Managing the Learning Environment

for Student Teaching &

Beyond

•Keys to Success

•Miscellaneous Tips

Part 2

Keys to Success

C

S&S

PNT

Ft

GnR

Consistency

Swift & Sure

Promises not threats

Follow Through

Gain not Regain

Miscellaneous Tips

in a Nutshell

Tried & True

Techniques!

When students test us,

they want us to pass the test.

Within Our Control

Understanding Our Role

Getting Off to a Good Start

Easier to Love than to Like

QTIPQuitTaking It Personally

Miscellaneous Tips

2. Prevention • Prevention Through

Good Instruction• Organization• Proximity• PPL

• Prevention Through Procedures/Routines• 2 at a time• 2 x 10 Strategy• Rubrics• Pictures

• Prevention Through Policies & Consequences• Broken Record

Technique• 3 Strikes and OUT! • Non-verbal cues

1. Creating a Positive Learning Environment• Student Choice

What are some ways

to create

positive connections

with students?

1. Creating a Positive & Productive Learning Environment

Connect with Students

◦ Get to know something about each of THEM & use that to converse

Promote Group Membership

Eliminate the word “YOU”

◦ This is ALWAYS heard as a blaming statement!

◦ Focus on the behavior or action, rather than the “who”

Encourage Self-Discipline

◦ Non-verbal cues are very helpful here!

Find the one(s) that work for you.

They do not take away from teaching time.

They minimize or eliminate embarrassment, hence defensive student responses and reactions.

Where can I build-in student choices?

What are some possibilities?

◦ Alternatives to assignments

◦ Kids teaching each other

◦ Project-based learning

◦ Community Service

What can YOU suggest here?

Why?

Assumptions

•Students want to learn

• Content

• Procedures

• Behavior

2. Prevention

Prevention Through Good Instruction

Procedures/Routines

Policies & Consequences

Prevention

Through

Good Instruction

Organizing Resources for Good Instruction1. Folder of Masters for Beginning of School, End of School and for each

Chapter/Unit of Study.

• Folder for each handout

• Determine a set place for students to access folders of handouts if they were absent

2. Stay a set number of Chapters/Units ahead (4?) in copying your materials. When you start one Chapter/Unit, copy the Masters for the next in the rotation.

3. In April, copy your Beginning of School Masters and those for your first four Chapters/Units of Study.

4. Media:

• Keep a list of all Library Media for each Chapter/Unit of Study on an index card in a file box. Include: call number, title, running time, equipment needed.

• You will be able to easily take the card to the library to collect what you need before you start the Chapter/Unit of Study

• Ex. KT458 Bleeding Kansas (14 min.) no equip needed

Warm-Up Questions

Use more than one

Make one open-ended

Proximity: Organizing Class Space for Good Instruction

Near students when you are talking

Away from them

when they are contributing out loud

Get within three feet of every student at least once per class or lesson.

Get within three feet of every student at least once per class or lesson.

THREE Rules of Movement

1. Constantly change the “zones” of proximity so that no one is in the green zone for very long

2. Stimulate the brain to attend by constantly changing everyone’s visual field.

3. Use movement as camouflage for dealing with disruptive students.

Interior Loops Interior Loops with ears

Get within three feet of every student

at least once per class or lesson.

The “Double E” works well with two-person desks.

A “U” shaped arrangement works well for computer

labs.

Get within three feet of every student

at least once per class or lesson.

A variation of the “U” facilitates supervision during

rehearsal for instrumental and choral music,

A “U” shaped arrangement works well for computer

labs.

PPL = Praise, Prompt, LeavePerformance Checklist

Make corrective feedback as brief as possible by focusing on the next step rather than on lengthy explanations.

When you see the error, take two relaxing breaths and clear your mind. Take a second look at the work, and ask yourself, “What is right so far?” Choose two features of correct performance that would be most useful in

serving as a springboard to the prompt. Describe these two features in simple declarative sentences. As a bridge between the Praise and the Prompt, begin the transition

sentence with the formula, “The next thing to do is...” Describe what you want the student to do next in one or two simple

declarative sentences. Refer to any visual aides that are available, and mark on the student’s paper in any way that might be helpful.

Turn and leave. Resist the tendency to “hang around” to see how the prompt turns out.

Try to limit yourself to 20 seconds per stop. By doing this you can visit each students more than once, rather than not even visiting each student even one time. Fred Jones http://www.fredjones.com/fhjstudyguide.pdf

http://books.google.com/books?id=K6sHwYih590C&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=fred+jones+praise+prompt+leave&source=bl&ots=KZDj3Wt8A6&sig=G0t9wTq78Box2R5aDJbFVzCOctQ&hl=

en&ei=7hpoTNaCGoSlnQe2jcDBBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CDYQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false

Finished Early?

Work on tonight’s homework

Take out reading book and read in silence

Write a journal entry

Answer questions 14, 16a, and 17b

Keys to Success

C

S&S

PNT

Ft

GnR

PPL

Consistency

Swift & Sure

Promises not threats

Follow Through

Gain not Regain

Praise, Prompt, Leave

Prevention

Through

Procedures/Routines

Procedures are the Railroad

Tracks –

Content is the Train

Polish Procedures Throughout

Content-Free to start (if necessary)

Alternate between procedure and content

Two Procedures per Class or Lesson

Write them into your lesson

Sprinkle them throughout the lesson

Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic

Practice, practice, practice

The 2 x 10 Strategy

2 minutes per day

10 days in a row

85% improvement*

Raymond Wiodkowski

Rubrics for Procedures

Lining up

Readiness to Learn

Dismissal Formation

Student Volume

Pictures for Procedures

Setting up labs

Putting supplies away

Student desks – surface & inside

Substitute Teachers

Stages of construction of projects – such as

woodshop

Other Picture Examples

Dress Code

Headings on Papers

Readiness for learning

Posture for keyboarding

Centers

Video of school-wide procedures

Prevention

Through

Policies &

Consequences

Time Loss About 50% of classroom time is LOST due to

student misbehavior and being off task!

80% of lost time is due to talking without permission.

19% is lost to daydreaming, out of seat, making noises, etc.

1% is lost to more serious misbehavior.

Most time loss can be avoided by systematically employing:

◦ effective body language

◦ incentive systems

◦ efficient individual help.

Fred Jones

Simplify & Post PoliciesAddress the primary sources of “time-off-task” Talking

Example: Raise hand for permission to speak

Walking (Being out of seat)

Example:

To sharpen a pencil, throw away trash, get a tissue, or use the restroom pass, follow the least disruptive route and do not bother others in the classroom.

Other reasons to be out of your seat require permission.

No more than 2 people out of their seat at any time

Attention

Example: Maintain attention to the primary speaker &/or task

Respecting Personal Space

Example: Keep hands, feet, noise and objects to yourself

Consistency - 3 Keys

Students raising their hands to speak

The “Popcorn Effect”

Arguing with the ref’

Hand-Raising

Procedures Precede Content

Hand-raising consistency will improve

all classroom consistency

The “Popcorn Effect”

Get all students actively on task before

having private conversations

Minimize number and length

Maximize opportunities

“Arguing With the Ref’”

Student arguing is, in itself, a disruption, deserving of a second consequence

Conversations are on the teacher’s timetable

Student Lawyers start on a higher level of the consequence hierarchy

“Broken Record Technique” Use when a student tries to argue or make excuses.

NEVER engage, debate or argue with the student.

Repeat the exact same statement (max. of 3 times)

3 is the magic number!

Altering what you say gives the student something new to

dispute or “explain.”

After a series of 3 times, the student will almost ALWAYS

quietly comply. If not, you have to remove them from the

situation and address the issue with them at a separate time.

Lee & Marlene Canter

http://www.behavioradvisor.com/AssertiveDiscipline.html

“Broken Record Technique” examples

Teacher: "Vince, you have work to do. Get away from that window and sit in your seat."

Student: "But I want to see the cop give that guy a ticket." (Now you have to make a choice: Is this incident a "teachable moment", in which everyone could go to the window and we could teach about law enforcement, grievances in court, insurance rates, etc.; Or is it important at this time for everyone to be working on something else more essential?)

Teacher: "I understand, but I want you to sit down now."

Student: “Just one minute, OK?"

Teacher: “No, Vince, I want you to sit down now."

Student: "Aw, OK.”

Teacher: “Sally, please turn around and work on your task.”

Student: “But I was asking Tom a question.”

Teacher: “Sally, please turn around and work on your task.”

Student: “I needed to tell Tom something.”

Teacher: “Sally, please turn around and work on your task.”

Consequences Ideas I Let your consequences do the work Delay consequences until later Get comfortable with your consequences or

change them “Private meeting with teacher” Head(s) on desk for brief “recover and restart”

time Give students consequence choices

◦ What are some choices you could allow?

Call parents (successes and challenges)

Consequence Ideas II Send students to other classrooms

Tape referral or letter to desk

Caught doing well

3 strikes and OUT!

◦ If it hasn’t worked after 3 times, that particular consequence is NOT EFFECTIVE with that student. The same student “standing on the line” at recess the 5th day will be standing there the 55th day and the 155th day!

◦ Find something that works with THAT student.

◦ What were the worst consequences for YOU in school?

◦ What was the best motivator for YOU?

◦ What are ideas for motivators you might use today?

Implementation List Changes in Priority Order

Make sure #1 is “doable”

◦ Is it observable, measurable, and approved by the

Administration!

◦ Btw…make sure you start your year with administrator approval of your Classroom Management Plan!!!

Implement #1 Only

Start with your Favorite Class

◦ You will have the optimal success rate here to practice and let the word spread.

Spread to all Students/Classes

Implementation - Taking a student to the office?

Make sure your class is supervised before you leave

Leave the student in the outer office while you go into the administrator’s office to explain:

◦ what happened

◦ the violated policy

◦ the consequence policy

Bring the student into the administrator’s office and have them explain:

◦ what happened

◦ the violated policy

◦ the consequence policy

Carry out the pre-determined & approved consequence

Children of Poverty• Peer Mediation?

– Peer mediation is a negotiation-based strategy that teaches student mediators techniques to resolve conflicts among their peers. When there is a dispute at school, the mediators, either student-student or teacher-student teams, become neutral third parties and work with the disputants through CR. Schools around the world “have implemented peer mediation programs of various shapes and sizes, with the expectation that violence and suspension will be reduced, school climates will improve, and students will learn and take with them essential life skills.”

• Why Peer Mediation?– The goal of PMPs is for students to learn how to deflate a

minor conflict before it escalates into a more serious incident.

http://www.cojcr.org/vol4no2/notes01.html

Keys to Success

C

S&S

PNT

Ft

GnR

PPL

Consistency

Swift & Sure

Promises not threats

Follow Through

Gain not Regain

Praise, Prompt, Leave

QTIPQuitTaking It Personally

SCHOOL ANSWERING MACHINE

The following is an answering machine message for the Pacific Palisades High School in California. 

The school and teachers were being sued by parents who wanted their children's failing grades changed to passing grades even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough school work to pass their classes.

The following was voted unanimously by the office staff as the actual answering machine message for the school:

"Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school.

In order to assist you in connecting the right staff member, please listen to all your options before making a selection:

• To lie about why your child is absent  - Press 1

• To make excuses for why your child did not do his work - Press 2

• To complain about what we do - Press 3

• To swear at staff members  - Press 4

• To ask why you didn't get information that was already enclosed in our newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5

• If you want us to raise your child - Press 6

• If you want to reach out and touch, slap, or hit someone - Press

7

• To request another teacher for the third time this year - Press 8

• To complain about bus transportation - Press  9

• To complain about school lunches - Press 0

If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable/responsible for his/her own behavior, class work, homework, and that it's not the teachers' fault for your child(ren)'s lack of effort, hang up and have a nice day!”

Reflections

on

Managing the

Learning Environment