The evidence I provided for focus area 4.2 are screenshots of a lesson running plan where I have included a script of how I managed transitioning from one activity to another in the classroom. Planning was very important for me as a learning educator because I became prepared for any interruptions, hiccups and impromptu modifications (in case needed) during the lessons.

Educators are ‘obligated to use behaviour management procedures that have been shown effective in research literature’ (Cooper et al. cited in Martella et al. 2012, p. 3). With this knowledge in my back pocket, I tried my best during placement to refer to some resources that will help me become an effective teacher. Such ways I found effective was building positive relationships, designing engaging learning experiences, managing and keeping my composure as an educator (Ewing et al. 2019, p. 263-265). By building positive relationships and spending time with students, I was able to learn more about their individual backgrounds, personalities and understand the dynamics of their relationships with one another. I learnt who worked best with who, and who were the students that clashed with one another. By designing engaging learning experiences, students became more interested and participative. Lastly, keeping my composure and managing myself as the educator was important in ensuring ‘the show must go on’.

Managing the learning environment is something I feel I need to work on more, as I definitely struggled with behaviour management during the first few lessons I did without my ST. I learnt the hard way that establishing expectations and boundaries as early as I can is very important, as students did not take me seriously when we had a relief teacher for the day. I observed various teachers throughout my placement, and I was able to pick up different strategies from them. One Bill Rogers’ strategy I noticed that majority of teachers use is using positive language and giving choice direction of ‘when…then’ (Sherrington 2013). I saw how these strategies were effective in managing a class, because it is respectful of the students and provides them a ‘voice’ by giving them a choice.

References:

Ewing, R, Kervin, L, Glass, C, Gobby, B, Le Cornu, R & Groundwater-Smith, S 2019, Teaching: Dilemmas, challenges and opportunities, 6th edn, Cengage Learning Australia, South Melbourne, Australia.

Martella, RC, Nelson, JR, Marchand-Martella, NE & O’Reilly, M 2012, Comprehensive Behaviour Management: Individualised, Classroom and Schoolwide Approaches, Sage Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, California.

Sherrington, T 2013, Behaviour Management: A Bill Rogers Top 10, Teacherhead, viewed November 21 2020, <https://teacherhead.com/2013/01/06/behaviour-management-a-bill-rogers-top-10/>.