Well I have read all your posts and needless to say that we have all had an interesting week of teaching, however, I think I may take the prize for the most interesting. I am teaching at West Salem H.S. where I get to teach one Algebra ESOL class and two foundations (pre-algebra) classes. My main question for my project is how to facilitate effective collaborative learning in the classroom. One aspect of my question that I am researching is how do I develop classroom management that will support collaborative learning? MY OH MY, that is the million dollar question because right now I am just trying to figure out classroom management that will work for the different dynamics I have in my classes.
I have block scheduling so I get to spend 90 minutes with each class and after day one it was interesting to see the demographics I have in my classroom. I have 11 students in my ESOL math class and one IA who is a hispanic woman who has been around for a while, young, the kids love her, obviously fluent in Spanish, and she is AMAZING. Surprisingly, this is my best class and this is probably because of the size of class and how much attention I can give each student. However, the twist to this class is I have a wide range of fluency in this class from fresh in from Mexico and doesn't speak a word of English or understands it to completely fluent. I do not even know where to start with my other two periods. To try and paint a picture for you, each class has 27 students, pre-algebra is the lowest level of math at the school and I have freshman through seniors in there so you can figure out the upper classmans attitudes. Majority of the students are all on IEP's and in one class alone I have 6 students with parole officers they have to check in with. Wednesday I had to give out 2 referrals because a couple of my students decided that listening to an IPOD was more important then math and getting a referral was a better choice then putting it away and the other student decided to take a 30 minute bathroom break in which he never returned to class.
Although I find it a good time and amusing my students are testing me to see what they are getting away with, I will have to say that I have not been able to really see how my classroom management will help my collaborative ideas because I am still trying to figure out the appropriate classroom management for each class.
Hopefully by next week I will have a better idea and be able to be a little more informative, but my 5th period might give me a heart attack by the end of the year!!!
Challenging is a good descriptor for all of your classes! I guess my one question for you is do you have one or two ideas that you are going to try to use over the next couple of weeks to start collecting data on your question?
ReplyDeleteI know - it is hard enough to get a handle on the classroom management side of things when we are stepping into someone else's classroom, but do you have any ideas - what is one of your main ways you want to collect data? Observation, student feedback, CT observations?
Your ESOL class might be an interesting comparison to your other two classes...maybe how collaborate learning works in a smaller classroom size compared to a larger classroom size.
When I think my class is being difficult I will come and read this post.
Denise
It sounds like your first week of teaching was interesting. I could see how it may be difficult to find the answer to your question. My questions would also be how do you plan on collecting the data? What exactly are you trying to find out or what are your questions for research? I think it would be cool some how to get your IA involved in your class some how with your research. I am not sure how you could have her help you with your question but it is just a thought. My topic in that we are both looking at classroom management but in two totally different classrooms. It will be interesting to see how it goes for us this term.
ReplyDeleteWow, Tony, this will be a very interesting term for you. I have heard a wide variety of problems people have beeen working through within their classes, but you have some dandy ones. If I were you I would start thinking about how differnt management issues are effecting your class. Maybe start taking notes on how different strategies are effecting your students. YOu could log how new techniques aid your collaboration or hurt your collaboration.
ReplyDeleteGood luck my friend
HI Tony...Sorry it has taken me so long to comment. I forgot that I hadn't been able to find your blog last week.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I wonder how things are going for you now?
I think that Chad has an excellent idea--how can you get your IA to help you with your research? You could have the IA take field notes or some sort of tally. You could use this for your research as well as some sort of assessment on the students. So, you wouldn't have to ask the IA to help you with your research, but to help you assess your students. You could give the IA some sort of rubric to fill out on X number of students and the criteria for the rubric could be related to behavior or related to performance in groups. Does this make any sense? Might something like this work for you? jill