Packerbacker

Finally – some readings that truly speak to me! I think this discussion of classroom management is much needed and long overdue. In fact, classroom management is my single biggest problem as a student teacher. And it affects everything I do. For example, it’s hard to implement the latest idea in collaborative learning when half the students are swinging from the light fixtures (that’s hyperbole, in case you’re wondering). It colors my attitude toward teaching, too. We need to hear more about classroom management. I anxiously await the lecture part of this lesson. Particularly the part about praising your students.This brings up something I’ve noticed about my mentor teacher: Other than grades earned for good work — which are fairly rare — she never praises her students for ANYthing. I noticed this when I became painfully aware of receiving no positive feedback from her. Oddly enough, she told me that she –did- give out positive feedback … and then proceeded to give me 15 minutes of negative feedback. I was curious, so I started watching her classroom management, and I became aware that she treated everyone this way. That was at least some consolation to me. In any case, they say that a mentor teacher can show you what =not= to do as well as what you should do. Positive feedback, which I give my students as often as realistically possible, is something I want to keep in my bag of tricks. For example, I was careful to praise one of my ESOL students for his contributions during class — and his next written essay was surprisingly free of English errors. Could it have anything to do with pumping him up with a little praise? Maybe. One last thing: Because I teach two ESOL classes, the article about linguistic diversity was especially interesting to me. I’ve often wondered how I would fare if somebody dropped me in the middle of Mexico and demanded that I take classes taught in Spanish, a language with which I have only a passing familiarity; I probably would fare no better than some of the kids fare in my class, I suspect. I’ve been aware of how some of them react — you can just see that deer-in-the-headlights look when they don’t “get it.” I strive to give the kids extra time to discern meaning, and it seems to help. I find it interesting that some of them have already done things that Curran’s article suggest: buddying up with someone else, for instance. I think here of two Vietnamese girls in my 5^th period class who stick to each other like glue. The same goes for a pair of Mexican girls. They converse back and forth and (most of the time) help each other through the vagaries of the English language. I let this go because it seems to help them — even though my mentor teacher officially prohibited languages other than English when she started the school year. It’s nice to see my hunch confirmed by an expert.