Marzano's What Works in Schools

          For the past few weeks, I implemented two new ideas to help with classroom management.  Below are the two new strategies, I implemented in my classroom:

1.  Rules and Procedures: Group Work- Assign “jobs” for groups (time keeper, recorder, etc.), spend more time talking about behavior and expectations before beginning group/partner work--I think this is something I could work on to make group/partner work more effective.  This will help me to ensure each person is in charge of something and contributing to the team.

2.  Teacher Student Relationships-I would like to use a rubric with students at the end of lessons.  We begin each lesson with the objective.  At the end of the lesson, I would like to use the 4, 3, 2, 1 rubric to check for their understanding (4 meaning you have a strong understanding and 1 meaning you need more help).  At my level, I think I would like to try it with a thumbs up or thumbs down to begin.

          I found the above strategies to be effective in my classroom.  My students loved wearing the “job” buttons during group work time.  I found this strategy to be helpful because as students worked, I was able to watch and see the students involved and taking on the role of their job and contributing to their group.  Marzano states, “establishing and enforcing rules and procedures is a prerequisite for effective instruction in all k-12 classrooms” (p. 89).  By having the rules and procedures for each “job” during group work, I felt the students knew exactly what to do and what I expected of them.  The second strategy was also effective in my classroom.  I used the thumbs up or down after teaching a lesson.  This allowed me to quickly see which students felt like they understood and which students would need more support.  Before having students complete math independent work, I had the students draw a happy face for understanding or a straight face if they felt they needed more support.  I found this to be helpful because as I walked around the classroom, I knew which students needed more support by looking at their paper.

Technology

For the past two weeks, I have tried to implement new technology into my classroom.  An app that I have tried with my whole class is called Pic Collage.  It is a very simple app in which the students can choose pictures and add text.  We have been using the app for vocabulary.  To use this in my class with one iPad, I have been projecting the iPad and introducing the word.  As a class, we choose a picture that represents the word.  We either take a picture or upload one from the web.  My students really enjoy this app because it helps them to make connections between pictures and words.  I really like this app because it gives the students choice in the picture they want to represent the word.

Another app I have implemented in my classroom is Targeting Maths 2.  I really like this app because grade level math strands are targeted.  The students practice individually under their account during Math Stations.  Students are able to practice a skill by answering questions and then choosing a badge for their account.   Afterwards, I can enter their account to see their progress.  Although this app is expensive ($8.99), I believe it is beneficial.