My intention for classroom management is to create a place where students have an interest in maintaining a positive classroom environment because it is theirs to use for their own benefit. In order to create that place an educator must convince the students of the potential of the classroom. Incorporate movement, interaction, acting, creativity, art, music, small group conversations, critical thinking and honesty and get the students to see and buy into this motivating classroom place, and you will find the students managing the classroom with you.
"A meeting, workshop, or classroom where everyone has the opportunity to move, laugh, speak, and share their ideas is going to be much more interesting and productive than a traditional lecture/question-and-answer format where very few people speak and even fewer people really listen. The skillful use of interactive methods creates a context in which group members get to know each other and have opportunities to participate actively in the group's work." (Moving Beyond Icebreakers, 11)
Reading this passage and similar ones from Moving Beyond Icebreakers I am reminded of work I did with one seventh grade teacher and his class. The connections between that class and this statement lie in the pursuit of fun and productivity and how to achieve both. How can I encourage students to share their ideas in a productive manner and keep the activities fun and interactive? The answers lie in relinquishing some of my control over the classroom and giving it back to the overwhelming majority in the room: the students. Guiding their conversations to a place where they can safely discuss with one another eases the burden of entertaining the group for the entirety and refocuses me on the task of facilitating a conversation about nutrition and food that is relevant to the people who matter: the students.
The activity I arranged was an indirect approach to understanding what students' motivations were. I was continually made the point that health is a means to achieve whatever ends you seek. I believed that if we could get young people talking about their ambitions and then somehow relate health/nutrition to their dreams, I would have an inspired group of students discussing and reinforcing the idea that health really does matter.
Not too long into the activity I found that at least 4 students weren't taking the activity terribly serious. Some of the resistance arose from the newness of the activity and some from students who had never really thought about their ambitions. Thus, with a good bit of noise unrelated to the class work, the teacher and I decided to articulate the problem in the room as we saw it. From the teacher the students heard: "when you reach the time when you think you need to be thinking about your ambitions and goals, it is already too late. Take this opportunity to really plan a future." And from me they heard something like: "This is your opportunity to really think deeply about your passion and your dreams. What do you love to do when you aren't at school? That's your passion... That's your ambition."
Now these comments were not at all destructive and they did do something to reign in the noise, but unfortunately the students were being told they weren't doing enough to accomplish the task of my exercise. Ideally, it would be me or the teacher articulating the group dynamic in the room, but instead, the group dictating itself. "A more effective approach is to come at the problem indirectly, giving the group the tools to help them recognize problems for themselves and articulate what they see," (Moving Beyond Icebreakers, 14). Realistically, I don't have time to give skill trainings on group dynamics diagnoses, but what I can do is create a quick and easy mini-activity to urge the students to think in the moment: what is happening in the room? And then reflect quickly and move on and continue the activity. The easiest technique to process what is happening in the room and encourage students to reign their own behavior in is to lay out the expectations in the very beginning of the activity, and then if/when the room is getting out of hand stop all conversation and ask the students if they are cooperating as they had talked about in the very beginning. In this way I would have relinquished some of my power, but the class will most likely be restored to the hum of student conversation around the desired topic. It isn't that students don't want to talk about these subjects, it's that they do but they don't get the chance to talk about it the way they want to. Open the lines of communication across a table or desk, give them a task, give them a chance to present to the rest of the class, give them something to strive for, and get out of the way.
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