Creating an Effective Instructional Climate

1. Creating an Effective Instructional Climate District Staff Development Aldine ISD August 18, 2009

2. Goals for Today • Understand the differences between classroom management and classroom discipline • Discuss strategies to help create order and discipline using effective classroom management techniques • Determine ways to apply these strategies as you prepare for the beginning of the school year

3. Classroom Management vs. Classroom Discipline These are two distinctly different concepts Classroom Management: how things are done • Procedures • Routines • Structures Classroom Discipline: how people behave • Impulse management • Self control

4. Something to Consider • Effective teachers manage classrooms using procedures and routines • Ineffective teachers attempt to discipline students with treats and punishments rather than laying a foundation of effective procedures for the learning environment

5. Take the time to reflect . . . • at the end of a lesson • at the end of the day • after an assessment • at the end of the six weeks • at the end of the semester • at the end of the year

6. Take the time to reflect at the beginning of the year. Everyone needs to take time to think about personal practices, then share concerns and questions frequently with others deemed as credible and successful in order to gain new insight and ideas (Bernshausen & Cunningham, 2001). Complete the two surveys: • Rate Your Role in the Classroom Environment • Rate Your Teaching Responses

7. Rate Your Role in the Classroom Environment • Determine the number of “Yes” answers you have. • Of the 16 responses, what is your percentage of maintaining a successful classroom environment? 8 = 50% 7 = 44% 6 = 38% 5 = 31% 4 = 25% 3 = 19% 2 = 13% 1 = 6% 16 = 100% 15 = 94% 14 = 88% 13 = 81% 12 = 75% 11 = 69% 10 = 63% 9 = 56%

8. Rate Your Teaching Responses Add up your total points for the seven responses. • 63 - 70: You seem to have an exceptional ability to respond to the varying daily situations. • 56 - 62: Your score indicates very good teacher responses as you meet the everyday challenges. • 49 - 55: You have shown a fair ability to calmly address classroom challenges. • 42 – 48: Your score highlights the classroom management areas in which you might need improvement. • 1 – 41: Your total shows there are various areas in which you might need guidance and coaching to establish a positive environment.

9. What do the results mean? These scores are for your information ONLY! Take a few minutes and reflect on areas that are your strengths as well as areas of concern. The process of reflection may leave you feeling disappointed initially, but the goal is to identify your opportunities for improvement. Reflection helps you to learn who you are as a teacher and to make you more aware of how you teach.

10. Establishing a Classroom That Inspires Student Academic Success Classroom Management Strategies require a teacher who is in charge of: • the students, • the space, • the time allotted for instruction, and • the materials needed for all students to learn.

11. Teacher Conduct The following teacher behaviors affect how students respond in the classroom: • Attitude toward students • Relationships with students • Instructional strategies • Planning and preparation • Reflection and learning from past mistakes Most importantly, the teacher must establish him/herself as the authority figure and role model in the classroom.

12. Teacher Conduct • Teachers must establish rules, expectations, and order at the beginning of the year. • This does not mean do not smile until Christmas! • The teacher should establish a welcoming environment by personally greeting each student as they enter the classroom. • In addition, the teacher should start the class officially (and on time) with the expectation of correct behavior and high standards for learning.

13. Reflection Complete Reflection 1. Spend several minutes considering the question below and then write your response. What do you consider to be your underlying philosophy or values for creating and maintaining a controlled classroom environment?

14. Preparing Your Classroom for Success “What you do on the first days of school will determine your success or failure for the rest of the school year.” Wong and Wong, 1998.

15. Providing a Positive Learning Environment Invite students to be part of the learning process. • Respond to students as they enter and leave the classroom. • Consider how students move through the room with materials and during activities. • Create an effective classroom management system that facilitates understanding of the rules, expectations, and consequences. • Plan instructional time and strategies so that students are able to master the skills and concepts.

16. Classroom Rules Rules should reflect the teacher’s and campus’ philosophy of education. Considerations when establishing rules: • Introduce rules the first day of school. • Teach and reinforce rules consistently throughout the year. • Allow students to help establish classroom rules and procedures. • Insure all rules are easily understood, specific, and address behaviors. • Limit rules to a maximum of 5 or 6.

17. Consequences Students need to be provided with consequences for all behaviors, not just misbehavior. Positive behaviors positive consequences. Negative behaviors negative (disciplinary) consequences. The teacher needs to think through appropriate consequences before the year begins. Teachers should work with campus administrators to align positive rewards to the campus discipline plan.

18. Behavior Management System Effective teachers need to maintain a record-keeping system that allows them to keep track of student behavior in an efficient manner without wasting instructional time. (Marzano, Marzano, & Pickering, 2003) Discuss in your group ways to keep track of student behavior. Make a list of ideas and be ready to share.

19. Keeping All Students on Task Student engagement begins with well-planned lessons. Make sure to: • Align lessons to TEKS and benchmark targets on Triand • Plan realistic objectives that can be met by most students in a class period • Gather materials needed for the lesson and all activities • Plan an anticipatory activity connecting to prior knowledge • Plan for direct instruction, modeling, guided and independent practice and reteaching • Close the lesson or class with the whole class making connections to previous and future learning

20. Keeping All Students on Task Teachers must carefully plan lessons, activities, and materials to address all learning modalities- visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. Reflection 2: In what way do you actually acquire knowledge? Are you visual, auditory, or kinesthetic? Which of the three modalities do you use LEAST often for instruction? How can you improve your instructional strategies in this area?

21. Keeping All Students on Task Appropriate Use of Instructional Time and Procedures • Start instruction at the beginning of the class. A warm-up should take no more than 5 minutes to complete and discuss. • Direct instruction should be appropriate for the grade level- but the teacher should talk no more than 10 minutes before moving to a student-centered learning activity. • Vary instruction and learning activities continually throughout the class to monitor understanding and keep all students on task.

22. Keeping All Students on Task Work with your group. Read the “Sounds great, but . . .” card. Discuss the points on the card. Be ready to describe the situation and give several ideas of ways to resolve the problem. Some ideas are given on the card and your group should add other ideas they feel are appropriate.

23. Keeping All Students on Task Sounds great, BUT what about the student who calls out “Teacher, I’m done!”? • The teacher needs to plan for extra learning activities. • The activity should be introduced before beginning independent practice. • The activity should match the content being taught during that class. 23

24. Keeping All Students on Task Sounds great, BUT what about the student who constantly displays minor misbehaviors? • If the negative behavior is not hurting or distracting others, simply ignoring the student may work. By not drawing attention to the student or the behavior, the negative behavior will stop. • If this does not work, the teacher should model and teach the desired behavior, ignoring the undesired behavior if it is not interfering with the learning of others. 24

25. Keeping All Students on Task Sounds great, BUT what about the student who wants constant help? • First, make sure the student understands the assignment. • Allow time before independent practice for a student (preferably this student) to explain the assignment to the rest of the class. • Allow students to work with a partner. • Insure the lesson and the assignment are appropriate for the student’s learning modality. 25

26. Keeping All Students on Task Sounds great, BUT what about the students who are unmotivated? • The teacher needs to determine the reason the student is unmotivated. The reasons are varied, ranging from confusion to boredom. • Assignments must be relevant and interesting to students. Students must see the value of doing the assignment and understand the skills and concepts required to teach the assignment. 26

27. Keeping All Students on Task Sounds great, BUT what about the students who call out the answers? • The teacher must utilize Wait Time- a minimum of 3 – 5 seconds before anyone gives an answer. • Another idea is to do the Think-Pair-Share strategy. The teacher poses a question and tells students they are to think about the answer. After a short period of time, which will vary depending on the question, students share answers with a partner, then several pairs share their answer with the class. 27

28. Understanding Student’s Off-Task Behaviors There are many things happening in any classroom at any point in time. It is up to the teacher to determine why student(s) are behaving in a particular manner. • If the behavior is common among many students, the teacher should examine his/her teaching practices as well as the classroom rules, routines, and procedures. There is a disconnect between the expectations and the behaviors. • Other ideas for handling off-task behaviors are shown in the chart. Discuss the problem assigned to your group and be ready to share the thoughts and ideas with the whole class.

29. Creating and Sustaining an Effective Instructional Climate Today we discussed: • Classroom Management versus Classroom Discipline • Teacher Conduct and Reflective Practices • Ways to keep students on task Using this information spend a few minutes thinking about your goals for the school year. Make a list of several strategies you plan to use that will insure all students in your class(es) will succeed this year.

30. Creating and Sustaining an Effective Instructional Climate As you begin this year: • Consider the set-up of your classroom • Review the materials and resources you have available • Share expectations with your students • Set rules as a class • Create a climate of consistency, fairness, and mutual respect • Enjoy your students and help each one achieve to their highest ability