Tomorrow is always fresh.

Today I went into class prepared for the worst after the kerfuffle yesterday. Following Mrs D's advice about classroom management yesterday, I was resolved to jump on the first test of my behaviour management and squash it soundly, only I didn't have to. The class was extremely happy to co-operate today. I did give out several warnings, and two students got to time out, but that was at computer and the kids all get a bit feral at computer. I was very pleased with how the day went today.

Something I found particularly interesting about today: You don't always have to push, push, push to keep the kids working. At lunch time Mrs D. said to me:

"I think the kids look really tired. Lets just settle them down and let them have an hour to wind down, watch a film and finish off some work". 

So we did just that. The kids all settled down and watched, drew or finished off, and we ended the week in a calm positive way. I think that it was the best strategy after a testing first week for both me and the kids.

20th October

Week 11 - Get me out of here!
What a horrible day. Actually, only the last twenty minutes of it was awful, but those twenty minutes were enough to make me want to run out of the room, and my degree, and never look back. 
I did two lessons today. One was working on Pinquo by Colin Thiele, a novel the class has been reading together. The students had to work out main ideas from the text and make some inferences with guiding questions. That lesson went really well. 


The second lesson however, did not. I have planned a sequence of lessons for Technology and Enterprise, and this afternoon was the first. It involved newspaper, scissors, glue and students on the floor. The bulk of the lesson went okay, but when it got to clean up, something went horribly wrong. Five boys just went completely off the hook. I DIDN't KNOW WHAT TO DO. I was all alone and had no idea of how to react. I managed to get the situation under control (just) and have the kids packed up and ready to go, but it was a close run thing. 


After talking to my supervising teacher, I know now that I need to be much tougher on student behaviour. Looking back, there was niggles going on all lesson and the last part just provided too good an opportunity. I need to use the behaviour management system that is in place at the school and follow through consistently. 
I also feel that my instructions could have been slightly clearer. 


We'll see how tomorrow goes. I'm ready to jump on the first person who puts a toe out of line. I wonder if anybody will get to detention tomorrow. I hope not. 

17th October 2011

Week 11 - P.D. Day
So, first day of my three week block today. I had completely forgotten that it was to be a professional development day, and consequently was dressed to the nines when all the other staff were wearing really casual clothes. Oh well. 


It was really interesting to take part in the days activities. The morning session was spent going over NAPLAN test results, finding out where the weaknesses were and which students were at risk. It was good to see how the school used that testing data to inform planning for the next term. It was found that for Numeracy the school was above the average of schools in Australia, however an area of weakness in all three year levels was the concept of place value and spatial transformations. 


In the literacy component of the test, all of the students were generally weak, however reading was perhaps the most concerning. It is easy to see why there is such difficulty with literacy when the school population is considered. The main areas of weakness with reading seems to be with making inferences from the text, and students being able to imagine other's feelings. 


After lunch, there was a presentation given by a Nurse from Armadale Hospital about reporting procedures for developmental delay assessment. It went through the nitty gritty stuff about referrals for getting students the help they need as soon as possible. 


I look forward to seeing the kids tomorrow :)