Classroom Management - in the real world!

I just spent a fabulous Level III week at Hoover Middle School in Waterloo, IA. What is Level III, you might ask? Well, it is an in-between step before student teaching. Whereas in Level I and II, you are in theory observing more than 'doing', and then in your Level II you teach one lesson, but it is short and very controlled, the Level III is far more intensive and the student teacher actually teaches two full days in a classroom - getting a real feel for all the things that you don't notice when you are just watching someone practiced and polished at work! There is a huge difference between preparing and teaching one, short, 20-minute lesson, and in teaching all day - and even with the Level III, you do have your cooperating teacher there and ready to step in if needed. Still, it is about as authentic as you can get in a short period of time.  

My final emotion at the end of the week was quite simple. I want to go back. School, and learning has been great. I will always have more to know and another theory to learn, but making planet cards and board games is not where I want to be right now - no, I want to stay in the classroom. Plus, 7th grade? That was GREAT! Very much my favorite grade so far.

One of the things that really impressed me at Hoover was their classroom management - how they take care of behaviors. They use PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention System) in the school as a whole, and Mrs. Kurtz and Mrs. Kisch modeled a successful management system all day, every day.  

The premise is simple. The students earn a reward, in the form of a Hawk Bill, that they can then turn in as currency to pay for missing supplies, an opportunity to go to their locker for forgotten books - all the normally little interruptions that add up to so much time lost out of the instructional day. Mrs. Kurtz could be very relaxed about students forgetting planners, or not acting as required, she just let them know how many Hawk bills that it would cost them, and allowed them to make the decision.  When I compared this with the arguments and time wasters that I have seen in other schools, it was very impressive.

I kept thinking of how many students leave and come back into other classrooms that I have been in - how many interruptions the teachers have to face. This kept things simple and straightforward. Everyone knew the rule, the expectations were clear, and the resulting relaxed atmosphere was impressive.