Field Study 2: Classroom Management
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Classroom Management and Learning Looking Through the Meaningful Learning Experiences Learner's Characteristics and Needs
Field Study 2: Classroom Management
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- 2. 2 The age of the students ranged from 4-5 years old. The classroom is oc- cupied with a total of 10 students. They are all in proper uniform and excitedly walked to their respective classroom after the flag raising ceremony. Some are able to handle their own behavior and some aren’t. When it comes to discipline and good manners they are polite and cooper- ative in class. They even greeted us when we arrived in their room which was unex- pected. Due to the young one’s muscular development, we’d really expect them to be active and quiet noisy chatting to their classmates. But at the end of their lessons, they are able to work independently an- swering their book activities during class. Their speed is even faster in learning than the higher grades. This becomes evident when one of the teachers showed us their examination results which are up to 70 items in all. They showed their skills in answering and understanding the lessons given. Generally, the students of this class are fast learners. Grade Level Kindergarten 2 Date of Visit September 25, 2013 Subject Areas Math, Filipino and English CLASSROM MANAGEMENT AND LEARNING My Observation Report Page 2
- 3. 3 ASPECT OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT DESCRIPTION EFFECT ON THE LEARNERS 1. Specific areas in the classroom The area is very conducive to learning and well-ventilated. The back left corner of the room is the teacher’s table and where the teacher’s materials are kept. On the other side is a section for student belongings and bags. Student will be motivated for the very conducive learning environment. By organizing their things and make them easy to reach whenever an activity is to be done. As a result, the stu- dent can learn and acquire knowledge well. 2. Classroom rules I have never seen policies posted in the K2 classroom be- cause rules are told verbally only if a misbehavior arises. This is better because the students will be reminded when they do a certain kind of mistake. 3. Daily routines The teacher’s daily routines are done first by prayer fol- lowed by review of the last topic discussed and proceeds to the lesson to be discussed. This is a good start for the learners because they will be trained and improved themselves in listening and acquiring memory skills. 4. Seating arrangement The seating arrangement is ar- ranged in u-shape form where the teacher can freely move around where her students have seated. It will be trouble-free for the learners since they can see their teacher especially when showing them an ac- tivity using visual aids and this is also the advantage for the learner who is small. 5. Handling misbehavior/off task behavior The teacher gives precise dis- ciplinary action according to the mistake done by the learn- er. The students will behave as a response according to their teachers disciplinary ac- tions. 6. Reinforcement of positive behavior The teacher gives honor and nobility to the learners who have shown positive behavior in the class. Thus, the student will strive hard in order to be admire by his/her teacher and class- mates. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT MATRIX Page 3
- 4. 4 How did the classroom organization and routines affect the learners’ behavior? As we have learned before, an environment that is conducive to learning includes the physical as well as the psychological aspect. When the classroom is well-organized and is properly ar- ranged, this lessens the teacher’s effort on the physical part. An excellent classroom organization helps the learners and teacher to gain easy access to teaching materials, provides freedom to move easily within the class and maximize the students’ interaction with their teacher and classmates. When a routine designed by the teacher be- comes the students’ habit, the students would know what is expected of them in class. This also saves time for the teacher because he or she does not need to inform the class everyday of what they need to do to prepare for the class. If the class is being carried out on a day-by-day organized sched- ule there is less talking on the part of the teacher and more activities are covered during a period. Just like in the classroom I observed, the checking of attendance does not take a lot of the period’s time because the teacher doesn’t need to do a roll call every meeting. This is also applicable in other activities like reporting and experimenting. A well-designed routine also conditions the class in proceeding with the actual lesson. What should the teacher have in mind when he designs the class- rooms organization and routines? What theories should you have in mind? The teacher should have in mind time man- agement, furniture and teaching materials, and most importantly the students. Classrooms must have favorable learning conditions, smooth transi- tions during class, and excellent management skills. If a teacher fails to manage her class then she fails to get the students involvement during class. This is where the Principles in Classroom Management come in. An outstanding classroom organization helps the learners and teacher to gain effortless contact to teaching materials, provides freedom to move easily within the class and make the most of the students’ interaction with their teacher and classmates. The theories of behaviorism on students when it comes to routine designing is applicable with the combination of the Law of Exercise from Thorndike’s Connectionism Theory, Pavlov’s Higher-Order Conditioning, and B.F. Skinner’s S- R theory. When routines are designed to be a habit in class then the Law of Exercise should be prac- ticed combined with Pavlov’s Higher Order Condi- tioning, where the teacher can use different kinds of neutral stimulus to become the conditioned stim- ulus for the students. Added the positive reinforce- ment, such as feedback or verbal praises, from the findings of Skinner then the routine the teacher de- signs will be a very effective one. Which behavior strategies were effective in managing the behav- ior of the learners in motivating students? Why were they effective? In the class which I have observed, the teacher uses both positive and negative reinforce- ments in conditioning the class for their new lesson and expected activities in the next period. When it comes to their daily routine, the class already turned it into a habit. The teacher made use of positive reinforce- ment in forms of verbal praises and encouragement to the students to do better next time. She also showed them honestly that she is proud of what they have accomplished. I think that the teacher’s strategies are very effective because the most of the time, students are actively participating and focused in class. If a teacher is doing well in letting the student engage in learning then it means she was successful in mo- tivating them. Page 4
- 5. 5 LOOKING THROUGH THE MEANINGFUL LEARNING EXPERIENCES Grade Level Grade V Date of visit September 27, 2013 Subject Areas Christian Living My Observation Report 1. What principles in teaching- learning were commonly applied? R eflective teaching was applied by the teacher. During her class, she guides the students to “reflect” on their own experiences in order to arrive at new understanding and put meaning on it. They had an activity about writing a letter to Jesus on that time and their behavior involves active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or practice. Upon listening to their letters, most of them cried while reading and we, the ob- servers also cried that morning. The stu- dents have learned from their experiences, either positive or negative learning, and it leads them to a new learning. 2. What instructional materials were used by the teacher? T he teacher facilitated the reflection well. She used netbook and speak- er to play a background song which is a very touching one. A reflection box is also placed in her table at the front of the classroom where students put their letters inside. 3. Which of the principles in teaching facilitate the cognitive, metacognitive and positive motivational processes of learning? R eflective teaching facilitate in areas such as cognitive, metacognitive and in the motivational process. For the cognitive, it facilitates the students to think about a true heart-warming letter which enables them to create it imaginably and truthfully. Metacognitive process then happen when learners' had automatic awareness of their own knowledge and their ability to understand, control, and ma- nipulate their own cognitive processes. Af- ter reading their own letter in front of the teacher and to their classmates, they are motivated to do well in every aspect of their lives. Motivation is very essential not only in school, but throughout their lives. Page 5
- 6. 6 Scribble a brief reflection of your feelings and insights from your observation experience. Iappreciatetheschoolforinvolvingasubjectentitled,“ChristianLiving”intheircurriculum. Being religiousisdifferentfrombeingspiritual.It is designed to assist students in going through the process of learning and living their faith life. With the help of the teacher, the students are led to recognize the steadfast presence of God in their lives. They are taught to con- stantly acknowledge God's accompanying presence, not only in the past, but most in their everyday lives. Slowly, and in the gradual manner, the students are then encouraged to have a broad- er understanding of who God is. This is done through the discussion of the fulfillment of the promise of salvation. They are taught to be catalysts for authentic social transfor- mation and for a life to live with a Christian perspective. They are taught about the beatitudes and the gospel teaching of Jesus' ministry are highlighted. The teacher’s purpose is to convey to the students the adamant call to imitate Jesus, the model of unconditional love, faithfulness, compassion and humble service to mankind, especially to the needy. Learner’s characteristics And needs Grade Level Grade II Date of visit September 26, 2013 Subject Areas Science, Math and English Description of Teaching Strategies: The teachers used various strategies to elicit performance. Demonstration and discussion which are significant for the learners in transferring information. The students are asked to read the words in cho- rus. After discussing the subject matter, she then made the students define in their own words the terms shown in a flashcard. Description of Learning Activities: Learning activities are highly benefi- cial among students. The teacher can use activities that require less time and is also very effective. Some are individual in na- ture, some involve groups, and some are able to progress from individual activity to group activity. Think Pair Share has been used by an English teacher in unlocking or giving definitions that are shown in a flashcard. A group competition of girls vs boys in their Math subject has been used also which is very interesting to the taste of the students that we are observing in. Simulations games that involves students in demon- strating a concept by using games that ei- ther the teacher or the student create is also used during their science subject. Page 6
- 7. 7 Scribble a brief reflection of your feelings and insights from your observation experience. As I have observed, the learner’s age does not vary about their behavior and charac- teristics. Some students are very participative and cooperative in the class but there are also students who do not involved themselves in class discussion. In one classroom that I have observed, the number of girls are greater than the number of boys. Classrooms have enough space where students can move freely. Some of them can managed their own behavior al- ready by showing total self-discipline especially when it comes to class discussion but there are also students who like to wait for their teacher to remind them to stop doing things which destructs their classmates attention. They can handle and accomplish tasks but some of them cannot worked independently when it comes to a serious type of task which needs the guidance and helped of others, especially to the teacher. The span of students’ attention depends on how the teacher motivates the whole class. Just what other students says, they would only participate in the class if the teacher is jolly and enthusiastic. But in contrast, I came to think; that this statement may depends on how a certain student involve himself in the classroom discussion. Most of the students pay attention to their teacher. They lend their senses every time the teacher is conducting a lesson and taking much concern about their lesson. The good thing is that they can answer the question of their teacher when asked about a certain ques- tion according to what they have just discussed. Description of Learners Participation (proportion of learners who participat- ed and quality of participation): I can really tell that students from Potter’s are fast learners. As teacher are promoting class participation and helping students learn more, students are able to show their understanding/ work or thought processes after. Majority of the students are actively participating the class discussion while few are wandering around the four corners of the room. But as activities and quizzes are answered, they’ve got big scores. Page 7
- 8. 8 Assisting Teacher with a “Teachers’ Toolbox” An Observation Guide for Assisting Teacher What are the objectives of the lessons? The objectives are to specify the new skills that the students will gain as a result of the lesson. It focuses on student (not teacher) behaviors. How do the learners partic- ipate in the learning activi- ties? Teachers use many different tech- niques to involve them in the learning pro- cess. These range from very short and sim- ple techniques, like telling a story about the lesson, to more involved activities like small student work groups doing collabora- tive learning activities. What instructional materi- als are employed? The instructional materials used are those things hat are needed in a specific ac- tivity. Teachers showed illustrations and pictures to enhance the learning of the stu- dents. During discussion, the teachers helped students to understand a difficult concepts or terms to increase their student’s understanding. How does the teacher assess the learning of the lessons? Is she assessing the process or the product? The teacher assessed the learning of the lessons by assessing students to solve prob- lems better and working with a smaller group within a larger class. The teacher are also helped them conceptualize their ideas to have better reasoning and encourages them to get higher scores and perform their activities dili- gently. What reasons does the teacher given in having such learning activities? The teacher’s primary purpose for giving such learning activities is to help students develop their metacognitive skills which is the key to increasing student learning and performance. It also helps them to do well in the class and improve student attitudes or perception toward the subject matter. 1 2 3 5 4 Page 8
- 10. 10 Subject Matter Lesson Objective Learning Activities and Instructional Materials Assessment Tools Gender of Nouns (English - Grade II) * To use appropri- ate gender of nouns to name people. * Grammatically use the masculine, feminine, neuter nouns in sentences Instructional materials: Book, Visual Aid, Flash- cards Learning activities: Book activity, short quiz, Question & Answer Oral reading/fluency, in- crease their vocabulary words. Give them activi- ty worksheets about gen- der of nouns. Different Types of Plants (Science – Grade IV) *To determine the types of plants by which particular plants grow. *Describe/ illustrate the changes that occur as plants grow. Instructional materials: Chart, Pictures, Drawing Learning activities: Quiz bee, Book activity, Question & Answer Board work. Let stu- dents submit at least two cutout pictures in any type of plants they prefer to bring and let them ar- range it by sorting the pictures according to their types. Skip Counting by 2’s (Math – K2) *To analyze nu- meric patterns us- ing skip counting by 2. Instructional materials: Math Book, Chart Learning activities: Board work, Book activity, Question & Answer Oral reading of numbers, evaluate student’s abili- ties to skip count by 2 and assess completion of their book activity. Assessment Tools - are primarily designed to help Educators to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Learners' literacy and numeracy skills. Page 10