Fun and Games

During a visit back to a past placement I got the opportunity to teach literacy for the week. I was given free reign to teach anything I wanted... so we ended up making board games and writing instructions for them. Over the week we looked at all the things needed to write our game instructions as instructional texts - structure, purpose and language features. During this week I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out a behavioural management game. So as a class we discussed four points that would help us to get the best out of the learning time that we had. Then using Google Drawings I created an image of a snakes and ladders board with movable counters. As the students went about their learning I gave them opportunities to roll the dice and move their teams counter up the board. My inquiry into this activity was to observe and reflect on how students respond to behavioural games within the classroom. I wanted to reflect on whether behaviourism methods work and if they are effective. During the week we played the game on and off whenever students where working on their personal games. In the beginning I found some students quickly responded to the game and stayed on task well with their groups. Whilst others weren't so interested in the beginning they did respond as the days went on. Another observation I made was during a period when the teacher was absent from the room and the students were a little off task by introducing the game order was quickly established. One factor within the classroom which changed was the mood. Whilst playing the game students enjoyed seeing each other get a chance to have a turn and were generally cheerful. In conclusion from this inquiry, I think this behaviour game did have overall positive effects. I would not agree that this would work in all situations due to other factors but overall I would be keen to try and experiment with other activities to bring good behaviour and enjoyment whilst also learning.

Week Four

The final week of my four week placement has quickly drawn to an end. Over these past four weeks I have had an opportunity that has deeply affected and contributed to my journey as a teacher. It has been a rich experience to be involved in a school that is excited and passionate about learning with strong focus on seeking new ways to which education can be taught and acquired better and better. From the first time I walked into the school I felt welcomed and accepted into a staff environment that was far beyond what I had ever experienced before.

During these four weeks my personal philosophy, experience and attitude to teaching has developed significantly. Before beginning this placement I set some goals to develop my philosophy with specific relation to ICT and pedagogies. As I now look back over the weeks I can clearly see that I have taken to heart the pedagogy that this school is based upon; learn, create share. But also I see that I have developed in my philosophy, understanding and skill of using ICT in the classroom. This interest and enthusiasm for ICT in the classroom has been building throughout my three years training as a teacher with now this experience being built upon stronger. The pedagogy of learn, create, share has made me think about how as humans we learn and what is the purpose for learning. From reflection upon why we learn I think it is reasonable to say that we learn (gain) knowledge to use and effect our lives. If knowledge is learn’t (gained) and not used then I would question its purpose and supporting reasoning. Therefore ultimately all learnt material should be used in a way that is useful and/or affects life. If during education students learn knowledge that isn’t used (in the present or future) or doesn’t affect their life or the lives of others, then the conclusion might be made that it is useless and in vain. Therefore what gets taught to students needs to useful or taught in a way that makes the knowledge important. This is where I think the pedagogy of learn, create, share has excelled and can bring revolution to education. I want my students to think and know that what they learn is useful and/or can affect their life or other peoples’ lives. So by teaching my students to learn knowledge, then create using that knowledge, and finally sharing their creating, I believe that students are able to gain purpose and enthusiasm for education. In my own life I learn new knowledge because I either need it to create or contribute to other knowledge or actions. Then from this step this knowledge or action often affects or is shared with others for joined appreciation, understanding, ability, effectiveness, growth or productiveness. I do not often find myself learning something that I don’t use or share. Therefore I greatly see the effect and significance of teaching students to learn in order to create then share. And now with the use of ICT in the classroom creating and sharing can be easier and more efficient. Which in conclusion can potentially make learning more efficient and meaningful which is what as a teacher I strive for.

Day Twenty

Today was my sad final day of my four week placement. Over the past couple blogs I have reflected on the classroom management with the goal of creating a high expectation learning environment. I believe that the foundation upon this goal is that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ method that teachers can use to manage behaviour. Each teacher must find their own method and style of managing behaviour to succeed. This method and style is determined by the character of the teacher but also from the unique students who make up the classroom. Today I took the opportunity to trial something that I studied in university. During an ICT lesson where all my students were busy working on drawing animations I began playing some music. Halfway through the lesson the students were very loud and continually talked to each other. So I decided to play some music from Mozart, because in my studies one reading said that his music is very good for aiding learning. In the beginning there were a number of comments such as. How long is this soundtrack? Does this song ever end? I like this song. But quite suddenly the noise and distraction level dropped significantly. Then for a significant amount of time the room was really quiet with students all focused and working. Once I stopped the music is was amazed to see how fast the students quickly got noisy and distracted again. So I tried playing another song which was more secular, but the students didn’t quieten down at all. Upon reflection I don’t think I could state that playing Mozart was more effective than other music due to the breaking of the flow between the songs. But my conclusion from this test is that I clearly did get better classroom management from playing a song whilst students were working. I was taken back by the effect that the music had and want to test this further during other learning times in a class. From my reflection I think music can break awkward silence that can be created if students are working silently. During this silence is when students would speak up because they can’t stay focused due to the unfamiliar quietness. Every day as humans we are bombarded by noises and sounds and when entered into a period of silence suddenly unease and discomfort can be created. This may be a good thing to teach students to be able to cope in but at the same time my attention would be stronger in getting my students to learn and study efficiently. Therefore even more after today I think that music can potentially increase learning.

Day Nineteen

In my last post I reflected on the issue around students behaviour with specific relation to fights. Today I again witnessed another outbreak of anger between two students. The situation was sparked but a simple action of one student being helpful but having a bit of fun and silliness at the same time. But as soon as objection was shown against him he quickly got very threatening and serious. This resulted in the moving of objects with one student falling to the ground. In this situation the initial student was not able to manage himself and let himself get angry very quickly. Therefore this resulted to the student being quite calm to getting angry quickly. The key learning goal is that students needs to learn is to be able to control their feels and not react in anger. From this event and earlier ones it was sad but eye opening to the reality that if these students continue down this path then it might lead them to possibly ending up in a jail cell. This fact is extremely sad and empowering to push on harder training these students to deal with their anger. But again it highlights the importance that each teacher needs to provide a safe and learning efficient environment because students won’t learn well if they are scared or feel uptight.

Day Eighteen

One of the biggest factors in teaching is class management. This factor in the Graduating Teacher Standards is stated as teachers must use professional knowledge to plan for a safe, high quality teaching and learning environment. In order to create this environment class management must be controlled and exercised really well. Over the past couple weeks I have witnessed a number of fights occur between a group of boys. It is has been really interesting to observe and be a part of the teacher conversations around this issue. One direction that my AT is handling this issue is through continual relationship with the students. They key aspect that all the teachers are trying to teach students is the ability to walk away from a heated situation and then deal with it later in a controlled manner. Progress has been seen but it is still a big issue with fights every day this week. After an incident today my AT was able to talk through some issues with one of the boys. During his discussion he described how his friendship was strong because they were nice to each other. This is one of the key issues that these boys are facing because they are continually being mean to each other then question why people don’t like them. What I have been learning from this is firstly how important it is to build and maintain a strong relationship with each student. But then to use language around personal disappointment and relationship to help guide students.

Day Seventeen

One of my goals during this placement is to understand what personal, social and cultural factors in relation to multiculturalism have influence on teachers and learners. This goal flows from Graduating Teacher Standard three that states how teachers must understand how contextual factors influence teaching and learning. Over the course of this placement I have continually been made aware of the lives that some of my students live. Today after a number of conversations and circumstances I reflected on this factor. One boy brought his mother into school with him today to apologise and put right an issue that had been making him feel guilty all week. The incident happened last week and the students guilt has built till today were he told his mother about what he had done. This really made me think about how as a teacher I so often may have no idea at all about what is going on in a students life and home. It makes me think how careful, considerate and loving I need to be towards my students. But in order to teach effectively this judgements have to be made so many times throughout the day. Which therefore makes the process even harder. I think that this ‘judgement’ will come better over time when a relationship is built and students are able to trust their teacher more. Another situation which made me think about this was during my reading lesson I had one boy who just couldn’t focus and I kept trying to tell him to read and do his work. I thought he was definitely tired but found out at the end of the lesson that he was really not very well. He was then sent to the sick bay at morning tea and went home. This highlighted to me again how important and difficult it is for a teacher to continually be making judgements, and conclusions from observing and talking to students. This is an area that I know I am not proficient with yet but will come with experience.

Day Sixteen

Today was the start of a week of full control teaching. The day went smoothly with no major difficulties which would also be a result from already having a couple of days full control. Earlier in a number of my blog posts I reflected on how interaction with students builds relationship and therefore aids learning. This relationship is something that is key to teaching and is covered in Graduating Teacher Standard Six. But what makes this relationship even more interesting is how cultural factors have an effect. In this school I previously mentioned how some teachers interact with their students on quite a fun/informal/cheerful/ teasing way. Earlier in the weeks I was interested in this relationship model so took deliberate opportunities to have fun with the students. Then over the past couple weeks I have continued to build this relationship with my students. Being full control today showed me a bit of the result of this relationship. Particularly with the students that I have built this fun relationship with I found management way easier. But also in general most of my students were really well behaved and related really well. During the day I was able to continue to have ‘fun’ with some students by teasing them but then was able to quickly draw them back to focusing on their learning. I am beginning to really see how this informal relationship is really foundational to building a connection with these students. I am interested to see how this furthermore develops as the week progresses. Another relationship/behavioural tool that I used throughout the day today was positive reinforcement. I have used this earlier in the week but didn’t find it very effective. Whilst today I found that it worked really well and I was able to manage behaviour quite easily. I think that a connection needs to be made to the effectiveness of this reinforcement and the level of my relationship with students now. As students have a better relationship with me I think they are beginning to care more about what I think they are doing and how they behave. Again this draws back to the foundational importance of building a positive relationship in order for effective learning to occur.