ED 4238 Understanding and Managing Adolescents (2007-02-10)

03/03/07

Classroom management is for maximising learning of the higher order.

We have our own gifts - some are gentle, some more directive

"The art of war" (good book to read)

What kind of students do we have? 'Millenials' / Generation Y -

What are they like? (18-26yo) What satisfies them? What do they expect from employers?
1. Provide challenging work that really matters.
2. Balance claearly delegated assignments with the freedom and flexibility to produce resluts in their own way.
3. Offer increasing responibility as a reward for accomplishments
4. Spend time getting to know staff members and their capabilities
5. Provide ongoing training and learnng opportunities
6. Establish mentoring relationships
7. Create comfortable low stress work environment
8. Allow some flexible scheduling
9. Be personable and joke around with the staff, while still getting the job done
10. Balance the role of Boss with team player
11. Treat them as colleagues, not as interns, assistants or teenagers
12. Be respectful and call forth respect in return
13. Consistently provide constructive feedback. (Hattie - number one way to increase performance)
14. Let them know when they have done a good job.

We need to know what we are dealing with... fundamental difference? Totally connected iPods, mobiles, online games - change in functioning of the brain? Multitasking. Superficial learning - no time to reflect? Networking essential - hard to sit on one's own. Teach to use stuff correctly?

research on gen Y:

Affirmation, thorough knowledge, appropriate relations with students, who am I???

What is my learning style? Gardner test


In Australia in the late 90s there was a movement away from Behaviorism to Constructivism. This culminated in the writing of the 'Adelaide Declaration:'

http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/school_education/policy_initiatives_reviews/national_goals_for_schooling_in_the_twenty_first_century.htm

Juicy quotes:

Australia’s future depends upon each citizen having the necessary knowledge, understanding, skills and values for a productive and rewarding life in an educated, just and open society. High quality schooling is central to achieving this vision.

....

It acknowledges the capacity of all young people to learn, and the role of schooling in developing that capacity. It also acknowledges the role of parents as the first educators of their children and the central role of teachers in the learning process.

Schooling provides a foundation for young Australians’ intellectual, physical, social, moral, spiritual and aesthetic development. By providing a supportive and nurturing environment, schooling contributes to the development of students’ sense of self-worth, enthusiasm for learning and optimism for the future.

Following the declaration, the states each formulated their own, with mixed success:

Queensland: "Productive Pedagogy" - Deep Learning caused/enabled by Critical Reflection
NSW: BOS, 'Quality teaching document'

https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/docs/pdf/annbib.pdf

2007: courses: " ED2429 Classroom Management" 1st Sem

Practical experience - place in other schools - not Steiner

Course Dates for 2007

Sat 10-02-07
Sat 03-03-07
Sat 24-03-07
Sat 05-05-07
Sat 26-05-07
Sat 16-06-07
Sat 28-07-07
Sat 25-08-07
Sat 15-09-07
Sat 27-10-07
Sat 10-11-07
Sat 24-11-07

Classroom Management

Most pastoral care happens in good classrooms with good lessons (if there is a massive detention system then perhaps the classrooms/lessons are not up to scratch)

One technique: The JIGSAW model see: http://jigsaw.org/

1. Form into small groups (six is a good size) - breaking up normal grouping (eg by numbering 1,2,3... and then getting all '1's together etc

2. Allocate a common (meaningful) task to the whole class (eg 'what is a good lesson')

3. Each student in each group is given a task/topic

(eg task1: Gagne's events of instruction, task2: Merrill's first principles of instruction, task3: Specifying intentions for a lesson - Ausubel, task4: Taxonomies - Bloom, SOLO, task5: Objectives using Gronlund's approach, task6: Catering for diversity - Gardner)

4. Each student does their own research - gathers information for 20 - 30 minutes (or a week - topic dependent)

5. 'Experts' (now) on each task/topic meet to discuss and study the topic further - each person becomes an expert.

6. Experts now return to their original groups and teach the other members about the Topic they have studied.

Giving responsibility to each member to go back and teach the team - the student does not want to look foolish, and will be trying hard to do a good job.

(for us - use tech to capture the information - create a new blog, make all members authors of the blog.)