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Sunday, October 21, 2012

RR_555
After reading the article Conversing with Miguel, it brought back memories when Miguel talks about how he didn’t want to leave 8th grade because he was afraid that the teachers wouldn’t care about him like his current teachers do now. I worked with students last year where the majority of them were ELL’s and most had IEP’s and 504’s. I know I cared about each and every one of them, but how do I know if they knew that I cared? Well, it just so happens that while I was at Wal-Mart tonight, I heard my name being called from a distance. “Tina!” as I turned to look, my poor eyesight wouldn’t allow for me to make out who it was. As the girls approached, I realized it was two ELL students that I worked with last year. I could tell that they were happy to see me. They asked me if I was coming back, and they look in their eyes showed that they were disappointed when I said I wasn’t. I guess this answers my question to whether or not the students could tell if I really cared. Sometimes it is the unspoken communication that we feel the most. It’s unfortunate that we can’t stay with the same teachers or students because there definitely could be a bond, but the students should not believe that there won’t be more teachers out here who will care about them in the future, because I can guarantee that there are. In order to address this issue in the classroom I could take extra time to encourage the ELL, and make connections. As a sharing point, I could introduce the class to a Japanese mathematician who recently solved the a solution to "the abc conjecture" in order to highlight cross-cultural contribution. We have one Japanese ELL in our class.

Tina Ayers

511                  

Management Approach

 

                                                 

        Discipline, as hard as it may seem, is a necessary tool in every teacher’s toolkit. If the discipline is too light, chaos may ensue. If the discipline is too harsh, anarchy may follow. There has to be as balance between the two. And, as we’ve come to find out, there are many approaches and philosophies in between. The main approaches I will use in a classroom management approach are: discipline with dignity, assertive discipline, noncoersive, and inner discipline. These approaches are grounded in an educational philosophy of the Reconstructionist because with the discipline with dignity it gives the students a sense of community. As with the assertive discipline it allows the students to realize that their actions affect other members of the classroom/society. As for the inner discipline it allows students to work jointly with their teacher to create a positive learning environment. I believe the nature of the learner is genuinely interested and willing to learn and make changes in themselves which will inevitably change our society. The subject matter being mathematics can affect society by teaching students the benefits of rigorous studying and gaining an in-depth understanding of material. The process by which the students can learn is broad. If the structure of discipline is intact, enforced, and internalized, then I feel that the learner will succeed through the support and guidance that the rules and regulations provide.

 

                                                                                                               

        In order to limit the amount of discipline that a teacher must use, it would be a good idea to put in some preventative measures, in hopes that this will prevent misbehavior in the first place. A preventative approach that I will use in the classroom will come from the inner discipline, dignity, and assertive discipline approaches. From the inner discipline standpoint, the students and I will come up with the class rules, and agree on the consequences. “Reasonable consequences are when teacher and student jointly agree on a set of reasonable logical consequences.”(Coloroso,1994). This is incorporates the Reconstructionist philosophy because it connects the students to society by group collaborating to come up with the rules. The assertive discipline approach suggests “There is a clear structure on how to respond to student disruptions through invoking consequences.”(Canter,1976). This has its place once the student-teacher created rules have been established. The teacher must show authority in some degree, or else the set rules won’t be effective at preventing any misbehavior. Looking at the dignity approach, we can “Establish classroom discipline upon a basis of dignity and hope” (Curwin and Mendler, 1983). The discipline that we do create must be fair and constructive. Once these rules have been established and the consequences understood, I feel that they will be a good measure at preventing misbehavior.

 

 

        Promoting responsible behavior is the main approach in the supportive approach. “Helping students to learn RESPECT for themselves, for other people in their communities, and for property becomes a pivotal feature of this comprehensive management approach.” (Kyle, 1999). In order to support positive student behavior I can implement a noncoersive method by developing appropriate curriculum. “Curriculum must be organized to meet students’ needs for survival, belonging, power, fun, and freedom. Provide a warm supportive classroom climate.”(Glasser, 1985). Sometimes students may have ideas misconstrued and need some guidance on what really is right or wrong. In order to compensate for that we can incorporate inner discipline by making “sure students differentiate between the reality and the problem.”(Coloroso, 1994).If the situation has been blown out of proportion, we should aim to take a step back and reevaluate and adjust our outlook. Being supportive in that IHelp students see that quality work is never destructive to oneself, other or the environment” (Glasser, 1985), I feel that students will make positive choices based on their internal moral compass. Helping students develop a sense of self will benefit them in their entire lives by helping them realize that their behavior, positive or negative, impacts the entire community.

 

 

       If the above techniques don’t work as intended, which I realize that they always won’t or else we wouldn’t be discussing the topic of discipline, then we will resort to the corrective approach. The damage has been done, now what can we do to fix it? It is okay to make mistakes, we all do it, and as Coloroso puts it we must “Get across to students that it’s OK, even beneficial, to make mistakes, and that no problem is so great that it can’t be solved.” After a mistake has been made the inner discipline approach also suggests that we look at the three R’s: restitution, resolution and reconciliation. Restitution means “giving back: the return of something to its rightful owner paying back: compensation for a loss, damage, or injury restoration: the return of something to the condition it was in before it was changed.”(Bing.com). Resolution as defined at Bing.com is “solution: an answer to a problem”. Lastly, Reconciliation is defined as “reconciling of people: the ending of conflict or renewing of a friendly relationship between disputing people or groups”.  As Coloroso puts it That means they need to fix what was done wrong, figure out how to keep it from happening again, and heal with the people they have harmed.” This emphasizes the Reconstructionist view by being conscious of others and being considerate of their emotions as that will affect society either positively or negatively. As we have recently seen regarding the anti-Muslim YouTube video how destructive being inconsiderate of others can be. This approach to corrective discipline makes sense, and mimics what happens in the real world when laws are broken.

 

                                                                                                                            

         Discipline may have a bad rap, but I defiantly know the benefits that it entails. The preventative, supportive, and correction approach all must be combine to create one harmonious coherent plan to create a well-established conducive learning atmosphere. To prevent misbehavior we must develop rules and consequences. To support positive behavior we must entrust students with the principles to be their own moral guides. To correct, we must do so with dignity and resolution. The Reconstructionist view upholds dignity and respect for all through education. Without properly implemented disciple strategies, no student or teacher would be giving or providing justice.

 

 

 

References


Canter: Canter's Assertive Discipline  Assertive Discipline Handout   http://cc2010.csusm.edu/course/view.php?id=8866    accessed September 23, 2012

Coloroso: Coloroso's Inner Discipline Inner Discipline Handout   http://cc2010.csusm.edu/course/view.php?id=8866   accessed September 23, 2012

Curwin and Mendler: Curwin & Mendler's Discipline Through Dignity Discipline Through/With Dignity Handout   http://cc2010.csusm.edu/course/view.php?id=8866  accessed September 23, 2012

Glasser: Other Discipline Approaches Glasser's Noncoercive Discipline   http://cc2010.csusm.edu/course/view.php?id=8866   accessed September 23, 2012

Kern, Patricia: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT: SUPPORTIVE STRATEGIES http://www.nasponline.org/educators/HCHSII_SupportiveStrategies.pdf accessed September 23, 2012

                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                       

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Assessing ELL



Assessing EL at (i+1), i.e., Apply knowledge of text connections to make inferences. Use decoding skills and knowledge of both academic and social vocabulary to achieve independent reading. C. Summative- Students will complete and in class worksheet (vocabulary crossword)in order to asses what they have learned about the geometric vocabulary. Assessing EL at (i+1), i.e., Apply knowledge of text connections to make inferences. Use decoding skills and knowledge of both academic and social vocabulary to achieve independent reading.


Student is at current level of Early Intermediate.