I learnt a lot during my short practicum, but what I found most useful was classroom management strategies. My practicum class LOVES to chat, and this gave me many opportunities for learning and practicing techniques to manage that. Sure you can tell the children to be quiet, but after a few minutes they will just start talking if there are no consequences or firm rules set out. Over the course of my observation I noticed the teacher doing many strategies, but it isnt until you try them yourself that you figure out how to get your class to respond accordingly.
My practicum teacher has the students names on magnets on the board, and students who are noisy move into the warning zone, and later the after school zone. Teachers should be sure to make the noise expectation clear. Even whispering should not be accepted if the teacher asks for complete silence and full concentration. However, sometimes whispering may be OK. I noticed that many kids were not threatened when their names were moved, but when a large sum of names started to be moved they know the teacher means business. This is also a great strategy if you let students work their way out of the warning/ after school zone. Another extrinsic motivator is grouping the class up and giving the best behaved groups points. At the end of the week the group with the most points gets a small candy. It is amazing how competitive the students get for those points. Points are easy to give during transition times and even during silent working.
A great strategy for transition times is counting down from 10. By 0 the class should be attentive. Whoever is still talking may be put into the warning zone.
Other strategies for getting the class’s attention is to do a clapping rhythm, and expect the students to do it back. A bell can also be used for this. During gym, I noticed clapping wasn’t working at all because the room was too loud and large, so a whistle was essential for this setting.
These are A LOT of strategies. During my first few days of lesson implementation I was having a hard time remembering what to do and when. Finally during my last day of practicum I used ALL of these strategies. I learned that different strategies are used for different times, behaviors, and purposes.