Three Experiential Reflections from a Voice of a Young Teacher

By Heather Straughan

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As a new teacher who has just recently joined the teaching profession, I find that I am often accused of being too idealistic in my hopes, plans and ideas for effective curriculum implementation and classroom management. "Your plan is unrealistic for a class of thirty students, " I have been told on several occasions; or "That's what you think you'll do now, but just wait until you're actually faced with the situation -- then you'll change your mind." I must admit that I did find these sorts of comments a nd reactions quite frustrating at times. It seems to me that often times when a teacher attempts to implement a new style or approach to teaching, it is automatically seen as impractical if it requires a lot of extra effort and time-consuming preparation on the part of that teacher. Yet if the teacher is willing to put in the time and effort to increase students' motivation and enthusiasm for learning, and to expand upon the learning experience by encouraging a student to do critical analysis and reflection, why is that unrealistic? What happens in a classroom is all a part of a process of professional development in that I, as a teacher, will reflect upon that process and the final outcomes and will then acquire new knowledge on how I, or any other facilitator of learning, can make that learning experience better the next time. In recording these processes and final outcomes then, I am not only contributing to my own professional development, but essentially to that of any other educator who endeavours to recreate such a process in his or her own learning environment. Any educator who does do this can then add his/her own thoughts, feelings and discoveries to the documentation, creating a continuum of "action research based learning".

It is in the first few years of teaching, I believe, that documentation of this nature can be most useful. I say this for two reasons. First, the learning that takes place at this point in a teacher's career is likely the greatest that it will ever be. That is not to take anything away from the notion of life-long learning, something which I believe to be essential. It is just that in the early years of teaching, young educators are like infants, taking in so much at one time. Through an active process t hey are often thrown into situations in which they must find their way, first by learning to crawl, eventually learning to walk, and finally, learning to run. Throughout these early stages in their professional development there will no doubt be a great deal of stumbling and, sometimes, falling down. By documenting these "stumbles" and "falls" however, future educators who are entering the field for the first time can learn from them, and although it will likely not prevent them from stumbling and falling t hemselves, at least it gives a charted path with warnings of rough areas that are likely to be encountered along the way. Secondly, by recording one's own discoveries -- the stumbles, the falls, along with the leaps and bounds -- a young teacher is laying the groundwork for his/her own development. By engaging in critical reflection and analysis, problems and successes that one may not have ordinarily noticed often become extremely relevant and potentially quite surprising. Only by acknowledging where one has been will one be able to go forward and to grow. This is essential in any efforts to become a successful educator.

Thus it is my hope that the following four reflections on experiences from my first year of teaching will provide young teachers and teacher candidates ideas and insight into creative programming for the elementary years. I share what I learned from these experiences and offer suggestions as to how such programming could be improved upon in the future. In doing so I have entered a world of self-reflection and critical analysis. As a teacher, I may still experience the stumbles and the falls, but I also have learned to recognize and appreciate the mountains that I have climbed.

 

Student-Regulated Classroom Management in the Elementary Years

Initial Concern

In my personal philosophy of teaching, I believe that students should follow the rules of the classroom out of a respect for the teacher and for his/her classmates, not out of fear of the consequences of breaking the rules. I further believe that students should be involved in creating the rules of the classroom, and in turn, in regulating and being held accountable for their own behaviour. From a teacher's perspective, peer pressure can be a very powerful tool, if used positively, to help to enforce good behaviour in a classroom. In this respect, if students are all working toward achieving a common goal, they will inevitably end up "policing" themselves and their peers, and will essentially remove the responsibility from the teacher to enforce good behaviour in the classroom.

In developing a method of classroom management, I wanted to keep all of the above concepts in mind. I did not want to become the authoritarian of the class, but rather I wanted to use a technique that would ensure respect, responsibility and cooperation by all of my students.

Plan

Before the year began, I went out and purchased several bags of marbles. I found two extra-large empty jars around my house (approximately the same size), which would be used for storing the marbles. I filled the first jar to the rim with the marbles. With the second jar, I took some masking tape and I circled the tape around the top portion of the jar, about an inch below the bottom of the rim. On that tape I wrote with a large black marker: "P A R T Y ! ! !" With that, I had all the tools necessary to implement my classroom management plan.

On the first day I began an open discussion with my Grade 5 students as to what rules they believed ought to be in place, which ones they believed should be abolished, and why. The reaction that I received from the class as a whole at first was one of stunned looks and vast perplexity.

"You mean we get to make our own rules?" they asked, still not sure if they had misunderstood.

"Yes, to a certain extent," I answered. "There are certain rules that are set by the Principal as rules of the school, which we must learn to respect and abide by," I explained, " Just as there are rules in society that we must follow, in order to create a fairly peaceful society where people can co-exist without great problems. But our classroom is like a miniature society. We must have some rules so that we can all respect one another as members of that society and learn to live together for six hours each day." I could see the perplexity slowly begin to fade from the faces before me, and be replaced with quite a few nods and even a couple grins.

In the hour that followed the students brainstormed all the possible rules that they felt would be effective, and I took on the role of facilitator, writing all the ideas down and ensuring that every student was given the chance to have his/her say. By the end of the hour we had an easel filled with possible ideas, as we had not eliminated any idea that was offered. Next we went through each idea and discussed the repercussions of instituting it as a rule of our classroom. Sometimes an idea was unanimousl y accepted, other times it was unanimously rejected, and a few times the students found themselves split on the issue. In these cases, we looked at the possibility of compromise, for example, allowing something one afternoon per week. After another hour, we finally had a list of twelve class rules that everyone had agreed upon. This process may have taken some time, but it provided the students with the opportunity to be responsible for their own code of behaviour, something which they had never had the cha nce to do before. It gave them the control and the power, and it set the stage for the year to come.

Once the rules had been established, I informed my students of my planned method of enforcement. If someone was not following the code of behaviour that had been set by the class, and as a result was disrupting the class in some manner, the student's name would be recorded as a warning. This "warning" would allow the student, who may have just gotten carried away with enthusiasm about a topic and forgotten about appropriate behaviour, the chance to check his or her behaviour without having to adhere to an y consequences. I asked the students if they would prefer that I use a clipboard on which to record the names, or if they would prefer that I put the names on the corner of the blackboard. Much to my surprise, nearly all of them agreed that the blackboard would be better, as they would then be able to see and take notice of the warning, whereas if it was on a clipboard, they may not notice me writing it down and could therefore miss their initial warning. I felt that this too, was an important step, in gi ving them the choice. So it was agreed then, that having the name of the student written down would be a warning.

From there, one check mark would be given if the behaviour continued, resulting in five minutes of work time at either recess, lunch or after school (to be decided by the teacher, depending on his/her schedule, and the student's schedule, such as catching a bus, etc.)

If, after the first check mark the behaviour still continued, a second check mark beside the name would be given, and that student would be required to remove him/herself from the situation and go to a designated area (time-out area) where he/she would find paper and a pencil. He/she would then be required to write a letter to his/her parent/guardian, describing what he/she was doing, what rules were broken, why or how it was disrupting the class, and what he/she should have done instead. This letter would then be put in the student's file, for possible future reference with the parent if needed.

If the behaviour of the student at this point still did not improve, a third check mark would be given, the student would be removed from the situation altogether and the student's parent would be contacted as soon as possible (ie., at recess, after school, etc.)

In any situation of course, where a student's behaviour was jeopardizing the safety or well-being of other members of the class, the above steps would not be taken, but rather the principal or staff's conflict resolution guide would be then called upon for support.

Why did I choose to get the parent involved instead of the principal in the third step? Experience has taught me that children are much more concerned and worried about the prospect of a parent becoming informed of a behaviour, then they are about seeing the principal. This of course is not set in stone and would have to be geared to each individual situation.

The main focus of my planned classroom management technique however, does not centre on the negative behaviour of the students, but rather it encourages and celebrates the good behaviour. This is something that I believe to be essential in successful classroom management, and it is something I believe is missing from most classrooms today. This is where the marbles come in.

At the beginning of each lesson, I would write on the board "10 marbles", or "15 marbles", or if I was feeling especially generous after a really good morning, "20 marbles!!!". This would be the number of marbles that the students would aim to achieve by the end of a specified lesson or period of time. The number of marbles they earned for good behaviour would then be added to the large "PARTY!!!" jar at the front of the class. If, by the end of the month, they had filled this huge jar full of marbles up to the masking tape line, then they would have earned a party on the last Friday of the month, after the afternoon recess (which is essentially about one hour per month). Some teachers choose to give free time each week -- I chose to do it this way.

The party could mean several things, as voted on by the class with the teacher as mediator. Such things may include listening to music, playing on the computer and/or playing games (which were educational anyway, much to the surprise of the students), with snacks allowed; or the students could choose to go outside on a nice day to play baseball or "capture the flag". It was up to the students, but it was also up to the students to "earn" the party. If several students in the class were not working or beh aving according to the code, I would go up to the blackboard and knock one marble at a time off of the total number, eg. from 15 to 14 marbles.

Results

The marble jar worked like a secret weapon against poor behaviour in the class. Not only did it remove the responsibility from me, the teacher, to have to keep reminding the class of their actions, but it also created a system where the students would police themselves through peer pressure, working cooperatively toward a common goal. They wanted their party! If one student began to act out, immediately I would hear several "Shhhhhs" coming from different students in the class, followed by, "We want to ea rn our marbles!"

This technique worked better then I had ever imagined, and it used peer pressure in a positive way. It kept peace in the classroom and ensured a positive working environment for all. Of course there were times when the odd student would try to ruin things for the rest of the class, but in cases such as this, it was only that student who would be affected. When the rest of the class was having the party, he/she would be doing work in front of the Principal's office. This can be another effective consequen ce if a student gets three check marks at a time that month, or if he/she gets to the second letter writing stage on three separate occasions in one month.

After seeing what it did for my classroom, I would highly recommend this method to any elementary school teacher.

I invite all who attempt to implement this programme in their classroom to strive to improve upon it, for when we stop trying to improve upon what we do as teachers, the students are the ones who truly feel the loss.

 

Preparing Elementary Students For Public Speaking Through the Art of Storytelling

Initial Concern

Each year Ontario elementary students in Grades 4 to 8 find themselves in the position of having to give a speech, whether it be to their own class or, if they are chosen to represent their class, to the entire school and possibly other community organizations outside of the school. Although some students actually become excited about this prospect, many others experience feelings of fear and anxiety over the thought of public speaking. As a young teacher who can easily relate to these feelings, I wanted to help my students become comfortable with the idea of public speaking, while at the same time giving them a few pointers on what makes an effective public speaker.

It just so happened that at the same time my mind was churning, the Junior Division, of which my Grade 5 class was a part, was planning an implementation of a division-wide Caribbean unit. In this unit classes would be divided into 10 groups, and each of these groups would be put together with the same numbered groups from the other Junior classrooms. Each classroom was designated as a different island. By travelling from classroom to classroom over a two week period, students would learn about the food , culture, language and climate of the different Caribbean islands.

In researching the culture and history of the Caribbean islands for my own lesson plans, I stumbled across a tidbit of information which proved to be a gold mine. I discovered the tradition of "Crick-Crack stories", which were stories that had been passed down from generation to generation in a strictly oral form. I knew immediately that I had found what I was looking for to help to prepare my students for their upcoming speech presentations.

Plan

I introduced the new unit to my students at the beginning of Week #1, and I did so in the following way: as the students filed into class from their afternoon recess, they did not find the class as they had left it. Instead, the desks were pushed against the walls, the lights were off, the curtains were closed, there was soft harmonic music playing in the background, and there were cushions placed on the floor in a circle, one for each student. I was seated at the far side of the circle, facing the stud ents as they entered and facing the rest of the circle, with my legs crossed and a candle burning in front of me. I motioned for them to come and sit down on a cushion very quietly, and for the classroom door to be closed to help to eliminate possible distractions. During recess I had put a sign on the outside of the door that read, "Please do not disturb. Storytelling is under way." (I had already told my Principal and a few other teachers about my plans for the afternoon.) Once everyone was settled, we were ready to begin.

Of course there were a multitude of questions from my students, along with excited chatter about the classroom's transformation, but I did not answer any of the questions. I simply shook my head gently and put a finger to my lips to request silence. In a few moments I knew I had everyone's close attention, as they were fixed on the edges of their cushions to discover what was in store.

I did not begin by explaining why the classroom looked as it did, or what we would be studying for the next 2 weeks. I began with "Once upon a time..." I began with a story.

It was a story that I had chosen and learned over the week-end, from a number of "Crick-Crack" legends I had found in books at my local library. I chose this story because it had suspense, and it had relatively few characters (all animals, as is traditional with Crick-Crack legends), so that I knew every child would have no trouble following along.

I gauged my voice appropriately, starting off very quietly so that they would have to listen extra closely, and then raising my voice with excitement in the more climactic parts. I knew I had them in the palm of my hand when I looked around the circle as I was speaking, and every eye was glued to me, waiting to hear what would happen next. It was a magical 20 minutes.

At the end of the story, there was very little talking by the students to their friends, I noticed, as I got up to turn on the lights and bring the chairs out for the students to sit on. I could see that they were still pondering the tale they had just heard and were watching me for their next cue.

I began by asking them what I had just done. "Tell a story," I received in reply. I went on to question them about how I had set the mood, how I had used my voice, and what effect my voice fluctuation had had on the audience, etc. I then asked them how many of them had ever told a story to their friends or family. There was a unanimous show of hands. I explained that storytelling was a way that the people of the Caribbean islands, and many other cultures, passed on legends from generation to generatio n. It was a true oral tradition, meaning the children did not learn the stories from reading them in books, but by listening to the elders tell them.

We then got into what qualities a good story-teller should have. I asked them if the story would have been as effective if I had memorised it word for word from a book. There was a resounding, "No!" and much shaking of heads. One student offered that you should learn the story well enough at first, so that you don't have to read it or memorise it word for word. I asked them to suggest some things they might do to set a mood if they were telling a Crick-Crack legend. One student suggested the use of en vironmental tapes, such as the sound of crickets in the background or the sound of the ocean. Another student said that the use of costuming and movement might be another way. The discussion continued in this manner, with lots of creative ideas coming from all students in the class.

Just before it was time to go home, I handed out a sheet to them, explaining that they, either independently or with a partner of their choice, would be sharing a "Crick-Crack legend" with us in 2 weeks' time. They were free to set the mood as they wished, and they could learn one of the stories from a number of books that were now available to them in the classroom, as I had done, or they could write their own legend, as long as it followed the tradition of the "Crick-Crack" legends: involving animals a s characters and having a moral or lesson about how something came to be. I gave them a few examples, such as, "why is the sky blue" or "how did the chipmunk or skunk get its stripes?" As they filed out of the classroom that night, I could already hear certain students saying, "Hey, we could do..." It made me very excited about the presentations in 2 weeks' time.

Results

When it came time to do the presentations, over the last 2 afternoons of Week #2, the students were nervous, but many were anxiously excited as well. They had put a lot of effort into planning their presentations, to make them creative and to set the mood. Some had chosen to write their own legends, which to my surprise were remarkably well-thought-out, imaginative, and generally amazing! Others had decided to incorporate costuming and sound effects. Our Principal came in to share the afternoons with u s and to witness the creativity that had taken place, and was stunned at the confidence that every child exuded once they got into telling their story that they had learned so well. The only rule was that no papers would be allowed, so they were forced to "tell" the story, instead of bowing to read it out of nervousness. Every student knew how it felt to be the focus of attention when telling a story, and so everyone was extremely encouraging to their fellow class-mates.

I did not sit with a marking pencil and paper in hand while the student(s) were telling the story. I sat in the circle with everyone else, and between stories, while the next group was preparing and the other students were having a stretch, I would jot down my observations and comments for evaluation up at my desk, and then I returned to my spot in the circle.

It was a magical learning experience for all of us, and I do believe that it helped to prepare students for public speaking, for a month later when speech time was upon us, I heard time and time again, "my voice, my actions and my words have to set a mood and capture the attention of my audience."

True, not all the children will become public speakers, but at least they will know that they do have the ability to do so and that it can be done in a fun, non-threatening atmosphere.

The principal was so impressed with our unit that I was given an award by her in recognition of successful creative programming. I shared the award with my students, for, as I told them, it was they who did all the work, and it was they who deserved the recognition for an outstanding job!

Possible Extensions

After much reflection on the learning that took place from this storytelling unit, both on the part of the students and by myself, I have come across several ways in which this experience could be extended in the future:

- Have the students choose three of the presentations which they believe should be performed for the primary division in the school, or for neighbourhood Senior Citizen Homes.

- Have students research the oral tradition in Canada in the same way, discovering native tales, French-Canadian tales, etc.

- Have children learn at least one personal story that has been passed down within his/her own family, and present it to the class in the same manner.

- Video-tape or tape record each story so that each student can see/hear what he/she has accomplished and can learn where he/she needs improvement.

- Integrate the use of audio tapes to listen to the style and flow of other famous story-tellers, such as Alice Kane. This could be expanded further into an art lesson, having the children draw upon what they are hearing in the story.

- Have a story-teller visit your class and perform in such an intimate setting.

- Incorporate the use of telecommunications into the unit, perhaps by using the Internet to learn about the oral traditions of other lands, or hooking up to other students or story-tellers from other countries to discuss and share native stories.

 

Meeting the Needs of All Students in an Alternative Spelling Program

Initial Concern

A problem experienced by so many of our students today is that they are graduating without the spelling and basic grammatical skills necessary to achieve success in a highly competitive society. Many teachers today have abandoned formal "Spelling" lessons, in favour of a more "whole language" approach. They believe that by integrating language work into the curriculum, and by surrounding a student with an atmosphere in which spelling and words are in clear view, the student will automatically acquire the skills necessary. Unfortunately however, this is not always the case. It is becoming more and more common to see students become dependent on spell-checkers in word processing programmes. This may all be well and good as a tool for home or classroom use, but what does that student do when they are forced to complete a job application on site? An employer is certainly not going to be very impressed with an application that is ridden with spelling and grammatical errors. It is for this reason that I continue to be a strong proponent of teaching spelling, explicitly within a whole language approach.

The problem I encountered in giving the traditional spelling tests however, was that using a single list of words made it almost impossible to meet the needs and ability levels of every student in the class. By including more advanced words, I was successful in challenging the more literate students, but I was at the same time crushing the self-esteem of those students with lower abilities. For example, in a list of 20 words, a student who gets a paper back that is covered with red "X's" and who subsequent ly gets 4 correct out of 20, is sure to feel stupid, segregated from the rest of the class, and will easily lose interest in anything that has to do with writing or spelling. I thought of giving different groups of students different lists, but this would only increase the notion of segregation. My dilemma was how I could teach children spelling through a direct approach, have them learn, and at the same time increase their self-esteem and sense of self-confidence, all without centring them out in front of the whole class.

Plan

I decided to stick with one list of words and at the same time combine the idea of different levels within this one list. At the beginning of the week I gave the class a Pre-Test, using a list of 20 words with 3 bonus words at the end to produce an extra challenge. The first words on the list would be relatively easy in nature, to meet the needs of those students who had a lower spelling ability. As the list progressed, the words gradually became more advanced, until at the end of the list, they were actu ally two to three grade levels beyond that of the present grade (in this case Grade five). Then came the three bonus words, which I chose from the dictionary as being "extra challenging". Each week the list of words I compiled included words from the topics we were studying in class. For example, if we were doing a unit on the Olympics, the words on the list might have ranged from "torch", "gold" and "rings", to "Canada" and "media", to "celebration" and "ceremony". One of the bonus words might have bee n "sesqui-centennial".

Every student in the class would write the pre-test and then, as a class, we would mark it together. As soon as a student got three words wrong on the pre-test, he/she would have to write only to that point on the final test at the end of the week. Thus, if a student got three wrong by the time we reached the eighth word on the list, he/she would only have to study up to that point. He/she would only have to study those first eight words.

Now you might be saying to yourself, "Well that student isn't learning to spell as many words," but when a student gets 14 wrong, it is likely that he/she is of a lower spelling ability and is going to feel so overwhelmed that there is no chance that he/she will learn to spell all 14 of those words in one week. The end result will then be a series of "X's" on the final test and a feeling of low self-esteem and worthlessness -- creating, rather than solving, a problem. With this alternative way, the stude nt is learning at a personal pace, and is not centred out in any way, as no other student needs to know how far any other student is writing on the test.

Results

After 2 weeks of implementation, I knew that my plan was working. Students who had been accustomed to getting 2 right out of 20, now had far more time to concentrate on far fewer words, and it was paying off. Instead of only learning to spell 2 or 3 of the 20 words (23 if you count the Bonus words), the student could concentrate on learning to spell just 5, or 7, or 11 -- wherever their own personal pace led them.

After just 2 weeks, a student who had previously had an extremely low self-esteem due to a learning disability was bursting with pride in the fact that he only got 1 wrong or that he got a perfect score on a spelling test for the first time in his life. This was wonderful to see. His self-confidence was higher than it had ever been, and his was just a sample of many others for whom the programme had similar results.

Eventually students who had started being tested on only 4 or 5 words, were now writing tests involving 12 to 15 words, and their scores were illustrating their progress.

In my eyes, any method by which a student can learn while at the same time increasing self-esteem and self-confidence is deemed a huge success. For me, this alternative approach to spelling was a huge success.

Possible Extensions

In the future I would consider extending a programme of this style and nature for use with grammar, math, reading comprehension, and any other "skill" related subjects. By adapting programming to meet the needs of all learners without centring out those learners in class, there will be only winners in the classroom all around.