Being a successful teacher

In Harry Wong's last couple chapters of his book, he discusses the differences between a worker and a leader. I really like how he explained some of these things, "A worker cares about time and money...A leader cares about enhancement and cooperation." He goes on to say that leaders are professionals, and that professional teachers are in charge of their class. Wong also says that "Leaders have control over their own live" because they choose their lifestyle. Something that I personally believe is a choice is happiness, so I believe that these two things relate with each other.

In my classroom, I will choose to be the leader and I will choose to be happy. Wong says, "A person's behavior will determine what choices that person will make." My behavior will eventually effect other people, so as long as I am able to keep choosing positivity, I will have a successful classroom.

Being an "enhancement person" will be another important factor to my happy and successful classroom. I will strive for greatness to help my students and other teachers around me.

Cooperative Learning

"Cooperative learning refers to a set of instructional techniques whereby students work in small, mixed-ability learning groups." It's important to incorporate cooperative learning within a classroom. It is an important part of building social skills within students. In its simplest form, cooperative learning looks like students working together in a group. Here are three ways I will encourage cooperative learning in my future classroom.

1. Dividing the classroom into groups
       I am a strong believer that students learn mainly from other students and building thoughts off of each other. Dividing a classroom up into groups will be a must in my classroom for this exact reason. Wong makes an important point, "cooperative groups should be heterogeneous in terms of ability, sex, ethnicity, and other personal characteristics." At the beginning of the year, my groups would be divided by sex, but as I learn the students educational level, the groups would change to ability. This way they are able to grow together and nurture each other's education without realizing it.

2.Stations will be an important part of my lesson plans
      When the student groups are doing stations most of their learning comes from each other. They are able to really help each other. I will do my best to help the students realize why station time is important to each of their growth. Wong says, "For cooperative learning to be successful, the students really have to believe that they are in it together and to care for each one another's learning."  I want my students to realize that they can make the difference for each other.

3. Group Projects
        Of course individual projects are important, they help show that each student clearly understand the assignment and objectives. But group projects are important too because they help improve social skills. When I put a group together, I will not just throw a group of students together. Each one will play a specific role and be expected to fufill it. It's important that each students take different turns playing different roles to understand the importance of different jobs. They'll also learn how to work with people that they might not even stand. It's an important fact of life that we need social skills to survive in the world. My students will have a basis of those skills when they leave my class.

There are many different ways to incorporate cooperative learning wishing a classroom. These are three ways that will be shown in my future classroom. It might stressful at first, and the kids may not want to work together, but eventually they will learn how it will help them.

Here are some links that have more information about cooperative learning:

http://www.behavioradvisor.com/CoopLearning.html

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/cooperative/index.html

http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-cooperative-learning-in-the-classroom-strategies-benefits-definition.html

Tests

Tests are things that most people dread, especially students with test anxiety. Teachers should be sure not to use tests as a punishment. In Harry Wong's book, he says that the major reason for giving a test is to find out if students have accomplished the objectives of the assignment. Tests should be used to monitor and asses learning, and tests help show where students need corrective help.

When a teacher gives a test, it should not be a passage of time, need to put grades in the grade book, or a period to kill time. Each test should be written with a purpose to assess student's mastery of assignments. To write tests, teachers should be sure to make sure each question corresponds with an objective. Wong says, "The basis of every test is the objectives for each assignment."  It's important to keep questions based on the objectives so that students and teachers can monitor learning.

Tests are also important to see where a student might need help. Wong says, "If you do not correct and remediate, learning gets worse as the year progresses." Students need to master a topic before they move on to the next one, correcting will help see what went wrong, or help clear what was not understood. Teachers should not just give the test over again, but clarify the objectives and what is needed to be learned.

Tests might always be something students dread, but they need to realize it is only there to help them. Tests only can help improve a student's mastery. Teachers don't give grades, students earn grades.

Here are some links to give more info on testing:

http://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/teaching-to-the-test/

http://m.wikihow.com/Make-Tests-Fun

http://www.uky.edu/~kdbrad2/EPE773R/StudentPapers/ConsumerBehavior.pdf

Don't cover, Uncover!

One thing that I have noticed in my site classroom is that students don't seem to ever do their homework! It seems like an impossible task to get them to accomplish assignments. As I read Harry Wong's First Days of School, I see that the students may not be doing their work because they do not completely the assignment. They also may not be working hard enough to comprehend the lesson.

An important thing for teachers to remember is that the student is responsible for the learning and achievement. Wong says, " The role of a teacher is not to COVER. The role of a teacher is UNCOVER" (pg 209). Take a minute and think about this. Teachers always say, "This week, we will cover..." It is important that we don't cover things, but we uncover the knowledge the students will gain. A teacher should simply lay out what the student's need to do and learn to have academic success and leave the learning and work to the students.

When teachers are creating their lesson plans, they should not ask, "What am I going to cover?" but instead, "What are my students going to learn?" If you plan your lesson plans on what you are going to cover, you will be the one doing all the work. If you plan your lesson with what your students will accomplish and know at the end of each lesson, your students will be more successful. Wong makes an important statement in his book, he says, "The person who does the work is the ONLY one who learns" (pg. 204). If teachers plan all their lessons to when their just the ones teaching, they are the only one getting work done. Teachers should have students do the work , so that the students learn and are able to achieve their goals.

Wong says, "If students know what they are to learn, you increase the chance they will learn." Focusing on objectives in the classroom make a difference in student achievement. Objectives help teachers and students alike.When objectives are clearly written, it tells students what needs to be accomplished and learned. When objectives are clearly written, it tells teachers what is to be taught.

 The goal of a test should be to see if the students mastered the assignment. Wong defines mastery as, "ability to use what has been comprehended." Students should be able to break down and explain what they learned. I think that it is important to test students so you can see their development in a subject.

The most important thing that I took away from this chapter is to plan with the end in mind and uncover what the students need to learn.

Effective Discipline Plan

In The First Days of School by Harry Wong, he states that teachers must have a discipline plan to succeed in the classroom. He even says, "If you do not have a plan, you are planning to fail." I strongly agree with this statement. When you don't have a plan, you resort to yelling and screaming, which gets no where with students. Having a set and stable discipline plan will help a class flow more smoothly.

Wong says that the basic structure of a discipline plan is made up of rules (expectations), consequences, and rewards (incentives). He sets a list in his book of things to do in setting up your discipline plan. Rules should be the base of the classroom and help the days flow. Consequences should be known as what the student chooses to accept if a rule is broken. This helps create student responsibility with the choice of following the rules. Rewards are what the student receives for appropriate behavior.

There is an argument that “the number one problem in the classroom is not discipline; it is the lack of procedures and routines.” I strongly agree with this. Like I said in my last post,about discipline, consistency is key. If the students don't have a strong foundation in the discipline plan that is set, they will wobble and shake within the rules causing discipline problems. Students need to have a set routine and procedures that they follow, they have to know what to expect day in and day out.

Welcoming to Class

When your students walk into your classroom, they already decide what the class will be like and how they will act in class. It's important to set up a positive classroom climate the minute students walk in. You want the students to know what is expected, but feel welcomed at the same time.

In Harry Wong's First Day of School, he makes really good point. He says, "People welcome people." I think is extremely important in welcoming students into the classroom. If the teacher is not at the door welcoming students into class, who (or even what) is? The door, the desk, the whiteboard, the assignment? These aren't pleasant things to be welcomed by. Teachers should make a point to stand at the door and welcome students in.

If a teacher is not at the door to greet and just stays at his/her desk until the bell rings, they'll be seen as "a monster from a dungeon." Class time is already torture for some students, why make it worse and be a monster that is only there for class time? A teacher should welcome at the door and give a friendly smile to not look like such a monster.

In the future, I will definitely take into account things that Wong suggests to do in his book. One of the suggestions that I really liked was taking roll at the door. This way I will be able to actually meet the person and try to put names and faces together better. I also liked how he said that all info they need should be on the board. This way there aren't as many questions to be asked and it is all laid out in front of the students.

On the first day of school, I will be sure to welcome my students in and create as positive of an environment as I can.

Classroom Management and Discipline

The words 'classroom management' seems like such a simple topic, right? All it means is how well the teacher can manage the classroom. But when it comes down to actual having a sense of a productive classroom management, it can be more difficult. Along with classroom management, discipline is a hard thing to get at a healthy and productive medium. I think the key to mastering both is consistency.

In the past, I have had teachers that seem really strict at the beginning of the year, but they start becoming loose with their rules and policies as the year goes on. As they loose their classroom management and discipline, they loose their students as well. When the teacher tries to wrangle up his/her students, he/she can become easily frustrated because they already let the reins go and students are running with no one guiding them.

I've also had teachers that weren't perfect, but they found what worked for their classroom in terms of management and disciple. They kept things consistent. The teacher would always have the same consequences for every level of actions. Her classroom procedures are always followed through the same way. These teachers that I had, I learned the most in. Consistency is key.

As a future, I will try different ways to manage my classroom each year until I realize what works best with me and my classroom. I will change as I see things needed, but my main goal is to be as consistent as I can be with my policies and discipline.

Of course there are other things that factor into creating good classroom management skills. Here's a site of tips for new teachers.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/classroom-management-tips-novice-teachers-rebecca-alber