Time Keeps On Slipin

Who remembers the movie SPEEED with Keanu Reeves?  Ok, I may be showing my age a little here.  If you haven't seen it....you are honestly not missing much.  The premise is someone plants a bomb on a Metro Bus in the city and Keanu has to save the people on board.  The dilemma is that the bus is moving and it can not go over or below a certain SPEED or it will ignite the bomb.  Pretty awesome right?  Yeah, the 90's were very awesome indeed. 

This to me is an example of how a lesson plan can seem when you are a first time (student) or professional teacher.  I taught my lesson for LE1 today and it went very well.  But my biggest hang up as continued to be my SPEED.  This was a simple lesson about Context Clues for my 4th graders.  4th graders that is.  I thought I would make it rather simple and cut down on unnecessary time sucking activities such as cut outs and notebook design.  I used post-it notes and pre printed vocabulary sheets with examples of different types of context clues.  I thought this would be pretty straight forward and planned to have other examples and independent practice for the students to work through.  I also planned for 30 minutes TOPS for the entire lesson.  Well....I went to about 45 minutes.  The notebook set up still was a struggle.  Students were concerned about "doing it right" and not so much about the speed.  They took this time to chit chat with friends, find their supplies, and tie their shoe etc...  I made sure to thoroughly explain the process and assumed it would all be a 2 minute task.  After I demonstrated and explained what to do, I had at least 4-5 students asking how to do it: "How do I glue the post-its?  What sheet are we doing?  Do we cut it out?  What do we write?" etc...  So this tacked on another 10 minutes or more before we could begin the second part of the lesson.  I then explained what we were going to do for the written portion and still had some say where do we write?


A few things stuck out about this to me.  It is VERY important, even with an older age group to thoroughly explain at the beginning of the lesson.  It is also important to have a model of what theirs should look like.  I don't really like this idea, but the lesson is specific I guess, so they couldn't do it any old way.  But in the future, I want them to figure out what is best for them.  I don't think everyone's should always look the same, it takes away from creativity.  Being an artist at heart, that bugs me sometimes (though I know it maybe necessary depending on your district).  Anyway, I also thought about how I could teach these students to work more efficiently.  One way would be to lay down the ground rules such as: Get everything you need before you start (which I did) so that you are not walking around.  Possibly make it a game (which group is going to get there notebook set up first?)  The other thing would be design this portion of the lesson in a way that they can create while they learn so that they are not SO focused on "getting it right" or getting the notebook set up when they should be learning.  These are just some possibilities.


Classroom management seems to be a skill that can be overlooked and if done incorrectly, as we all know and have been told, can really hinder progress and time for you and your students.  We only have a small window to fit a full size elephant of content into, so we have to make our minutes and seconds count.  From and ASCD article:


"Research not only supports the importance of classroom management, but it also sheds light on the dynamics of classroom management. Stage and Quiroz's meta-analysis (1997) shows the importance of there being a balance between teacher actions that provide clear consequences for unacceptable behavior and teacher actions that recognize and reward acceptable behavior. Other researchers (Emmer, Evertson, & Worsham, 2003; Evertson, Emmer, & Worsham, 2003) have identified important components of classroom management, including beginning the school year with a positive emphasis on management; arranging the room in a way conducive to effective management; and identifying and implementing rules and operating procedures." ASCD


The article goes on to talk about the importance of setting the tone of your classroom, establishing respect and maintaining clear expectations with your students.  We have all learned about these things and applied them to some extent, but as we get closer to full time teaching, we really need to focus on them.  But designing and leading a lesson plan or unit whether daily or for our LE assignments, we should focus as well on flow, transitions, expectations for the best student learning and outcomes.  My kids did a GREAT job, I just know there are many areas of improvement that I need to work on.  It will get somewhat easier when we are in the classroom more, but it is still something to develop even after a few years of teaching.  It is important for the students to understand how disruption affects their learning time and the time of others in the room.  This is important to assure every student (especially struggling students) are adequately processing information.  But they also need to have fun and enjoy education so there is a balance.


This idea meshes great with NCPTS:


4G: Teachers communicate in ways that are clearly understood by their students. They are perceptive listeners and are able to communicate with students in a variety of ways even when language is a barrier. Teachers help students articulate thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively.


It could also connect with Standard 2 as well.  I felt this illustrates the importance of lesson design and delivery methods. 


Overall, this was and continues to be a productive week.  I feel like I am driving a bus sometimes that won't slow down and there are many obstacles, but I know we will get through it, and we will be so proud when we do.  So when you design your lessons and Units, remember, practice, patience, knowing your students, and consistency will go a long way!


References:


http://www.learnnc.org/?pstandards=Teachers


http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept03/vol61/num01/The-Key-to-Classroom-Management.aspx