Building a Classroom of Respect

                                                        

R-e-s-p-e-c-t is not just a part in Aretha Franklin's 60’s song; it is a word that means something different to each person.  With a large classroom it is crucial that you make your classroom an environment where respect is shown and valued. Respect should not only be shown by students but also by the teacher. If you want your students to be respectful, you must model respect. If you yell constantly and disrespect your students you are showing them that this type of behavior is allowed in your classroom.  Here are a few to do things in your classrooms…

Try to state only positive things about your students as well as your co-workers. Creating a respectful classroom environment is impossible when slander is present.

Try to make all your students feel that they are a valuable part of the class. Never make a student feel that they are less or unimportant. Giving everyone a role in the classroom gives them value and helps to build a community in the classroom.

Try to be consistent with your rules; everyone should follow the same rules.

Say please and thank you to your students, by doing this you are modeling for them the type of behavior that is expected in the classroom.

You should have easy to remember classroom rules. Try to keep each rule to no more than five words, and there should be no more than five rules! More than five rules will cause confusion and may overwhelm the students.

These simple tips will help to set you students on the course to build a classroom based on respect.

Connecting with Students in an overcrowded classroom

Even though your class is overcrowded it doesn’t mean your students should feel disconnected. Granted with 30+ students it will be challenging to connect with each student, however, it is worth the effort! In you classroom try your best to be approachable, my daughter currently has a teacher who is not approachable. Even though my child is a good student she refuses to ask the teacher for any help when she is confused; simply because she says she is not nice, she would rather struggle to understand on her own.  This should not be!  As a mom and future teacher I urge you to do your best to connect with your students. Here are a few things you could do to connect with your students…

·         Recognize your students for the individual they are, if you take the time to observe you are sure to see something unique about each one

·        DO NOT sit at your desk all day move around and interact with them, even during lecture walk around as you teach your lesson. When you walk around it makes the classroom more personal. You won’t seem so distant from your students.

·        Be available to student either before or after class to listen to their questions, comments, or complaints. They have good ideas if we are willing to listen.

·        Learn as many of their names as possible, yes it may seem impossible but you should learn as many as you can

·        Many of the schools have some sort of microphone for the classroom utilize it, this way every student from the first to the back row can hear you; without having to yell at them all day.

·        Do your best to include student’s personal experiences into the assignments, this way they feel included and the work has meaning for them. For example if you’re working on graphs base it on things they enjoy take a survey as a class to come up with your data.  

These simple steps can truly make a difference in your classroom; they can help make an overcrowded classroom a little bit smaller. I hope these tips will help you. If you have any tips please leave them in the comments I would love to hear them! Until next week readers!

Grading in an Over Crowded Classroom

                 Let’s be honest grading papers is probably every teacher’s least favorite chore, and over-sized classrooms escalates the problem. However it is an un-avoidable issue that must be faced. Here are a few things you can do that will help make grading easier.

               Utilize the Internet!

·         Make a class website that you can use to pose answers to exams afterwards.

·         To review for the exams you could answer questions briefly if you create a group discussion board.  

                Utilize your students!

·         Have students grade each other’s papers, you could come up with a numbering system so that the names are not on the test.  

·         Of course they can only grade the multiple choice answers, but when you consider the number of students you have that is a lot of time saved.

                Why should you grade test in timely fashion in the first place?

·         Tests help students to know where they need improvement.

·         It can help to motivate students to do better, especially when students can see their growth.

·         Staying on top of your grading helps you out as well, when it comes time to turn in grades you are ahead of the game. THIS IS KEY ESPECIALLY FOR OVER-SIZED CLASSROOMS.

These are two example of what you could do to make the process easier; if you have any tips please leave them in the comment section I would love to hear your advice, the more the better. Until next week readers!

Behavioral Management with Overcrowded Classrooms

You walk into your class and you find Jamie in corner yelling at Mark. Victor is getting ready to fist fight with Angel and Erica can’t seem to sit down. All this is happening before 8’ clock in morning! This is of course an example however it is a real reality for many teachers who have over-sized classes. What is a teacher supposed to do???

To begin you must have your rules set and displayed for your classroom. We previously discussed this so it should be covered. Many schools are trying new methods of dealing with misbehavior. Instead of punishing the students they are giving students the opportunity to logic out their behavior.

For instance in my daughters school they have what they call MIR’s for students who misbehave. Minor Incident Reports are given to students to feel out. They have to describe what happened, the effect it has on themselves and their classmate; and come up with a plan to correct it. On the bottom there are set consequences for the students to read. The first MIR is simply a warning, and the fifth is an automatic move to intervention class. The student will stay for 1-3 days depending on the severity and the number of times they have been in the intervention class.

This might be something you want to try with your class. This way you are giving your students the opportunity to reflect over what they are doing. You are outnumbered in your class, so stick to your rules and be firm. DO NOT allow your students to see you feel overwhelmed…you may feel it, but never show it. Be confident in your classroom and let them know it is their community, but you are the president.

For more information check out this great website…

http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/sept96/vol38/num06/Managing-Today's-Classroom.aspx 

Thanks for reading, until next week readers!

Solutions Part Two

Welcome back readers, last week we talked about two possible solutions for over crowded classrooms. To review here they are again…

1.   Organization

2.   Seating charts

I realized that I just gave you solutions and sent you on your way without any help. I apologize here is a link to a website with 100 organization tips.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/100-classroom-organizing-tricks 

 I also found a website that has pictures as well as pros and cons to different seating arrangements, check it out.

http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/free-resources/organization/classroom-seating-arrangements 

           After you have your seating arranged, and your class organized, what should you do next? Routine, routine, routine!

                                       

When teachers have a reliable routine in the class it gives students security. When a student feels secure and knows what will be happening in their class, they are able to focus and get work done. Routine is also great for you as a teacher, because you will have more time for meaningful instruction.  Each class will vary with routines so find out what works best for yours.

                                         

          Now that you are organized, have a seating chart, and have a routine down, you should focus on rules. Rules are usually set by the school but you should also have your own for the classroom. Allow your students to help create them. If you teach on a block schedule; have each class make their individual rules. This gives the student ownership and they are more likely to follow them. Remember regardless of the size your class is a community so treat it as such. I hope these tips are helpful, until next week readers!

         

Solutions…Anyone???

Over the past couple weeks we have seen that overcrowded classroom is in fact an issue. We have also looked at how it is illegal, yet still remains an issue in most if not all 50 states. Lastly, we looked at what some of the effects of an overcrowded classroom are. We get it, it’s a problem but like every math teacher would say “where there is a problem there is a solution”! So just what are some of the solutions for an overcrowded classroom? Ideally our country would give our schools more money, so that we could hire more teachers, and build more schools. Maybe some of our celebrities, or football players would donate money to the schools (Brad& Angelina please it’s for the kids). Unfortunately, since that is as likely to happen as my chances of winning the lotto, here are two of my suggested solutions.

·                                                                                                                                       Organization

Yes, organization is not only good for knowing where everything is. With more students comes less room; so we must organize every inch of our room to get the most out of it. If you’re going to have stations consider plastic bins. Load each bin with a variety of options (games, worksheets, etc.) so that your stations don’t have to be changed every day.

                                                                                                                              Assigned seats

I know what you’re thinking; I get a new student everyday how can I possibly keep up with seating charts. Don’t this is a great chance to assign roles in the classroom. As a whole decide where everyone will sit in the beginning. Afterwards have a seat chart officer. It will be there job to rotate students every few weeks. If there is an issue with the seating they can write a ticket, and have the student get a warning at first. If it remains an issue they get their final ticket automatic transfer to a new table. Be creative you have 25+ students utilize them…you’re a community work together!

Do Overcrowded classrooms effect student and teachers?

     There is no denying that an overcrowded classroom is a problem throughout America.  However does it actually affect the classroom? ABSOLUTELY! Some of the most common affects include…

·        Teachers being over worked
·        Less instructional time
·        More behavioral issues
·        Shortage of supplies
·        Students slip through the cracks
·        Lower test scores

 How is it possible for a couple of extra students in a classroom to have such huge effects? Simple with more students in the classroom, comes a higher demand for supplies for assignments. Now that there are more assignments there are also more papers to be graded. More papers to grade leaves less time for lesson planning. Fewer lesson planning time means teachers now come to class unprepared, and instead have to teach lessons on a whim. Teaching lessons on the whim leads to students coming off task, since it is not planned out ahead of time. When student get off task behavioral issues will arise. When behavioral issues arrive students loose instruction time; because the teacher must now deal with behavioral issues.  Students receive less instruction time therefor they do not acquire the knowledge for the state mandated testing. When students begin to fail testing the schools will worry about scores, which in turn will cause them to work harder with the kids on the bubble between passing and failing. For the students who are below the line of possibly passing, they unfortunately will slip through the crack and be forgotten. This scenario while it may seem harsh and unlikely is the unfortunate truth for many of the schools throughout the country.

     Is there any hope for our students? Absolutely, we will look at how some teachers are finding ways to overcome the overcrowded classroom; next week. Until then thank you for reading!

 For more information on the impact overcrowded classrooms has on the class and school building itself. Please check out the following website. http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OESE/archives/inits/construction/impact2.html 

                                                           

What’s the legal number of students for a classroom? Is there even such a thing?

     The answer to these questions varies according to where you live. Various states have laws that set a limit to the number of students enrolled in a classroom. For instance, the legal cap for a classroom in Texas is 22 students per classroom. However working at a local elementary school in Texas there are 25+ students in each class. How is it possible that the legal cap is 22, yet there are 25+ students in the classroom? Like any wonderful law there are exceptions to the rules. Schools are allowed to apply for an exemption to the law, if they are able to prove that they are in hardship and require the exemption. Then there are the states that have no limits to the number of students in a classroom. I was shock to fine that 15 out of 50 states have no limit. States include Arizona, Washington, and Kansas just to name a few. California has no “hard limit” for the numbers student in a class but they try to keep it to 20 for grades K-3. If you would like more information on your individual states class size limit follow the link below. On this website you can choose your state, as well as see what the exact requirements for an exemption to the rules are. I hope you find the information helpful. Thanks for reading…until next week!

http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/infographics/13class_size_map.html

     Imagine walking into your first classroom full of excitement and ready to teach your students. The big day arrives and you are over joyed, however by the end of the day you are now over loaded. This is the reality of many of today's teachers. In years past twenty students was considered the limit capacity for a single classroom. In today's classroom however...you should be so lucky to only have twenty students. It is not uncommon for teachers to have twenty five or more students in a single class. Instead of preparing lesson plans and centers, teachers are spending time figuring out how they can fit more desks in the room. Every teacher wants their students to have a well laid out classroom. The perfect centers in every corner with the dedicated library area and computer center. However with over twenty-five students in the class there is simply no room. After playing a modern day game of "Tetris" in your classroom, you now have the duty of teaching your over crowded classroom. All of your learners! This includes your students who are gifted and talented and your students who require accommodations and pull-outs. So just what is a teacher to do? You were excited coming into the class. Now reality has settled in and you must do what every teacher across the country is doing...your best! At the end of the day regardless of your class size, you will be held responsible for each and every student.  In this blog we will discuss the issues that come with the over crowded class, and we will also discuss how teachers are finding ways to function and succeed in the classroom. As unfair as this obstacle may be, together we will master the over crowded classroom.