From the Desk of Karen Stanton
February 2017
Classroom Structure
Last night my husband and I were talking to our 7th grade daughter about her classes. She was telling us about her language arts class in which they are reading "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" and watching the Twilight Zone episode and then reading "The Birds" and watching the movie. When we asked her about the purpose/objective/unit, she had no idea. Although she was taking a quiz today about the plots of both texts, she didn't know if they were studying suspense and horror and had no idea what the ultimate goal was. (She was very much looking forward to two movie days about the creepy birds.) It opened up our family to a bigger discussion about how teachers structure their classrooms and how they include students in this understanding.
Although I could take this essay in the direction of objectives and aligned curriculum (so QTEL!), I want to focus my musings on how teachers begin and end their lessons. The classrooms that impress me the most have (rigid) structures in place to signal the beginning and ending of class. Students appreciate the consistency and benefit from class time being used in its entirety. Additionally, when a teacher integrates objectives, focus, and reflection into these two critical time frames, the students become aware of what they are learning, why, and are also involved in metacognition about where they are in their learning continuum toward these goals.
When I taught, I taught students that the bell was their signal to be in their desks with materials ready. I loved standing at my door and greeting each of my students with a handshake. We practiced shaking hands at the beginning of the year, and it became an expectation that we would greet each other daily. The door greeting made it possible for me to "take the temperature" of each of my students and have a brief chat with them. I knew the mood of each student and, in many cases, had been able to talk with them about the "why" behind their feeling. When they all filed into class, I began class with "Good Things," an oral sharing of what was going well in their lives. Good Things began immediately upon the bell ringing and lasted 2-3 minutes. After Good Things, we talked about our focus for the day (which was also on a projected agenda and listed by the week on the board), and then our learning began within four minutes of the bell.
At the end of class, I did not allow students to put away materials, books, or binders until I gave permission (approximately 15 seconds before the bell.) Too many times, I see students signaling the teacher that they are ready for class to end - usually about five minutes before the end of class - by putting away their materials and then spontaneously lining up at the door. If you teach bell to bell every day, and never allow students to leave their seats until the bell rings, you will buy back 900 minutes or 15 hours or 20 days of instruction in your subject. And our English Learners need that time!
I found some great articles on activities to put in place at the beginning and end of class and have included them on the buttons below. Let me know if you try them out and like them - or if you'd like to brainstorm about how to make your classroom more predictable and helpful to your students.
As always, thank you for the important work that you do. I know that kindness and compassion are the hallmark of an ESL teacher, and I see that when I observe you and hear it in our conversations. I am so proud to work beside each of you.
I hope that February brings much love and kindness to you,
Karen
Compassion opportunity
I purchased blank white cards at Michaels (and Target), and we are working hard to deliver our first batch to Idalia @ Shiloh Center on Monday.
Spring Kagan Book Study
About Karen Stanton
Email: karen.stanton@pisd.edu
Website: http://inside.pisd/curriculum/multilingual/index.shtml
Location: 2700 W 15th St, Plano, TX 75075United States
Phone: 28288
Twitter: @kzstanton