My students and I are conflicted about noise, in different ways. First of all, there's noise, and then there's noise. I also think that noise in the context of a special education classroom is different than it is in other classrooms.
Noise vs noise: I constantly militate against the idea that learning = silence. It's mostly in my own head, because as a practical matter, kids make noise by default and teachers require then to stop making noise in order to accomplish some instructional basics. But I do remind myself, often, that kids learn from each other and from their own expressions, thoughts, and ideas, and they can't do this silently. Engagement is learning is noise. However, as we all know there is a qualitative difference between the sound of kids learning and the sound of kids making a racket. I try not to wish for quiet, never mind ask for it, when kids are engaged. I get a good chance to practice this when I substitute teach: the class "feels" a little out of control, but when I am subbing for Art, they're *supposed* to be talking, moving around the room and showing each other their work. I talk myself down. Then it's easier to stop and listen when it's my math lesson, being observed by my advisor, to make sure that it's "engaged noise" I'm hearing.
Noise in context: The children in my class are often very sensitive to noise. Even engaged noise can be overwhelming, and it has a visceral effect on the students who are most sensitive. I can feel them tense, feel their affective hackles go up, and the engagement with any academic task evaporates immediately. Then the cycle begins: it's noisy and it sounds like this:
Student 1: "Can you PLEASE be quiet, I can't do my work!"
Student 2: "I'm not making any noise, YOU are!"
Student 1: "You are TOO, you're kicking the table and humming!"
Student 2: "Well, you're shouting, YOU be quiet!"
Of course, this is all at top volume, so everyone else in the vicinity is now disturbed. It's like someone kicked over the project in the block area: instant, utter destruction of nominal, fragile quiet.
The "calm noise" of our classroom is shattered in this precise way, many times a day. We are addressing it through a social-emotional curriculum unit, looking at conflict, the causes of conflict, analyzing conflicts students have had, and throughout the day, identifying instances like these and looking for opportunities to be a conflict solver.
While there are many self-defeating behaviors and habits that you can see in a special education classroom, this one seems to me to be the worst offender. Is there anything more ironic than kids who need quiet, who crave it, who physically react to its absence, being the destroyers of their own quiet? It's not because Student 1 was too impulsive in asking for quiet, or didn't ask nicely, or Student 2 was defensive and didn't respond well. They all need help with the social and emotional and self-regulation skills that will both help them not make the noise and get past the noise. This, more than any specific learning challenge, is what makes it so hard for these kids to do all the normal school stuff that they want and need to do. This is why we forgo reading time for talking about conflict and how to avoid it. It may not be the root of the problem, but it's close.
Showing posts with label classroom management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classroom management. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Falling down on the job
It was bound to happen sooner or later. I've been teaching one lesson a day for the last two weeks, and inevitably, one of them didn't go well.
As you know, we've been working on the compass rose. We've been team-teaching this unit because I am not there every day. Yesterday Ms. Lee wanted them to finish a bird's-eye view map of the classroom that they did, and we also had some compasses and maps to work with. We wanted them to finish their maps first, to reorient them to the four directions, so first they were to correctly mark the compass rose that we'd pasted onto each of their maps with N S E & W (it was a small map).
Then, we gave them compasses and had them try and line up their compasses with the compass roses on their maps. These are not very high quality compasses; they don't work well, and we had an interesting discussion about why it might be that they were not all pointing to north (magnets in the room? Metal in the building? Force field of the microwave and refrigerator in the northernmost corner messing up the manetic field? Fascinating).
Finally, we had five maps of the greater NYC area, one for each table, and we were going to have them work with the maps and find places north, south, east, northeast, southeast, etc., of Brooklyn. So, three transitions, and no clear "lesson, then work" flow, which made it tricky.
Now, mind you, they were also doing all of this at their table seats, and they are not used to being at their table seats for whole class discussions. For some reason, calling out and chatting with neighbors is a huge problem at their work seats, while it's not, so much, when they're on the rug- this I attribute to conditioned behavior. They are used to being quiet on the rug, and being free to talk while working, at least some of the time.
That said, they LOVED the maps. So much that some groups were not able to share well, and goodness knows they were not able to be quiet and listen to each other in a discussion-type format. It was great for the kids who got it, and knew what they were doing; less so, naturally, for the ones who were trying to figure out the directions still.
Ms. Lee totally had my back on this. She walked around and helped me make sure everyone was getting access, and that the kids who were struggling with the directions were getting a little guidance.
I had not really thought through the discussion part, I confess, and it took me by surprise that they were so exuberant. I tried, on the fly, to think of a way to change the dynamic so it wouldn't be so chaotic, but I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't shut off their enthusiasm. So I soldiered on, shushing them as questions were asked and answered, and, in the words of Ms. Lee, tried to appreciate that "there was engagement, there was learning," even if it was a little chaotic.
In retrospect, we could have used the ELMO for this and done the entire discussion on the rug rather than the groups having maps (although I rather like that they could actually hold it). One advantage of this venue is I could have traced with a pointer the vector of the directions, and some kids could have described their thinking, in a way that would be very visual as we worked on the questions together, and I think this might have helped my strugglers.
Alternatively, I could have designed a simple worksheet that they could work on in groups ("find two places northeast of Brooklyn," "find one thing on the map that is not a city that is south of Brooklyn," this kind of thing). I would have had to walk them through it and read the questions out, but it would not have been any less chaotic than what we had already going on. We could have come back and discussed what each group came up with.
So, you live and you learn. Thank goodness Ms. Lee is not the type to dwell. She told me not to be so hard on myself. We'll have another chance to look at the maps when we start the unit on New York City, and I can use what I've learned then.
As you know, we've been working on the compass rose. We've been team-teaching this unit because I am not there every day. Yesterday Ms. Lee wanted them to finish a bird's-eye view map of the classroom that they did, and we also had some compasses and maps to work with. We wanted them to finish their maps first, to reorient them to the four directions, so first they were to correctly mark the compass rose that we'd pasted onto each of their maps with N S E & W (it was a small map).
Then, we gave them compasses and had them try and line up their compasses with the compass roses on their maps. These are not very high quality compasses; they don't work well, and we had an interesting discussion about why it might be that they were not all pointing to north (magnets in the room? Metal in the building? Force field of the microwave and refrigerator in the northernmost corner messing up the manetic field? Fascinating).
Finally, we had five maps of the greater NYC area, one for each table, and we were going to have them work with the maps and find places north, south, east, northeast, southeast, etc., of Brooklyn. So, three transitions, and no clear "lesson, then work" flow, which made it tricky.
Now, mind you, they were also doing all of this at their table seats, and they are not used to being at their table seats for whole class discussions. For some reason, calling out and chatting with neighbors is a huge problem at their work seats, while it's not, so much, when they're on the rug- this I attribute to conditioned behavior. They are used to being quiet on the rug, and being free to talk while working, at least some of the time.
That said, they LOVED the maps. So much that some groups were not able to share well, and goodness knows they were not able to be quiet and listen to each other in a discussion-type format. It was great for the kids who got it, and knew what they were doing; less so, naturally, for the ones who were trying to figure out the directions still.
Ms. Lee totally had my back on this. She walked around and helped me make sure everyone was getting access, and that the kids who were struggling with the directions were getting a little guidance.
I had not really thought through the discussion part, I confess, and it took me by surprise that they were so exuberant. I tried, on the fly, to think of a way to change the dynamic so it wouldn't be so chaotic, but I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't shut off their enthusiasm. So I soldiered on, shushing them as questions were asked and answered, and, in the words of Ms. Lee, tried to appreciate that "there was engagement, there was learning," even if it was a little chaotic.
In retrospect, we could have used the ELMO for this and done the entire discussion on the rug rather than the groups having maps (although I rather like that they could actually hold it). One advantage of this venue is I could have traced with a pointer the vector of the directions, and some kids could have described their thinking, in a way that would be very visual as we worked on the questions together, and I think this might have helped my strugglers.
Alternatively, I could have designed a simple worksheet that they could work on in groups ("find two places northeast of Brooklyn," "find one thing on the map that is not a city that is south of Brooklyn," this kind of thing). I would have had to walk them through it and read the questions out, but it would not have been any less chaotic than what we had already going on. We could have come back and discussed what each group came up with.
So, you live and you learn. Thank goodness Ms. Lee is not the type to dwell. She told me not to be so hard on myself. We'll have another chance to look at the maps when we start the unit on New York City, and I can use what I've learned then.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
You're on!!
Forgive me if I fall asleep in the middle of writing this. I got to school this morning (after having yesterday off) and immediately received an email from Ms. Lee, saying she was *really* sick, and outlining what she wanted me to do today. Simultaneously, a substitute teacher, whom we'll call Gustav, walked into the room and introduced himself.
He had a file cabinet's worth of worksheets (probably necessary when you show up without any plans or much idea of what to do), and he was very nice about the fact that I knew the routines and could handle most things, but he was being paid to be there and wanted to work with the kids too. Ummm, ok. We agreed on some times that he could have them do worksheets that he had brought. Having the entire day thrust on me was one thing, because I know that with the kids' help, I can handle it. They were super-good today, and did tell me when I was going seriously astray, and didn't abuse the opportunity to boss me around. But a sub with very different ideas, who is technically responsible for the class? Yikes.
So.... how'd it go? It was ok. We didn't team-teach. I kind of felt bad about that, but it's not like we had any time to plan anything. We were collegial. Even though Gustav's English was hard to understand (and I don't think he understood everything that was said to him), the kids were very polite and attentive- more so with him than with me. No hard feelings!
But he was definitely European old school, and that was interesting to watch. He said things like "I'm only giving these instructions one more time, and if you don't hear it, too bad," and "the most important thing is to cut neatly," and "you have fifteen minutes to do this; work on your own and make sure no one looks at your paper." This is not the way we do at PSOhYes! The irony is that he lectured me that morning about how kids what to do things that "are fun" in second grade. Worksheets? Fun? Really? Maybe because it involved coloring.... ?
At one point he tried to get them to work on a math worksheet silently, and it was just a little too hard for about half the kids in the class. I explained that they were used to working together in math, and it would probably be easiest to let them do so for that activity. He assented. He tried to get one group to do what he wanted to show them at choice time, last period- nothing doing. He almost had a mutiny until they each came to me and implored me to break out the modeling clay, which is what they had "signed up for" for choice time. Can't really argue with getting to have choices at choice time!
Although the students really were very good, we were all a bit out of sorts by the end of the day from trying to get used to each others' ways of doing things. They were tired of trying to simultaneously do what I asked and make sure I got the routines right. This made me really appreciate how well Ms. Lee knew the schedule and what she wanted them to accomplish on any given day, and how seamless her transitions are by comparison. Something to aspire to!
The part that was the hardest was that we were supposed to have a Curriculum Conference at 6 pm. This will need to be rescheduled. Ms. Lee let me know at 2 pm that she was not going to be able to do it, and good thing we had a planning period because I had to run off a note and get it in the folders to send home, and make sure Gustav understood what to tell parents at dismissal (don't come tonight!).
The sub praised my classroom management skills. That was nice. He said he knows it is very important "in this country." He was nice but kinda clueless- more a credit to the kids than to him that he could have managed them on his own.
I learned a lot today- there is a whole new level of things for me to pay closer attention to in the classroom, and to focus on in my own teaching. Transition would be an important one. And how about how long they work on a given subject or lesson? No bells at PSOhYes! It's easy to tell when they're "done" with a mini-lesson because they get wiggly, but I had to keep one eye on the clock to get them to lunch and the library, and it was pretty hard to do that piece of multitasking too.
Also, it was relatively easy to do what Ms. Lee asked me to do and focus on the surface issues of sticking to the routine, the things that the kids perceive as "the way we do things," but while we got through the day, I am not sure that today was my best teaching day, because I was focusing on getting through and being on time, and not as much on delivering the lessons.
Boy am I tired!
Here are a few nice choice-time products for your viewing pleasure:
He had a file cabinet's worth of worksheets (probably necessary when you show up without any plans or much idea of what to do), and he was very nice about the fact that I knew the routines and could handle most things, but he was being paid to be there and wanted to work with the kids too. Ummm, ok. We agreed on some times that he could have them do worksheets that he had brought. Having the entire day thrust on me was one thing, because I know that with the kids' help, I can handle it. They were super-good today, and did tell me when I was going seriously astray, and didn't abuse the opportunity to boss me around. But a sub with very different ideas, who is technically responsible for the class? Yikes.
So.... how'd it go? It was ok. We didn't team-teach. I kind of felt bad about that, but it's not like we had any time to plan anything. We were collegial. Even though Gustav's English was hard to understand (and I don't think he understood everything that was said to him), the kids were very polite and attentive- more so with him than with me. No hard feelings!
But he was definitely European old school, and that was interesting to watch. He said things like "I'm only giving these instructions one more time, and if you don't hear it, too bad," and "the most important thing is to cut neatly," and "you have fifteen minutes to do this; work on your own and make sure no one looks at your paper." This is not the way we do at PSOhYes! The irony is that he lectured me that morning about how kids what to do things that "are fun" in second grade. Worksheets? Fun? Really? Maybe because it involved coloring.... ?
At one point he tried to get them to work on a math worksheet silently, and it was just a little too hard for about half the kids in the class. I explained that they were used to working together in math, and it would probably be easiest to let them do so for that activity. He assented. He tried to get one group to do what he wanted to show them at choice time, last period- nothing doing. He almost had a mutiny until they each came to me and implored me to break out the modeling clay, which is what they had "signed up for" for choice time. Can't really argue with getting to have choices at choice time!
Although the students really were very good, we were all a bit out of sorts by the end of the day from trying to get used to each others' ways of doing things. They were tired of trying to simultaneously do what I asked and make sure I got the routines right. This made me really appreciate how well Ms. Lee knew the schedule and what she wanted them to accomplish on any given day, and how seamless her transitions are by comparison. Something to aspire to!
The part that was the hardest was that we were supposed to have a Curriculum Conference at 6 pm. This will need to be rescheduled. Ms. Lee let me know at 2 pm that she was not going to be able to do it, and good thing we had a planning period because I had to run off a note and get it in the folders to send home, and make sure Gustav understood what to tell parents at dismissal (don't come tonight!).
The sub praised my classroom management skills. That was nice. He said he knows it is very important "in this country." He was nice but kinda clueless- more a credit to the kids than to him that he could have managed them on his own.
I learned a lot today- there is a whole new level of things for me to pay closer attention to in the classroom, and to focus on in my own teaching. Transition would be an important one. And how about how long they work on a given subject or lesson? No bells at PSOhYes! It's easy to tell when they're "done" with a mini-lesson because they get wiggly, but I had to keep one eye on the clock to get them to lunch and the library, and it was pretty hard to do that piece of multitasking too.
Also, it was relatively easy to do what Ms. Lee asked me to do and focus on the surface issues of sticking to the routine, the things that the kids perceive as "the way we do things," but while we got through the day, I am not sure that today was my best teaching day, because I was focusing on getting through and being on time, and not as much on delivering the lessons.
Boy am I tired!
Here are a few nice choice-time products for your viewing pleasure:
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| Portrait of our class pet |
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| Vegetables from the school garden, where we did some sketching Tuesday |
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| A modeling-clay project |
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