Instructional Strategy

For my 511 class we had to come up with different types of strategies for our classroom.  We could chose any topic we wanted and so I picked vocabulary.  Here are my strategies:

VOCABULARY

1. Flashcards
2. Pre-test
3. reading vocab aloud
4. Games - Jeopardy, 4x4, relays
5. Fill in the blank
6. Powerpoint presentation with pictures and words
7. Vocab warm-ups
8. Vocab test
9. Posters with the vocab
10. Pop-quiz

Sociocultural Aspects of Schooling for ELs

When I actually have a class of my own, one action that I will address while I am teaching ELs will be to make sure they are involved in all activities during class and to create a healthy learning environment.  When I first started school here in the U.S., I was welcomed by some students.  Other just kept looking at me like I was an alien, like they never seen a Mexican before.  Some students included me inside and outside the classroom and it made me feel like I was part of the group.  I will make sure that my ELs are partner up with students that have similar backgrounds.  That way they can get to know each other and can get along outside the class.  Also making sure that students don’t make fun of the EL so that way it doesn’t make them feel like they don’t belong there.  I will make sure to talk to my EL learner and get to know him or her and see how I can come along side of them to help them with their work.  I will definitely use a lot of SDAIE strategies to help my ELs get an understanding of the language and possibly become fluent.      

Lesson Planning Blog Post #2

I think that the lesson plan will incorporate many activities where not only they will be moving around the classroom, but at the same time collaborating with other students so that they get different prospective and not just their own.  Many student's brain are still developing and as a teacher we must be aware that and know of different strategies to meet our students needs.  

Management Plan

Classroom Management Plan

Introduction

The main approach of my classroom management strategies will include basic philosophies of Reconstructionism. I believe that there is no one philosophy that is better than the other. Each philosophy is different and it depends on the teacher. My goal is to push my students for a better education and hopefully it will transfer into being better human beings. I look forward to continue working with young people not only because I love it, but because it is what I’ve been call to do.

Preventive Approach

Preventative approaches include anything a teacher implements to prevent undesirable behaviors. Instead of waiting for problem behaviors to occur, "proactive techniques implemented successfully decrease the likelihood of problem behaviors and promote positive behavioral choices in the classroom." (“Preventative Approaches,” 2000). My ideas are to remove any future complications or misbehavior from day one.

1. From day one I will make sure to go over rules. One thing that I have notice over the years is that students don’t want to feel like little kids. I will always let them express how they want to be treated, if they want to be treated like little kids or young adults. Many times, students have responded very positively and with no problems. I will let them know also that the moment they start misbehaving I will start treating them like little kids.


2. I will enforce bathroom passes to 3 per semester. I know when I was in high school going to the bathroom was a way for me to get out of class because I was bored out of my mind. I would usually take about 5 to 10 minutes so it made it easy for me to talk to friends during that time. Keeping a limit of 3 bathrooms passes per semester will allow students to be accountable and to make sure they go before coming to class.


3. I will enforce the policy of being on time to class and in their seat when the bell rings. Students usually have 4 to 5 minutes during passing periods. I have seen many students talking to their friends in the middle of going from one class to the other and because of that they are late. Enforcing this from day one will let students know that they should be ready for class when the bell rings and not still making their way to class.


4. I will enforce the rule that students will not talk when either I am talking or another student is talking. I will give them a forgiveness period in the beginning, but then after I will start deducting participations points from them. This will also allow students to be accountable to each other and learn to respect each other.


5. I must enforce respect in the classroom. This needs to be done from day one. Enforcing the fact the respecting one other will hopefully create a positive environment so the students do not fear sharing answers.

Supportive Approach

Supporting positive behavior is a great way to motivate students and get to know them. I have always tried to maintain a positive environment in the places that I have been. As teachers we need to see the needs of our students. Students will open up if they feel like they can trust you. We must make sure are not hostile and be assertive towards out students (Canters, pg. 65, 1976)

1. Whenever I have students that have a good answer, I make sure that I stop, get up and go and give them a high five. I have seen that this makes students feel more comfortable and have a more positive attitude in class. This has given students more and more desire to participate and feel like they are part of the class.


2. As the students come in, I make sure that I say hello to students as they are coming in. Because of this, my students feel more comfortable around me and they let me know if they are having a good day or bad. This gives me an opportunity to see what is going on and hopefully provide some good advice.


3. Letting my students know that there is tutoring after school is another strategy that I like to do. It will allow me to support them in their academics and at the same time it allows me to have one-on-one time with students that need help and it give me an opportunity to get to know them.


4. During activities, instead of just sitting on my chair, walking around the room and looking at their work will allow me to see where they are struggling. This will give students a chance to get help, see their mistakes, and correct them right away.


5. During warm-up, asking students to see if they have any announcements that they would like to share. This can be from sharing about an up-coming sporting event to a club meeting. This will allow students be aware of other student activities and hopefully supporting them by attending the event.

Corrective Approach

Corrective and preventive to me are very similar and they go hand in hand. Corrective approach has to be done in a manner will not demeanor the student’s character. If is not done right, you can lose you’re your student’s respect and possibly the class. As a teacher establishing rules and invoking consequences early on will reduce many behavior problems and students will understand what is at stake if they misbehave (Curwin & Mendler, pg. 175, 1999)

1. If a student is misbehaving, having the student stay after class to talk about his or her behavior is something that I am already doing. Students tend to have a bad behavior due to things going on at home. Having them stay after class or school to talk is beneficial to both teacher and student.


2. What I have done in the past has been letting the students chose their punishment. This has been easy for me to do since I am treating them as young adults. This will allow students to be accountable for their own actions because the punishment is not something that I chose for them but is something that they decided.


3. Teaching the students to accept the consequences of their own actions will benefit both teacher and student. My philosophy is to help my students become better human beings. Not only I am teaching them a new language but I am teaching them how to be responsible. Most teachers are just there to teach and some actually are there because they care.


4. Seeing how my CT interacts with her students got me thinking about what teachers did when I was in high school. One thing that I will need to start doing is making phone calls home and/or talking to their coach. I know that is one thing students hate but if it comes down to that because of their behavior I will do it. I hated when teachers told me that they were going to talk to my wrestling coach and so I kept my nose clean because I did not wanted to deal with coach.


5. One way that this can be done is by my tone of voice. If a student misbehaves, I have to make sure that my voice stays in a very respectful way so that the student does not feel like I am yelling at him or her.

Conclusion

In my opinion, I am using a little bit of several management plans. Since I have been working with teens for a very long time, 15 years to be exact, I am the type of person that doesn’t mind trying to be different. I know as teachers, we need to be flexible and that is a word I am hearing a lot in the program. I don’t mind changing things if they are not working. I love trying things I have not done in my class and I think a lot of students like that. Through the years, I have observed many teachers and professors. This has giving me an opportunity to think about how I would manage my class and it gave me many tips on what to do and not to 

do in my class. 

Resources

· Preventative Approaches. (2000). Retrieved September 23, 2012, from


http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/web-page-no-author.aspx


· Curwin, R. & Mendler, A. (1999). Discipline through Dignity and Hope for Challenging Youth.


· Canter, L. & Canter, M. (1976). Twentieth-Century Pioneers Discipline.