Observation

Classroom: Albemarle Road Elementary Grade: 4th grade Curriculum Area: Classroom Management Observer: Summer Rockett Date: 3/10/2014 Time: 7:45-10:30

What I notice
Mrs. Gregory gives her students a license to talk and if they do not have one they are not permitted to speak, she also revokes their license if they are misbehaving Mrs. Gregory gives her students responsibility by utilizing class role such as- newscaster, delivering things to other classes, board eraser, table group captains, etc. Mrs. Gregory uses the move your clip behavior management system When the class is getting a bit rowdy, Mrs. Gregory stops instruction to review class rules Mrs. Gregory constantly reminds her students to THINK before they speak- this means they ask themselves Is what Im about to say true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, or kind? If not, I should not say it If the class is talking out of term or not following directions after their first warning and review of the class rules, Mrs. Gregory will right STOP on the board and instead of warning them again, shell simply cross off a letter. If she crosses off all the letters they lose ten minutes of recess. Mrs. Gregory has students hold up fingers to represent their understand of what she is teaching, 5 being fully understand and 1 being not understand at all. Mrs. Gregory reinforces her students to be self-sufficient. For example, if a student says I need a pencil Mrs. Gregory will say We are problem solvers, reinforcing that the student knows how to solve their own problem of getting a pencil Mrs. Gregory says silly, engaging quotes to get students attention. If she says Hocus Pocus they response Time to focus! If Mrs. Gregory says Mac and students respond with a big smile and say Cheeeeeese! If Mrs. Gregory turns off the lights, students know immediately to turn their voices off If Mrs. Gregory feels overwhelmed with her students, she will take a deep breath and raise her hand up and say I am taking a teacher timeout for five minutes. This means that the students are not allowed to ask her questions for five minutes to give her space. If a student is severely acting up, Mrs. Gregory will say Go get calm and the student goes to a specific spot in the classroom and sits and reflects on their behavior until they are ready to join the group again. Mrs. Gregory has several chairs in her classroom such as the teachers rolling chair and old living room chairs she has brought in. Each student is assigned to a specific day of the week and if it is their day of the week, they can choose a chair to sit in during any point of the day. Mrs. Gregory also has a fish bowl with all of their names and she chooses one name a day and that student gets to replace their desk chair with a large exercise ball. Mrs. Gregory utilizes partner/group work in many ways. Students have made a pretend cell phone and for each number on the keypad, they have an assigned partner. Mrs. Gregory will say Work with your cell phone buddy #6. Mrs. Gregory also uses elbow buddies or turn and talk. For group work, Mrs. Gregory has the tables arranged in groups of five, and the team captain is in charge of keeping the group on task. The team captain changes every week, as well as the arrangement of the groups. To promote teamwork, you can earn points for your table, and the group at the end of the week with the most points wins a prize.