Champs Lesson 5: Organization

1. ChampsLesson 5: Organization When you have well-organized routines and procedures for your classroom, you model and prompt organized behavior from your students.

2. Organization • The six task presented in this chapter are designed to help you organize your classroom to be efficient and to prompt responsible behavior from your students. • If possible, complete task before the school year begins so that you have solid organizational structures in place from the firstday of school. • Essential information should be included in your Classroom Management and Discipline Plan.

3. The Story of . . . . • Two Different Professors • Two Different Methods • In Which Class Would you Be More Successful? • http://youtu.be/dxPVyieptwA • http://youtu.be/d1j-yPCiOqc

4. Task 1: Arrange an Efficient Daily Schedule • Task: Arrange or modify your class schedule so it: • maximizes instructional time. • includes a reasonable balance of teacher-directed, individual work and cooperative group activities. • creates responsible behavior from students.

5. Task 1: Arrange an Efficient Daily Schedule • To work through the information in this task, first write down your schedule of daily activities within your subject, the amount of time spent on each, and whether the activity is teacher directed, independent work, or a cooperative group task. • In other words, outline a typical lesson plan for each subject.

6. Task 1: Arrange an Efficient Daily Schedule • For example if you teach Math from 9 to 9:50 • 5 minutes – Independent warm–up exercise & attendance • 10 minutes – Teacher-directed introduction of new concepts • 10 minutes – Independent work • 5 minutes – Teacher-directed correcting and clarifying • 5 minutes - Introduction to cooperative exercise • 10 minutes- Cooperative group task • 5 minutes – Teacher-directed introduction to homework In general, teacher-directed instruction is usually the best way to begin class.

7. Task 1: Arrange an Efficient Daily Schedule • Main points: • Make sure that you have a reasonable balance among the types of activities. • Within each activity, avoid having any one type of task run too long. • Schedule independent work and cooperative/peer group tasks so that they immediately follow teacher-directed tasks.

8. Task 1: Arrange an Efficient Daily Schedule-Trouble Spots THE LAST FIVE MINUTES OF CLASS PERIOD • Try to end each class with a few minutes of teacher-directed instruction. • If you schedule independent work time during the last part of the class, students may begin to think that once direct teaching is finished, they are free to do their work –or not. • By scheduling the last activity as teacher-directed task, you are making it clear that class time to work on assignments is indeed for the purpose of working on assignments

9. Task 1: Arrange an Efficient Daily Schedule • In summary, a well designed schedule ensures that students experience a varied but balanced range of activities with in subjects. • If students are kept engaged with activities that are scheduled for reasonable lengths of time, responsible behavior will likely result.

10. Task 2: Create a Positive Physical Space Task: Arrange the physical space in your classroom so that it promotes positive student-teacher interactions and reduces the possibility of disruption. Arrange student desks to: • Increase visibility • Increase accessibility • Decrease distractibility

12. Task 2: Create a Positive Physical Space • Minimize disruptions caused by high–traffic areas in the class. • Whenever students are out of their seats there is a greater potential for misbehavior. • Arrange the room the room so that students who are moving about (to sharpen pencil, get supplies, etc.) will be less likely to distract students who are working at their seats. • Directly teach students how to move about the room without disturbing others.

13. Task 2: Create a Positive Physical Space • In Summary: the physical space in your classroom should be arranged to prompt responsible behavior from students. Arrange desks to assure: • You can circulate around the room. • Students can engage in the instructional activity. • Distractions are minimized.

14. Task 3: Use an Attention Signal • Task: Decide on an age-appropriate signal you can use to get student’s full and immediate attention at any time.

15. Task 3: Use an Attention Signal • Teach them to respond to the signal by focusing on you and maintaining complete silence. • Characteristics of an Effective Signal • Mobile • Auditory • Visual • Movement

16. Task 3: Use an Attention Signal • You must teach students what the signal is and how to respond to it from the first day of school.

17. Task 4: Design Effective Beginning and Ending Routines • The activities and procedures you use to start and end each school day or class period have a significant influence on the climate of your classroom. • Task: Design effective and efficient beginning and ending procedures to communicate to students class time is valuable and will not be wasted.

18. Task 4: Design Effective Beginning and Ending Routines The seven critical times and issues are: • Entering Class • Opening Activities • Dealing with Students Not prepared with materials • Dealing with students returning after an Absence • Procedures for End of Day or End of Class Period • Dismissal

19. Task 4: Design Effective Beginning and Ending Routines • Entering Class • Goal 1: Students feel welcome and immediately go to their seats and start on a productive task. • Greet students outside your door as they enter your class. • Have a task prepared that students can work on when they sit down. • Task should be relatively short, 3-5 minutes, should be a review that they can perform independently, but instructionally relevant.

20. Task 4: Design Effective Beginning and Ending Routines • When you finish attendance, give the students feedback on the correct responses for the task. • Collect the papers so that later you can enter the score or check mark in your grade book to indicate that students completed the task. • Students need to know that this initial task counts, or they will soon cease to work on the task.

21. Task 4: Design Effective Beginning and Ending Routines • Opening Activities • Goal 2: Students will be instructionally engaged while I take attendance. • Utilize a Seating Chart for Attendance • Leave Seating Chart for substitutes when you’re out. • Goal 3: Students who are tardy will enter class with minimal disruption. • Student is to quietly take their seat. • Do not stop what you are doing. • Procedure must be taught.

22. DEALING WITH STUDENTS NOT PREPARED WITH MATERIALS • Goal 4: • Establish an effective procedure for dealing with students who do not have required supplies.

23. DEALING WITH STUDENTS NOT PREPARED WITH MATERIALS • To be effective, a procedure does the following: • Ensures that students can get needed materials in a way that does not disrupt or slow down instruction. • Borrow from you or another student w/o bothering or stopping instruction. • Establishes reasonable penalties that reduce the likelihood that students will forget materials in the future. • Last to leave class. • Reduces the amount of time and energy that you, the teacher, spends with this problem.

24. DEALING WITH STUDENTS NOT PREPARED WITH MATERIALS • Clearly communicate what materials you expect each day. • Verbally to students and in writing to students’ families in syllabus or notice that goes home on the first day of school. • At end of each class period during the first week of school, remind students what materials they should have the next day.

25. DEALING WITH STUDENTS RETURNING AFTER AN ABSENCE • Goal 5: Develop procedures for students who have been absent so they can easily catch up on missing notes and assignments. Develop a system that suits your needs and saves you time and interruptions. • Students know where to find the assignment • Students know where to find handouts • Students know the policy for turning in missing work

26. PROCEDURES FOR END OF DAY OR END OF CLASS PERIOD • Goal 6: Develop a procedure for wrapping up the day, class period, or activity which will: • ensure students don’t leave the classroom before they organize their materials and complete any necessary clean-up tasks, • provide you with enough time to give students both positive and corrective feedback.

27. DISMISSAL • Goal 7: Develop dismissal procedures so students do not leave the classroom until you dismiss them. The bell is not a dismissal signal. • On the first days of school and periodically thereafter, remind your students that they are not to leave their seats when the bell rings. • The bell is a signal to you – you will excuse the class when they are reasonably quiet and when all wrap-up tasks are completed. • You decide how the class is dismissed. By rows or by class depending on their behavior.

28. Beginning and Ending Class • In summary, the beginning and ending of the day or class period play a major role in setting the climate of the classroom. • Opening and dismissal routines that are welcoming, calm efficient and purposeful demonstrate to students that you are pleased to see them and that you care about class time.

29. Task 5: Manage Student Assignments • Task: Design efficient and effective procedures for assigning, monitoring and collecting student work.

30. Task 5: Manage Student Assignments • Good strategies for managing assignments accomplish the following: • They let students know that you put a high value on completing work. • They prompt more responsible student behavior regarding assigned tasks. • They help you effectively manage student assignments without taking unreasonable amounts of time.

31. Task 5: Manage Student Assignments • Be specific – tell students exactly how and where they should record information or where they can locate a record of assignments.

32. Task 5: Manage Student Assignments • Teach students to keep their own records for assigned homework. • Notebook • Weekly Assignment Sheet

33. Task 5:Collecting Completed Work • If possible collect work personally from each student. • Give immediate feedback: • Positive • Corrective • Know immediately which students have not completed work - & students know you know! • Students have to face you & not disappoint you.

34. Task 5: Manage Student Assignments • Procedures that are less time intensive: • Have students hand in by rows/tables • Have a student helper • Designated baskets • Lack interpersonal contact and immediate feedback advantages. • Until you grade, do not know who turned in assignment.

35. Task 5: Keeping Records & Providing Feedback IMPORTANT: • Provide regular feedback to students on: • Completed work • Current grade status Grade book information is critical for monitoring and evaluating student performance. It is imperative that you enter grades in a timely manner.

36. Task 6:Manage Independent Work Periods • Design efficient and effective procedures for scheduling and monitoring independent work periods. • Without direct Teacher supervision, off-task behavior can easily result • There is more potential for off task behavior – which can lead to inappropriate horseplay and disrespectful interactions among students – when students are working independently.

37. Task 6:Manage Independent Work Periods • Suggestion: • Be sure that any independent work you assign can be done independently by students. • If you assign students task that they cannot complete you set them up to fail. • Do the work, but fail because of excessive errors • Not do the work & fail because they didn’t complete • Do the work, but deal with feeling & looking helpless

38. Task 6:Manage Independent Work Periods • Suggestion: • Modify product • Provide alternative assignments • Work together, small groups • Provided guided notes to students.

39. Task 6:Manage Independent Work Periods • Schedule independent work times in a way that maximizes on task behavior. • Develop a clear vision of what student behavior should look and sound like during work times. • Provide guided practice on tasks and assignments - work with students in a teacher-directed activity for the first 10 to 50 percent of an assignment. • Develop a specific system that enables students to ask questions and get help during independent work periods.

40. Summary • This chapter guides you through organizing your classroom to be efficient and to prompt responsible behavior from your students. • If you are able to complete theses tasks before the school year begins you will start off on the first day of school with solid organizational structures in place.