BUILDING COMMUNITY...

Building community in the classroom is very important especially in the years leading up to and in high school. They need to know what different identities are out their and that they don't have to conform just because that is what everyone else is doing. Making sure I allow the students to feel they have a say in the classroom I feel is very important. Letting them hold class discussions for deadlines or projects and how they might turn out is key. Also letting students show their creativity through their own brainstorming areas. They may find out they are much more similar to their neighbor in the class than they think. Working collaboratively can help with this as well making sure they are always watching what is going on around them, including critique time can be a part of this. Below are some other ideas I found on a website that are good for any type of classroom.

Article I Found on building community....

http://www.lookstein.org/articles/ten_ways.htm

1) In the Summer, send the students who will enter your class a letter introducing yourself. Tell them a bit about your life (It's good for them to see you are human, too.) and what they will be doing in class. Tell them how excited you are to have them in your class.

2) At the beginning of the year, don't post on your wall the rules you expect to be followed. Instead, have a class meeting in which you discuss the ways everyone in the class community wants their class to function.

3) Continue having class meetings during the year. This should not just be for problem solving. It should also be to vote on issues, discuss concerns, or plan special trips or events. Students learn to become active, participating members in a community when they get to be active and participate!

4) If your school has a "back to school night" or an "open house", don't be the star of the show. Have a class meeting to decide how the members of your class community should present the class to their parents. This is a wonderful chance to reinforce learning, presentation skills and feelings that this is truly OUR class.

5) At the beginning of the year, don't decorate the entire classroom. If it's "our classroom", have the children help you to decorate it in a way that will make them feel some ownership. Of course, you should feel free to hang in advance things that you need in order to teach.

6) Why should the class be "3A" or "5B" all year? Have your students decide on an appropriate name for the class.

7) Instead of arranging your class in rows (a seating arrangement which isolates children and focus all attention on the teacher), try a large semi-circle or cooperative learning pods of four.

8) It is an oft noted irony that while in "real life" people who work well with others are likely to be successful, in school they tend to be called "cheaters". Try to do as much cooperative learning as possible.

9) Try not to yell at or belittle students in any way. Remember that children are human beings deserving of respect? If you have a bad day (and we all have bad days) and don't treat people the way you would wish, be sure to apologize.

10) Set up opportunities for your class to work with other classes. For example, "reading buddies" or inter-class Chesed projects with children who are at least three grade levels older or younger is a valuable opportunity for both community building and learning.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT...

During the first few years of teaching classroom management can be key to your success. I believe the reason most teachers leave the profession is because of poor classroom management, which is too bad because it can be prevented in some cases. This is the reason I would like to strive to have an excellent understanding of classroom management. I haven't run into to many problems of classroom management in my secondary art class experiences but, I have in my elementary art workshops. I always find myself trying to use new classroom management techniques with the twin brothers I have in my saturday morning workshop. They are always off task and every time I turn my back they are getting into something or doing something they shouldn't be. I guess over time you will learn with-it-ness and you will know what is going on around the class. It is important to learn and know different strategies so that if something doesn't work for a certain problem you can try something else.

Students that are showing up in class not wanting to participate and not completing assignments usually have some underlying reason why they are acting in this manner. Most of the time if you look at what they are experiencing in other classes (grades, attention, etc.) or what has been going on at home can lead you to an explanation. I believe home life is one of the biggest factors to look at when you are dealing with this circumstance. Most of the students that are acting out in class are just striving for attention and I think one method that can work is including them as a helper or making them have some sort of responsibility. Always letting your students know you are there to talk anytime is important as well. I think children that get punished time after time for acting out need teachers to try new methods. This could prove helpful and better for that child in the long run.

FLYING SOLO...

This last week I taught our UAY class by myself, I was a little nervous but anxious to see how it all played out. We also had a new student join our group who dove right in and seems to already enjoy the altered book project. I am learning a lot through simple interaction with each student. During class on Thursday afternoon we continued working on our altered books and wrapped up the accordion fold books we had made a few weeks before. That seemed to be a great activity to start class with since a few of the students showed up early.
Kayla our high school student and I worked through some issues with the tree structure she is building out of her book. With a little problem solving and wire we fixed the problem and her book is now turning into her vision she had posed at the start of the class. Haley is really surprising me with her dedication to the project and how in depth she is willing to go with the fantasy theme. She has used found materials as well as pages from the book to create this very beautiful natural setting. We also ran into an obstacle with a certain branch she wanted sticking out of her book. We figured out that drilling into the book was an option so in the end it all worked out. Our new student is very into her work and a little closed off but i am sure with a few more meetings and as we get to know each other it will be a different situation.
Next class we are going to do another demo on a Jacob's ladder book and I hope it goes well compared to our last demo session that ended in a bit of a melt down by one of the students. I think now that we know what pushes her buttons we will make sure to stay clear of that certain issue. I am excited to explore this type of book myself since i have never attempted to create one. I just remember having one as a kid and thinking they were really cool so we will see how it goes come Thursday.