Abstract
For
this assignment, I had the pleasure of observing and interviewing Ms. Cierra
Crampton (cierra_crampton@snowlineschools.com)
who is a 6th grade social studies and science teacher at Pinon Mesa
Middle School. I have also interviewed and observed Mrs. Maryann Kuiper (maryann_kuiper@snowlineschools.com)
who is a 6th grade special education teacher at Pinon Mesa Middle
School. I conducted the interviews and observations on March 7, 2019, at Pinon
Mesa Middle School (9298 Sheepcreek Road.) The school telephone number is
760-868-3126. This paper will highlight the similarities and differences of
both teachers’ classroom management styles, followed by a summarization of the
accompanied interview.
Key terms: 6th grade,
interview, similarities, differences, observation, classroom management.
MS.
CRAMPTON’S OBSERVATION
I was fortunate
enough to observe Ms. Crampton’s 6th grade science class. This is
Ms. Crampton’s first year as a full-time educator. Her class consists of 32
students: 20 male and 12 female. There are 9 special needs students present and
10 ELL students.
Ms.
Crampton met the class at the door, welcoming each individual student by name.
Once inside the classroom, students knew to get out their binder reminders, and
write the agenda of the day (which was written on a white board in the front of
the class.) Ms. Crampton started the class off with a short video detailing
photosynthesis. Students were asked to write their own definition of
photosynthesis in their science journals, and were granted permission to work
with partner. Ms. Crampton moved on through the lesson, handing out worksheets
for students to complete in small groups. She continuously rotated throughout
the room checking for understanding, and redirecting students as needed.
Towards the end of the period, the class went over the worksheet as a whole
group. Volunteers were chosen to share answers, and participation was
encouraged. Ms. Crampton answered remaining questions students had, and
assigned students a Quizlet exit ticket to complete for participation points
for the day.
Students, for the most part, were on task, and
quickly changed behavior when addressed. Verbal praise was present throughout
the observation, and table points were awarded to various groups. The students
and Ms. Crampton had a mutual respect for each other, and the overall feeling I
took from the class was ‘welcoming.’
MS.
CRAMPTON’S INTERVIEW
Ms.
Crampton began teaching this school year at Pinon Mesa, and before that, she
served as a certificated substitute in the Snowline Joint Unified School
District. In regards to question one, Cierra has utilized various resources
provided through the school district, school site, as well as teacher’s
resources on campus (Mrs. Kuiper being one of those teachers providing
support.) Ms. Crampton has relied heavily on experienced teachers at Pinon Mesa,
and owes much of her success this year to those who have lent a helping hand.
Ms. Crampton’s classroom management plan consists of posted expectations,
rules, guidelines, positive behavior and negative behavior consequences. Ms.
Crampton says she refers students to these posters when needed, offering
students an opportunity to redirect their behavior. The negative consequences
are as follows: 1) verbal warning 2) name on board 3) paragraphs, and if
behavior continues students are issued referrals. Positive behavior
consequences include: class points, table points, Mesa Money, earning music on
Chromebooks, and other various prizes available at the time. Ms. Crampton’s
most common behavioral issues in her classes include talking out of turn,
refusal to work, and talking back to the teacher. She handles these behaviors
by conferencing with the student outside to find the reasoning behind the
behavior, councilors, or Dean’s; however, there has only been one situation in
which the Dean was needed. In providing necessary support to ELL students, as
well as accommodating students linguistic/cultural diversities, Cierra front
loads new vocabulary, introducing the vocabulary before the class starts a new
unit, or supplementing as needed throughout the lesson. She also uses graphic
organizers as a visual learning element, utilizes small group discussions, and
Google translate. Pinon Mesa is on a 4 period schedule, each period lasting 74
minutes. Each teacher is given a collaboration/prep period based on their grade
level (all 6th grade teachers have the same prep period.) At this
time, teachers meet in their PLC (Professional Learning Community) teams.
Cierra believes that this a great opportunity for teachers to collaborate,
share ideas, and discuss any concerns they have regarding course content. Her
advice for first year teachers is to be consistent with consequences, and to be
stern with behavioral issues. Above all, model expectations with students, and
review class expectations often. In order to relieve stress levels, Ms.
Crampton urges new teachers to leave school at school, enjoy time away from
work, and start fresh each school day. In answering my question, would you
suggest easing in or come in strong with rules and expectations, Ms. Crampton
suggests easing into procedures and expectations, and to first build
relationshi8ps with students. Overall, I found the interview and observation
helpful and insightful, and I have learned of new teaching strategies that I
can use in my own classroom.
MRS.
KUIPER’S INTERVIEW
Mrs. Kuiper is a 11
year teacher for Snowline School District. She is currently a special education
teacher for the 6th grade, but also possesses a multiple subject
teaching credential, and has taught as a general education teacher.
Her
classroom consists of 23 students: 16 males, and 7 female. All 23 students have
a learning disability of some sort, and there are 10 ELL students in the class.
The
students lined up outside, Mrs. Kuiper greeted them at the door, and let them
inside. The students went to their seats, and wrote down their agendas in their
binder reminders. Today, there was a new student, who Mrs. Kuiper introduced to
the class. Three students passed out the class’ Maniac Magee packet, two
students passed out the books. Mrs. Kuiper pulled up the PowerPoint for the
corresponding vocabulary (chapters 7-12.) Students volunteered to read, and the
class read chapters 10-12 as a whole group. The class identified the vocabulary
words from the book, participants received a raffle ticket for find the word
and page number. Mrs. Kuiper led a whole group discussion of what is happening
currently in the book, and answered any questions students had. In small
groups, each group created a character traits poster of their character, using
evidence from the text.
I
would describe Mrs. Kuiper’s class as relaxing. The students were allowed to
take off shoes if desired. Chairs had bouncy bands for students who preferred
this type of seating, and students self-monitor when a sensory walk is needed.
The students showed respect for Mrs. Kuiper, and were directed to the behavior
expectations poster when unwanted behavior was present, and given an
opportunity to correct their behavior.
MRS.
KUIPER’S INTERVIEW
Maryann Kuiper first
started at Snowline School District as the Assistant Principal’s Secretary.
Mrs. Kuiper attended school after long hours of work, and received her Masters
in Special Education, with a credential in multiple subjects.
Mrs.
Kuiper has used resources available from Pinon Mesa, as well as other resources
teachers have shared with her. She believes creating a positive, inclusive
learning environment is necessary to educate young students. Her expectations
are posted in the classroom, and she spends time in the early start of the year
modeling, practicing and reviewing expectations and procedures. She offers
positive rewards for students who are on task: raffle tickets for the treasure
box, Mesa Money, praise, and positive reinforcements. Mrs. Kuiper says her
struggle has been staying consistent with positive and negative consequences to
behavior. The behavioral issues most present in her class are talking out of
turn, avoiding work, and since she has many ADHD students, distracting behavior
can affect a large majority of the class. In order to correct this behavior,
Mrs. Kuiper tells students to stop this, and start that as a way or redirecting
attention. When a student is having a hard time refocusing behavior, students
may go on sensory walks around the campus to relieve energy, and come back to
class with a refreshed brain. Mrs. Kuiper keeps a calm demeanor, and gives
students adequate time to de-escalate their behavior. Mrs. Kuiper has several
strategies in play for ELL students, such as, vocabulary dictionaries,
PowerPoints with vocabulary, dictionary definitions with student friendly
terms, along with pictures, peer talks, and Google translate. Mrs. Kuiper
explained that these methods have been beneficial to her ELL students. Maryann
collaborates with other teachers in the school through email, phone calls, and
PLC meetings. However, she believes an improvement for collaboration would be
for general education teachers to reach out to special education teachers for
resources that would benefit special education students who are being main
streamed. Mrs. Kuiper also suggested that special education teachers be given
more time to work on IEPs, testing, and other special education tasks, as these
must be done during collaboration periods, and special education teachers often
miss PLC meetings. At this time, there is a lack of communication between special
education and regular education teachers, which is hindering special needs students’
educations. Mrs. Kuiper explained that new teachers should create a list of
expectations, with three simple rules, and model these expectations for the
class. Teachers should continue to model, practice, and readdress rules as
often as needed. When asked what a new teacher should do to lessen their stress
levels, Mrs. Kuiper suggested teachers to create a list of three things they
need to accomplish per day, create a list system, and find an activity to do
for yourself each day (taking the dog for a walk, painting, yoga, etc.) Lastly,
when asked whether a teacher should start the school year strong with
expectations, or easy in to expectations, Mrs. Kuiper said it is best to start
strong. She explained that you can also easy up on strictness, but it will be
hard to gain control over the class vice versa.
I
enjoyed the interview and observation with Mrs. Kuiper, who also happens to be
my mother, and am thankful to follow in her footsteps. She has great classroom
management techniques, and creates long lasting relationships with students.
REFLECTING
ON ADVICE/BEHAVIOR ISSUES
Since Ms. Crampton is
partner teaching with Mrs. Kuiper, many of the students were the same in both
classes. In that sense, their classroom rules, expectations, and procedures
were quite similar. It was interesting to see how the students interacted with
each teacher, the levels of respect, and the various classroom management
methods.
One
major difference I noticed was the level of expectations enforcement. Mrs.
Kuiper was stricter with expectations, and Ms. Crampton had a more free flowing
class environment. A reason for this differentiation could be that special
education students require more firm, outline behaviors. However, the students
shared the same behaviors in both classrooms: distracting behavior was present,
and students avoided work throughout the periods. Both teachers directed
students to the expectation posters, wrote names on the board, and Mrs. Kuiper
assigned paragraphs to those who were consistently off task. Mrs. Kuiper’s
students were more talkative, and had more behavioral issues throughout the
period (again, a majority of students have ADHD and distract easily.) This is
when sensory walks came into play, and students who self-monitor when breaks
were needed. Ms. Crampton did not use sensory walks, and students would fall
more off task.
Overall,
I can see that both teachers share several commonalities in the teaching
strategies. Students had the same behavioral issues in both classes, and most
of the time, behavior was redirected in the same way. Both teachers also
offered positive rewards to students on task, raffle tickets (Mrs. Kuiper) and
class points/table points (Ms. Crampton) engaged students in learning and
reinforced positive behavior. Their interview answers correlated with answers
from other teachers I have interviewed both formally and informally, and I
believe a majority of teachers have the same ideologies when it comes down to
classroom management.
MY
OWN CLASSROOM
From the observations
and interviews, I have learned teaching strategies that I would like to
implement into my own classroom. Creating a behavior expectations chart, as
well as developing class rules will be my first steps to ensuring classroom
management is under control. I have a better understanding of how I would like
to implement these expectations, creating consistency and a level of
strictness, but not creating a stressful learning environment for students. Student
will be aware of positive and negative consequences to their behavior, and this
will be reviewed frequently throughout the school year. On page 61 of Wong
& Wong’s book, the procedure steps include students entering the classroom,
hanging their backpacks, and getting materials ready. This is a routine I would
like students to use in my own classroom in the future. It’s consistent,
routine, and keeps distractions to a minimum. When having difficult students,
or students with behavioral issues, I would like to follow the same sort of
consequences as Ms. Crampton and Mrs. Kuiper shared, a verbal warning, a
written warning, paragraphs, and then more extreme situations resulting in
referrals. I would like to give student ample time to self-correct behavior,
and de-escalate the situation as much as possible. On page 8 of Wong &
Wong’s book, the difference between classroom management and discipline is
outlined, I think this information is valuable for new teachers entering the
classroom. It will be important for me to keep in mind that I don’t need to
have rules for every behavior students have, but learn to manage the behavior
behind the student. Behavior issues will need to be handled in a timely manner,
but letting students self-regulate their behavior will be beneficial to the
classroom, and create independent scholars.
CONCLUSION
This
assignment was eye-opening and refreshing. It isn’t often that I get to observe
other teachers or interview a teacher on their reasoning behind their classroom
management. I enjoyed this activity and look forward to conferencing with other
teachers once I am a full-time teacher. I believe teachers have advice,
guidance, and resources to offer each other, and am excited to continue to
learn information from my colleagues.
