This week I found myself in the same classroom as last; I had the option to switch but chose not to because I was interested to see how the dynamic of a classroom could switch from week to week. In addition, I was also thinking that if I knew the students at least a little bit then I would be better able to monitor their behaviors and routines given from what I had observed last week. The energy in the classroom today was an an all-time-low, for sure, which was much different than last week, and when I discussed this with the teacher we developed a couple of theories as to why:
- Today was a Tuesday after a long weekend.. As the teacher put it, Tuesdays after a long weekend “are like super Mondays!” in the sense that students are always a little bit off on Mondays, but after a long weekend things are always worse. The students were coming in tired because of their sleep schedules getting thrown off, more socializing than they are used to, and just an overall over-stimulation for three days straight.
- There were also about five to six more students in class today than there were last week, most of which being students who needed extra attention during class time. However, regardless of the increase in demand for support, the amount of EA’s in the classroom hadn’t changed therefore resulting in a slightly more chaotic and disruptive day.
You could tell at the beginning of the day that motivation was meager. The students were often verbally bashing the lesson plans at hand and asking repeatedly for independent work or silent reading time. When encouraged to participate in class discussion the students were constantly losing focus and starting idle chit chat with their neighbors instead, and when asked to raise their hands to answer questions they were blatantly blurting out. So, as a way to attempt to raise motivation, the teacher decided to play a math game (as opposed to lecture-style) where he would compete against the class to see who could solve math problems with the highest products. This, for a short time, got the students excited and engaged. As the students began to fade yet again, he decided it was time for recess. Last week during recess the teacher mainly spent his time on the sidelines while the children played, but today we both recognized that it was important to make today a good day. We spent our 15 minutes playing soccer, tag, and any other games that the children decided they wanted to do. Recess was then followed by gym class where we did the same! The students got to decide what to do (as long as we were all physically active) and we simply played games. For the rest of the day you could really tell that their motivation to be at school and actively participate improved.
While their motivation improved, however, their behavior did not quite as much. They did end up being slightly happier throughout the day but their energy levels were so incredibly low (the students kept making jokes about stealing my coffee) that you could tell they found difficulty in being polite or in a good mood. Something I noticed today is that there are certainly a number of students in the classroom that exhibit destructive behavior and with the energy being as low as it was today I was witness to quite a lot of it. One experience in particular works as an adequate example. The class was working on math problems (prior to starting the game) and the teacher was spending quite a bit of time with one student who was having troubles understanding the equation. The more time the teacher spent with that student, the more hands of other students shot up around the classroom who also needed the teachers attention. Eventually, even though the student still did not understand the question, the teacher had to walk away to tend to the rest of the students. Within seconds, as the teacher walked away that original student who was facing the difficulties with math pulled out an eraser and scissors and began furiously chopping the erasure apart until it was dust all over his lap. He was clearly distraught, and my heart went out to him because I was (and still am sometimes) that kid who has a tough time understanding math. However, at the same time was important for me to remember that this one teacher is responsible for about twenty students at one time and that there is simply not enough of him to go around.
The main thing that I learned today is that with children in this age group (approximately 9-12 because of the grade 5/6 split), it is possible for the teacher to leave some responsibility to the students. Today I witnessed him make them responsible for their own self-regulation and energy maintenance and ultimately I think what I was the best case scenario for which the day was dealt. There were certainly struggles today, but I feel glad that I was able to take a deeper look at the composition of the class, take note of what worked, and to be there to help.