Field Experience Day 5 3rd Grade 3/8/12

Management Strategies:

This third grade class tends to have a handful of students that are known to either have great days, or not so great days that can ruin the class as a whole. Today was a not so great day, and the students tested my abilities to manage behaviors. Again I was the lead teacher and my master teacher was merely there assisting me and trusted in my abilities to lead the group and manage behaviors. I am glad he did, because today was a major learning lesson for me. We had sat down prior to the class to plan the lesson I would lead, and while the activity went as planned, there were a few students that weren’t cooperating. 

The master teacher and I had already talked about which students to be mindful of, and sure enough today was the day that they decided to show these negative behaviors to me. One student in particular was very vocal about how he didn’t want to play with a certain ball that we were using, and proceeded to try and spoil things for the rest of his group. In short, he shut down and proceeded to put out no effort thus bringing his teammates down. In my attempts to bring him back into the lesson, I felt myself becoming frustrated with his behavior. There were no major issues that occurred because of his behavior, and the other students in the class still enjoyed the activity. After the lesson, my master teacher sat down with me and we discussed what I could have done differently to bring him back in mentally, and things I will try next class. Overall a tough lesson was learned.