take into consideration which are the parents. Forming a relationship with the parents is as important with forming relationships with your students. The main reason we need to form a relationship is to help their child work better in the classroom. Being able to have this relationship the teacher can tell their parents what their child is struggling with and what they excel in. Not all parents aren't going to form this bond between the teacher. There are a few parenting styles that we can begin to see as a teacher. The four parenting types that I learned are: authoritative, permissive, authoritarian, indulgence, and disengaged. Each of these specific parenting styles has their own attribute. Authoritative is high acceptance and high control, meanwhile authoritarian is low acceptance and high control. The last two they are the complete opposites of each other. Disengaged is low acceptance and low control. While indulgence is high acceptance and low control. As teachers we never know what types of parents we are dealing with. The only way to find out is meeting with the parents and see their attitude toward their child. Stressing the teacher-parent relationship is so important in the classroom.

Teaching Styles - This website gives you a diagram of the different parenting styles. It also goes into depth about each one. I found this sight to be very insightful and an easy way to learn the different parenting styles. Above this link I displayed a graph that you are going to find on this website. This graph can help you understand the concepts. I hope this helped :)

Culture's Within The Classroom

Anita always has insightful pod casts about many aspects that you might face in the classroom. The key idea that she discussed in this podcast was the diverse cultures in a classroom. As a teacher we have to take into consideration about the different cultures. A study was shown that 18% of the United States civilians speak another language at home. Half the population speaks Spanish. These diverse speeches are going to increase as time goes on. We never want to push different cultures on the students, but we want to give the students insight on some cultures. A valid point that Anita brings up is the fact that Chinese people have a hard time learning English in the early grade. They have to start off with the basics like: phonics, phonemes, etc. The one aspect that I really enjoyed about this podcast was the different traditions that were involved with each culture. Anita said that in Columbia it is rude to use the teachers name. Instead they had to call the teacher, "teacher." There are a variety of cultures we are going to face in the classroom. As teachers we have to accommodate them in our lessons plans.

This video shows what diversity is and what it means. The one thing I really like about this YouTube video are the pictures of many students. It also shows many ways to incorporate different cultures within a lesson plan. I really hope you in enjoy it as much as I did.

Intelligence?

I thought that interviewing people would a be a stressful task. While I was doing this activity I found it to be very insightful and fun. The task was to ask five different people what they thought the word intelligence means. To my surprise everyone thought of different meanings. Before I asked anyone I decided to really define intelligence in my own terms. What I came up with is, "the process of learning and developing different ideas to better oneself." While I was conducting these mini interviews, I thought everyone would have the same thought. Well I was completely wrong. Everyone had there own little twist on the word. To fully understand everyone's answer I developed a PowerPoint, What is intelligence? If you are still curious about what intelligence means feel free to look at this PowerPoint. Hopefully you can get a few ideas from this slideshow. Thank you!

Theorists

During this Chapter I pulled out key ideas that were important to me. I found that the important aspects were the different theorists. I am a childhood major and Piaget has been an important theorists, in order to really understand children. These two theorists were very interesting to learn about. The main ideas that I picked out were the stages that Piaget developed and the important ideas that Vygotsky supplied us. I hope you enjoy!

 

Evaluate: 

Piaget's Stages This website supplies the different stages that Piaget developed. The best aspect about this site is there is a recording so if you didn't want to read it you can listen to the digital version.

 

Vygotsky Even though Vygotsky doesn't have stages. This PDF will give you the key ideas and theories that Vygotsky developed. If you flip through it you can see it includes Piaget's stages too.

 

Relate:

I think these two theorists are important to study because they supply you with the development of children. Being able to grasp the concepts will help teachers really understand the development of learning.

 

 

 

 

Wonderful Anita

During this podcast Anita talks about the No Child Left Behind Act and the consequences that schools most face sometimes. In the beginning she begins discussing when teachers discussed the test results from the previous year. If this was my first time sitting with teachers discussing the test results I would be very nervous. I know how serious test scores are in schools. Going over the test results would help me understand what quota I need to meet each year. This will also make me push myself to be a good teacher to my students. Not only trying to get good test scores, but help the students develop their knowledge. If my students don't meet the annual progress then I will try different approaches to teaching. Obviously if my students are continually failing the exams then it must be the way I was teaching it. I would find different ways of teaching whether it be one on one work or spending more time on one subject. Eventually I will begin to see which process works by the test results.  Yes, these tests are annoying and make lesson plans teach to the test. One way I would change the lesson plan is making the subjects fun and appealing. Instead of giving a lecture I would help my students learn by doing more hands on activities. Another way I can help is including the students interest. By incorporating what the students like, this will help them learn better.

NCLB

No Child Left Behind Act was signed by George Bush on January 8, 2002. This act was aiming to improve on education for disadvantaged students. In order to do that Bush designed: annual testing, academic progress, report cards, and teacher qualifications. Overall I think the NCLB Act was a good aspect to add in schools today. The only thing that I am skeptical on is the annual testing. Teachers nowadays "teach to the test." They focus on the content that is going to be on the test so they don't look like failures as teachers. This failure can cause a lot of big problems. According to Anita Wollfolk schools could be shut down if they do not make the expected grades. The one aspect that I would like to know more about this act is the different teacher qualifications. What type of qualifications are exactly looked at when applying for a teaching job. A big issue that is rising up today is, "Should teachers' jobs and salaries depend on how much their students learn?" I think that they shouldn't depend on how much they learn. You can be the best teacher and students will still not understand the material. It's hard to rely on the children, they are still developing and learning a lot during this time. I think the salary should reflect on how well you teach in the classroom. Making sure every student is involved and having creative ideas. If teachers salaries were based on the students, teachers would be more aware. Teachers would try everything to make their students excel in the classroom. Every day in the classroom teachers should always want to help their students. There are too many teacher out their that don't really care about teaching, "It's just another paycheck."

Teachers play a main role in students lives. That's why it is so important to form a relationship with your students. Most students need someone to look up to and most of time it's their teacher. I know there is one teacher that will always be my role model. The reason why I liked him so much is because he showed that he cared. When teachers show that they care about your learning, students will begin to see a purpose. Not only showing that they care but their love for the subject that they are teaching. If you can find different activities that are fun and helpful in the classroom students will begin to retain the information. These are also the different attributes to explaining what qualifies as a good teacher. There will always be some students in the classroom that will be able to retain more information then the others. A way to help students is to do a lot of one on one work with each student. This will help them develop at their own rates and also begin that connection between teacher and student. I personally think that it is possible to be a personable, caring, and effective teacher. Becoming a teacher you have to have a open personality with your students. Also mentioned above you have to care about your students progress. If you do not care about your students they are not going to care about learning. As a teacher you have to become a positive role model to your students. The relationship that your form with your teacher is so important.

What makes a good teacher?

This video gives a good description of what makes a good teacher. The aspect that I really like about this video is getting students perceptions on what qualities they like about teachers. I am hoping to have these qualities when I become a teacher. This video can also be helpful for inspiring and current teachers. 

Progress

 

So far this class has made me develop my technology skills. Taking the pre-test and post-test on chapter one was successful. I really like these two tests because the pre-test gives you a background on knowledge you might already know. The post-test you can see better results because you read the chapter and now know a lot more information. I'm having a hard time looking up my results for my post-test but can't seem to find it. Below are my test results from the pre-test. I am hoping to find my other results very soon.

 

 

 

 

WWYD?

In class Dr. Smirnova gave us a situation about children understanding symbolism. To really understand what this word means you have to know the definition. Although, the students are thinking about their different experiences that they had with symbolism. You can't tell them that they are wrong because they are critically thinking about the ways that they have seen "symbolism." I would begin reading a poem that is clear to have symbolism in the writing. After reading the poem I would explain the definition of symbolism. This will get the students to relate the symbolism found in the poem. Connecting the symbolism and the poem will help the students pick out what is identified. Reading the poem will help them begin to see the underlying idea of the poem. After reading and telling the definition I would write down the different ideas that they came up with. Doing these different activities will help the students to understand what symbolism means. If the students are still not grasping the concept I would not give up, but make a new lesson that might work.

Past Knowledge

History of Psychology

1. There are many roles that are produced in psychology and learning. The one role that psychology partakes is helping measure the probability that an aim is attainable. This may sound complicated, but what this really means is, "Certain writers about education state or imply that the knowledge and skill and habits of behavior which are taught to the children of today..." (Green). Not only is psychology helpful subject it also incorporated education. The main idea that stuck out in this article was, "Psychology contributes to a better understanding of the aims of education by defining them, making them clearer; by limiting them, showing us what can be done and what can not" (Green). Knowing the different aspects of psychology will help us better understand education.

2. So far these different roles that Thorndike supplied us with haven't changed in education. The one aspect that has not changed was psychology shares anatomy, history, anthropology, etc. In classrooms today these subjects are taught on a daily basis. Most of the claims that Thorndike makes can be developed through childhood until adulthood.

Professional Development Plan

1. There are many aspects to a scholarly research. In order to fully understand a research you can either look it up online or in books. This research plan is usually written by a researcher or an expert in the field within a college or university. Most of the research includes illustrations, footnotes, biographies, graphs, etc. The main idea for this scholarly research is experimentation of whatever subject the researchers is interested in.

2. Being able to access the scholarly research is fairly simple. The best way to look up these experimentations is to type the exact research in the Google search bar. Google will also help you develop a scholarly research if you are inquiring about one. Another aspect that might help you is to look at your college website. Each college should have a website for scholarly books and/or journals.

3. A good way to use a scholarly research is if you are doing experiments. Like I said in the beginning this is if a researches is conducting a experiment and he/she wants to write down their hypothesis and the final conclusion. A scholarly research will also help you write down your information about how to teach in a classroom or write a lesson plan. This way it can be saved and aspiring students can take a look at your work.

Bubble Map

Throughout Chapter one there was a lot of information to pull out from the text. This bubble map is an example of some ideas that I found useful in the classroom. Using the different researches will help enhance your teaching and sampling in the classroom. Out of all the research, I think participant observation is the best. This gives a good understanding of students and teachers perspectives within the classroom. Overall this map clearly displays the definitions and concepts of the different types of research. I hope you enjoy :)

Evaluate:

UMich  This link supplies you with the different types of research that supplied in the classroom.

J Stor This link is about the impact of students classroom evaluations on students.

Relate: 

These direct studies can help conduct research in your classroom. Also can explain the different types of research to help better your classroom. Thorndike also put these different researches in his theories. Along with the blog above this can relate to the scholarly journals. 

From the top

The first assignment that was constructed for homework was watching two different podcasts. The first podcast that I was introduced to was the importance of teaching by Anita. Anita talks about a major goal, which is to go "beyond personal experiences and to study teaching and learning systematically and scientifically." Students conduct state exams every year, but the students that had the same "productive" teacher for four years will do better on the tests. The most important factor that teachers most develop are relationships with their students. The key idea that I got out of this podcast was to make the students feel connected in the classroom. A way of doing this is showing them that you care.

The second podcast Anita was discussing the importance of faculty meetings and standardized testing. She begins talking about the how the meeting was held and the important subjects that were introduced. Anita then jumps into the No Child Left Behind Act. This act requires a standardized reading and math test have to be given to all students grades three through eight. Schools are judged to see if they are making any progress in the classroom. There are many consequences if the school did not reach that appropriate score. This included schools getting shut down and other severe consequences. Many teachers get discouraged because they are "teaching to the test" and not making a creative lesson plan. To tie it up Anita explains how to tackle these problems when entering in a classroom. The one way is to know the tests and making accommodations for the different students in the classrooms.

To go along with the podcasts I also took a look at Tips and Strategies from First Year Teachers. This website gave some insight of what to expect on the first day in the classroom. A few key ideas that I pulled out from the website is to be prepared before entering in the room. Even though it's the first day you should always set goals and rules for the class to follow. These two aspects will help the class become more familiar with the class setting and the main purpose of the class. This website will be a good source for my first day of teaching. Yes, the first day can be jittery but it's a good way to form relationships with students and become familiar with each one.

Fresh Start

On the first class we were told we would be exploring different tools. Of course we were told we be teaching to digital learners. We were told about this video that describes the new digital world of education. The video is called did you know.

One of the first projects was to introduce ourselves digitally. We were offered 15 digital tools and i choose Animoto.