Classroom Confidential Ch. 2

This week was another up and down battle of success, messes, and continued learning both for me and my students. I taught my first edTPA lesson and began officially taking over the classroom. Even though I have been heavily involved in teaching for the past few weeks now, Mr. Park still has had his hand in the lessons some way or another. Some days he may be working one-on-one with students, running his own fitness testing station, or present as a secondary authority for discipline. I felt the transition to head teacher would be extremely fluid because of the way I have been integrated into the classroom. I figured classroom control would be no more a challenge than the past few weeks. I was wrong.

Wouldn’t you know (once again!), this week’s Classroom Confidential chapter spoke fluently into many of my thoughts and ponderings. Chapter two talked about building a classroom culture; my stage of teaching exactly. I’m not here to role play Mr. Park. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Mr. Park and I are different people and, not surprisingly, the students respond to us as such. When I first read about great teachers building a culture of eptness and tapping into the unique abilities of each student, I honestly thought ‘this author is living in a dream world’. Here I am trying to keep a structured environment so my students don’t kill each other and some fragment of control in my “controlled chaos” remains. Don’t get me wrong, I desperately want to create an environment where my student’s human potential is a highlighted resource, where I’m providing specific feedback and challenging old habits; however, it seems I am trapped solely trying to keep a controlled and safe environment.

As I read further, I realized I was thinking about eptness the wrong way. Instead of thinking it is some added element I have to integrate in addition to classroom management, I really should be thinking of it as an integral part. A culture eptness means my students should be more invested in what they are doing because they are engaged in both role of teacher and student. Their on-task behavior peaks when they feel smart, competent, and a part of the community.

As I continue to teach, I will need to focus more on changing my own behaviors to help this culture blossom. I aim to first focus on expectations. Forming misguided preconceptions or misconceptions of one’s students is an incredibly easily practice to slip into. I will habitually look for the capabilities in all my students, expecting them to surprise me in the most positive way. Secondly, I aim to increase a culture of eptness by becoming a master of effective feedback. Effective feedback is “positive and includes details that help the students appreciate the effectiveness or accuracy of their efforts. With so much going on in the gym, I’ve noticed I will start giving out mindless “good jobs” and “great work” as I try to mentally prepare for my next step in the lesson (along with a million other thoughts). Changing my feedback behaviors means that I will put in the extra cognitive work to remark specifically on what my students are doing. ‘Catch them doing good’ will be the motto of the day.

Lastly, I hope to model risk taking with my students. Last week I taught a lesson and for several reasons it simply wasn’t working. I was frustrated. In my mind, the activity and goals weren’t difficult. They should be getting it. Thankfully, I swallowed my pride enough to ask the students what they were thinking and feeling. Come to find there were several factors that were slightly above their ability level, and they needed some extra support in figuring it out. Being able to step back and collaborate with the students not only offers solutions to the problems but also provides as safe place that says ‘mistakes happen here but we’ll figure it out together’.