Classroom Management- Mrs Raj (Volume)

A few days ago I heard that Mrs Raj was going to introduce Volume to her class via concrete learning- playing with coloured liquids in different-sized/shaped containers- and I really wanted to see how that would turn out as it seemed like a classroom management headache (especially with 2CA- although her suggestion to "just scold Jiayu as his brain does not yet know how to listen to reasoning" REALLY worked with Jiayu).

Classroom Management Tips Picked Up:

-She knows who are the more independent/faster learners and she allows them to play a math game behind (Differentiated Instruction (DI)) while the other students are learning about Volume.

-She speaks slowly and simply for INSTRUCTION-giving, placing emphasis on each word.

-She allows for her class to talk while she is setting up the different segments of the case study (during frontal teaching).

-She knows who are the weaker students and calls them to answer, or/and calls them to sit on the floor.

-She stops when lesson is too noisy, and waits. Then asks "When I am stopping my lesson, what does this mean?" (Too noisy) (Reminding)

-She goes soft while scolding students, and she sets examples by getting them to stand.

-She scolds Jiayu "No self-discipline. How many times do I have to tell you?" and he listens because he knows that he has to get the right answer if he is to enjoy privileges such as the math games (good learning rewards systems put in place).

*Jiayu:

Is actually bright but very does not pay attention.

Mrs Raj scolds Jiayu "See what I mean when I say you do things blindly, without thinking?"

Can possibly ask good questions and has good listening skills when he chooses to (like during the announcement).

-For those (Kunsang) that did not bring their workbook, she reprimands him but allows him to still learn by playing math games. She trusts them to be learning math, and trusts them to self-manage (or because she knows who she can trust).

-Somehow, when she is giving important announcements (Zhongheng came to do the award thing)- When he is speaking, even though he is very soft-spoken, his announcement is important enough- EVERYONE was absolutely quiet listening to him! It was rather hilarious in fact.

-Apologizes when she is wrong.

-I realize though that she is speaking very loudly alot of times due to the DI carrying on. If I were to go one step further, it would be to get those DI (high) students to better self-manage their behaviour, not only their learning.

-Always brings in Teachable Moments/ life lessons

-Has a round-up by having a quiz to test learning and checks for understanding by asking those who disagree to state why

**2CA needs to work on their listening skills: music can help in developing that.