Teacher Interview

Name:  Nicole Cesari

School:  Moore Square Middle School (Raleigh, NC)

Grade level taught: 6th-8th (mostly 7th) (Middle School Science)

Interview questions:

1. What is your behavior management plan? (rules, consequences, rewards, etc.)

• At the school level, we have ROAR expectations that are posted in each classroom and throughout the school.  ROAR stands for: Respect everyone and everything, Own your own actions, Achieve your own goals, Remain Safe.
• In my classroom, I have 4 rules that are posted in my classroom and that are used to remind students of the most basic expectations.  They are to respect yourself and your future, respect your classmates and their right to learn, respect your teacher, and respect our school’s community and property.
• I use the online behavior management tool called Classcraft for daily behavior management.  This is similar to Class Dojo. It is a gamified behavior managment system, based off of World of Warcraft.  Each student becomes a different “character” and is put into a team of various characters to work collaboratively to help each other be successful.  Students earn XP (experience points) for meeting and exceeding expectations - such as when they are on task, helping a classmate, actively participating in class, etc.  Students use these XP to “level up” and earn “powers” when they do level up. These “powers” are what I use as rewards in my classroom. I’m not a huge fan of object rewards (candy, prizes, etc.), so these powers work as a great alternative.  Powers are freedoms that students earn based on their good behavior - such as the power to teleport to the seat of their choosing, or the power to become invisible and be able to use the restroom without using a hall pass, or the power to absorb a teammates damage.  Students also lose HP (or health points) for not meeting classroom expectations - such as when they are disrespectful to a teacher or classmate, when they are off task, or when they are not prepared for class, etc. When students have lost all of their HP, they “fall in battle” which is when they are given a consequence (such as a parent phone call home, isolated seating, letter of apology, etc.).
• In summary - Behavior management in my classroom is multifaceted!  There are school level requirements, such as documenting referrals and interventions in our online system, Easi.  And there is also freedom for me to design my own behavior management within my classroom. I chose to use Classcraft because it helped make expectations more explicit and tangible for my students so that they can actually see that good things happen when you meet/exceed expectations and negative consequences happen when you don’t do that.  

2. What is your administrations view of classroom management? Does it align with your own philosophy or does it differ in some way?  

• I believe it aligns with my own!  My admin gives us freedom to structure our classroom behavior management how we see fit.  They do require us to document more serious behavioral issues and actions or consequences that happened as a result, which can be tedious but is helpful when it comes to keeping data on student behavior to determine if more serious intervention is needed with a student.  My admin also encourages very equitable practices within the classroom. In other words, meeting students where they are and giving them the tools they need to be successful, even if that varies from student to student. They do not believe in a “one-size-fits-all” type of consequence or behavior management system.  They look at student behavior on a case by case basis - what other behavior issues has the child had at school, what’s going on in their home life, what interventions are in place/are effective/are ineffective, - and take all of these factors into consideration before just assigning a consequence. I try and do the same in my classroom.  

3. How do you “set the tone” the first day(s) of the school year to communicate your expectations to students?

• MOST IMPORTANT THING - I learn ALL names by the end of the first school day.  How can I expect my students to listen to me or to care what I have to say if I don’t know who they are by, at the very least, identifying them by name.  That requires some studying on my part to memorize all 130 names, but I make it happen, and they are very responsive to (and impressed by!) that.
• On the first day of school, I stray away from spending the entire time talking about rules and expectations.  Instead, I try and plan an activity for them to interact with each other, work in teams, and do something related to science.  In middle school, they get enough rules and expectations drilled into their head and enough being talked at in their other classes, and I want them to know that this is a place where learning is enjoyable.  This also gives me an opportunity to get to know them as learners and to assess what strengths and weaknesses I have within each class.
• I send home a letter with more specific classroom procedures and expectations, and include a form that needs to be signed by students and parents saying they understand and adhere to those expectations.  This is a CYA kind of thing so that expectations have been communicated with both students AND parents at the start of the year so that if issues arise I have documentation that expectations have been communicated.  I don’t allow students to do labs in the classroom until this form is signed, so that gets them brought back to school pretty quickly!
• After the first few days, when I give them this letter/syllabus, I’ve done several different things to review rules and expectations.  I HATE talking at my students - it’s exhausting/boring for me, and I don’t think they get much out of it. One thing I’ve done in the past is a syllabus scavenger hunt, which I create based off of what I think is the most important info regarding classroom expectations and procedures.  I’ve also done an escape room type activity which requires students to 1) work in a team, 2) locate important things in the classroom (work turn in drawers, absent work binders, eye wash, fire blanket, school supplies), 3) read through the syllabus, and 4) do it all quickly and with a purpose!  That has been very well received by students, and I’ve seen that they remember more of that information afterwards.
• Another MOST IMPORTANT thing is to make sure I’m enforcing those rules and expectations consistently from the get-go.  In my earlier years teaching, I had a tendency to be more slack at the beginning of the year and then found myself having a hard time getting my students to behave as we got closer to the end of the year because I wasn’t consistent the whole time.  So, whatever expectations you set, make sure you are loyal to them and enforcing them with consistency. Kids know what they can get away with and they will CERTAINLY try it all!

4. How do you handle disruptive/misbehaving students who make it difficult for others to learn?

• This is usually on a case by case basis in my classroom.  The first thing I always try is changing seating/grouping for a student.  If they feed off of certain students, I try and remove them from those students and put them with students who will not react to their behaviors.  If that doesn’t work, I usually try isolated seating. My goal is always to try and keep them in the class using whatever method I can - a lot of times those disruptive or misbehaving behaviors are a tool for students who are struggling to be removed from the class.  They know that teachers don’t want to deal with all of that and will ask them to sit in the hallway or leave if they’re being disruptive, and it’s often easier for a struggling student to save face by just acting out and being removed from a class that’s proving to be difficult for them.  At my old school we had something called “Refocus” which was when you had a buddy teacher to send a student to if they needed to be removed from the classroom for some reason. That way, students weren’t sitting out in the hallway without an adult and they also weren’t completely missing instruction.  My buddy teacher was another science teacher, so if someone was misbehaving, they would go to her classroom, fill out a “Refocus sheet” which required the student to reflect on what they were doing, why they were doing it, and what they could do better next time, and then they would come back when they had cooled down/calmed down and reflected.  That also gave me as the teacher a chance to collect myself instead of reacting emotionally to a child who may have been really working my nerves.
• Ultimately, if nothing else works, I will remove a child from the class.  This is the absolute last option for me, or one only used in extreme situations.  I will try all other options before simply sending a child out in the hallway or to the office.  That’s part of my duty as a teacher is to accommodate for behavioral issues. However, if I do not have the authority to deal with the behavior, I will ask a child to wait in the hallway, call for an administrator, or ask another teacher for assistance.  

5. How does the organization of your room (student desk arrangements, teachers desk, furniture, proximity to students, etc.) affect your classroom management plan?

• This is part of my classroom management plan!  I have students set up in groups because we very frequently do group or partner work and I also often ask them to discuss things with a partner or group.  I also have several different seat assignments at any given time, which will change from day to day depending on the activity. Students have more stringent assigned seats that I have them sit in when the activity we’re doing requires more individual work.  Students are put in these assigned seats for many reasons - proximity to me if I need to keep an eye on them, placement near a buddy if they are a struggling student who is easily influenced positively by a fellow classmate, separation from students who cause reactive students to be disturbed, and of course preferential seating based on IEP or 504 plans.  
• Another part of my classroom setup that is intentionally designed for classroom management is my student center and supplies setup.  I have “Student Center” bookshelf which is where supplies are kept that students can use whenever they need to, without needing to ask me for permission or where something is.  I keep turn in drawers, basic school supplies, tissues, hand sanitizer, absent work binders, and a pencil sharpener on this shelf so students can freely use those things. I also have a tech station setup for students to check out technology in an orderly fashion when they need to use our class laptops, headphones, or tablets.  
• One of my most effective classroom management tools in the middle school setting is posting a warm up when students come into the classroom.  It’s difficult sometimes to manage that transition, especially since we are required to monitor students in the hallway, but also are required to allow our students to immediately come into the classroom, not have them idly waiting in the hallway.  I always have a Warm Up on the TV when students come in that tells them which seats they are sitting in, reminds them to copy HW in their agenda and/or turn assignments in from the day or night before, and gives them some basic task to work on until the bell rings.  In middle school, tight transitions are ESSENTIAL, and this warm up time can really help start the class productively without the teacher needing to be there doing it herself.

6. How do you feel about “non-traditional” classroom setups (groups of desks instead of rows,open seating etc.)? Do you think they are beneficial, or provide more opportunities for distractions and misbehavior?

• I think these kinds of setups could be either beneficial or distracting, depending on the surrounding circumstances.  If I’m asking students to individually work on something that requires a lot of focus, like reading and annotating an article, groups can prove to be distracting.  If I’m asking students to collaborate on a project together, rows of desks doesn’t foster the kind of environment they need for that activity. I try to plan my classroom setup around my activity - If I know students need to have a big discussion, I may set my desks and chairs up in a circle that day so they can easily talk without stuff in their way distracting them.  If I know students need to read a news article and take notes on it, I may give them the opportunity to spread out around the room to distance themselves from those who may distract them. If I have planned a lab activity, I may have students choose their own groups and, therefore, would allow them to choose their own seats with their groups.

I think one of the things that stuck out to me the most, is how much Ms. Cesari cares about making her class engaging for everyone. This is one of the things discussed between chapters 7 and 13. How do we teach our children in order for them to learn. Ms. Cesari takes something as boring as a syllabus and tries to make it fun and engaging for all of her students.

Another thing is the classroom management tool she uses. Ms. Cesari states that she likes to use Classcraft because it is makes her expectations very clear and lets her students see what happens when they exceed expectations and what happens when they do not complete their tasks.

I like that through all of this interview she really shows how much she tries to ebb and flow to meet the needs of her students. She tries to find what works for each classroom that she teaches and then she models her classroom around that.