Formative assessments are important in many ways. A teacher can use formative assessments to gauge how well their students are understanding the material. These type of assessments can tell the teacher if the students are understanding or not understanding what is being taught. If the students are understanding the lesson, then the teacher will be able to move on to the next lesson. If the students are not understanding the material, then the teacher knows that they need to spend some extra time on that subject. Formative assessments can also help the teacher determine which students might need extra guidance while they are in their classroom. If a student repeatedly shows that they do not understand the material, then the teacher can spend extra one on one time with that student or come up with alternative ways for that student to get a better understanding.
Formative assessments are also a great way for the teacher to gauge their own performance. If most of the students perform well on the formative assessment, then the teacher knows that they have done a good job conveying the knowledge that the students need to know. If most of the students do not perform well, then the teacher needs to either spend extra time on that subject or find an alternative way of teaching the content. If the students have performed poorly, it may be the way the teacher is teaching the material and formative assessments are a great tool to observe teacher performance.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Classroom Management
My first year teaching was a classroom management nightmare. I thought that I was prepared but I quickly realized that I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. The biggest issue that I had was being consistent my first year of teaching. I tried to be consistent but I realized that when I was tired or aggravated I was more strict. I also noticed that when I was in a better mood, I would allow the students to do things that normally I would not have allowed. This sent mixed signals to the students and they really couldn't understand how I expected them to act. As my experience increased I saw an improvement in this area. I was able to be more consistent, and the students knew exactly what I expected of them. This made the classroom much more easier to manage. The students knew that if they did not act in a way that they were supposed to, there would be consequences to face.
I also realized that students really like structure. I had tried "free days" in the gym and it always seemed that this is where most of the behavioral issues happened. A "free day" is where the students can decide on what activity they wanted to do, usually on a Friday. Almost every time I did this, I had more disciplinary problems than on a regular day. I noticed that if I had specific instructions for what the students needed to do, they were much more likely to stay on task and do what was asked of them. For example, the students love "station day". This is where I have four or five stations set up around the gym and the students rotate to each station. They stay at each station for six or seven minutes and then rotate. As a teacher, I stand there and it looks like this would be the most boring activity I could do in p.e. but the students absolutely love it. I believe that it is the structure that they love. With the stations, they are told exactly what to do and when to do it. I feel that because they are told what to do, they enjoy the activity more.
I realized very quickly that classroom management is extremely important to not only keep your class under control but also create an environment that encourages learning. I also believe that as your years of experience increase, your classroom management also becomes better. Every year that I teach, I find out things that work and don't work. I don't believe classroom management can be taught in a class, but it needs to be learned through experiences from the teacher.
I also realized that students really like structure. I had tried "free days" in the gym and it always seemed that this is where most of the behavioral issues happened. A "free day" is where the students can decide on what activity they wanted to do, usually on a Friday. Almost every time I did this, I had more disciplinary problems than on a regular day. I noticed that if I had specific instructions for what the students needed to do, they were much more likely to stay on task and do what was asked of them. For example, the students love "station day". This is where I have four or five stations set up around the gym and the students rotate to each station. They stay at each station for six or seven minutes and then rotate. As a teacher, I stand there and it looks like this would be the most boring activity I could do in p.e. but the students absolutely love it. I believe that it is the structure that they love. With the stations, they are told exactly what to do and when to do it. I feel that because they are told what to do, they enjoy the activity more.
I realized very quickly that classroom management is extremely important to not only keep your class under control but also create an environment that encourages learning. I also believe that as your years of experience increase, your classroom management also becomes better. Every year that I teach, I find out things that work and don't work. I don't believe classroom management can be taught in a class, but it needs to be learned through experiences from the teacher.
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