As a part of the first few student teaching, we are required to observe at least two other classrooms in the school to get a feel for how they handle classroom management and the student/teacher dynamic. After checking out a handful of classes and talking to a few of the teachers outside of class, I've drawn a few conclusions.
1) Be strict, but reasonable. A classroom with no rules will turn into one that is completely out of control VERY quickly. No matter how casual you set the tone to be, you need structure.
2) Get to know your students. I was talking to Mike, the RTI resource teacher that's in Nate's class for 5th-7th periods, and he gave me one very important piece of information about the culture of this school: if the kids feel like you really care about them, they will give 110% effort to anything you ask them to do. I learned this lesson very quickly on Friday during course registration for next year, when I talked to several students about their career goals. The ones I talked to and gave real advice to were far more comfortable talking to me than they had been before.
3) Let your students get to know you. This is one that I am struggling to fully grasp, but I am working on it. Wearing your professional teacher face doesn't mean throwing out the entirety of your personality and the reality of your life outside of school. One student asked me, "Mr. Kerr, do you cuss?" to which I responded, "Not as much as Ms. Yoder." This cracked them up, and it won me a few points with them. Be comfortable with who you are and let the students see that--just as long as you keep it relatively school appropriate.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll say some more about the going-ons this week once I have internet access again. Tschüss!
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