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| 4th Grade Lesson 2 Image 1 |
The good news is, that through all the talking and classroom management issues, there is talking. I think my kids are actually engaged, and that we are still just practicing some of the behaviors of how to have an organized conversation. Even when I say I'm going to wait to call on people who have looked closely for a long time, I have hands shoot up in the air before I can ask the first question. Even when I say please state only one thing you notice, I have kids who will ramble off a whole list. One of the most exciting things for me in this lesson was that a boy who had never participated before, did. And once again, they love to agree and disagree with each other, and are doing so respectfully. That shows they are listening to what the other person is saying, and finding parts in it to agree or disagree off of.
Reflecting on Practice
For whatever reason I said "picture" instead of "image" in the first question? I also had a kid question what it meant when I said, "What's going on?" So that was interesting...that he was questioning if I wanted him to list what he saw or what the narrative was. And he went with the narrative of thinking someone was mowing outside. The classroom management part is still difficult for me. I have high engagement and then just one or two kids that are off task. I tried Mary's suggestion of stopping and apologizing to the speaker when the class was not listening/talking out of turn. I have kids that come into my trailer late, or kids that come in for the buddy room. One kid sat right in front of my iPad, and knocked it over for the rest of my video. Oh how kids are kids. And it kills me when I mention specific things in my instructions, like mention one thing at a time, and I have kids who still mention multiple things. But I don't want to be mad at them for being engaged. So, I again tried Mary's suggestion where I said, "You mentioned many things but what stood out to me was..." But then I feel like I'm breaking neutrality and giving more importance to one of their observations?
Planning
Like I said, I need to keep hounding the expectations at the beginning of the discussion. So far, I've been doing this right at the beginning of class. Even if I try to wait a few minutes until most students are there, for whatever reason, I still have some kids who come in late. So I'm thinking I might try the next one at the end of class to avoid that disruption. I'm also wondering if I should just send those few students who are not on task and difficult to manage back to their seat, instead of stopping to give them a warning. I hate removing them from the conversation, but I hate having to interrupt the speaker and the flow of our conversation for everyone else who is engaged. Sometimes I feel like maybe they would at least listen better from back there instead of being a distraction for the rest of the group.
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ReplyDeleteYou are noticing so much, Lori! I applaud how "in the moment" you are and how you don't let the distractions break your concentration (or insistence!) You are VTSing like you’ve been doing this forever!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I’M beginning to do (and after so many years of teaching, wondering why I didn't figure this out sooner???) is actually TEACH the kids explicitly what something procedural that I want them to do looks like; take interruptions, for example. I told classes at the beginning of the year that if I point at a student who's making it hard for others to learn and then point toward their seat, I expect them return to their seat without talking and wait for an invitation back. I do this without saying anything to them or stopping the discussion. Then, I try to invite them back in 2 minutes or less. Quiet attention from their seat earns them the right to return. It’s working. I don’t have to do it often.
As for your late arrivers, you might designate a couple of "late seats" near the door. TEACH kids that if they come in late, they sit in the late seat until you invite them to join the group. Then, when you invite them, they should sit at the back of the group without disturbing others. Try to invite them to the group as quickly as it's convenient so it doesn't feel like a punishment. If they know that routine, the invitation could be extended with just a gesture; no words.
Another recent thought that I haven't tried, but I was thinking of your 4th graders when it came to me! If your disrupters are power-seekers, have the class decide on the "coming in late" rule or the "making it hard for others to listen" rule. They might be more willing to respect it and enforce it with others if they contributed to writing it. Ownership could make it work.
One more thought. I'm not a fan of "whole brain teaching" because I see it as a rote teaching method that supports memorization, not thinking. I have been wondering, however, if it might be useful for teaching and reinforcing VTS behavioral expectations/instructions with challenging kids. This idea just came to me this week and I haven’t fully fleshed it out or tested it, but here goes! I was hearing a few teachers singing the praises of WBT and began to research it. I was kind of appalled by some things I read and viewed, but then, this video caught my attention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaweXw03kQI
If you get a minute, take a peek at it. I wonder if using the "Mirror, mirror" approach, which would ask students to verbalize the VTS expectations as well as listen to them, might help reinforce them? I think the key would be to reduce the pre-discussion expectations to a concise list they could memorize (Ugh! I said that word!!!) Imagine this: After having kids "Mirror, mirror" a short list of directions with simple hand gestures to engage them kinesthetically as well as aurally and verbally, you begin the normal discussion. If kids begin to break the rules, stop and "Mirror mirror" the expectations again; then resume the VTS discussion. I suspect the first time or two, the bulk of your VTS time would be spent "Mirror, mirroring." But once they figure out that "Mirror, mirror" eats into their discussion time, off-task behavior COULD stop, particularly if the image is compelling. (I'm totally thinking on the page with this and completely open to critique!) I also like the "blow into your hand" before answering as a group (could reduce shouting out!) This strategy could also be used to go over VTS etiquette items. Hope you don’t think I’ve taken leave of my senses with these ideas. It’s just that the teachers I overheard were talking about how “there wasn’t time for misbehavior” with WBT. I'm just wondering if it, combined with VTS, could result in greatly reduced disruptions and misbehavior. What do you think?