Here is a short list of strategies I have tried to help them settle quickly and easily. this list also reflects the classroom management aspect of my inquiry project this year.
Strategies and reflections
- Ensuring students know what I'm trying to do - this has been helpful as it creates a collaborative journey and they buy into my "experiments". I have been careful to communicate that I enjoy them as a class, but that our teaching and learning is hampered by disruption.
- Whistle to get attention - seeing that this group is active, I thought the PE Teacher-style approach might help. It did for a while, but I'm not comfortable using the whistle in class, though some students love it. I feel this is a bit like yelling with a shrill voice which doesn't get students on-board in a positive manner. I stopped this a few months ago but still get requests for it!
- Seating plan - separating groups that seem to have more trouble than others about stopping and listening when I need them to. Seating plans are not ideal for me as there is constant pressure to change them. I get sick of students asking or having to monitor for sneaky shifts. Because I work a lot with smaller groups and individuals during a lesson, I find it difficult and time-consuming to monitor. This will remain in the repertoire of strategies though, as it is helpful for students to reflect on how they work when sitting next to different students. When push comes to shove, it does work too. Another point against is the time it can take to make a good seating plan. We're about efficiency in teaching as there is not a lot of time for extras.
- Using a stopwatch to count wait time after I have asked for quiet. Class stays in at break time for the time we add up during a lesson (or maybe a week of lessons). This has worked remarkably well in the first session. Students are very quick to self-regulate and I can save my energy for other aspects of the lesson, which usually means a more enjoyable lesson for everyone. I will keep using this strategy for the foreseeable future for any noisy classes.
- I've used contact home also - this hasn't worked as well as I would have hoped as parents are not as much of a threat as they once were. Also, there is perhaps too long between the action and consequences. For ongoing issues, parents will be contacted, as this is a part of our process, and deans will be involved. One tricky aspect of this class is that it is hard to pick individuals as the cause. It is often one person in a group and the group tends to protect the individual, making parental contact impossible or awkward (students team up with a different story to the teacher).
- Because of the previous point, I have at times kept an entire group in to have a discussion and to try to get the guilty one to own up. The one will usually not want his mates to suffer for his or her own actions. It is helpful to play the group against the individual by appealing to the individual for causing his or her mates to suffer.
- I've experimented with not teaching from the front, except minimally, instead offering stations of a sort and then working with groups and individuals to complete the stations. This is great, and the students responded well, but there can still be the issue of noise or inattention when they should be quieter and working. I think the stopwatch can help with this too - students can add time if they are too noisy or not working well as a class.
All of these points have helped to develop a more learning-focused culture. Class results have improved as the year has progressed, and some students who were completely disengaged are having a go at the work and getting involved.
