M7U2A3 - Reflection

Thu Nguyen
Cohort 01/2016
M7U2A3

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT REFLECTION

In my classroom management, I learned many critical techniques from other colleagues and from the manual "the Art and Science of Teaching" by Robert J. Marzano. 

1. Memorize all student names of the whole elementary school

As a subject teacher, I found out it was a challenge for me in remembering all student names and knowing them as personal as their homeroom. I admired some other colleagues how they could remember their students thoroughly. To learn more from them, I requested some interviews and listened to their sharing. When it came to the real life, it was still challenging me until the end of the first semester. But now, after one year working with such an amount of students, I learned how to best memorize names, student interests and hobbies, and something special about them; and reflected in the checklist of this activity.

2. Bulletin board praising effort and academic exemplars

This was a topic of discussion between my colleague in the same department and me. My intention behind this setting was just to praise positive behaviors and to acknowledge excellence that will be a source of reference, motivation, and inspiration. The critique, however, was a force of comparison and competition, and that hurt feelings of others whose works were hung. 

I honestly didn't see so. Since some works considered exemplars were up, more and more student tried to make best of them just to be recognized and appreciated. I didn't mean to promote competition over collaboration. I mean to inspire students via the best of the best. No inspiration, no effort. No effort, no spiritual award. No spiritual award, no continuous improvement. I believe collaboration can be employed in learning activities but the best works of art or of efforts must be recognized, praised, and appreciated by teachers and peers. 

Praising the best may hurt those who have not yet been the very best. Let's think about how the best can influence peers to be as best as they are. Therefore, my students had many chances to speak, to share about what, why, and how they deserve my star award or appreciation cards. As its result, many students who used to get the works done quickly spent more time to fix their works at their best. This is my intention and high expectations.

3. Classroom decoration

Why should a subject teacher spend time for decorating her classroom? Well, it was not because I had to work with young learners, but the classroom was a second home for my students and myself. Before setting up my room, I closed my eyes and recalled my childhood memory about a dreaming classroom. I wanted to create an inviting and safe feeling via an attractive and welcoming decoration. I took time to regularly alternate student works on the wall, and created an online virtual classroom for parents to visit artworks of their children at home. By doing so, I received of course many positive feedback and also negative ones. One of critiques was that the room did not look like art room but elementary homerooms. Until I read the Art and Science of Teaching, I knew what I had done was confirmed and right.

4. Greeting students at the class door and Promoting student feedback via a Visual mailbox

I honestly didn't do these before learning about the techniques to establish and maintain an effective relationship with students. When applying these tips, I realized how effective they are, I believed that an effective relationship benefit my teaching and engage students better in their learning. I loved reading letters of my 1st and 2nd graders with cute handwriting. I became addicted to respond to them and felt missing them crazily over the summer. In this busy world, I believe that I need just to seize, to think, and to do something, even little things to us as teachers, because those things may be big and meaningful to young learners. 

In conclusion, I saw myself growing and many positive improvements in my relationship with students as well as my classroom management skills after exploring this magical manual. Given a chance to be back to the field, I believe I will make it better than what was done last year.