The Behavior Battle

     Classroom Behavior Management.  That is a daunting phrase at this stage in my teaching career.  This week tested our preparedness in regards to controlling classroom behavior.  We have a GREAT class.  They are smart and happy students.  There are times however, as is common with any group of children, that they can be loud and difficult to manage.  For instance, my co-teaching partner and I have to take our fourth graders into a small office adjacent to their classroom for their social studies lesson in the mornings.  Our mentor teacher teaches her fifth graders math at this time too.  Rather than having us talk over each other about different subjects, we take the fourth graders to another room.  Eleven fourth graders. One girl and ten energetic boys sardined into one small space.  Something is bound happen. 

     Our most common issue is the noise level.  We have the students each read a paragraph in their social studies textbook out loud while the rest of their peers follow along in their books.  While one of the students is reading, other students often talk though.  Also, when my co-teaching partner and I are asking questions to monitor understanding, the room turns into a circus at times.  There are side conversations and other distractions that occur.  A student in particular tries to get his classmates to laugh at noises that he makes, pictures in the textbook, or actions that he does.  We remind the students to focus, respect their peers while they read, as well as respect us when we are instructing.  Oftentimes these reminders turn into small fits of agitation after repeatedly redirecting their behavior. 

     My co-teaching partner is much better in my opinion at getting the students on task.  I am thankful to be partnered with her because she is a great model, along with our mentor teacher.  I am going to really focus on appropriate behavior management in the last week of our pre-internship.  I would like to research more appropriate ways of behavior management as well as ask veteran teachers their strategies.  I want to be a warm demander, but not a dictator.  I understand that a certain amount of chatter and rowdiness is to be expected and encouraged.  I just do not want my classroom to be a hub of disrespect or outlandish behavior.  I need to make sure that I have enough authority while also giving my students enough leeway to interact with one another.  I wonder which methods of behavior management work best as well as what my methods of behavior management will be in my future classroom?       

Agree to Disagree?- Social Studies Debate

     This week my co-teaching partner and I taught a lesson about the Second Seminole War as well as events that occurred prior to and after the war.  We presented this lesson to the fourth graders in our class.  We had the students read aloud the section about the war from their social studies textbooks.  Then, we showed them a powerpoint in order to review what they had read as well as show the students additional pictures of important people and events during the time period.  Following the information session, it was my co-teaching partner's idea to have the students participate in a debate.                

     The topic of the debate was whether or not the students agreed or disagreed with the Indian Removal Act. This act forced the majority of the Seminole Indians, along with any Native Americans living east of the Mississippi, to relocate west to a reservation located in present day Oklahoma.  Before the students began debating, my co-teaching partner asked the students if they knew what a debate was.  Many of the students said that it had to deal with the president and voting.  My co-teaching partner mentioned that presidential candidates do debate each other and clarified that sometimes their debates sway people to vote a certain way after hearing the candidate's opinions of issues that they discuss during debates.  We mentioned that a debate is basically a discussion between people in which opposing sides listen to each other's opinions, then state their own opinions.  We clarified that when one person or side is speaking, the other is quiet and listening until it is their turn to speak.  We also mentioned that people often back their opinions up with facts.  Based on what the students had just learned, we encouraged our students to incorporate facts from the reading and powerpoint during their debate.  We then demonstrated a debate about which season was better- summer or fall? We wanted the students to see that they did not have to yell or argue during the debate.  We reiterated the need for respect when expressing your opinions.  Then we asked the students to put their heads down on their desks and raise their hands if they agreed with the Indian Removal Act or disagreed with it.

     I was under the impression that every student would disagree with it because it was not fair to the Native Americans.  However, three of the students in the class agreed with the act and believed that the Native Americans should have been forced to leave Florida.  Also, I expected that the students would not know what to say or would find the activity boring.  To my surprise though, the students were very passionate about their opinions during the debate.  None of them were too out of line or rude to the opposing view.  They said things like "I disagree with your statement" rather than saying that the opposing side was stupid or something hurtful.  Each of the sides also took the role of the Native Americans and the settlers by speaking in first person often.  They said things such as, "You forced us off of our land" rather than speaking in third person about the Native Americans and the settlers.  Lastly, I was blown away by the fact that the students referred to their textbooks during the debate, and they remembered a great deal of information from the reading and the powerpoint.  This showed us that they were paying attention and actively engaged during the lesson.

     Overall, this activity went much better than I anticipated.  Several of the students came up to us later in the day asking if we could do another debate.  I was pleased with the impact the lesson and accompanying activity had on our students.  It made me wonder if I should incorporate debates more often in social studies lessons, as long as I set clear ground rules about respecting each other beforehand.