Linda Albert on Classroom Management

Here's a nice set of slides by Linda Albert on the types of attention-seeking behaviors teachers sometimes encounter, and how teachers can reflect on (and diffuse) responses.

She has a very specific cultural (arguably Eurocentric) approach, so readers should think about underlying assumptions, related theoretical and social constructions and assumptions implied in this, and what alternate perspectives might be considered.

Coop from apaney

An illustrated teachers' guide to Web 2.0

I came across the work of Sacha Chua, a former IBM employee who sketches meetings for a living through her company, Experivis. This approach to summarizing information is a great potential teaching tool for students who are inclined to doodle! She also has a blog with ideas for presenting.

To see an example of her work - with content relevant to teachers - view these slide:

A Teacher's Guide To Web 2.0 at School from Sacha Chua

Classroom Management Memes

In a recent in-class task, the group created memes to summarize the things they took away from classroom management readings and activities. Here are their creations:



Mary, Concetta, Stephanie and Jessica decided to make a point of the discussions on evidence to inform our teaching practice - we try to look to what we can learn from the insights of others.



Abel, Walai, Dana and Kelley summarized how classroom management can take many forms - and that extremes can be problematic....







...and they also made a point of talking about the role of engagement strategies as a way to proactively create a more inclusive atmosphere.

Nerisa, Matt and Daniel are referring to Geoff Petty's "present-apply-review" research that says most of the time spent in the classroom should be on student application - not teacher-led activities. This sheds some light onto how we can create more engaging classrooms! Which leads us to....

...their second meme, which reminds us that classroom time should focus on students, not the teacher.

Reinforcing that theme, Marco, Natasha, Claire and Mike also advocate for a student-centred, engagement focus in their meme.

Veronica, Monique and Jenna also support the engagement approach in their meme.

This next set of memes deal with specific ideas about discipline and behaviour in the classroom.

Rosemarie, Shayna, Mauro and Brittney allude to the problems of "deficit thinking" in creating self-fulfilling prophecies.

Anthony, Mariana, Chuk and Amanda asked a very important question, which can be answered by some of the other memes... 

Veronica, Monique and Jenna remind teachers not to get into power struggles that escalate.

In this series created by Melissa, Claudia, Marina and Adrienne, "yoga dog" reminds teachers to pick their battles, a reference to the reading by Margaret Metzger. Here's a selection of that group's memes:

 

Finally, this series by Tom, Bea, Stephanie and Giordano (which, like the previous one, uses a popular internet theme) emphsizes how the things that really made a difference in inclusive and well-functioning classrooms take time and planning. Here's a sampling of a few of their memes that refer to the class readings on cultural responsiveness and respectful inter-personal relationships: