What are the positives?
Being away from the class and getting to talk about them to people who are not school staff I have realised how much I do actually enjoy teaching the class as a whole. Granted that at times I really wonder what I have got myself in for I have missed my class this week. I have taken time to talk to each child so far this term and while some are more complex than others I have realised that each and every single child is my class, on their own is a lovely child who I really, genuinely want to succeed. Each child has their own issues and difficulties at home and I believe that in some cases they act disruptively because they believe it will get them the attention that they are craving. So far they are right – I have been giving more attention to disruptive behaviour.
I have had some little successes that make me feel like I’m making a difference. Some of these successes are down to the determination of the children not to be getting in trouble – surprisingly they don’t like sitting outside the Head Teacher’s office. Some of these children had a bad reputation before I came but on Day 1 I made it clear that I didn’t want to know which children the other teacher’s felt caused trouble or were ones to watch out for. I wanted to get to know my class as my class, how they would behave for me – not how they behaved for their teacher before Christmas or the teacher last year. For 1 child in particular this has been very effective. I have since found out that he was a problematic child for the previous teacher and last year’s teacher but for some reason he seems to want to stay on my good side and really tries to work hard for me. Occasionally he will fall off the wagon but he is always good at getting back up and trying again. More than anything else this is what I want from my class, that if they have a slip up that they will try again without thinking that 1 slip means they will be in constant trouble. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone is human – I don’t expect perfection in behaviour yet, not when behaviour was so bad, I just want to see them try and improve their own behaviour.
Before half term I had to change the layout of my room for assessments. This meant that the tables were now in straight line with a passage between the tables. While it is not my favourite method of teaching the children were much quieter generally. I have decided that the class will remain in lines but the tables will be joined. Children and groups can earn back the ability to work in small groups if they prove they can work quietly in this layout. I am counting this as a success because it did mean we got work done in the week before half term.
Behaviour has been improving – I am giving out less and I am getting more lessons completed. We still have some work to do but the majority of children are now putting their hand up all the times and the res or doing it some of the time. There are no only 4/5 children who feel the need to get up and walk around the room when they need something and again only 4/5 children feel the need to flick items across the classroom. This is a huge improvement on behaviour after Christmas and as a result our class is generally a calmer place.
I have been able to talk children out of incorrect behaviour. On the last day before half term, while on a class trip, a student decided she was not going to move. I brought the rest of the class and adults upstairs while the Assistant Head who was with us tried, with a Learning Support Mentor who also came with us, tried to convince the child to come back to the school with us or we would have to call the child’s guardian. After 10 minutes of patiently waiting upstairs I went back down to see what was happening. I offered to talk to the child and somehow managed to coax her back to the rest of the group and school. This was a major victory for me, especially after other (more experienced) members of staff had failed to succeed with her. It was also a much needed confidence boost for me.
What are my priorities for the class(room)?
I need to make the class my own. So far I have changed very few of the displays in the class, due to a lack of time and a lack of actual work completed. I have some plans for displays including a display about the Ancient Greeks, which we studied in the first half of term and will continue to look at in the next half, for my creative display. As my class will be writing their own Greek play I am hoping to change my literacy display to a Greek theatre and display some samples of their plays on the display. We also have book week and Book Day coming up so I hope to create a small display around the work that we complete during this week.
I have rearranged most of the furniture in the classroom and the layout is my own, ever changing design. It can be difficult coming in to a classroom in the middle of the year to find time to put your own stamp on it and ensure that it is YOUR class, not someone else’s.
How can I continue to work on behaviour?
Behaviour is a complex issue in my class and is a constant source of stress and anxiety for me. They worst time of day for my children is after lunch, behaviour seems to go downhill at that stage but I will try to keep the children more engaged at this time of day. All suggestions are welcome. :)
How can I use TAs more effectively in the class?
The concept of a Teaching Assistant in the classroom is still something that I am getting used to and I suppose that I am still trying to figure out what their role should be and what I want then to do. At the moment I have a TA in the class full time working 1 to 1 with a student with behavioural issues, however if his behaviour escalates he is taken out of the class and I am without her in the classroom as she has to go with him. I also have another TA in the class for 2 hours each day but if a 1 to 1 TA is absent, either in my class or in another she may be covering for that TA. Realistically this means that the majority of the time I don’t actually have a TA in the room.
I suppose what I want from my TAs is support, and I can’t fault them there. They are an extra set of eyes in the class and when I am teaching they are able to be watching the class to see what is going on and might see items that are thrown or flicked across the class. TAs are also able to assist students in the group that they are working with. In the case of my 1 to 1 this means that she is able to assist other students at her child’s group, once it does not prevent her from assisting her child. For my shared TA I generally assign her to a group where some children need assistance, either to stay on task or to understand the work. This leaves me free to float around the room to check understanding and to assist individual children in the other 3 groups.
My TAs are also used to help with behaviour management. I think it would be important that they are modelling the behaviour that I expect from the children, particularly in regards to when I am waiting for the class to be quiet. My TAs are very good for giving the children housepoints and monitoring their behaviour on the traffic lights system.
A final thought
I suppose on the whole my class are enjoyable. They are gradually improving and I can’t wait to get back into the classroom on Monday to teach them. Behaviour can only continue to improve and I will be maintaining my high expectations of the class, both in terms of the behaviour I expect and the standard that I want from the work that they complete. I suppose I am being to not only like but to love teaching them