Artifact 4.5

Ashleigh L’Heureux

September 16, 2008

EDU 446

Focus Observation #1 – Management Techniques

The management techniques that my cooperating teacher Kathy Clunis used seem to work very well and kept the day running smoothly. It is a kindergarten and first grade classroom so for some of the kids this is their first time at school. Half of the children were in Kathy’s class last year so some of them are familiar with her routines. Kathy also uses The First Six Weeks to guide her days, and I have seen how the focus on building community and setting expectations makes a wonderful difference.

It was nearing the end of the day, and the students were just beginning their project time. One of Kathy’s strengths in management techniques is keeping an flexible schedule and allowing choices to her students. During project time the children had five choices of activities they could choose do. Before project time actually started we were all sitting in a circle on the rug in the meeting area. Kathy had picture cards of the activity choices displayed on a chart near the meeting area. The choices for today were Lincoln Logs, Playdough numbers, blocks, journal writing, and art. These were the same choices the children had the previous day, so the consistency may have helped with the transition into project time today.

Setting expectations for the children and making them aware of what they are supposed to be doing is another technique Kathy used to manage her classroom. She clearly explained what was expected of everybody in each area of the classroom, which seemed to help the children stay focused when they were participating in a certain activity. She also explained that if the children used the materials in the way they were supposed and took care of the things in the classroom, then more things could come out.

She then told the children how many friends were allowed at each activity and placed the number next to the picture on the chart. Before the children made choices my cooperating teacher told the children to pick their top three choices in case their first choice was full before they could choose it. She then asked, “Do we get angry and stomp our feet if we don’t get our first choice? Do we say mean things and complain and whine?” The children all responded, “no.” Dealing with this issue before it arose set a positive tone for this choice picking time. The children chose what station they wanted to go to when Kathy held up a card that showed their name. Then they were off busy working throughout the classroom.

Once the children were in their stations Kathy walked around the room and mentioned positive things she liked that the children were doing. “ Thank you for helping Stella spell the word ‘the’.” “I like the way that you are taking your time to place those blocks on top of one another.” If things were not going the way she expected she would say phrases that would remind or redirect the children. When the children in the block area were knocking over tall towers she said, “Why are there such loud sounds coming from the block area?” This would help the children realize that what they were doing was distracting to others.

When one boy was swinging his necklace around in the art area; Kathy gave him one warning and said, “I need you to keep the beads on the tray so they do not fly off and hit someone else. If you do not stop swinging the beads I’m going to have to ask you to make another choice.” A few minutes later he was doing it again so she redirected him to another area of the classroom but still gave him a choice as to where. Another child got angry when asked to put a pencil away and broke it in half. Kathy raised her tone of voice and said, “Do not break the things in this classroom. These belong to everybody. Do you want me to come to your house and break your things?” The child’s smile dropped to a serious face and I think he understood the point she was trying to get across to him and apologized. When things would end up in places where they did not belong such as the Lincoln Logs rolling across the floor Kathy would remind the student by saying, “you need to be more careful.” Sometimes she would have the children explain the consequences of their behavior. When two children were using the Lincoln Logs to have a sword fight, Kathy said, “Absolutely not! Why do you think this is not okay?” The students knew right away that somebody could get hurt and things could get broken.

Kathy was really good about redirecting children and reminding them of what she expected of them. When we were in meeting time one girl kept blurting out comments and questions saying “Kathy, Kathy, Kathy” over and over again. My teacher responded by saying, “do you need to interrupt me right now? Is this an emergency? Because what I am saying is important for everybody to hear.” The child responded by being quiet and then later raising her hand when she had a question or comment. When one child was playing with her necklace and talking to her neighbor Kathy simply looked her in the eye and said, “I need you to be leader – that’s what I need from you right now.” This implied that the child knew what she was expected to do and just needed some reminding.

When the kids seemed to be getting a little restless she said, “I’ll give you a few minutes to check your body and make sure it is in meeting style.” Sitting meeting style means that your legs are crossed, your hands are in your lap, and your eyes are looking at who is speaking. When she said this all of the students immediately put their bodies the way they were supposed to be. They just needed a little reminding. These simple reminders kept things moving and everything under control. Kathy dealt with problems before they arose. When some distracting things were happening during meeting such as students looking around the classroom or clapping their hands or making noises, Kathy would say things like, “I’m going to wait until you are ready.” or “I’m not going to call on you if you do that.” These simple reminders helped children rethink and change their behavior, all while remaining calm.

To introduce the journal writing activity Kathy did a guided discovery with the children. She showed them an empty book that we had put together and asked them, “what is this?” Many children responded, “a book.” Then she asked, “How do we use this?” “We write in it,” one boy answered. “That’s right. Do we fold it up like a paper airplane? Do we rip it up? Can we draw in it. Can we write about our thoughts and ideas?” These were some of the questions that Kathy asked to set expectations for what these homemade books were to be used for. “Who is the author and illustrator of this book?” she asked. “We are! Everybody!”

Kathy also used certain attention grabbers as a management technique and told the students the plan ahead of time. When there were five more minutes left in project time Kathy shut the lights off and said, “stop, look, and listen.” When everybody was frozen and looking at her she said, “This is what we’re going to do. In five minutes were going to pick up ten things and then go to the rug.”  After five minutes Kathy would say the routine phrase “Ago” and all the children would respond, “Amey.” This was a system that signified that something important was about to be said. She informed them that it was time to start cleaning up. I heard the children counting as they put away ten things and then even went over to other areas to help clean up. They all eventually made it over to the rug and began their good-bye game.