Reflection on Observation

My theory when I started secondary teaching was if you treat young learners like adults, they will act like adults. I believed that immaturity was often a result in too many restrictions and the type of punishment being too belittling. I would still like to believe that there is some truth in this theory, although I have realized that this requires a level of scaffolding.

In this year 10 class we have, as a collective, been doing some great stuff; however there are few students who don’t seem mature enough yet to appreciate the freedom I provide and don’t use it effectively for learning.

When I’m not happy I like to be transparent about the way I feel and why. I like to have conversations with the class about what the situation is and how we want to go about changing it.

Last week I decided to conclude my poster project with an exhibition. I put up all the posters, finished or not, provided cookies and orange juice, and played some relaxing music. The purpose of this was to share our learning while detaching ourselves from the typical classroom setting.

Many of the posters either lacked information or were incomplete. At the end of the lesson, I asked the students to look at their posters and ask themselves (internally) whether this poster represented 6 hours of work. At the time I felt that this was an effective strategy for reflection and focusing on time management, but judging by the subsequent lessons, it seemed to only impact the people who were capable and concerned about these things anyway.

During my observation yesterday, it was noted that a few of the students were causing low level disruption. I picked up on a lot of it as well but my approaches failed to make a long lasting difference. I felt like I had lost an element of control, which was causing problems with the dynamic of the class and affecting my teaching.

I reflected on this last night and came to the conclusion that:

1# It was nearly the end of term, and I knew that I had not adhered to my rules as much recently. Nor had I reinforced my expectations or been as consistent with my commands and punishments.

An example of this was when I had started the year; if I want everyone’s attention, I would say ‘ I want your eyes and ears’ and wait until everyone was paying attention. I know that lately I have used this expression, but continued explaining even if I knew I had lost some people’s focus.

2# I was trying so much to avoid enforcing potentially belittling rules to maintain my theory that treating young learners like adults can work.

I have always felt the ‘shh’ing is quite offensive and have been reluctant to confiscate phones and map out seating plans. But actually I’m starting to think that if you explain what the consequences to their actions are and make it clear why you have done this, it can be effective without compromising the positive environment.

For my lesson with the class this morning I started by writing all the various behaviours recorded by my observer. As the students read the list they started to recognize that these were things they had done. I asked them how they felt. They said they were embarrassed. I said I was embarrassed too. I said that I was blame for this behavior too as I clearly wasn’t controlling their learning.

I referred back to the discussion we had at the beginning of the year about the teacher I wanted to be and the teacher I needed to be and stated that it was clear that I needed to take more control. I went over my expectations and explained that because of this, they will now notice me clamping down on behavior, demanding attention and expecting co-operation. Any punishment would be discussed. They seemed to agree with what I was saying. I really feel like they need to onboard with these changes and see the positives in them.

As I have said, these discussions don’t always have a long-lasting impact in terms of the students’ self-management, but I feel that it has allowed me to justify the change in my behavior and alter the dynamic of the class for the better.

#Teaching #Learningfocusedculture