Reflection+Day+1


 * __Day 1 – Classroom Management__**

There were so many new ideas that I learned in class today. I remember doing Bell Work in grade 4, we had Mad Minute every morning when we came into the classroom. There were 30 questions of either addition, subtraction, multiplication or division. The goal was to see how many questions we can could complete in a minute without the use of a calculator. This type of Bell Work was very exciting, because even though it wasn't intended to be a competition, my peers would race to see which person would finish first and get the highest mark. I personally think the concept of Bell Work is amazing, but trying to get the students out the competition mind set is another concept completely. From class today, I learned that there are many types of Bell Work that can be used to either introduce a topic, review material or can be used just to teach the students prior knowledge. This I believe is an excellent class management technique, that gets the students into "math mode" as they come through the door.

There are so many strategies I have learned, over the past two weeks in Teacher's College, about how to get the attention of the class. Some strategies that I personally found quite interesting were:
 * Using a rainstick (or any other noise maker)
 * Turning off the lights
 * Counting down from 5
 * Raising your hand
 * I think that once the students are clear on what they are expected in the class, getting their attention will not be as difficult as it was to start off with.

It's always scary to think about walking into a class with a group of 30 students looking at you, waiting for you make a mistake so they can go wild. But it all in the mind set. As a con-current student here at UOIT. I've already been placed in a grade 7/8 class and a high school classroom. I was quite lucky that in my high school placement I was placed with a Grade 9 and 10 math teacher. I learned so much on classroom management from him. As the class entered the room there would be an agenda on the board indicating what needs to be completed in this class. The students would enter the classroom, the "good" students would sit at the front of the class and the "talkative" students would migrate to the back. So during my placement I would teach mainly from the back to ensure that the students at the back knew that I wasn't going to get any disruptions while I was teaching. Since my placement was near the end of the year the students were getting ready for their final exam, and there wasn't much teaching taking place, instead it was more of a big review session. What my AT and I would do is, we would review a section and then handout worksheets that the students were allowed to work on in groups and then walk around assisting the students individuals with the questions they still didn't understand. I found that even thought all the students know the expectations and guidelines in the class, some students like to bend the rules and see how far they can push. Classroom management is an ongoing process, just because the guidelines and expectations are listed in the classroom doesn't mean that all the students will adhere by them. Some days the students will be very willing to learn and cooperative, while others they won't want to listen at all. It is all upon the teacher and their teaching strategies that will keep the classroom well management throughout the whole year.

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