classroom management

The three tips that I chose for this blog are time mangement, ESOL managment, and interruption management. The reason that I chose these three forms of classroom management is because these are the three things that affect my teaching the most. I have the most problems with interruption because they seem to be non stop and not coming from my students necessarily. Yes I know I've stated that I have had kids arrested out of my classroom, but the day to day interruptions that affect my classroom are from administration and other teachers. The second biggest problem in my classroom is the constant removal and then readmittance of my ESOL students that is getting them behind when they don't need to be or wouldn't be if allowed to stay in the class.
The first thing that I plan on doing is changing up my time management. I plan to be more effective in getting through my instruction and using every available moment to get across some type of relavent information. My biggest problem is not keeping myself on topic and allowing myself to stray onto a linked but not standard important topic. I plan to keep myself on task by focusing on the information that is relavent for the subject matter and its standard components at the time.
My next problem was interruptions for my ESOL students. The ESOL specialists and guidance counselors continuously pull them out of class to give them a test or ask them a question, not realizing that it puts them farther and farther behind in my class. Since we have to send all of their work to the ESOL specialists for them to work on it during their 4th block study hall, I am afraid and have been confirmed by their grades that they are not getting the proper social studies instruction and that is putting them farther and farther behind as well. I have attempted to talk to administration and the guidance counselors but the situation continues as it always has. I don't know what I'm going to do.
Lastly is my interruption management. Teachers and administrators are constantly interrupting my class to ask me a question or take a student out in the hall and ask them a question that has no pertinence to my class or any school situation. These questions are as ludacris as how the students plan on playing in the up coming basketball game. I have already taken steps to show and voice my displeasure with having my class constantly interrupted and have even gone to the principal and other members of the administration about it. I have also told my students that they are responsible for all work missed if they have to be pulled out of my class, but if a teacher pulls them out for a bogus reason they must tell me what the reason is and then I will help them with the make up work.

National Social Studies Groups

The national social studies group that I chose to view for this blog is the PBS teachers organization. This group is sponsored by PBS Media system and is designed to aid all teachers, not just social studies, and give them video feeds, information, and tools to use in their classrooms. In the social studies section you will find films, audio, video clips, primary resources, political cartoons, and tons of other sources that can be used to instruct students. This group offers membership to teachers for free, as well as offering the information that is present for free. Anyone can join this organization and I found it to be a wonderful source of information for my student teaching experience. I found relevant video and audio as well as some very interesting and stimulating political cartoons. I have already joined this professional group and would definitely recommend it to any other teacher no matter which subject matter they teach.

Review of Curriculum Unit from 428

The first comment that I decided to disect was that I needed to work on dropping alot of the lectures that I planned to give and introduce more activities and handouts. I have realized during my student teaching that I definitely relied too heavily upon my lecture skills when planning lessons or unit plans coming through the program. I also have realized that some lecture is absolutely necessary to explain events and their importance on history and the historical cycles that the world goes through. I also understand now that some lecture is necessary to meet all of the requirements for the state standards. I tried a long lecture in my student teaching once this semester and althought it went over well, I noticed that some of my students became detached from the material that I was presenting and upon the next test they were unable to understand why they could not remember the information although they knew it had been presented to them. I learned quickly that 15-20 minute lectures are fine as long as you have an activity to solidify the information that was presented to them.
The second comment that I decided I wanted to respond to was that I needed to be more clear in my preparation and instructions for my lessons. In my student teaching I have had a few instances where I inadmissably got confused myself about my own instructions and also got my students confused about the instructions. I have always had a problem taking my ideas and putting them down on paper so that others besides myself can understand them. The solution that I have come up with is having my cooperating teacher and other teachers within the school I am working in to view my work and see how it strikes them. If they can understand it easily I know that my students will be able too. If they have an issue with the directions then I know I must rewrite my instuctions and give it another try. I have also begun to explicitly explain my instructions before each assignment no matter whether or not the students have read the instructions. I tell them to listen to me explain the written directions and if they have any questions to ask me directly at that time. This process seems to work very well and I believe that I have come to solve this solution in my student teaching.
The third and final comment that I decided to discuss here is that I need to use more technology in my lessons. First off I would like to state that I do use technology in my classroom, alot more than I use too. Secondly I hope that I am improving in my use of technology in my classroom and in my application of technology in my classroom. I have begun to use more powerpoint, photostory, and webquest than I use too. I have begun to incorporate these technologies into assignments, activities, and projects that I assign to my students. I think that it is prudent that I get better at using technology in my classroom simply for the advancement of my students for when they reach college or any other higher education level and need to rely on these skills to help them succeed. I do not believe that the teacher can be replaced in the classroom or the teacher's knowledge but as a teacher it is my responsibility to morph and change as an instructor and to alter my lesson plans and technology to best benefit my students and their future.