I read a blog post by Todd Finley. It is located here:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/30-techniques-quiet-noisy-class-todd-finley
His post was titled: 30 Techniques to Quiet a Noisy Class. Working at a middle school and experiencing the high energy students bring into the classroom prompted my captivation with the title. When I read through his 30 strategies I was surprised to see how many ways a teacher can get the attention of students. Under the heading "call and response" one example explained that a teacher could say, "when I get knocked down...." and students would reply, "I get up again you're never going to keep me down". I laughed reading that one and proceeded to listen to Tubthumping. I really enjoyed reading his article and at the end he asked readers to describe techniques they use. I was interested to see comments made on this post. As I was reading comments I stumbled upon an exchange between two readers. They were criticizing one another on technique they use. The gist of the argument was that one commentator believed the other was too focused on "student manipulation" rather than engaging students with the lesson intended. I wrote the following response:
Thank you Mr. Finley,
This post was really wonderful to read. I am currently a Masters Student at the University of Michigan SOE and this is my first year interning with a mentor teacher. My mentor teacher has a purple stuffed toy that makes a very squealing sound when pressed. In the beginning of the year she held a microphone to the toy and said when you guys all talk at the same time this is what you sound like. She told students the toys name was Zelda and now whenever the class gets too loud she yells ZELDA. She also uses the count down method.
When I run a lesson I like to stare at them with a grim on my face and they usually understand I want them to be quiet. I have worked to build strong personal relationships with all my students. I have noticed that establishing mutual respect really aids in classroom management. I laughed when I saw the Tubthumping call and response example, I'm not sure if my students know the song but I think it would hilarious to use it as a strategy.
After I finished reading your article I scrolled and read some comments. It is very interesting to see the varying degrees educators wish to exercise classroom management. I feel that as educators we must be cognizant of of the fact that there should be balance between classroom management and actual time spent on a lesson. You can't have one without the other and finding that balance takes practice, time, and patience.
It was a pleasure reading your post, thank you!
-Sara
I received a response from Todd this was his response
I really appreciated what he had to say and I feel I am grateful that I am placed in a school where the silent treatment works and that I should be prepared to use other techniques when I am not as lucky.
A couple days past ...and then I got a comment from a nasty reader:
I won't respond to him. But I think this reminded me of why I don't like to comment on blogs...the trolls and critiques from others. I just don't like it. AND I REALLY don't like that he disrespected my school. -.-
Sara,
ReplyDeleteWow that is an awesome interaction you had with Todd! I would love to find this blog with the 30 strategies. I mean, we don't tend to have that issue on the high school level, but I'm sure they have merit in many different contexts.
In reading this blog, I thought about my years working in summer camp. Before I moved to Michigan,since 2008, I worked in a summer camp in Central Park. My division of campers were 1st and 2nd graders (6-7 year olds). They were my expertise. Six year olds sure do love to talk, yell, be wild and getting them to simmer down takes some energy. Among my favorite listening strategies are ones that direct children to DO something to navigate them from talking to listening.
For example:
If you can hear my voice clap once.....If you can hear my voice clap twice.... (This act of clapping takes some focusing on, and the person in charge can TELL that everyone is listening when he/she hears the harmony of claps)
I wonder if they had similar strategies? I also think since this was my first summer in 6 years that I did not work at the camp a lot of the listening strategies have slipped my mind.
For high school, all I know is a good, strong, teacher voice will bring the students in to listening. I haven't had any problems....yet!
Anthony
Sara,
ReplyDeletenice post! It got me thinking about my role as the leader of the classroom. We as teachers are often managers of people. This is indeed one of the facets of the teacher persona which I dread most. I cringe at the prospect of managing disruptive students and applying some of the techniques Todd Finley mentions in his blog post. Even though they do not ask the teacher to be mean to students, I just hate the thought of implementing cheesy methods to grab students' attention and / or being seen as the bad guy. At the same time, I am forcing content on them which many of them want no business with: English and German; so I can understand their resistance. Maybe my position with regards to this area of classroom management will change in the future, but as of now, I maintain that for me this is the least desirable part of the profession.
Wow what a great experience Anthony! Being a camp leader is very much like being a teacher. I have never gone to camp or participated in leading one so it was great to see that they use similar strategies.
ReplyDeleteBranden, I have to agree it's not the best part of the profession but working at a middle school has shown me how much these techniques are necessary. I have not seen a high school setting but as Anthony mentioned student behavior is altered when it comes to talking in class for high school students. At a middle school you have a class of 35 high-energy-puberty-undergoing students who don't seem to like to keep quiet long. So maybe that is why I personally found this an interesting read. But again, I agree it is trying to quiet students is certainly the least desirable part of the profession.
Sara!
ReplyDeleteJeez! What an exchange! You couldn't have hoped for better engagement from the blogger! And to get some feedback from others! Whoa! That just stands as a testament to how helpful this blogging endeavor can be! The fact that this blogger took the time to interact back with you is really heartwarming, even if you did get a nasty comment at the end.
I found your post to be also very helpful to me personally as I am also interning at Scarlett and deal with the balance of content and classroom management at all times. I'll look through this guy's blog and see if he has any other ideas that I may be able to implement in my classroom!
Cheers,
Elliot
Sara, wow!! This was quite an interesting experience you had interacting with the 'edublogging' world! First of all, I think that you were very kind and respectful to Todd Finley; I too found myself humming "Tubthumping" and reminiscing about the 1990's when I read that call-and-response. That is so cool that Todd said that you made his day with your comment! This just goes to show that bloggers like responses and interaction; after all, that is a huge part of blogging, right?!
ReplyDeleteHowever, you also saw the downside of the blogging world- negative comments. I thought that Ira came off as very rude from his response to you. He came off as very condescending and patronizing. If he truly thinks he knows more than you and Mr. Finley, then he shouldn't need to resort to sarcasm and condescension to prove his point. More power to you for not responding!
What an interesting post to read Sara! This was like reading an exciting novel or scrapbook with all of the different parts to it. What first caught my attention was the method of finishing the "I get knocked down...." verse. That is one of my favorite songs from my childhood and I think that particular line has a really motivational message that I bet would be fun to yell in a British accent. I think having really fun and creative approaches like this is effective, especially in a classroom filled with characters since students are able to see a personal side of their teacher. Thus far in placement, I too often have to wait with a not-so-friendly look on my face for my students to get quiet- I love to smile so I often don't look forward or enjoy doing this. Students probably often interpret my look as me being "mean" or "annoyed." I am honestly often annoyed in these particular circumstances where students don't quiet so perhaps by having a signal that is more playful, I won't come across as being so and risk losing some students to what they perceive my attitude to be. Also that mean man who wrote negatively about your wonderful comment, is a total buttnut.
ReplyDelete