Today I got to observe two classes (and several teachers) and was observed by two others (though one was unplanned). The focus of all was behaviour management and building relationships, which really are two interconnected ideas and cannot really be separated.
To start I saw a year 5/6 classroom at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day I watched (and joined in with) a group of year 0 classrooms in the sandpit and having free choice. It is always interesting to see a variety of classrooms in a given day. No two are ever the same, yet there are always commonalities that you find throughout all good (great, outstanding, etc.) classrooms that show a common theme. And there were a few things I picked up on in both of those observations.
Enthusiasm. Both (well, there were actually 4, and all were doing it) teachers were super enthusiastic about the work and the children's ideas, though a bit moreso (understandably) in the younger room. Lots of wows, that's greats, and thanks for sharings (is that grammar correct? Just checking if someone is actually reading this ;) ). I guess that also fits into the valuing of everyone's ideas and making them feel like they have something to contribute. This was important - even if the ideas weren't very good, the whole point isn't to get the good ideas (well, not the only point), but to get lots of ideas to consider and to think about. Enthusiasm is definitely something that was lacking at times for me last year (though not all the time). I think I need to dig a bit deeper at times to find it and pass it on to the kids. I control the mood in the room and if I'm happy, the students will be too.
Choices. This is something I have always tried (mostly successful, but in moments of weakness, I've definitely failed) to do when dealing with behaviour. In the first class, there were not many instances of misbehaviour but the one or two were dealt with calmly and the onus was put on the child to make a choice. Most minor things were ignored (they were attention seeking behaviours anyway). This is something that is probably in need of work for me. I'm usually pretty good at ignoring calling out, but sometimes my response is just automatic. I need to be more mindful of things and turn off the automatic response (this is where I wish I could remember the term that the guest speaker at boot camp gave these actions, but it's a perfect example of it - I respond without thinking. I need to train myself to stop and think in these cases - or at least in ALL of these cases). The second class had lots of misbehaviour and the choices given were different. They were more suggestions ("Wouldn't it be nice if we shared the toy with the other children? Why don't you...?") than actual choices, but the brilliance was that the kids saw them as making their own decisions. I even saw one boy decide to remove himself from a situation so that he wouldn't get cross. There was also some coaching (with the same boy) about something that happend earlier. He had not followed the class back from the sandpit and later the teacher praised him for listening another time and then talked about why he made the choice to not listen earlier. He asked the boy whether or not he had felt annoyed and then gave him some advice about dealing with that in the future. The conversation went so quickly but was so complex from my standpoint it was difficult to fully take it all in. But the gist of it was, the whole thing was based on empathy and understanding (hey, that's a habit of mind, stated in another way!) and actually addressed the root of the problem instead of the symptom (which was the misbehaviour) while not completely ignoring it (the symptom). I'd like to think I do this most of the time, but I can definitely think of times when I don't. It makes me think of talks and classes where we discussed behaviour and that there is always an underlying cause (the need to feel significant, competent and in control were three things - I looked this up from notes I had in a previous PD session and I think the reminder is helpful) and that that cause needs to be dealt with... anyway, I'm rambling. This is definitely something I need to make sure I'm doing all the time, not just most of the time.
Language. It not only matters what you say, but how you say it. Even though children may not be that great at inferential questions on reading tests (I kid, some of them are really good), they are extremely adept at reading between the lines in how a teacher says something. Both teachers talked about "we" and "you can" and used very open language, letting the children know a) they are in this together and b) the kids have some control over things (oh, that's related to my last point).
Putting the onus on the children. A lot was said where the children were given the responsibility to do the right thing, and not just being told. For example, one of the teachers had to do some testing and asked the children to do something and then followed it up with: "Do you think you can do that for me so I can do a test?" That's a really powerful way of putting it since it gives the children responsibility and lets them feel like they are doing the teacher a favour. Earlier the same teacher, while explaining a reading strategy used herself as an example and said: "If I don't understand the book, what do I do?" which put the children in the place of the teacher and gave them the responsibility of teaching (so to speak). I'd like to think I've done this in the past, but I do feel like I could take more time to find opportunities to do so, which will have a huge benefit for both behaviour and for my relationships with my students.
The official observation went really well and for the most part, I got some really good positive feedback about how I've built some relationships with my students and how they are really comfortable with me. I'm really proud of that to be honest. It's not so much that I've learned how to do it in the last few weeks or months, but that I've rediscovered my ability to do that after a rough patch. The same went for the other feedback from another teacher. I didn't even think I was being watched, which makes it doubly pleasing to know that I'm doing the right things. Honestly, it was some of the first real positive feedback I've had about anything significant in my life in a long time. The flipside was also that all the things that were suggested were things that had popped into my head during the lesson as needing work. Which means that I'm in tune with how my teaching is going and I'm not completely clueless. With all that positiveness, needless to say I was in a good mood at the end of the day, which, surprise, surprise, affects my willingness to work hard. I guess the point is to try to find the positives in life and school so that I do have that reason to put the effort in. I think last year I got so bogged down that I lost a bit of focus and the effort slipped away bit by bit. The effort is back now and the important part is to make sure the motivation stays and that I'm feeling fresh and relaxed. And on that note, I'm off to watch a short dvd before bed.
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