I.
Observation 2
Guidance
II. Grade
First Grade
III. Students
9 boys, 8 girls
IV. Setting
Kingwood Township School District
Multi-Age (7-8 years old) classroom, 17 students, 1 head teacher
I. Pre-Observation
Before entering the classroom on March 10, I did my research on multiple sources. On
the site Preschool Classroom Management, it games me points on what to watch and now
the classroom could be setup to prevent bad behaviors. Before conducting information, I
did not know that the classroom layout can affect the classroom behavior. Now that I
have found this information, I am going to see how see how the classroom environment
affects the classroom behavior. I also read the article from Miss Night's Marbles
(Behavior management: not systems, but relationships). This article has provided me
with information on what to expect in a school and how to reward bad and good
behaviors. I never noticed that there was so many different tools and strategies that you
can use to reward behaviors.
II. Data Observations were conducted on March 10, 2016.
a. How does the teacher respond to misbehavior?
In the classroom some children have their own behavior plans. It is based just on that child. The
child acts out or calls out he will get a token, three tokens and he is not allowed the iPad for
choice time. All the children work together to collect brains. The brains go into a jar once the
jar is full they can get a party or go show and tell.
b. Are consequences given? What are they? Are the children aware of the consequences they will
receive?
The consequence is only given to the student is that they all out or are misbehaving. The children
all know if they are doing anything so bad they will be spent to the office or they can lose recess.
My teacher doesn't believe in taking away recess, but the special teachers still do it.
c. Is the guidance consistent?
The guidance system is very consistent in the first grade classroom. Miss Michalski encourages
all the children to work together to help fill the brain jar.
d. Are there conflicts that go unnoticed? Are there conflicts that are unresolved or brushed off? Do
the students have an active role in resolving the issues and how much are they involved?
I would say every classroom has some conflicts that go unnoticed. Mrs. Michalski said, I try my
hardest to resolve and see every problem, but I am only one teacher. If there is a conflict that
she believes the students can fix she lets the children work in us by themselves. She tries to see
what the children do without her.
e. Is there sarcasm used? Is there an element of time-out used?
There is no time-out used in this classroom. The classroom does have an active spot. In this spot
the children take a card and go the active it says if they just need to get out a little energy. Time-
out is not used.
f. Is there a class system in place for rewards and punishments?
The system for this class is the brain jar to have all the children work together.
g. How are the parents notified of misbehavior, why, and when are they notified?
If the children are really bad a note will be sent home from the principal. On the note the teacher
writes what they did wrong and the consequence with it.
III. Analysis
Mrs. Michalski does a wonderful job of using her own discipline police. She does not
believe in calling the children out in front of anyone and is very quiet when she is talking
to someone about their bad behavior. While sitting this first grade class, I watched a
children keep calling out during an individual iPad math time. The children were all
supposed to work alone and be quite. When the student first called out Mrs. Michalski
gave the child a verbal warning to work alone. The second time, the children was
encouraged to move to the back table to work around no one else. After he continued to
talk, he lost his iPad and had to add a token, instead he did work in the book. When Mrs.
Michalski was working with this student none of the other students knew what was
happening, they all continued their work.
IV. Recommendations
I love the guidance policy in this classroom. If I was going to change on thing I broke the
jar into different sections to allow the students to see the rewards and how far they are
from getting a party or reward. I would also recommend taking them away when the
whole class is not listening. On the site Your modern family, in the article Easy and
effective reward system for kids, it said They work extra hard to earn it back, which
can also be done. If you start taking them away often, you are going to lose the power
that this has because it is going to take them too long to get their goal. I believe the
children would work their hardest to get it back.
V. Post-Observation
Mrs. Michalski does a wonderful job with her guidance policy. She encourages all the to
work together to meet their goal. I believe she does her best to not call attention to the
student during the bad behavior. She does a wonderful of talking to them alone and
retracting their behavior without any of the other students knowing it is happening. I love
that Mrs. Michalski does not take away the children recess because she understands that
the children are usually acting out because they have too much energy. SO, taking away
their recess will not let them get that energy out.
VI. Citations
Features of Pre-Kindergarten Programs, Classrooms, and Teachers: Do They Predict
Observed Classroom Quality and Child-Teacher Interactions? (2004, June 04).
Retrieved April 16, 2017, from
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s1532480xads0903_2
Mansfield, B. (n.d.). Easy and effective reward system for kids. Retrieved April 16, 2017,
from
http://www.yourmodernfamily.com/reward-system-for-children/
N., Miss. (2012, September 08). Behaviour management: Not systems, but
relationships. Retrieved April 16, 2017, from
http://missnightmutters.com/2012/09/behaviour-management-not-systems-but-
relationships.html
Preschool Classroom Management. (2014). Retrieved April 16, 2017, from
http://learningboxpreschool.com/handle-behavioral-issues-preschool-classroom/
