Summary:

Every school uses different methods of disciplinary action. Ours uses Love and Logic. The best way to deal with behavioral issues is to stay in contact with the parents (connect with the parents immediately).  I also cc the Dean, teacher, and the counselor. 

When it comes to transitions, she says that her school does not allow for them but they do have an attention getter called Waterfall. We have a “do now” activity on the board and the students understand that they must go to their desk quietly and get out their stuff and start the “Do Now.”

Keeping kids motivated is my challenge. I agree that the key is to KEEP THEM BUSY. She also talks about getting to know the students. I find that it’s easier to keep them engaged if they can relate to me.

Being stressed I think is part of the job and maybe I am in my comfort zone when stressed. But I know my biggest source of stress is disorganization. She mentions doing lesson plans ahead of time. This is a great idea, but difficult when your schedule changes a lot. Our counselor does things for us to help us with stress like calming drawing or DIY activities like making a mini beach getaway during our breaks.

What is your most efficient area of discipline management?

I have had a few students with problematic behaviors in my class. It was very trying and yes, stressful and behavioral problems are what eat up teaching time. How did I deal with it? I was taught we have to make relationships and connections with students. I also try to connect with the  parents immediately. I make a positive call home or send a positive comment home. 

I am being honest, there are two students who are very difficult and disrupt my class. My co-teachers handle it in different ways. I probably do more documenting and such, because I do think we have to hold them accountable. However, one of the parents rarely returns my phone calls and I imagine this is some of the “why” for behavior problems. I have not found or heard any good solutions yet on how to handle some of these harder discipline cases. My school has a counselor and more resources than most but it's not enough. 

How do you make sure that you don’t waste time during transitions? 

a. In my experience, I think I am being asked to do a lot in my school's 45 minute time slots. This year, I am the Fourth grade English Language Arts Teacher of 72 students of a Title 1 public school.  My school  schedule does not allow for time transitions between ELA (8:45-9:40 and Gym 9:45-10:40, ELA/second cohort 10:40-11:40) I think the key is we are FLEXIBLE. My fourth grade team gives ourselves 5 minute warnings a lesson and gets ready to line up.

b. This is a great question, without a best selling answer, it is going to be a step by step playback:

In general, I start off the lesson by doing one of my teacher's “attention getters” Waterfall, and the class responds. I use a microphone and it helps. I have the lesson objective on the board and I ask students to turn and read the objective over quietly on their own. Next, I pick a student reading the objective out loud.

My way of getting students to stay focused on the lesson.  During transitions is another great time to do little reviews! For example, during a classroom bathroom break, we would do a spelling bee or sound out the vowels. 

 

2..How do you get your students motivated?  Do you have an incentive like preferred activity for them to complete their work?  KEEP THEM BUSY!

I answered this question partially in the first question. On the first day, by getting to know my students' interests, what are their strengths and weaknesses. In my classroom, everyone participates in what is called “No Opt Out.” I have more than 50% of my classes as emerging English Language Learners and everyone participates. We do have an incentive system in my class called “Lieberman Leader.” To be a Lieberman Leader you have to show:

How do you prevent stress while you are teaching?

Right now, I am on FMLA and I have no access to the curriculum! My specific scenario is highly unusual (except in the summer, but I would teach summer school. Personally, i am working on how to manage stress. My superintendent brought a MINDFULNESS FIRST program into the district. The program was brought into the district at the end of COVID to teach staff and students how to practice mindfulness. 

On a personal note, I prevent stress by doing lesson plans ahead of the weekend. I know if I leave it for the weekend I will keep working on it and not feel prepared. 

I also feel it’s important to work with people who share the same values and have a sense of humor. I try to not stay after 400 p.m. everyday. It is challenging. I can't imagine a job as a teacher where you do not feel stress. I think the worst stress is anticipation of your observation. In one school, I felt more stressed because of how the administration approached it.

In another school, my acting principal was transparent and said this observation is not about “getting you.”

What is your backup system at your school?

I can discuss this from the perspective at the 2 different schools I worked in. At the charter school, it is a Leader in me School. The entire curriculum and behavior management etc derived from my teaching. There is a website ; www.leaderinme.org  

The school is very invested in this system. They strongly believe that every child gets a chance, and give  a student a space in the room who needs to reset. In terms of more challenging behaviors, I’m not sure what you meant, they do ask for parent engagement and teachers document and keep data. There was a lot of focus on the teacher. There were students who were appropriate for the school but were allowed to stay. 

At my current public school, last year they used the PBIS classroom /school wide behavior system. It’s a pretty thorough and supposedly expensive program.

This year, our superintendent decided to discontinue PBIS. They came up with a new program similar to PBIS but better addresses the needs of our community.