Week Three Reflection - Behaviour Management Development

Another eventful week has flown by, and I am beginning to settle in to this school environment regardless of the obstacles I have already faced. Last week I learnt about the importance of looking after myself; this week I implemented it. I have been overworking but I believe I have now found a balance. I start each day fresh with a positive attitude, do not take extra occurrences personally, and ensure I have some down time to myself outside of school. I have had a larger teacher presence in the classroom this week; I had full control of inquiry and assisted more than just my own group in maths and reading. Next week I begin a two-week period of full control, which I am very excited about and feel prepared.

One major learning curve this week was in regards to my behaviour management goal. I am a positive and calm person; I do not like to raise my voice and prefer to give students responsibility for their actions rather than telling them what not to do. This personality trait means that behaviour management has always been a difficult aspect for myself as a teacher. I only experienced negative reinforcement through my schooling and only had minor behaviour issues in my placement last year, which meant that this was a perfect goal for this placement. There are multiple behaviour issues in this classroom and they are all used to being growled as punishment, which means it has been difficult to implement by philosophy within this behaviour management. However, my associate teacher is very aware of this difference between our styles and she encourages me to use strategies that reflect who I am. I have been doing this throughout, but this week it became clear I am making progress. When students are off task or being disruptive I tend to ask ‘what are you supposed to be doing? Are you being respectful and responsible?’ or I give them choice ‘You can either choose to participate in the learning, or go and wait for me in the cloak bay.’ If they continue to be disruptive, then I follow up with the correct consequence. I am still at the beginning of this development, however it is clear that it is becoming effective in the classroom. One area I need to be aware of is not coming across as confused. I am a student teacher and still unsure about some of the procedures. In my mind, I thought it would be degrading if I were to call on another teacher to carry out the correct procedure. I discussed this with my associate teacher and she made it clear that when a major incident occurs and I am unsure, firstly clarify the decision the student has made (ie ‘Your final decision is to be disrespectful towards myself and not participate in PE? If so, then I will need be getting __________ ‘), and then get another student to get either my associate teacher or the team leader. When these situations arise, I will take this feedback on board and make this next step towards achieving my personal goal.

Questions often come to me spontaneously and naturally. I thought my technique was effective last year, however it is clear that this strategy needs to be adjusted depending on the students. One thing I have noticed is that when I form discussions with my reading group, they are too teacher-led. I firstly thought this may be a result of students being unengaged, but I have discovered that students are engaged and listening to the discussion. They do contribute throughout and display understanding, however their responses are short and they do not ask any questions themselves. When I critically think about it, I question whether maybe students do not feel safe enough to ask these questions, might lack understanding of expectations and purpose, or are unaware of how to expand their ideas. I have tried to find ways to make discussions student-led, but it is clear that the things I try do not work as well as I firstly think. Next week I will ask my associate teacher to observe these discussions and seek her feedback for how I can have less of a lead role during them and encourage students to ask questions. Maybe I could work on this as a comprehension strategy?

Overall, my teacher presence has extended hugely and this is showing in the students’ responses towards myself. They show respect and enjoy having me in the classroom. I have built strong learning relationships with all of them, know the structure of the classroom, and have developed behaviour management strategies, so this should form a good foundation towards taking on full control. I will focus on increasing student engagement in each lesson and try to make discussions more student-directed, whilst figuring out how I can bring my teaching philosophy into this classroom environment. My confidence is improving, my professional development is growing, and I am getting closer to becoming an effective teacher each and every day.