| Managing to Be Prepared This is a true story I share with my preservice teachers before their last practicum experience. I once had a petite, young lady in my class who was all of 4' 10" with a soft-spoken voice. Her name was Theresa. Her practicum placement was in an eighth-grade science class. In the first two weeks of her practicum, she realized there wasn’t a classroom management plan in place in the class she was observing. Further, she concluded that she would be chewed up and spit out by these students once she tried to present a lesson to them. She was so concerned about her teaching success in this middle school classroom that she made an appointment to see me. She explained her concern about successfully managing her class while her students carried out hands-on science activities in small groups. She came up with the idea of developing a short contract that outlined the rules the class needed to follow to complete her hands-on science lessons. The contract included an acknowledgment for students to sign that stated they knew the expected behavior they were to demonstrate. Failure to follow these rules and procedures would lead to individual written work covering the same material the rest of the class would cover in their groups. After reviewing the contract, we both agreed that it was a wise strategy
to ensure a successful practicum experience. We also agreed that she must
share this idea with her cooperating teacher and get approval before sharing
it with the students. During Theresa’s second lesson, a young boy in the back of the class decided to stray off task. Theresa reminded him about his signed contract. When he continued to bother his classmates, Theresa announced that he had broken his contract; she quietly removed him from the group and handed him a paper folder with four worksheets on the same material the group was covering in a hands-on manner. He was directed to sit in the back of the classroom and complete his written work by the end of the class period. In Theresa’s third lesson, two boys broke their contracts. Once again, Theresa quietly removed the boys from their groups and required them to sit in the back of the classroom and complete worksheets that covered the same material as the hands-on groups. In the end, Theresa found that her well-thought-out management plan worked for her. The students raved about all the fun they had during her science lessons. In fact, her cooperating teacher asked whether she could continue Theresa’s contract management system once Theresa left her classroom. Wow! What a compliment to Theresa and her ability to “be prepared.” About the Author |