Baggaley+Elementary


 * __Instructional Strategies:__**

One instructional strategy I used that worked extremely well was incorporating a snippet of a popular Disney movie into my lesson. When teaching about cause and effect, I was able to relate a portion of a movie into the lesson in order to motivate and interest the students. The concept really hit home with the students because they were able to think back to the movie to understand and remember the concept taught. - Lauren P.

An instructional strategy that I have used during the past two weeks I have been teaching vocabulary has been to post the words along with pictures that represent the words on a bulletin board. This is a great way to introduce new terms, because the students have to use context clues and prior background knowledge in order to match the words to the pictures. The vocabulary bulletin board is also a great tool for pre and post assessment and the kids love manipulating the words to match each picture.

One instructional strategy I used that worked well was to give the students an option of who they wanted to sit by when I created the seating chart for the new nine weeks. I had the students write down three people they would like to sit by and told them I would try to give them at least one person at their table. I arranged the desks in groups of four and place the students who wanted to sit with each other diagonal from each other. They were still able to be near each other but were not right next to each other to talk. The students were excited to have someone at their table they wanted to work with and have been participating in centers more. - Brandi

__**Classroom Management Strategies:**__

One technique my cooperating teacher uses to get the classes attention is by simpling saying "Listening eyes." The students not only know that they need to be carefully listening, but they also need to be watching what is being done at the front of the room to get the visual aspect of the lesson as well. - Lauren P.

One classroom management that my cooperating teacher suggested that I use is to "build a creature". I am currently having my student build a snowman. Basically I tell the students a behavior that I want them to work on and if they reach the required behavior they get to add a part to the snowman, if they do not reach the behavior or are extremely bad a part can be removed. I did not think this would work at first, but my students are excited and working hard to build the snowman. Since this is being done as a whole group the students pay more attention to each other's behavior and try to encourage each other to be better students. Another classroom management strategy that my teacher uses and I am beginning to use is just simply saying the students name that is misbehaving or not paying attention. It grabs the students attention and it does not require you to stop your lesson and bring a lot of attention to that student. -Kayla J.

A technique that my teacher uses is pointing out the students who are behaving correctly. she ignores students who are calling out or talking and points out the students who are working or listening to her. This seems to work really well and the students stop and listen to her. This takes only a few seconds and it allows you to manage the class without calling attention to the misbehaved students. This way students want their name called! - Leah S

Another classroom management strategy that I am implementing in my class is to use proximity to get student's back on task. Some of my students need to improve their attention skills. Therefore, if I notice that a student is off task or daydreaming during a lesson, all I need to do is walk over to the student without disrupting the class. Nothing needs to be said to the student at all. The students simply knows when I come close to their area that they need to pay attention. - Lauren P.

One classroom management technique that I noticed the whole Latrobe School District has implemented occurs when the teacher claps a specific pattern and the students repeat that pattern. This was very effective during a field trip to the senior high where all of the elementary schools in the district attended an art exhibit. Even though the person in charge didn't know the names of all the different students from all the different schools, every student understood that when the person in charge clapped their attention was needed. Overall I thought this was a great management strategy, and an excellent idea to implement throughout each elementary school in the district. -Kelly R.

One classroom managment technique that I have learned from my cooperating teacher is to try to save time whenever you can. I write the homework on the board, turn on all technology, and prepare all materials before I start the lesson. This helps me to avoid any downtime that may occur in the multiple transitions of the day. It helps me to avoid stopping my lesson to grab something or write something down and I am able to keep control and attention. - Brandi