Jodie+Fowler-Degruy

Jodie DeGruy-Fowler


 * Scenario #1 **

Nancy is reading a book. You asked her earlier to put it away and she did, but now it’s out again.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Brown,

I wanted to inform you that today Nancy received a detention during Language Arts class. Nancy received this detention because over the last week I have asked Nancy numerous times to put her recreational books away during class. Usually, Nancy will comply with my request, however today she initially put her book away, but when I turned around to continue with the lesson the book reappeared on her desk. Since Nancy has been warned many times and told continued off task behavior will result in a detention, I didn’t make the request again. I simply walked over to her desk removed the book and handed her a detention slip. Nancy is one of my smartest students and although, I appreciate her enthusiasm for reading continuing to show off task behavior during class will not be tolerated. Please sign and return Nancy’s detention slip by Friday. If you have any questions or need to speak with me directly about this issue please don’t hesitate to call.

Sincerely,

Mrs. DeGruy-Fowler

I chose this scenario because off task behavior needs to be handled in a consistent and consequence driven manner. If students believe they can read a book or talk to a neighbor during class, other students will not get the full experience of the lesson you are teaching. As a teacher I would address it with the student initially, and if the behavior continued I would then take additional actions with concrete consequences such as detention. If a detention and a letter home to the parents does not prevent off task behavior I would then set up a conference with the administration.

I think that you have made a good choice to involve the parents, but I am not sure a letter would make to the parents as many parents are working and students check mail before they arrive. After the second time that you had to remind Nancy about her recreational reading, I would call her out of the room and tell her that the next time she chose to read her won material, she would have to come in after school (or before school) and discuss with you why she feel the need to read during your class. If action continues beyond the after school meeting, I would call her parents and explain the situation. A teacher should not take it personally if student says she is "bored" in his/her class. It is student's job to be on task in class. (CK)

Scenario #2

You’ve done everything you’d planned for the day and there are five minutes before the bell will ring.

If a lesson finishes earlier and I am faced with extra time I would initially view it as a blessing. Usually, it seems the class period is over before it has begun and all of the activities and learning I have planned is unable to fit in a fifty minute class period. During my TOSS internship when my lesson ended earlier than planned at first, I rejoiced because I accomplished what I needed to complete for the day and then I panicked and thought to myself “now what?” I resolved my extra time with a simple lesson activity addition. My TOSS class is extremely interactive and we are constantly using different technologies to keep the students involved in the learning. So when my lesson of literature circles ended with about five minutes left, I decided to let the students read and perform the play at the end of the book. Allowing my students to perform the play and become the characters in the story not only helps them review the lesson and what they have read, but also lets them have fun in the process. I believe it is imperative for teachers to think quickly and have extra activities or learning opportunities available in case they have extra time at the end of a lesson. Having additional activities planned or simply moving activities around keeps the students involved and engaged in what they are learning.

Perfect idea to involve entire class in a review activity. Each time a class ends early, the lesson may be different, so each extra activity will be different, but reviewing lesson or give more examples from lesson is always a good idea. (ICK)