A couple of things I have noticed, however, is trying to keep the students on task. Cell phones are a real problem, and in this casual setting it felt weird to try to regulate them. I think in the future I will just impose a no-cell phone policy.
Additionally, while I love that students are talking and engaging with each other, I want to make sure that they are still working while doing so. Some people can work and talk at the same time and others can't. It was and will be hard to try to get the students to stay on task without seeming like a mean disciplinarian. This was something we had a small problem with in our group, a couple of times I had to "shhh" a student and ask them to keep working on their project. To be honest, it felt mean and I kind of hated it. I hope that it will get easier, because sometimes the teacher has to be the authority.
I think that one thing we did that was successful was to work alongside our students. In this way we were able to show them our artist identities, but we were also able to quietly fade into the background and I think our productivity partially motivated the students productivity. Watching us work helped them to work. It also meant that we were right there at the table to work on any problems with them or to comment on their work as they were going along. I think this also helped to build a sense of community in our group, which I think helps in classroom management in that the group becomes self-regulatory.
One thing I would like to do in my future classroom is to have a posted set of classroom rules. I doubt I'll label them this way, and I would like to have student input on them. These would include being prepared, being ready to work and especially a being respectful to self and others. I hope that this will help to create a classroom where students feel safe and that will result in some great art-making.
Luckily we didn't have any cell phone problems. I feel for you, that would really irritate me! When we get to the real classrooms technology is probably going to drive me crazy. I too feel like being the disciplinarian sucks. I don't want to be the bad guy. It is an aspect of teaching that I struggle with.
ReplyDeleteCell phones were an issue you in our class as well. I feel with this generation and the generations we will be teaching they have no respect for others around them and don't quite care if you are talking and they are texting or you are trying to have a conversation with them and they can't because they are busy texting. There were two individuals who I felt were so tough to break communication wise because of their cell phones. I guess I just know for next time to ask them nicely to leave them behind or turn them off during our class. It is not only because it bothered me but because I feel they would have had so much more work time if they had not been attached to their phone.
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