Running head: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND ROUTINES 1

Observation 3: Classroom Management and Routines

Alba Figueroa
Raritan Valley Community College
Associate Professor Kimberly Schirner, M. Ed.
April 2, 2018

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Classroom Management and Routines 2

EDUC 212 Foundations of Education

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I. Observation #:
Classroom Management and Routines / observation 3

II. Grade Level and Subject Area:

Moving up kindergarten class

III. Setting:
general education; school setting (preschool / moving up kindergarten); 1 general
teacher; 13 students

IV. Pre- Observation:

Trying to gather experiences I have experienced in the past before college I
realized that man y of my teacher always had a routine for us. There was never a
day where we would walk in and feel like there was any surprise waiting for us. I
remember back in elementary school I used to have an exact time in which every
different subject we had to do was going to start. By knowing what time
everything started like having to read independently I would start to get lazy and
slower in the task I was expected to complete before moving on. I used to hate
having to read I just felt like it was so boring. Moving around the routines and
task of the day always helped me in my learning because I did not always know
when everything was going to shift. It could have either been from my favorite
subject to my most least favorite. As I had been thinking about the different ideas
of managing a classroom and routines on a daily basis. I had to research best
practice and look into suggestions that are considered best practice. In my
experience I have always been taught to just go with what the teacher has given us
to follow. After a couple weeks, as the student we would always know what’s
next we never really liberty to suggest any fun activities that could be done within
the lesson of that day that would be beneficial to our knowledge. Preparing for
this observation I read an article that explains the importance of routines in
classroom managements. As the article says, “Classroom procedures that teach
the students desired results often improve classroom management as well as
lessen poor behavior” (Capizzi, 2009). With this being said it is essential to have
good instructing skills and good planning skills so that when the students are
introduced to it at the beginning of the school year that would be the constant
routine. This all leads to good behavior, happiness, less time for distractions, less
anxiety on both sides the teacher and the students. I will be looking for these
important key points of best practice in classroom management.

V. Data:
As I was observing the teacher’s classroom daily routines when I come into the
classroom the students are in nap time so in like 30 mins the students will be
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woken up to continue on with their routine and tasks that are required from them.
After they have woken up from their nap most of the kids feel drowsy because
either they wanted to keep sleeping of taking a nap with the horrible music made
them feel that way. While watching how each one of the students had gotten up.
Many of them would wake up whining that they did not want to work on anything
so the teacher would let them sit in centers to play what they want as their own
choice. Some played with blocks, others played with puzzles and some were in
home living. After, the kids had played for like about an hour the children start to
get loud and that’s when we know that the kids are fully awake now. This is when
the teacher starts to take action and has them put everything away. Without giving
them a chance to even think they are automatically told to sit in their designated
chairs because it is time to do some work. The students are given a worksheet that
has all the letters or words they have been discussing through the week. At first
the teacher recaps the day and the different things they had been discussing about
the topic. For example, the last time I was in the classroom, the theme was about
castles, kings and queens. The manager there had built them a castle from paper
and stuck it on the cabinets to help support the castle up. All the students were
also wearing their own crowns decorated from earlier in the day. When the
discussion about castles and royalty was going on a lot of them were able to pick
out different characters from movies and books to show they were in power and
that they lived in castles. When the conversation was informal and enthusiastic
the teacher allows them to continue with the discussion because they are all
learning from each other. The children are aware of the schedule and there is
enough time for everything they are needed of to do. Their schedule is effective
because all the kids are not complaining. They get some time to play and then
they to business which then after they have done the work they can go back to
playing. The behavior in the class is not disturbing. It keeps them a little at ease.
The teacher does not have the freedom to create the schedule for the day because
he is given a set curriculum created by his board in the program. The teacher does
not really have the authority to choose what he wants. According to the teacher,
he is given a plan for the day that does not take long for each activity when he is
left with extra time then he takes it to a high level. As I was observing the teacher
and students in the guidance aspect of the teacher, he likes to use a lot of sarcasm.
When a student misbehaves he makes sure the students know he or she has done
something wrong and then asks the rest of the kids to repeat what he had said in
the beginning. There is a lot of shaming when it comes to correcting the bad
behavior. In on instance, we were all outside and the kids had little red bikes to
play with, some jump ropes and little cones to move around. While they were all
playing the group of girls were in their own corner playing jump rope, there was
another group of both boys and girls playing with the cones and little bean bags.
While they were all playing nicely and sharing having a good time one of the
boys on the bike kept on getting in the middle of the girls playing area with the
jump rope. The first time he did it the teacher just nicely told him not to do that.
Then again, he did it again and the when he made the kid get off the bike and
made sit on the floor in the corner. The teacher than asked the other kids around if
they had herd him tell that specific student already not to do that and they all
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responded yes which put that kid on the spot. He was publicly humiliating the kid
in front of his whole class. The guidance is not always consistent because it is not
all equally the same. When a child that does not always misbehave and is having a
bad day the teacher kind of just ignores it lets the child just do what they feel is
good for them to chill out. On the other side the kids that do not behave well all
the time are publicly shammed in front of their classmates often and does not
allow them to participate in the fun activity that is due for that day. The reward
for the students which I am not really too sure how it works or how the teachers
decide whether the students earned it or not is when some of them get the chance
to go into another classroom to participate in what is called “cooking class”, they
get to make goodies with the teacher and get to have that for snack instead of
what the rest of the students eating. When a student misbehaves there is a half
sheet of paper that the teachers have to fill out after what they call an incident
happens. After the teacher has written their report as to describe what happened
they need to talk to another co worker in the building about the incident. The
teacher normally always tells the school manager which then a talk with the
student is involved. After the manager has talked to them, the teacher talks to
them to find out the student’s perspective is. After at least two adults from the
building have spoken to the student the parents come into place. The parents are
notified at the end of the day during pick up time. There has never been an
incident in which a student had to be expelled of had to get the head of the
department/principal involved. The only way that the principal or head of the
department would be needed is if the child was to physically injure another
student. The teachers are assessed through observations and daily observing from
the managers. Constant random visits just to check and see if everything in the
classroom is going well. While I was concentrating on this topic for this
observation the building was in preparation for a corporate visitation. When I
came back the next week the teacher informed me that he got negative feedback
because the person observing him thought that what he was doing was too much
for the kids. Even though the students are capable of a higher level than what the
lesson plans in their book says. The teacher was told that there needed to be more
play like scenes in the classroom instead of actually learning the important things
like vowels and sights words. There is a “write-up” system for the teachers that
misconduct students. The only time that happened as the teacher told me the
stories was when a teacher left a child unattended in the hallway until another
parent noticed the child was left there. All infractions are placed in the person’s
personal file.

VI. Analysis:
The teacher was very hurtful for the students who had misbehaved. There has a
been a specific task that is expected of teachers to act upon to their students. As
the article says, “Specific contingent praise is a positive statement, typically
provided by the teacher, when a desired behavior occurs (contingent) to inform
students specifically what they did well” (Simonson, 2008). This way of
managing a classroom increases the chances of the students wanting to do the
right thing. As I was observing the students in the classroom were not getting
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praised for the right things they were accomplishing. Many of the times they were
turned away when they felt good about a task they completed correctly. This leads
to more misbehaviors which goes along with what the writer in the article was
talking about. In a classroom there should always be positive commentary and
positive feedback in everything even if it is not exactly what is expected of them.
Negative feedback can be very emotionally disrupting in a kid’s education
environment. Self esteem will decrease and the child will only want to misbehave.
By the time I would get to the classroom some of the kids would already be
awake and would just be laying around waiting for the ret of them to wake up. I
believe that giving them something to do instead of having them wake up all the
other students would help to keep moving along the kids that cannot stay still or
keep to themselves. The routine did not move rapidly enough which created a lot
of confusion and distraction. As far as guidance, the teacher is too rough with the
students. There is no sense of equality. He is the teacher they have to listen to him
and that is it. Public humiliation and sarcasm makes the students scared of him
instead of giving them the trust that they need to be happy. I did not agree on the
way he handled that specific situation because it makes the other kids who did not
misbehave feel like they are better than the ones that misbehave. That starts to
develop bullying and competitions with each other. This is a kindergarten class
and there should not be any type of behavior like that. Making a student think
they are better than another will lead them to act more important and feel like they
own it all. There should be an environment full of companionship and teamwork.
Letting the children help each other would be very beneficial in the classroom
considering there are so many different levels of knowledge.

VII. Recommendations:
In an article that explains all types of different ways to manage a classroom has
other writer’s and thinkers who put all their ideas together and research to come
up with different strategies to best manage a classroom and have the students
focus on the task. There should be more effective communication between the
teacher and the students. Instead of making the students feel like they are
undermined they should all feel like they are part of a team to help each other.
Just as equal as the teacher. When it comes to conducting misbehavior it should
all be equal. In the article titled routines are the foundation of classroom
management there is a suggestion made on the importance of the students and
parents knowing what they will be doing throughout the year, “ As well school
policies and parental understandings of expectations for classwork and procedures
should be explained. These rules and understandings need to be consistent and
fair to all, and firm so that the classroom time of instruction will not be lessened”(
Brophy 2010). Going along with what has been said in this section of the article
about the importance that all students and parents should know what is expected
could be a great way to have an organized classroom. If they exceed beyond what
is expected than that is a huge accomplishment as well. Instead of the teacher
going day by day in the planning and organizing there should already be some
type of blue print or plan per say. In guiding behaviors there should be less
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sarcasm and more enthusiastic words and activities to motivate the students
behave in a proper manner.

VIII. Post Observation

Reflecting on what I have learned in this observation it is very important to have a
plan before stepping into a classroom. Having confidence in what you have to
bring in to the students and parents is also very crucial in successful classrooms.
Having observed and analyzed and considered other ways to best conduct and
manage a classroom there is a lot of critical thinking involved. Thinking about the
worst scenarios to be able to act upon them. One thing I have also learned is that
always having the power in the classroom is essential . Children are very smart
and the very moment they feel like you don’t have it they will make sure to pick
at it until taking control for sure. Every teacher will be different in their strategies
to best instruct a classroom. “ With each teacher brings different level of rules,
expectation, and situations that are uniquely handled, and makes it even more
crucial that the end is clearly defined” (Lester, 2017).

IX. Citations:
Lester, R. R., Allanson, P. B., & Notar, C. E. (2017). Routines are the foundation of classroom
management. Education, (4), 398.