Module 4 Unit 4 Activity 1
Clinical Observation of Student Behavior
I have watched 5 classes for my observation of student
behavior and it was really interesting to see other teachers interact with
their students. I made sure to take some notes during my observation and thoroughly
ask the teachers about different types of disruptions they have to handle in
their classes on a daily basis. I have also discussed the rules they have, and
what kind of structure is in place for interventions or preventative measures
they take so their class runs smoothly.
The following are the responses to my interview
questions that the teachers provided:
Name: Lori Brackett
Location: Bucheon University Kids Town
Grade level: Kindergarten
1. What are your class rules and how do you communicate these
to your students?
Class rules are to pay attention and don’t
speak out, follow instructions. Since I only see these students once, I have a
bell, like you would at a dinner. If the students are talking or whatnot or if
we are starting an activity, I ring the bell so they know something new is
starting and to pay attention. In other classes I use the clap, clap, clap and
they repeat.
2. What positive behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
They followed
instructions and completed the activity at hand.
3. What negative behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
Sometimes they didn’t
take turns and that could’ve really messed things up.
4. What strategies do you use to prevent negative behavior?
I always try to
anticipate any student that might cause a negative behavior and prevent it from
happening. Paying attention to students and prevention is key.
5. What strategies do you use to intervene when a negative
behavior occurs?
I address the behavior if
it is minor usually a “look” will stop it. I just try to continue on with the
lesson. I don’t like to make a big deal out of it given I only have 30 min to
teach my lesson. The show must go on, and by continuing it usually subsides,
and the student and class quickly refocuses.
6. How do you encourage good behavior in your class?
Positive reinforcement
and high energy from the teacher, if you are constantly giving attention and praise
to your students they will stay engaged and I find the result is good behavior.
Name: Colin Beaton
Location: Gachon University Incheon, South Korea
Grade level: Freshmen & Sophomore university (Approx. ages: 19-21
years old)
1. What are your class rules and how do you communicate these
to your students?
Respect everyone in the
classroom.
Try your best & work
hard during every class.
Bring the proper
materials to each and every class.
Don’t let your
attendance/work/participation get out of control in a negative way.
Never be afraid to ask
questions and/or ask me for help.
Respect the rules set out
in class.
2. What positive behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
Most students displayed a
lot of engagement and attentiveness during class activities. They also
displayed hard work, effort, and passion for the lesson.
3. What negative behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
Some students displayed
disinterest during certain portions of the lesson.
4. What strategies do you use to prevent negative behavior?
Positive reinforcement,
reward systems, severe negative behavior could result in removal from class. In
most circumstances, removal isn’t necessary.
5. What strategies do you use to intervene when a negative
behavior occurs?
Warnings, attempts at
including them in the lesson/steering in towards them, etc.
6. How do you encourage good behavior in your class?
By rewarding those who
are well-behaved, with such things as higher participation scores, etc.
Name: Melodi Crowson
Location: G2 Academy
Grade level: Middle school
1. What are your class rules and how do you communicate these
to your students?
Show up on time with a
book and writing utensils -- for the first three weeks coming to class without
a book is cause for deduction in participation points, after three weeks you
are absent; class participation is a large part of the grade -- all students
are required to speak even if only through guided dialogues; cell phones are
out on the desk face down where I can see them -- if phones are used for
non-class purposes I take them until the end of the class and make a note of
it, if the behavior persist the student is absent
2. What positive behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
Laughter during
participation, jokes made relative to the topic, self-motivated, English
speaking
3. What negative behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
Students on phones...a
lot; one student without a book, sleeping in class
4. What strategies do you use to prevent negative behavior?
Try to maintain a high
energy in the classroom making it easier to stay focused; some threats of punishment
usually in the form of docking attendance
5. What strategies do you use to intervene when a negative
behavior occurs?
Dock attendance; sleeping
in class...the first time I ask the student to go get water, if the behavior
persists then I start marking absences; if a student continually has multiple
offenses we talk one-on-one, sometimes involving our bilingual English
secretary for clarification
6. How do you encourage good behavior in your class?
Good behavior is usually
encouraged through praise phrases, games to wrap up class; some students join
me for coffee after class for a bit more light and humorous conversation
practice
Name: Rebeca Shin
Location: Chung Dahm Institute
Grade level: 3rd -8th Grade
1. What are your class rules and how do you communicate these
to your students?
Class Rules:
1. Be responsible!
2. Be respectful!
3. Be ready to learn!
4. Have fun!
Usually we go over the
rules the first day of class. We go over the 3 R’s and give examples of each.
When students don’t complete their homework assignments or don’t study for
their vocabulary tests, I remind them by asking “What is rule #1.” and so on.
2. What positive behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
Positive behaviors shown
in class were active participation and pride for their work. Students showed
good learning attitude as they volunteered to read out loud and share their
answers for reading comprehension and grammar problems.
3. What negative behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
Negative behaviors shown
in class were usage of Korean during group work and packing up while other
students were presenting.
4. What strategies do you use to prevent negative behavior?
Our classes run for three
hours with two-five minute breaks. It is really hard to keep the students
focused for such a long time. I find that the best way to prevent negative
behaviors is to keep the students active. I always try to make the lesson fun
by including some type of activity where they can focus their attention.
5. What strategies do you use to intervene when a negative
behavior occurs?
If the student is acting
out or disrupting the lesson, I usually tell the student why it is inappropriate
for him/her to act that way and redirect focus to the lesson. If it is still an
issue, I will ask the student to step out of the classroom and talk to the
student outside.
6. How do you encourage good behavior in your class?
I encourage good behavior
by praising students on their work and readiness. When I ask students to open
up to a certain page, I will make sure to call out on the first few who have
done so and say, “Thank you X for opening your book.” I think this works
because students all want attention from the teacher and at the same time,
repeating the task will help those who did not hear the first few times.
Name: Jonathan Hines
Location: Chung Dahm Institute
Grade level: Middle school
1. What are your class rules and how do you communicate these
to your students?
I create the rules with
the students on the first day of our classes and write them on a board in the
classroom where they stay for the entire semester always in view. The only rule
that I have consistently is “You must try!”
2. What positive behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
The students were
attentive during the entire class and did a great job of allowing each
classmate their own chance to talk. We try to constantly have one person
speaking at a time with a raised hand instead of just everyone yelling out
answers.
3. What negative behaviors did your students demonstrate
during your class today?
There were a few of the
students who were a bit sleepy and dosed off a few times during the class.
4. What strategies do you use to prevent negative behavior?
I have a reward system
where students can gain points for contributing during the class and at the end
of them the term they can exchange points for prizes. Like a market day.
5. What strategies do you use to intervene when a negative
behavior occurs?
I try to stop the class
and bring attention to the entire group about what the “bad student/ students”
are doing and use the on task students to get their classmates back on task. I
find that the majority of students want to learn and don’t like it when their
classmates take away from that and have had good results doing the self-policing
idea. If that doesn’t work, I usually take the student aside and have a 1 to 1
conversation about the issues we are having and come up with a solution.
6. How do you encourage good behavior in your class?
Again, the point system.
Also try to give a lot of positive encouragement and praise when a student
tries or contributes in class.
Observation Summary
All of the teachers I have watched
were different and had their own strengths. For Lori’s class I know she doesn’t
have time to go through all the rules as she sees her students only once. This
is not once a week or once a day, but once in her life. Every day she deals
with different students. I would not use the bell strategy that she uses as I
do not teach kindergarteners. I can see why it is effective for her because she
needs to get the students’ attention quickly as her class is only 30 minutes
long. One thing I learned from her is the way she is so effective in preventing
any major behavior incidents happening in her class especially for such young
kids. For example she taught a cooking class and made sure that the students
shared the ingredients by not giving these to them first, but explaining it in
front of the class about sharing. When she was passing out the ingredients, before
giving anything to her students, she would place those in the middle and tell
them to never take it from the other student unless they were passing it. This
is something I wouldn’t have thought of, and it prevented major fights between
these young learners.
I was really amazed by how organized
Colin’s class was. The whole class knew what to do from when they walked into the
class until they walked out. He really didn’t skip a beat when it came down to
doing any activity and transitioning from task to task. I am really going to
use one of his methods when many students raise their hands. He gives them
numbers and they answer in the order that they were given. This prevents him to
stop after every answer and repeat the phrase, “Any other comments?” again and
again. When they finish he gives then all feedback. He is a bit less strict
with his students than I am with mine and it really made me consider loosening
the reigns a little next semester.
Melodi is the kind of teacher that is
very relaxed in her class and engages with her students in a friendlier way
than most. I think this shows the students that they can talk to her about
anything and makes the atmosphere in her classroom very comfortable. I did see
some students sleeping and a lot of them using their phones. She addressed the
students that were using phones by giving them warnings about docking points if
she saw them using their phones again. I
do not think I could be this easy-going with my students as I feel that because
she is so friendly to her students, they may take more risks in behaving
negatively as they may be forgiven.
Rebeca and Jon both work at the same
academy in different branches. These schools are known for having students with
advanced English levels. Their classes are 3 hours long with two- five minute
breaks. This is demanding for any student let alone, for young elementary and
middle school students. Rebeca was very good at giving feedback to her students
and using low-profile management. She also tried very hard to make the lesson
very entertaining and upbeat as you could tell that the students were very
tired. I think I could use some of her positive methods of feedback. For
example, a student had taken her notebook out and instead of addressing the
whole class and telling them to take out their notebooks, she thanked the
student for taking her notebook out, and the rest of the class followed.
In Jon’s class I really like his
point system for rewards. These kids study so hard every day and they were still
trying really hard to get points in order to get a prize at the end of the
year. I asked Jon what kind of prizes he had. They were Star Wars Lego, which
is very popular among elementary and middle school students here in Korea. They
are around 60 - 80 dollars per box. I guess when there is something that they
really want, it is not hard to have them behave and participate in a positive
manner.
All these teachers have their own
ways to manage their classes. There rules were all essentially the same with
slight differences. They use different structures and approaches making
modifications to their rules to accommodate their various classes. In the end,
not one approach is going to work for every class. Just as students, teachers,
and classes are different, necessary adjustments need to be made to have a good
classroom climate and all of these wonderful teachers had their own unique
techniques, procedures and rules that they adjusted to make their classrooms a
structured and positive learning environment.
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