Module 3: Consequences, Withitness, and Stopping Problems Quickly.
For this module, Chapter 7 focuses on behavior and conditioning. It also brings up the idea of positive and negative reinforcement, and how to use it within the classroom. Chapter 13 is more centered on the classroom, and how to keep an academic environment. It also brings up the importance of the way a classroom is set up, and how to set up effects procedures, rules, and consequences. The book mentions how imperative it is to have a good relationship with your students, to be able to manage issues and to have a culturally diverse and relevant classroom.
Concept 1: Consequences
Summary: Chapter 13 is all about managing different kinds of classrooms. One of the hardest aspects of correcting behaviors is consequences. On page 517, the Woolfolk text gives some examples of proper consequences. Give students the power to choose their actions. To me, this may look like giving two positive options, and giving the student to the opportunity to pick from them. Encourage students to self-reflect. I think this can be done together while discussing what they should do in the future, after giving the student some time to think. The text states to separate the student from the behavior.
Reflection: In the classroom I work in now, our punishment is clipping down and then calling home. After interviewing a teacher, honestly, I don't really think a clip chart is the most appropriate for some of our students. Some of them can get extreme anxiety about being clipped, and then some don't even get phased by it. Getting a call home almost always escalates the behavior the next day on both sides. This upcoming school year, I will be working with this same class but a different teacher, so I hope to be able to suggest getting rid of this idea. Personally, I think I need to work on separating the student from negative behavior. If I am especially close with a student, sometimes a negative behavior affects my mood with them, which is not fair to the student. I need to work on the separation of negative behaviors and the student because it is the behavior that is the issue, not the student.
Concept 2: Withitness
Summary: The Woolfolk text describes "withitness" as "awareness of everything that is happening in the classroom" (Woolfolk, 2009. Page 523). Teachers that have withitness are the teachers that say they have "eyes" in the back of their head. Teachers like this interact with the whole classroom and don't get distracted by non-class related things. These teachers are constantly monitoring their students. When something happens, these teachers can de-escalate situations, but also know who exactly was involved and how to move forward without blaming the wrong students, also known as timing and target errors.
Reflection: It's important to always monitor your classroom. You don't ever want a classroom that feels that you're not paying attention, because they will take advantage of you. It's also important to have this awareness for safety reasons. If you were to be involved in a major situation, such as a fire or a fight in class, it's important to know where all of your students are, and who was doing what. I think this is just as important as your basic classroom management skills because these two things go together. You can't have great classroom management if you're not aware of everything going on in it.
Concept 3: Stopping Problems Quickly
Summary: This section really focuses on de-escalating instead of adding to behaviors. When a situation escalates, students may feel prideful and think that they have to disrespect you to keep good standing with other students. As the teacher, it is your responsibility to know how to react in different situations. The text recommends dealing with behavioral issues the same way you should with academic: as "an opportunity to learn a better way" (Woolfolk, 2009. Page 527). Some suggestions are: moving closer to or making eye contact with a student, so they know that you are aware of the behavior without verbalizing, name dropping a student into the lesson, or asking the student if they are aware that they are disrupting. If students start to drift from listening, add in a small activity, or give choices for activities. Remind the whole class of the expectation of the room.
Reflection: I chose this section because it is something I still don't know how to do. Sometimes I take it too personally when students are not paying attention. Instead of getting upset, I think I need to take a second, observe the situation, and then use one of these strategies. I like them all, because they do not embarrass the student. It also gives them the opportunity to change behaviors before it becomes something that needs to be seriously corrected. I think that I will be a lot more relaxed as a teacher when it comes to punishment, but I want to make sure that students still know that I am aware of the negative behaviors they may show.
Concept 1: Consequences
Summary: Chapter 13 is all about managing different kinds of classrooms. One of the hardest aspects of correcting behaviors is consequences. On page 517, the Woolfolk text gives some examples of proper consequences. Give students the power to choose their actions. To me, this may look like giving two positive options, and giving the student to the opportunity to pick from them. Encourage students to self-reflect. I think this can be done together while discussing what they should do in the future, after giving the student some time to think. The text states to separate the student from the behavior.
Reflection: In the classroom I work in now, our punishment is clipping down and then calling home. After interviewing a teacher, honestly, I don't really think a clip chart is the most appropriate for some of our students. Some of them can get extreme anxiety about being clipped, and then some don't even get phased by it. Getting a call home almost always escalates the behavior the next day on both sides. This upcoming school year, I will be working with this same class but a different teacher, so I hope to be able to suggest getting rid of this idea. Personally, I think I need to work on separating the student from negative behavior. If I am especially close with a student, sometimes a negative behavior affects my mood with them, which is not fair to the student. I need to work on the separation of negative behaviors and the student because it is the behavior that is the issue, not the student.
Concept 2: Withitness
Summary: The Woolfolk text describes "withitness" as "awareness of everything that is happening in the classroom" (Woolfolk, 2009. Page 523). Teachers that have withitness are the teachers that say they have "eyes" in the back of their head. Teachers like this interact with the whole classroom and don't get distracted by non-class related things. These teachers are constantly monitoring their students. When something happens, these teachers can de-escalate situations, but also know who exactly was involved and how to move forward without blaming the wrong students, also known as timing and target errors.
Reflection: It's important to always monitor your classroom. You don't ever want a classroom that feels that you're not paying attention, because they will take advantage of you. It's also important to have this awareness for safety reasons. If you were to be involved in a major situation, such as a fire or a fight in class, it's important to know where all of your students are, and who was doing what. I think this is just as important as your basic classroom management skills because these two things go together. You can't have great classroom management if you're not aware of everything going on in it.
Concept 3: Stopping Problems Quickly
Summary: This section really focuses on de-escalating instead of adding to behaviors. When a situation escalates, students may feel prideful and think that they have to disrespect you to keep good standing with other students. As the teacher, it is your responsibility to know how to react in different situations. The text recommends dealing with behavioral issues the same way you should with academic: as "an opportunity to learn a better way" (Woolfolk, 2009. Page 527). Some suggestions are: moving closer to or making eye contact with a student, so they know that you are aware of the behavior without verbalizing, name dropping a student into the lesson, or asking the student if they are aware that they are disrupting. If students start to drift from listening, add in a small activity, or give choices for activities. Remind the whole class of the expectation of the room.
Reflection: I chose this section because it is something I still don't know how to do. Sometimes I take it too personally when students are not paying attention. Instead of getting upset, I think I need to take a second, observe the situation, and then use one of these strategies. I like them all, because they do not embarrass the student. It also gives them the opportunity to change behaviors before it becomes something that needs to be seriously corrected. I think that I will be a lot more relaxed as a teacher when it comes to punishment, but I want to make sure that students still know that I am aware of the negative behaviors they may show.
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteYou made great points in your reflection. One that really stuck with me is your focus on stopping problems quickly. This is something that I am intimidated by as well. This is something that I believe will be learned over time. I think for me having been a teacher's assistant for the last 5 years or so I find that the teacher was always the one to deal with the issues so I never had to opportunity to learn what to do when a problem came about. When it comes to preventing problems in the classroom it all starts off with classroom management and students knowing what to expect from the teacher. There are obviously going to be times that students are going to disrupt the class. This is when stoping the problem before it escalates becomes important. The issue that many teachers come across when stopping the problem is how to go about it. Do you call out the student in front of the class? Do you quietly walk over to the student and let them know to stop by a touch of the hand? This is something that will be a learning curve especially during this year with everyone having to social distance.
Another concept that really caught my attention that you reflected on is withitness. You definitely want to make sure that every student is being heard and that you aren't giving more attention to one student more than another student. This is true in situations that may involve violence. There is going to be a time that you have to hear both sides of the story in order for students to feel like they have been heard even if they are in the wrong.