1. Management Strategies:
A. After the morning activity, the teacher calls all students over to the carpet for group learning. While at the carpet, she talks in a very quiet voice. She does this so the students have to be very quiet in order to hear her. I think this is a great idea because it calms the room and prepares them to listen.
B. Another management strategy the teacher uses involves transitions. In order to get students’ attention when a transition is coming, the teacher will say, “Eyes up!” and all the students know to say it back, put their hands up, and give her their attention.
C. She also does a great job of making sure to explain to students what she would like them to do and why. One time she told a few girls to not walk through a puddle. They started walking through it and she asked them to go back and try again (this time walking around the puddle). After they walked around it, she explained that walking through puddles makes your socks wet and that is uncomfortable.
2. Phrases and Techniques to Guide Behavior:
A. The teacher does not have any “broken records”. The closest thing to a “broken record” is when she reminds students of A.I.M. which is the school’s goals for students. A.I.M. stands for “Always be respectful. I solve problems. Make responsible choices.” She reads those goals to students almost every day, but I don’t really think that is a negative. I think it’s good to remind them of the behavior goals.
B. A technique the teacher uses often if pointing out respectful behaviors and responsible choices. She says things like, “I can tell Samantha is ready. Her eyes are looking. Her ears are listening.” Or, “Troy is waiting patiently for his turn at the water fountain. His hands are still at his sides.”
3. Undesirable Behavior:
A. From what I’ve seen, Mrs. June finds distracting behavior undesirable. A lot of times, when students are distracting other students, Mrs. June redirects them or tells the students being distracted to move to a spot where they can focus.
I don’t think all students have the same expectations around their behavior. Some students stay seated during the entire lesson and they don’t talk to their neighbors. Other students sit in spots they know they’re not supposed to sit in and sometimes even go to other areas of the classroom. As long as those students don’t distract the ones staying seated, Mrs. June usually lets them sit where they want. It would take too much learning time away from the students paying attention if the teacher used her energy to continually redirect the others. She told you have to choose your battles. Even though she wants all of them to be learning and paying attention, as long as those students aren’t distracting the ones being respectful, she continues her lesson.
Yes, some students do get called to task more often than others.
The ones that are verbally disciplined are usually distracting others, making noises, or are out of control of their bodies. Like I mentioned above, a lot of the time she talks to the students, though, instead of just calling them out.
From what I’ve noticed, she uses the same language for girls and boys.
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