This week was a bit more challenging than last week for me, but although I came up against some frustrations, I had a few big successes as well. One of the biggest frustrations was our room--we never found a good arrangement for the room and midweek this week both Diane and I finally lost it and decided we needed to deal with the problem. My big success was that after spending most of Thursday rearranging desks and organizing materials the room finally looks like a classroom and we can move around the space without having to constantly move furniture or trip on desks. While room setup ideally would have happened before the students arrived--finding a suitable arrangement in our space (which used to be the staff lounge) was a hug accomplishment.
My second big success was that I finally nailed down a time to plan with Diane and on Friday we stayed for an extra hour and mapped out the week. I have a pretty good idea of what lessons we will be doing each day, and what my responsibilities are for the week. While I recognize this is likely to change as we go, it feels really good to have a basic plan. I was able to take home the curriculum books and preview all of the lessons for the week so that I feel prepared.
The area I want to work on the most is classroom management. I still do not feel that I have the same authority in the room as Diane, and I continue to have trouble calling attention back after work time. Diane does not use any sort of system for this, and so far I have been following her lead but it is not working very well and I am straining my voice too much. Next week I will start using my own count down system and see if that works better.
You're a problem-solver, Meggie. It would be great if our school days were trouble-free, but that's not realistic. What is realistic is naming what's not going well and fixing it. You did this with your classroom arrangement when you realized it was driving you crazy and not working for your students (Maria Montessori called the classroom "the third teacher" because the architecture of a room teaches children as much as teachers do), and now you have a plan to address your need for more productive ways to redirect kids' attention when necessary. Having a consistent, fair, low-key way to get kids re-focused is a big accomplishment. Please keep us posted on how your signal works this week.
ReplyDeleteIf your first attempt doesn't work, try another. And don't be shy about talking to the whole class about the challenge you're seeing around management, how it affects learning, and what you need to happen. Maybe they'll have some solutions to suggest!
Enjoy your week!