T2W5 - Alan (2007-05-26)

Classroom Management

2 topics - dealing with children in pain, dealing with bullying

Moral Relativism? What right have we as adults to dictate what is right and wrong?

What is the basis of our ethics?

Plato, Aristotle, Socrates: 'Anything that enhances the goodness of a person'

Who decides what is good? Greeks concluded that Good is basically about relationships, and the quality of relations.

Hattie: 'the most important thing is the quality of the relationship between the teacher and student'

Important to be humble - nuturing, love, mentoring.

Where did we go wrong: over dependence on rules. The world of power and control.

Students: Lives are cluttered. Time is filled with television/sport/computers

Teacher: 'Clutter buster' - challenge students to be uncluttered in classroom and at home. Homework? how important? Surely we can fit all the learning into the time they are at school.

Ask students: 'who do you see yourself as now? where are you heading? what can you let go of?'

Every few years need a spring clean - things, people. What is worth keeping? Relationships and Love.

Are students heads so cluttered that they don't have room for new information?

Vygotsky - zone should include ensuring there is space for the new.

A good structured activity should inspire the student to choose to learn at home anyway.

Summary: To manage a class we need to put students into a place where they can learn - beautiful, empowering, place to be. Unfortunately there will still be some who still can't focus.
Are these students 'in pain'.

Managing children in pain

'Whole brain teaching' Relaxed state with no stress. Getting the WHOLE thing working at the same time reduces stress. WB emphasises active learning - learner makes connections that tap both hemispheres. (passive learning does not do this).

Good emotional management - avoid 'downshifting' to 'primal behaviour'.

Must relax the learners. Outdoor activity, Dance, Art, Wood/metal work. Short term physical goals. Clear goals - clear ways to get help. Imaging (good for concrete learners) is critical - imagining. Lots of stuff that makes sense. If in doubt, use lots of images. Visualise, draw use drama.

Teach emotional skills as an essential part of every course. Self awareness, Mood management, Self motivation, Empathy, Managing relationships.

Solution 1: Develop Emotional Inteligence. Meditations, Reflective activities, Think pair share, with pauses to reflect emotionaly. Make students aware of how their behaviour affects others.

'Graffiti' exercise - small group writes a response to a question, which is passed onto other groups to add their comments. Optional final stage is to get everyone to do their own summary.

Work on stuff when things are going well - not just at times of crisis.

http://www.bullyingnoway.com.au/

Dealing with bullying: Gather detailed evidence directly from the child.

Restorative Justice. Build partnership, balanced approach, preserve safety and dignity of all

"Restorative Justice is a return to aboriginal (commonsense) response where the commission of a crime is viewed as a lack of spiritual balance within the person and as an offence against human relationships rather than an act against the state.

Essence of emotional inteligence is to be able to step back and look at things objectively.