Kohia Centre 2: Classroom Management

Content covered today: 

Part 1:

          • Who are we?
          • Summary

Part 2:

          • Our whakataukī
          • Creating Classroom Culture
          • Emotional Regulation & Resilience

Part 3:
          • Small Group Maths Games
I thoroughly enjoyed meeting other Beginning Teachers (BT) today, picking their brains and hearing about their experiences as a BT. I felt reassured that I was not the only one feeling overwhelmed. I realised that the anxiousness I felt about children's low learning levels was not only in my school, but it seemed like it was happening at all the schools these BT were teaching at, and they too felt the same way. 

However, due to these overwhelming feelings, the light that once burned brightly for teaching was beginning to dim and I only just made the realisation today. The question posed, "share one thing a child has done to make you laugh this year". Surprisingly I struggled to think of anything, and it dawned on me that I was missing the point and had become immersed by the negative side of things and not seeing the good that was happening before me.

You could say, the first part of the session helped me take a step back and remember my purpose of becoming a teacher.
Notes from Part 2:

Classroom Culture & Emotional Regulation

  • Support students to recognise how their emotional state impacts their learning.
  • moving to a quiet calm space
  • playing with a fidget object
  • getting some fresh air
  • taking a movement or exercise break
  • listening to music
  • taking a food and water break
  • buddy time
  • access to a mentor for support
  • leaving the room
  • practising a breathing technique.

Resilience

There are several critical abilities associated with resilience, including 
  • emotional regulation (the ability to keep calm and express emotions in a way that helps the situation)
  • impulse control (making a conscious choice whether to act on a desire to take action, and the ability to delay gratification and persevere) 
  • causal analysis (to analyse problems and identify causes accurately) 
  • empathy (the ability to understand the feelings and needs of another person)
  • realistic optimism (keeping a positive outlook without denying reality)
  • self-efficacy (belief in one’s ability to solve problems and handle stress) 
  • opportunity seeking (the ability to take new opportunities and reach out to others)

Building Relationships

Build supportive relationships with students.
Good student-teacher relationships are those where students feel seen, felt, and understood by teachers. This happens when teachers are attuned to students, when they notice children's needs for academic and emotional support. These kinds of relationships strengthen resilience. When adults reflect back on teachers who changed their lives, they remember and cherish the teachers who encouraged and supported them through difficult times.

Developing an Inclusive Classroom Culture

So what?

In order to have an effective inclusive classroom culture, I must build respectful relationships with students and their families but also to maintain those relationships well.

Reflective Questions 


How can I... 

  • Provide options and flexible pathways within tasks or a lesson?

  • Involve all students in creating choices?

  • Offer options that align with learning preferences and needs?

  • Provide classroom activities and materials that students are able to personalise?

  • Provide culturally relevant classroom activities, materials, and contexts?

  • Offer multiple strategies to support problem solving?

  • Introduce ideas and concepts in ways that capture students' imagination?

  • Create a safe and distraction free environment?

  • Build flexibility into lessons to allow breaks?

  • Collect ongoing student feedback in different ways to inform the design of lessons, resources, and materials?



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