Class Meeting Reflections

Day 1

My fourth period class has been very disorderly lately. For much of the quarter, I had blamed their behavior on the time of the class. They do not receive a break until lunch, which is not until after fourth period, at 11:55. That is a long time to go without a break for anyone, let alone sixth graders. However, in order to provide a positive learning environment, the classroom must be manageable.

The disorder has steadily increased until it peaked yesterday. It finally got to the point where it was so bad that I could not take it anymore. It is not that the kids are bad or have bad attitudes. They are a great group of individuals. I do not have a problem with one individual student and instead have several "favorites" in the class. But there are a lot of kids in the class who are either chatty, fidgety, or want to participate so much that they call out the answer without raising their hands. This causes a chaos in the classroom that can drive me crazy, especially since I am tired during fourth period too. Today, I wanted to end all of that, so I called a class meeting. We took a day off for math and focused on re-establishing the class expectations and procedures. I started by telling them that they should be mad that their math time is being wasted, not just today but over the course of the past several days. I told them that they are here to learn math, but many cannot because of the class atmosphere.

I asked the class how many of them were tired of my lecturing them everyday. A lot of students raised their hands. I then asked how many hoped that this would be the last time I had to lecture them. Again, many hands went up. Finally, I asked who was willing to do something about it. This time, only a few hands were up. They took it as somewhat of a joke. I did not laugh, and simply stated that that was the problem. I told them that we were going to spend the rest of the period re-establishing the class expectations and procedures. There was a collective groan, but I continued on. We decided that there were three main parts of class that needed to be reviewed - starting class, during the lesson, and ending class. I then asked students to give an expectation or procedure that applied to each part of class.

As the period went on, the ideas that students came up with became more and more impressive. It was obvious that they had just as strong opinions about how class should run as I did. Not only did they restate many of our current class expectations, but they also developed new ones, based on their observations of the class. One of those was a suggestion regarding eating in class. Although healthy snacks were originally allowed to be eaten because of the time of day, all food was banned from class as a result of their behavior. One student suggested that if they were good for the whole week, I could give them permission to eat in class on Friday. I thought that was a great idea! This would give them a goal to strive toward, and a reward for positive behavior. While the students seemed displeased with the idea of the meeting at first, they quickly became very enthusiastic toward it as the period went on.

I later reworded some of list to give a more positive tone and typed them up. This will be our new class contract. Since I wanted them to treat this like an official contract that they agreed to, I made a contract and a version for them to keep. They are exactly the same, the only difference is the contract has a space for them to sign at the bottom. I will pass these out in class, get them signed, and collect them. The other version will stay in their notebooks, so they can refer to them at any time. And to make them even easier to refer to, I numbered each one. My hope is that students not only follow these expectations, but also begin to enforce them on each other. I think many students are getting genuinely tired of me lecturing them. Hopefully, this will help remind students monitor their own behavior, as well as that of their friends.


Day 2

I started off today's class just as I did yesterday, standing with my seating chart and a pencil. I was going to record all of the students who were working on the Problem of the Day so that I could let them out of class first. However, to my surprise, almost everyone was already working on the POD! They were also looking out for one another, shushing them and telling them to get to work because I was watching. It was pretty amazing. When I passed out the contracts and expectation sheets for them to keep, they were actually pretty happy about them. A few wanted to know what would happen if they did not sign the contracts, but I simply reminded them that these were the same expectations that they created the day before. After collecting the contracts, I suggested putting the other sheets in the General Math section of their notebooks, but several did not want to. Instead, they asked if they could put them in the front by their assignment sheet, or in the viewing part of their notebook. One even wanted to tape it to the front of his notebook. I quickly agreed to their requests, happy to see their approval of the expectations.

Upon reflection, I think that numbering the rules was only partly a good idea. I mentioned that they could monitor one another with the rule numbers, however several immediately made a joke of it by making police imitations. On the good side though, I am glad that they are now at least conscious of the rules, even if they are slightly mocking them.

The class was so good today, it was almost unreal for a while. I was really impressed. They are good kids, so I trust that we are heading in the right direction.



Math Class Expectations and Procedures
Written by Fourth Period

STARTING CLASS (at the bell)
1.1 - Have your materials available and ready
1.2 - Sharpen pencil before class or during work time only
1.3 - Be in your assigned seat
1.4 - Look for instructions on the overhead
1.5 - Work on Problem of the Day
1.6 - Have homework out, ready to be stamped/collected

DURING LESSON
2.1 - Raise your hand to talk or ask a question
2.2 - Stay in your seat (during lesson time and work time)
2.3 - Pay attention - be quiet, listening, and facing the correct way
2.4 - Before asking for help, make sure that you have read instructions and tried
2.5 - Use your math time constructively (don't waste time!)
2.6 - Be considerate of your classmates - don't distract them by playing with objects
2.7 - Try your best and do your own work
2.8 - Place paper flat in the recycle box
2.9 - No more eating allowed in class (possibly on Fridays, depending on week)

ENDING CLASS
3.1 - Keep working
3.2 - Wait to pack up your stuff until the teacher says there is 1 minute left
3.3 - Return all class materials (calculators, rulers, etc)
3.4 - Clean work area of any mess that you created
3.5 - When the bell rings, stand up and push in your chair
3.6 - Wait to be excused

I am tired of having MY math time wasted! I will do my part by following the above rules and procedures that my math class came up with.

My Class Management Plan
Portfolio Index