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OBSERVATION #2

Observation 2: Classroom Management and Routines

Emily Weigand

Raritan Valley Community College

Professor Kathryn Suk

October 19, 2021

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OBSERVATION #2

I. Observation #2

Classroom Management and Routines

II. Grade Level and Subject Area:

Pre-Kindergarten

III. Setting:

Classroom type is inclusive general education, in a private daycare setting which is

located in an urban area, with one teacher, one teacher’s aide and ten students; four

girls and six boys.

IV. Pre-Observation:

Before observing the participating teacher’s classroom, I assume that there is a daily

schedule that outlines the routine that the class is meant to follow. I would expect this

to be clearly displayed somewhere in the room where all students have access to view

it. Being someone who has had experience working in preschool classrooms, I would

assume that the participating teachers built this schedule with the idea of flexibility in

mind. Working in a classroom setting, there have been countless instances where an

activity went over its time limit. There are many reasons for this happening, whether

it be because an activity ended up being more difficult for the students than

anticipated, or a particular student was struggling with a certain step, requiring the

attention of a teacher. Regardless of how thought out an activity seems to be, it is

important that there is a bit of wiggle room built into the schedule to allow for human

error. Because of this, I am expecting that there is a decent amount of time blocked

off for each activity or task. Having a schedule is vital in a childs development.
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Having a structured day teaches boundaries, and it is comforting for students to know

what to expect in the classroom. Because a routine is so important, I would anticipate

that the teachers familiarize their students with the daily schedule, making them

aware of the routine that they follow.

Having some experience with younger children in a classroom setting, I can predict

that the teachers encourage and praise good behavior and discourage misbehavior.

The article “11 Research-Based Classroom Management Strategies” highlights a few

methods that are proven to have an overall positive effect on a classroom, specifically

targeting responses to behavior. For example, the article mentions to use private

reminders, and “when partnered with discreet praise, private reminders to students

about how to act responsibly increase on-task behaviors. Researchers recommend

using short and unemotional reminders” (Finley, 2017). This means that not only

noticing good behavior, but taking a moment to talk with a student one-on-one and

give a compliment can boost confidence and encourage continuing the good behavior.

A private reminder can also be an efficient way to correct poor behavior or redirect

attention. Saying something along the lines of “I really like the way you are doing

this, but you seem to be getting a little distracted so let’s focus and keep up the good

work!” can help correct behavior while making the student feel important and

empowered to do a great job. Based off of this research, I can predict that this

“private reminder” method is used in the preschool classroom that I am observing.

Whether it is to praise good behavior or redirect attention from a bad behavior, one-

on-one reminders are commonly used and I have used them many times working with

children of all ages. I would also expect that there are consequences for making bad
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decisions, such as taking certain privileges away and getting sent to the office if

behavior does not improve. I have learned from working with children of all ages that

consistency is key, meaning that behavior correcting methods will not work if they

are not consistent.

When talking with my teacher prior to my observation, she informed me that she uses

the “Tools of the Mind” curriculum in her classroom. I took it upon myself to do

some research on that specific curriculum, and I learned that it mainly focuses on

developing cognitive, social-emotional, self-regulatory, and foundational skills. The

curriculum tries to instill these skills so they can be used not only in the classroom,

but also in everyday life. I also learned that this curriculum is partially based on

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development. This theory revolved around the idea

that social skills are developed before cognitive skills. This means that interactions

with peers, parents, family, teachers and society in general is crucial in the

development of further psychological functions. Since social interaction plays a major

role in the curriculum the school uses, I can expect there to be a large chunk of time

scheduled for group activities where students work together to achieve tasks.

V. Data:

 The schedule is hanging next to the door in the classroom, and each task has a

time next to it.

 The schedule reads “8:30- Unpack and wash hands, 8:40- name folders and

mystery question, 8:55- morning circle, 9:10- morning snack, 9:40 play plan,

10:00 play in centers, 11:00- specials, 11:45- make mats and wash hands,
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12:00- lunch, 12:30- nap, 2:00- wake up, 2:10- afternoon snack, 2:40- outside

play, 3:20- clean up and pack up, 3:30- dismissal”.

 For play planning, one teacher passes out the packets while the other teacher

goes around with the wheel and chart.

 One student insists on going to the “blocks” center, but the teacher shows him

the chart and explains that he was already at that center yesterday and that he

needs to experience a different center.

 The student then starts to throw a tantrum in his chair; the teacher tries again

and reassures him that although he will not get to play at blocks today, he can

play there again next week. He continues to throw a fit, and the teacher steps

back and moves on to help the next student.

 The student is ignored until he stops crying.

 The students pick a center that they have not played in yet this week, and they

take the clothes pin off of the wheel that corresponds to the color of the center.

The teacher than records the data on her chart.

 After the students pick a center, they flip to the page in their packet that

matches the day of the week, and write their name at the top using the same

color marker as their clothespin and center. Then, they draw a picture of what

they plan to do at their center.

 The teacher’s aide comes around and assists the students in writing a sentence

under their picture explaining what they will do in their centers. This is their

“play planning”.
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 Some students need less assistance and finish before others. This leads to a

few of them getting up and starting to play before further instructions. The

teacher sees this and yells at the students, reminding them that they are

earning for the prize box on Friday.

 Once the teacher collects the packets, the students are instructed to put away

their markers and go to their center to play.

 The students go to the centers that they picked and play on their own, with the

teachers watching over them while allowing them to play independently.

 In the one corner of the classroom, the teacher sets up an easel with some

paint, and calls students up one by one to paint whatever they want while

chatting with the teacher.

 Two students in the “literacy” center choose to mess around and hide books

instead of read, and this results in the teacher’s aide yelling at them and telling

them to stop. The teacher then tells them that they lost their painting privileges

for the day.

 The teacher only gets to paint with about half the class before the hour of

playing is up. Five minutes before the hour is up, an alarm goes off on the

teacher’s phone reminding her. Then the teacher’s aide hangs a sign up on the

board that reads “5 minutes” and shares that information to the class.

 Another alarm goes off when that five minutes is up, and the teacher turns on

the “clean up” song.

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 All of the students hear this que and start to clean, except for two students in

the “dramatic play” center, who just stand there whining that they do not want

to.

 The teacher then asks some other students to go help them clean up in

“dramatic play” once they are done cleaning their own mess.

 All students rush to be cleaned up and dancing on the carpet before the song is

over.

 Since there are still fifteen more minutes until specials, the teacher decides to

read the students a Halloween book while they wait for the specials teacher to

arrive.

 The specials teacher comes in with a cart full of supplies, and instructs the

class to take a seat. The lesson for that day was about mail, so he played them

a video of how the post office works, and where your mail goes once you send

it.

 Most students were not able to keep focus and kept distracting others and

talking.

 After the video, the specials teacher passed out glue sticks and papers as he

explained that they would be making paper mailboxes.

 The teacher vaguely explained directions, and most students were not able to

follow along and ended up doing their projects out of order.

 Students rushed through the project, and the teacher had nothing else planned

to fill the time. He ended up putting another video on about the post office. As

the class was busy with specials, the teacher and the teacher’s aide retrieved
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the mats from the back room and decided the best places for each student to

nap that day.

 The students were then told to put their projects in their folders and get their

nap stuff out to make their mats. The specials teacher used this time to clean

up the tables and put his materials back on his cart.

 Some students are able to make their mats themselves, while some of them

asked for help.

 After making mats, students stood on the dots to wait their turn to wash hands,

and the teacher’s aide put their name tags down at their spots for lunch that

day.

 Students then went to get their lunchboxes and find their names to sit down.

 There were a few students that did not want to eat what they were packed, or

wanted to eat their afternoon snack instead of their lunch. Two of those

students were talked to and eventually listened. One particular student threw a

tantrum and spit a piece of food at another student. The director or “principal”

of the school was called down to talk to the student.

 Some students focused on eating and were finished and packed up before

others. These students went to silently read or flip through books on their mats

while they waited for the others to finish up.

 Other students used their time to fool around and talk, so they were eventually

cut off and told to pack up after being warned several times that lunch would

be over soon.
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 Everyone was told to use the bathroom before lying down, and the teacher

tucked students in while the teacher’s aide closed the blinds and turned the

nap time music on.

VI. Analysis:

Right when I arrived to the classroom, I noticed that there was a copy of the schedule

hanging next to the door so it was accessible at any time throughout the day. It was

also hanging low enough so students could see it. I noticed that both teachers had the

schedule completely memorized, and the schedule was followed throughout the

portion of the day that I was there for. There seemed to be plenty of time built into the

routine for every activity, but sometimes it became almost too much time. During

specials, students finished the project and still had about twenty more minutes until

the end of the allotted time for activity. Because of this, the teacher scrambled to find

another video in order to fill the time. In addition, there seemed to be a lot of extra

time during morning snack and lunch. Students only took the first ten to fifteen

minutes to eat, and then started to get restless and distracted towards the end. I did

notice that students are very aware of the schedule, and knew exactly when it was

time for the next activity. The teacher had an alarm set that went off five minutes

before clean up time during centers as a “warning signal”, and some students made

the decision to start cleaning up then so they would have less to clean up later. When

the teacher turned on the “clean up” song five minutes later, everyone knew that the

song meant it was time to start cleaning up. Another indicator that the students are

aware of the schedule is, they knew to go to their mats and silently flip through a
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book after they were done with lunch. The teacher did have to encourage a couple

students to clean up, but the rest of the class knew what to do on their own.

I noticed that when there was misbehavior, the teacher would respond different ways

at different times. A few times she yelled, and reminded the student that the

“director” or principal would come visit if the behavior was not corrected. There were

a few instances when both the teacher and the teacher’s aide would use the “private

reminder” method that was mentioned in the pre-observation section. However, most

of the time there was not a settle praise involved to boost confidence, it was only a

one-on-one to discuss and correct negative behavior. The teacher also reminded some

students that they were earning for the prize box. In the back of the classroom there

was a shelf that had little jars labelled with each student’s name. If a student made a

“red” choice, they would get fuzz balls taken out of their jar. If they made a “green”

choice, they would get fuzz balls added. Whoever had a full jar by Friday would get

to choose a prize from the prize box. I do not think the guidance is very consistent.

Certain students acted out more than others, and because of that some conflicts were

definitely brushed off and forgotten about during all of the commotion.

VII. Recommendations:

One recommendation I would make is to shorten the time built into the schedule for

morning snack and lunch. Instead of each being thirty minutes, I would make each

twenty minutes. This way, students have enough time to finish lunch, but do not have

extra time to fool around afterwards. My second recommendation would be to have

slightly different schedules for each day depending what the special is. For example,
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when they have gym class, I would keep specials at forty-five minutes because

students are less likely to get bored when being active. Also, they will have a nice

amount of time to get exercise and work together during gym games, which is an

important part of their curriculum. However, when they have art as their special, I

think it would work better if there was only thirty minutes set aside. Art is usually

sitting and working independently on a project, meaning most students will grow

restless after a short period of time.

I would also recommend that the consequences of behaviors are used consistently. I

would have a system where the first time a student acts out, they are asked if what

they did was a “red” or “green” choice. This is when I think it would be best to

implement the “private reminder” method by pulling the student aside or sitting down

with them and give them a compliment while redirecting the behavior. Then I would

explain how it was a red choice, and remind the student that they are earning for fuzz

balls in their jar. The second time, I would let them know that they are losing fuzz

balls, and then continue to walk over to their jar and take them out. If the behavior

continues after that, depending on the severity, I would mention having the director

come to the classroom for a talk. I would not mention the director coming to the

classroom if it is not actually going to happen, because that gives the student the idea

that their actions do not always have consequences. Empty threats lead the child to

think that you will not follow through with the punishment or consequence.

VIII. Post Observation:

Before my observation, I truly had no idea how much thought went into creating a

strong yet flexible schedule for a preschool classroom. A great schedule gives
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structure to the class and outlines a routine that students will follow every day and

take with them beyond the classroom. This is just the start of these children’s

educational careers, and this schedule will teach them boundaries and how to manage

time in a school environment.

I can imagine that creating a schedule like this involves a lot of trial and error,

because if the right amount of time is not blocked off for one activity, it could throw

off the rest of the day. I also learned that the schedule is tailored around the

curriculum a teacher follows. For instance, the Tools of the Mind curriculum requires

Students to play plan, followed by an hour of playing in centers. This is a large

portion of the morning that had to be scheduled perfectly to flow into the rest of the

day.

One tip that I learned for my future in teaching is to be consistent with guidance and

handling misbehavior. It is very easy to go about it the wrong way and yell at a child,

but it will not help solve the problem in the long run. Having a class system for a

reward and having something for the student to earn is a great way to use positive

reinforcement.

All in all, I learned that a structured schedule and good discipline techniques are just

two of the many tools a teacher needs to be successful.

IX. Citations:

Finley, T. (2017, September 22). 11 research-based classroom management

strategies. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/11-research-based-classroom-
management-strategies

What is Tools? (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2020, from

https://toolsofthemind.org/learn/what-is-tools/
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X. Appendix