Day 2

It has only been two days of my observations with Mrs. T, but I have already gotten a grasp of how her classroom runs and what I would do differently. The first day I observed, all of her students had tons of energy and little to no focus. Originally I had thought it was maybe because it was a Friday and the kids were anxious for the weekend. I now realize that there is very little classroom management being applied most days, not just Fridays, and the kids have control in the classroom.

Mrs. T read a story by Maya Angelou for the kindergartners, during which, the kids were crawling across the floor, not sitting on their bottoms and doing what looked like weird yoga positions. Some students had gotten hold of rubber bands and were flinging them at each other and across the room. One student who was being particularly disruptive was asked to sit in a chair off to the side of the group. This didn't solve the problem and she then started rocking her chair and making even more noise.

Mrs. T has a procedure that if she wants to get her students' attention she will either turn on and off the light or clap her hands to a rhythm and the students must repeat it.  Throughout the class, seldom would the students respond to either of these actions, and would continue working and talking when they were supposed to stop working and talking and pay attention.

After one of our previous guest speakers, Mrs. L, I had originally thought her approach to teaching and classroom management was strict and rigid. Now after being in an elementary classroom, I understand that that kind of structure is necessary to get anything done. Observing with Mrs. T makes me continually aware of how important it is to be organized, have back up plans, and make sure rules are clearly addressed to the students.