Week 2 was an interesting experience for me. I think that overall I improved as a teacher (slightly!) and did better in the front of the class. I was less nervous, more confident, knew all the students names, and really was able to lead the class. However, I feel a little less good about Week 2 than Week 1. I think this is because the relief that I felt during the first week that everything was going to be okay has worn off. I am starting to see the areas where I need to improve and I am going to have to work hard on improving those areas. I knew that classroom management was going to be my biggest area of weakness going into the practicum, so it’s no surprise that I am struggling a little bit with it. The Grade 10s are a fantastic, good group of students but they have a lot of energy. I need to develop techniques to channel that energy into Chemistry!
This relates to my UBC courses because even though we went over many techniques for classroom management, one thing that my instructors emphasized quite heavily is that there is no “magic bullet” for classroom management. I am going to have to try a bunch of techniques and see what works. I feel that I have a good relationship with the students and I don’t want to give that up by being a total police officer in the class, but I am going to have to try some things that might not be the most popular moves. In the near future I want to set a new seating plan to split up the most talkative groups of students and get those who really need to concentrate close to the front of the room. We’ll see how it all goes in Week 3!
A couple of thoughts and/or reactions for you Nathan.
First, although it seems like a small thing, I’m glad that you have learned the names of all of you students. It is important because it sends a message that you know who they are and they now have an identity with you. It will often make them feel better about their relationship with you and send them the message that they are “somebody” in the classroom. Knowing names is also an great classroom management skill technique. Now you can call a S by name. they realize that they are not anonymous in the class and you can us it to target and intervention when you choose to.
Second, I am pleased to see that you are already naturally becoming more reflective…an important skill to develop. Your teaching career, like almost anything in life is a journey. We need to search for continuous improvement in our practice whether we are in Year 1 or Year 35 of our career. That you already see the value in reflection will stand you in good stead.
Finally, I know that many instructors in Teacher Education Program dismiss or minimize the need to provide TC’s with a “bag of tricks” for classroom management. While I agree that that the secret to effective management is the relationships a teacher builds and the culture a teacher fosters in the classroom, have those tools to help them deal with the everyday occurrences and “misbehaviours” of students is important. It’s not one approach/philosophy or the other, there is room for both and they can compliment each other. Keep working to develop these tools.