Manage classroom activities
PROFICIENT 4.2.2
Establish and maintain orderly and workable routines to create an environment where student time is spent on learning tasks.
EVIDENCE
Daily schedule
I always provide my class with a daily plan. This is read to the class each morning and explained that 'as we are a flexible class' it is subject to change. Depending on the classroom and the resources I have available it will either be written on the white board or displayed on a smart board slide. This is referred to throughout the day and as activities are completed they are crossed off. I find that this strategy helps the students understand what is expected of them, what they are doing next and gives them input into their day and learning. This strategy is particularly helpful with students who have high anxiety, student with other disabilities or behaviour issues. The breakdown of what is displayed depends on the age and the class. For a kindergarten class I would just do one section at a time and write in big chunks e.g.. maths, english, religion. For a upper primary class I might put the whole day up and have a little more detail. This strategy I also find helpful to keep myself on track and on time, it ensuring the day follows and all of the lessons are achieved.
Examples:
PROFICIENT 4.2.2
Establish and maintain orderly and workable routines to create an environment where student time is spent on learning tasks.
EVIDENCE
Daily schedule
I always provide my class with a daily plan. This is read to the class each morning and explained that 'as we are a flexible class' it is subject to change. Depending on the classroom and the resources I have available it will either be written on the white board or displayed on a smart board slide. This is referred to throughout the day and as activities are completed they are crossed off. I find that this strategy helps the students understand what is expected of them, what they are doing next and gives them input into their day and learning. This strategy is particularly helpful with students who have high anxiety, student with other disabilities or behaviour issues. The breakdown of what is displayed depends on the age and the class. For a kindergarten class I would just do one section at a time and write in big chunks e.g.. maths, english, religion. For a upper primary class I might put the whole day up and have a little more detail. This strategy I also find helpful to keep myself on track and on time, it ensuring the day follows and all of the lessons are achieved.
Examples:
Classroom layout
I use furniture and desk positions, space and structure to redesigning the classroom to find the optimal arrangement for student participation and learning. When designing the classroom layout I take into consideration environmental factors including temperature, windows and doors that might pose as a distraction, space, direction the desk is facing, direction of the room, learning spaces that encourage collaboration and spaces that encourage individual learning. I found that some students responded very well to individual desks facing away so they weren't distracted, others worked better closer to the board and some worked better next to a small group. Therefore it was important to me that students were offered many different types of learning spaces and they experienced them all to identify where they learn best. Due to the very nature of behaviour, personality and mood, I feel it is important that students weren't locked into that one seating place and were able to make that choice of 'best learning space' for them at that time and that activity. Below are some pictures of my current classroom.
St Patrick's
St Paul's
Holy Spirit
Explicit expectations of behaviours
I am confident in my ability to provide students with explicit instructions of classroom tasks and my expectations while carrying out the task. I have established many behaviour management strategies focusing on positive reinforcement such as using the class dojo system, class rules, house points, raffle tickets, class rewards and any other classroom strategy that is establish in the room. I provide students with clear guidelines of what they can expect with both rewards and consequences.
I also use many strategies available to assist students in different activities understand what is expected of them in that activity.
- WALT (We Are Learning Today)
- WILF (What Im Looking For)
- Role cards laminated for the students to refer to (e.g. primary connections roles, Reciprocal reading roles)
- Visuals
- I do, we do, you do