PEDAGOGY: Fifth Grade
Management
- Demonstrates fairness, support, and consistency in order to achieve a positive learning environment.
- Uses instructional time effectively and monitors student participation, interactions, and engagement.
- Develops and implements procedures and routines to enhance a positive learning environment (time management, transition management).
- Organizes space, materials, and activities to maximize teaching and learning.
- Proactively implements positive behavior support strategies (e.g., exhibits high levels of "with-it-ness" when teaching).
- Provides appropriate positive reinforcement and feedback to all students.
Description & Rationale
In this fifth grade class, as well as, the other fifth grade classes at Blossomwood Elementary School, several techniques were used to manage student behavior and motivate academic performance. To be clear and consistent, expectations about behavior and consequences to misbehavior were posted in the classroom. When students misbehaved, they were first given a warning about their conduct. A second infraction required the student to sign his or her name on a clipboard along with a number signifying which rule had been violated. Subsequent misconduct led to missed recess, silent lunches, calls or notes to parents, and visits to the school office. If a student did not submit homework and other assignments on a timely basis then his or her name was posted on the board, and the student would be required to use recess and lunch times to complete the assignments. Positive behavioral support came in the form of homework passes and sticky points (bonus points). While I certainly observed and implemented the use of homework passes and sticky points, most of the behavior management that I saw related to the clipboard method described above. It did not feel appropriate to me to completely revamp the behavior management strategies in another teacher's classroom. I actually saw value in maintaining the strategies and methods already established for the sake of consistency. I did, however, want to implement a Positive Behavioral Support method for my science unit that also encouraged classroom engagement and academic responsibility.
I decided to implement a ticket system.
On the first day of my science unit, I explained this ticket system to the students. I would distribute tickets to students who:
1.) came to class prepared and exhibited a positive attitude about learning.
2.) actively engaged in classroom discussions and activities.
3.) raised their hands to speak and respectfully listened when others spoke.
4.) actively listened and followed instructions.
5.) worked cooperatively and positively with classmates in group activities and experiments.
6.) respected school property, classroom equipment and materials, and maintained orderly work stations especially during lab lessons.
7.) maintained completed and orderly notebooks where appropriate items were highlighted and filled-in.
8.) turned in completed work on the due date. (I did not accept late work unless the student was absent and/or provided a note from a parent or teacher. I gave a 72-hour grace period to complete assignments under these circumstances. Work submitted after this grace period lost 10 points per day for every day that the assignment was late after the expiration of the grace period.)
9.) pushed themselves to critically think about the content by both raising interesting questions and answering questions posed by others.
10.) any and all other conduct by a student that indicated a sense of responsibility, resourcefulness, and initiative about his or her education.
When a student received a ticket, he/she wrote his/her name on the ticket and stored it in the front pocket of his/her notebook. I distributed tickets to individuals during class so that other members of the class would be encouraged to earn tickets as well. I always explained why someone earned a ticket. There were times when I would give everyone in the class a ticket based upon positive whole class performance, such as working well in the previous days' lab activity.
Throughout and at the end of the unit, the students received grades based upon the final test, homework assignments, lab/activity assignments, and Brainpop assignments. They also received a notebook/participation grade that included the number of tickets they had received during the three-week unit. Obviously, the more tickets a student had in the front pocket of his/her notebook, the higher the grade that student received. While a certain amount of subjectivity factored into the rewarding of tickets, I interjected as much objective criteria as possible. For instance, I used the ten elements listed above as a type of rubric, and I never required students to relinquish tickets they had earned. To determine the worth of each ticket, I used a norm-referenced approach. The highest number of tickets earned by any one student was 16 and the least number of tickets any student earned was 3. Accordingly, I treated 16 tickets as 100%. For the participation grade, everyone began with 68 points and earned 2 additional points for every ticket that he/she had earned. Consistent with this framework, the highest participation grade was 100 and the lowest participation grade was 74.
1.) came to class prepared and exhibited a positive attitude about learning.
2.) actively engaged in classroom discussions and activities.
3.) raised their hands to speak and respectfully listened when others spoke.
4.) actively listened and followed instructions.
5.) worked cooperatively and positively with classmates in group activities and experiments.
6.) respected school property, classroom equipment and materials, and maintained orderly work stations especially during lab lessons.
7.) maintained completed and orderly notebooks where appropriate items were highlighted and filled-in.
8.) turned in completed work on the due date. (I did not accept late work unless the student was absent and/or provided a note from a parent or teacher. I gave a 72-hour grace period to complete assignments under these circumstances. Work submitted after this grace period lost 10 points per day for every day that the assignment was late after the expiration of the grace period.)
9.) pushed themselves to critically think about the content by both raising interesting questions and answering questions posed by others.
10.) any and all other conduct by a student that indicated a sense of responsibility, resourcefulness, and initiative about his or her education.
When a student received a ticket, he/she wrote his/her name on the ticket and stored it in the front pocket of his/her notebook. I distributed tickets to individuals during class so that other members of the class would be encouraged to earn tickets as well. I always explained why someone earned a ticket. There were times when I would give everyone in the class a ticket based upon positive whole class performance, such as working well in the previous days' lab activity.
Throughout and at the end of the unit, the students received grades based upon the final test, homework assignments, lab/activity assignments, and Brainpop assignments. They also received a notebook/participation grade that included the number of tickets they had received during the three-week unit. Obviously, the more tickets a student had in the front pocket of his/her notebook, the higher the grade that student received. While a certain amount of subjectivity factored into the rewarding of tickets, I interjected as much objective criteria as possible. For instance, I used the ten elements listed above as a type of rubric, and I never required students to relinquish tickets they had earned. To determine the worth of each ticket, I used a norm-referenced approach. The highest number of tickets earned by any one student was 16 and the least number of tickets any student earned was 3. Accordingly, I treated 16 tickets as 100%. For the participation grade, everyone began with 68 points and earned 2 additional points for every ticket that he/she had earned. Consistent with this framework, the highest participation grade was 100 and the lowest participation grade was 74.
Reflection
I was slightly apprehensive about implementing this ticket system. First, I was not sure how the students would respond. I was not sure if it would be effective in accomplishing what I wanted to accomplish; that is, encouraging the students to be focused on and engaged in the learning process without the cloud of punitive repercussions. Second, I was unsure how various teachers might respond to what I was doing. I am happy to say that I received encouragement from any and everyone who had something to say about it. I certainly felt emboldened to try this after my meeting with Kristin Kolenich at Legacy Elementary School, who graciously shared her wonderful ideas with me. As to my first concern of doubt, I was beyond pleased with how the students responded. They were inspired by those tickets to try their best and to challenge their critical thinking abilities. They were practically jumping out of their seats during class discussions to answer questions, raise questions, and participate. They surpassed my expectations and I know without a doubt, now, that I met the goal I set out to achieve.
This process allowed me to practice the type of brain-based learning that I want to foster in my own class, one day. I established high expectations for the students. I held them accountable for their conduct. I instilled in them a desire to be responsible for their own learning. I inspired them to critically think about the content. I modeled for them how I wanted them to act based upon how I treated them. I treated them as if they were smart, capable, mature, and responsible children who cared about learning. They responded (or 95% of them responded) in kind. This style of teaching also endeared me to many of them. During more than one parent/teacher conference that I attended, parents expressed their appreciation to me for engaging their child in some sort of positive way. One mother excitedly shared her enthusiasm that I was motivating her daughter to be interested in science for the first time.....ever. One father said he had heard about me at the dinner table recently. His child had said that I was different from other student teachers and school helpers. I was more like a mom.
I am glad that my initial doubts about this ticket system did not prevent me from going forward. It was one of the smartest and most successful endeavors of my student teaching experience.
This process allowed me to practice the type of brain-based learning that I want to foster in my own class, one day. I established high expectations for the students. I held them accountable for their conduct. I instilled in them a desire to be responsible for their own learning. I inspired them to critically think about the content. I modeled for them how I wanted them to act based upon how I treated them. I treated them as if they were smart, capable, mature, and responsible children who cared about learning. They responded (or 95% of them responded) in kind. This style of teaching also endeared me to many of them. During more than one parent/teacher conference that I attended, parents expressed their appreciation to me for engaging their child in some sort of positive way. One mother excitedly shared her enthusiasm that I was motivating her daughter to be interested in science for the first time.....ever. One father said he had heard about me at the dinner table recently. His child had said that I was different from other student teachers and school helpers. I was more like a mom.
I am glad that my initial doubts about this ticket system did not prevent me from going forward. It was one of the smartest and most successful endeavors of my student teaching experience.