I have been here at Cortland for the past four years and a teaching major for the whole time. To become a teacher we have to do 100 hours of observations before we student teach and we do it at each level of schools, and for students with disabilities. I am now in my last 15 hours of the 100 in my 356 observations. It is something new, different and I have not yet really figured out how I like it.
I only have one student and she has SED or Severe Emotional Disorders. She is a lot of fun and a very skilled student. The only problem that I have with her is her listening skills. She does not listen to me at all, I laid down the law with her on the first day, and I have done a sticker chart that lists listening and behavior on it. This past Friday in lab, I had a little issue with her on those two things. She did not listen to anything I said and she did not behave very well. She was crawling on the floor, in other teacher’s grids, and playing with the equipment when I asked her to help clean up. While all this was happening, I was firm with her, said she would not be getting any stickers, and I did not give her the toy she brought until she stood up. Everything that I have ever been taught to do in this situation I did, and none of them worked.
Throughout my years here, we have been taught how to handle behavior and gymnasium rules, but I don’t think I have gotten enough experience with it. Like I have said before, I have grown up with kids and my mom taught me how to be firm and give the look when students are misbehaving. It is the same thing here, we have been giving all these ideas on how to handle behavior but I have not had to actually deal with it. This class is going to give me that experience. It may only be with one student but it is still a start.
Whenever I have gone to any observations or have been around students, I have never had to really “lay down the law” because the laws have already been set in. It has been a good thing because I have been able to see good classroom management to see what I would need to do when I get my own classroom. Classroom management is something that is very important because without it, there will be no effective learning. The students will be out of hand and then the teacher will be spending most of their time having to talk to the students and there will be no learning. According to the reading, behavior management is something that a teacher needs to know and be able to do. After the experience that I have had for the past two-three times in lab, I feel that my classroom management might be a little weak compared to other aspects of my teaching.
Cortland has given me all the tools to better my teaching, but when it comes to behavior management; I feel I am not ready for it. Maybe this class is where we actually get the experience in it because we have to make our own rules and enforce them. I wish that there were more classes like this where we can get better prepared in behavior management. We have been taught how to do it, but I learn better when it comes to actually doing. I am hoping that after this experience, I will get more experience with behavior management so when it comes time for me to have my own class, I will be better with enforcement.
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