"ENHANCING THE TEACHING STRATEGIES OF OUR TEACHERS IN ORDER TO CREATE

A DYNAMIC LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Teaching Strategy Symposium

Kingston 2014

Strategies for Effective Classroom Management

Presenters

Tom FrederickFrank Scala

Union Institute & University

We’re All in This Together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjgKzrkMetU&feature=youtu.be

Best Quotes from the Song Video

We’re all in this together!You want me to give you the answers; I want

to ask the questions. (Socrates would be proud)

Teachers need to allow students to figure out things.

Laptops place the student in the center of their learning.

Students must analyze the content and critically evaluate it.

So What Does This Have to Do With Classroom Management?

Turn to your Think-Pair-Share partner and answer the following question.

Think about your favorite teacher from your school days. What was it about this teacher that makes you remember him/her?

How did you act in her classroom? How did others act?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkdmOVejUlI

What Makes a Favorite Teacher?

Students Share Characteristics Of Their Favorite TeachersBy Bill Powers on February 25, 2013@MrPowersCMS http://www.edudemic.com/characteristics-favorite-teachers/

What Makes a Favorite Teacher?

1. “Someone who is funny and makes learning fun.” When digging further the students described this as someone who enjoyed teaching, and it showed in the day-to-day interactions with students. Funny means “they laugh with us when we make mistakes, and they aren’t always uptight about every little thing.” A few students went on to say, “We make mistakes. We are kids. It’s not that we don’t care. We do care and we really are trying.” Several of the students went on to say, “They (teachers) remember what it is like to be a kid, and they don’t take everything so serious.”

What Makes a Favorite Teacher?

2. “Someone that really cares about me.” Basically the overall perception of students is they can tell the difference between “lip service” and genuine caring. Several students said they felt insulted by teachers who “pretend” to care about them. Perception is reality for all of us.

What Makes a Favorite Teacher?

3. The students also lumped “caring” in with “someone who treats everyone the same.” Basically the students stated we are all equal. “We don’t all have the same talents, but we all have something to offer to the class. But in most of my classes “we are all expected to do the same thing.”

What Makes a Favorite Teacher?

4. This led to the “they let us work in groups and on projects!” and “make learning fun.” This was probably the most popular comment. The students mentioned the fact they enjoyed having a choice and hands-on activities. The No. 1 issue brought up with this topic was “some teachers enjoy hearing themselves talk too much. I can Google most of what they tell me.” When I asked more probing questions, the students continued by saying “I want to learn by doing. Not writing down facts I will never need.” I dug deeper and found the students want to apply the learning by creating and using technology tools they have at home instead of “always using a poster board or taking a multiple choice test.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZm0BfXYvFg

1. We’re All in This Together!

We are one big family. The teacher is the parent, and the students are brothers and sisters. It should not be a battleground where the teacher is the general and the students are the soldiers.

Do Mom and Dad really want to do all the cleaning and all the work around the house? Isn’t it better that the students do some of the teaching? They are capable of learning from one another.

Won’t giving chores and responsibilities to the children lead to personal growth and character? If unleashed, I bet the students can produce wonderful things. Maybe even the teacher can learn from the student. My students taught me things every day.

2. You want me to give you the answers; I want to ask the questions.

The old “Teacher Asks-Students Answer” procedure preceded the information age. Today’s knowledge is stored in the fingertips of all, not just in the head of the teacher.

Although today’s information is not just in the head of the teacher, today’s wisdom exists with them. Teachers must teach students how to validate, synthesize, leverage, and communicate knowledge.

Students need to be taught to collaborate and problem solve real life applications.

3. Teachers need to allow students to figure out things.

How do you learn best?What did you learn about individual differences

and learning styles?The teacher should no longer be the sage on the

stage. She should be the facilitator of learning.Facilitators provide structure; they provide

direction. They provide encouragement and support. They let their clients celebrate their accomplishments and learn from their mistakes.

Facilitators maximize their clients strengths; yet they also provide assistance for their weaknesses.

4. Laptops place the student in the center of their learning.

Technology enables students to be independent. They do not have to wait to have their questions answered. Answers are a click away.

Technology is exciting.Technology is interactive.Technology opens possibility, and allows the

student to control their possibility. Everything is there-somewhere.

Technology can make school relevant, challenging, and engaging.

5. Students must analyze the content and critically evaluate it

ValidateSynthesizeLeverageCommunicateCollaborateProblem Solve

How Can We Do it?

Won’t laptops, tablets, and cell phones be a distraction to the learning environment?

How will I be able to handle it?Won’t they go on other sites?Won’t they just text all day long?People will steal themThey will forget to bring them-what then?I don’t have time to troubleshoot connection

problems

The Pencil

We Have to Do It?

What do you do now when students use their books and paper and pencils and blackboard incorrectly?

What do you do now when students pass notes?

What do you do now when a student steals something from another student?

What do you do now when a student does not bring his materials to class?

What do you do now when there is a disruption in your class?

DO THE SAME!

In reality, nothing will change.There will still be daily problems. They can’t

be avoided. Families have issues every day.Deal with them!

A Guarantee

But I will give you one guarantee When students are engaged When students are challenged When relevant, valuable activities are planned When a caring teacher facilitates

Students will behave to their very best.

Turn to your Think-Pair-Share partner and tell them how you could restructure your classroom to make it work.

Three Aspects of Classroom Management

Classroom Management as Discipline Rules/Procedures Consequences/Rewards

Classroom Management as a System Classroom set up Group management Materials management

Classroom Management as Instruction Teaching students how to behave Enabling students to feel capable, connected, and

contributing

What Did a 19th Century Classroom Look Like?

What Did a 1950’s Classroom Look Like?

What Should a 21st Century Classroom Look Like?

Smart Board

How Do You Teach Students How to Behave?

First of all, we usually don’t. When a student can’t spell, we teach him spelling; when he can’t do math, we teach him math. So why, when a student cannot behave, do we punish him, instead of teach him.

The old traditional way of teaching students how to behave revolved around consequences and rewards. Classical conditioning Operant conditioning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt4N9GSBoMI

New Classroom Management Focus

Learning Styles Auditory Visual Kinesthetic

Multiple Intelligence Inter-personal, Intra-personal, logical, linguistic Musical, kinesthetic, natural, spatial

Relevant, Challenging, and Engaging Curriculum Carefully chosen skills Active curricular activities Engaging course assessments

We Need Change!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGvl5dg3l2M

Jamaican Educational Symposium Blog

http://jamaicaneducationalsymposium.weebly.com/jamaican-educational-symposium1

Tom Frederick tom.frederick@myunion.eduFrank Scala frank.scala@myunion.edu