What do you not like about the set of rules you selected as a poor example?
Consequences/Rewards: At first glance, I think it's safe for me to say that this teacher have a reward/coercive authority base. Now, maybe that's not their entire authority base because we learned that some teachers can change it up every once in a while depending on different situations. But for me, I think it's important to have these rules/expectations in the first place because I want to teach them to be a good person overall in a school setting, not because they will get a reward for it. Maybe giving the students a motivation to be good and hope that it becomes a habit isn't a bad idea in the long run, but then we also have to think of the "difficult" students, the one whose behaviors are a little harder to manage because of various reasons that takes place outside of school. To be blunt, it's just straight up unfair. 
Visuals: I've said it before and I'll said it again; I am a visual nutso! Sure, it may not be the most accurate (for example, how would you show a visual on being responsible?), but it at least give students a better idea on what it should look like. In visuals, anything is always better than nothing to me.
What do you like about the set of rules you selected as a good example?
Wording: The rules are not degrading when you read it. Not everything are always "happy-go-lucky", but we can at least try to make our classroom a positive environment. Rather than saying "don't run", say "use walking feet" instead. Rather than saying "don't yell", say "use inside voice" instead. It doesn't feel as strict when reading over the rules. I find it to be a positive way in having the students follow the rules and expectations, while maintaining a general positive atmosphere in the classroom.
Share a set of rules you would like to have in your classroom in the future (or ones that you hope you kids come up with if you plan to have them part of the process). Explain what you like about these rules.
1. Use walking feet
2. Use inside voice
3. Say "please" and "thank you"
4. When you're stuck, ask for help. Help others as well
5. Respect: School, Others, Teacher, and Yourself
2. Use inside voice
3. Say "please" and "thank you"
4. When you're stuck, ask for help. Help others as well
5. Respect: School, Others, Teacher, and Yourself
I like these rules and I'm hoping to come up with more like these because it's all about positivity and respect. I think that's a key characteristics in ensuring that the students will grow up to be a good citizens in society. The positivity part of the rules would help me in developing a friendly and trusting relationship with the students, the respect part of the rules will help students become a good citizen in a long run.
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteI like how you described your poor example and made the inference that the teacher may be using a coercive authority based on the rewards in the chart. I did not choose classroom rules with visuals, but I definitely think that it would be beneficial for students to see a visual representation of rules. I like how your set of rules focuses on safety and provides students with expectations that they would most likely agree with! I really like how you included "ask for help." So many students seem hesitant to ask questions when they are stuck. We need to create a classroom environment that is positive and safe so students are willing to ask those questions and help one another out.
Taylor, I almost squealed when I made the connection with the authority bases! And I know visual isn't everybody's cup of tea, but I think I'm so much more passionate about it because I spent most of my K-12 education path being deaf and solely relying on visual to understand what was happening in the classroom. There may be a classroom of students who don't need visual in the future! I'm happy with the asking for help rule. I was also that student that never ask for help because I thought it's a bother to my teacher. As future educator myself, now I understand their frustration with me.
DeleteHi Katherine, I really resonated with the set of rules you came up with for your own classroom. Walking feet is one thing students struggle with in particular, as I've observed them in the Elementary School setting. Students also may struggle with using their inside voices, especially when they are excited about the subject matter and would like to share ideas with their friends! My question to you is, how will you enforce these rules?
ReplyDeleteI find that preparing the students to follow the rules helps a lot. I've seen teacher who know that students would get super excited for birthday treat that a student brought in. So she would say, "my friends, I have an exciting news, but we can't scream because of the class going on next door. So to show that we're really, really excited, I need you to keep your mouth closed and show me you're excited by raising your arms and waving your hands! Let's practice before I tell you!" Scenario similar to that, basically.
DeleteKathrine,
ReplyDeleteI love how you talk about visuals. I think when you said that students need some type of example as to what following the rule looks like in your classroom, you were spot on. Giving the expectation when presenting the rule is key. How would you go about giving representation with your own rules you have created?
Side note, If I was a parent of a student in the class and every time after 4 warnings we had to have a conference I would be pretty disappointed in my teachers behavior management. I think that because the consequences are so broad that this would be confusing as a student and parent.
I agree that if us teachers are making conference appointment almost all the time it feels like, there's a bigger problem in classroom management and it will start with us, in which we would have to take full accountability of. I think for rules like "use walking feet" and "use inside voice" are easy because you think about what is involved with the process. So like, we will always use our mouth to use our voices so a picture of a lip and maybe a level bar of noise to show what level of noise they should try to strive for. For something a little more complicated like "be responsible", I try to think of different ways students demonstrate their responsibilities. This could be pictures of putting books away, doing their work, cleaning up their toys, or a combination of all 3 to show that there's multiple ways in showing your responsibilities.
Delete