I interviewed an excellent teacher, Sally MacFarlane, who has served as a role model for many years. Sally also happens to be my mother-in-law. Although now retired, Sally taught for decades at St. Patricia School in Hickory Hills, IL. She was a favorite teacher among students and an esteemed teacher among parents and her co-workers. In the twenty years I’ve know her, it’s become a routine experience when she and I are together in public for people I don’t recognize to approach Sally to give her a hug or thank her for all she did for her students. It’s inspiring to think of just how many lives she impacted in such a positive way!
In regards to Sally’s classroom management philosophy, Sally mentioned “the look.” While she was still teaching, I brought her grandchildren to visit her classroom on numerous occasion and I saw this “look” in action. I was amazed at the level of respect her students showed her - if she stepped to the door to talk to me and the volume of the classroom became too loud, she would literally look at the students disapprovingly, and they’d stop talking. I believe her students held her in such high esteem, and they valued her approval so much that a disapproving look from her was enough of a negative reinforcement that students would immediate stop their behavior so as to remove her disapproval (Woolfolk, 2016, p. 257).
For students who misbehaved, Sally explained she'd often asked them for an explanation of their behavior. They usually could not explain why they were doing what they were doing, and it led to stopping the problem behavior. Similar to Sally's method, Woolfolk mentions three questions to ask students when problem behavior arises: "What are you doing? Is it against the rules? What should you be doing?" (p. 506).
Sally mentioned that a key to successful classroom management is to stay organized. As noted by Woolfolk, effective teachers’ classrooms are well-organized starting on the first day (p. 499). In regards to advice for a new teacher for setting up a classroom management policy, Sally emphasized establishing clear rules and procedures, and she emphasized the importance of reviewing these rules repeatedly in the first quarter. Sally's students soon knew the procedures and rules for things like completing "seatwork" or taking bathroom breaks, and in turn they followed these procedures or rules. Establishing rules is important, but for rules to be understood and followed, examples, practice, discussion and are needed (Woolfolk, 2016, p. 495). Focusing on establishing these rules early in the school year, as Sally mentioned, is sure to help set positive policies in place.
Reference:
Woolfolk, A. (2016). Educational Psychology (13th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Rebecca, your blog caught my eye because we had a very similar interview. I also interviewed my mother in-law and we always get stopped if we are out by former students! My mother in-law's interview also focused a lot on gaining the respect of your classroom and effective classroom management techniques. I think it is important to get this down the first week of school so you can avoid a year of problems.
ReplyDeleteHey Rebecca, I thought it was a great video. What I enjoyed the most was seeing that your mother in law seemed like a teacher who was very kind in her work but expected work to be done. Her classroom seemed to be very efficient and seemed to avoid many distractions or any trouble.
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