Dropping Keys

 Background:  This is a very diverse group of thirty-seven 4^th year English majors taking Saturday classes (1 day of class per week). The students differ greatly in regards to age, English proficiency, and teaching experience. The average age is 25 years old but some students are as young as 18 years old and others in their high 30s. Some students have already taught English for several years and are looking for accreditation while others have never taught a single class in their lives. Similarly, some students can have full in-depth conversations about a wide range of topics, while others can barely manage a short basic conversation. “Teaching Techniques I” is their first teaching methodology course and focuses around the basic skills needed for an effective and communicative classroom. Other topics include: lesson planning, assessment and feedback, teaching various age levels and proficiencies, designing communicative activities, and teaching grammar / vocabulary.

Classroom management / discipline is a very difficult aspect of teaching in Nicaragua because classes typically range from 40-60 students and the school administration enforces very few rules. Therefore teachers often have to deal with very rowdy students with no support from above.  In other words, teachers are left to control their classroom in any way possible and many have no idea how to do so.

Issue:  My primary goal in this lesson is to experiment with the Peace Corps’ lesson plan format of  “I do” (new information) “We do” (practice) “You do” (application) and analyze its effectiveness towards student learning.

Narrative:  The class began with a short warm-up to get the students thinking about the day’s lesson – Classroom Management / Discipline. Students were asked to write whether they agree or disagree with a statement about classroom management and students’ response to it. Then I contrasted the terms “management” and “discipline” with simple actions to make it clear that the show differences between the two and lead into a workable definition of the two terms (“I do”).

Then, using the definitions created, Ss classified some examples of teacher behavior as either “classroom discipline” or “classroom management.” As a class, we discussed the reasoning behind why each behavior is classified as it is. In small groups, the students then answered some questions going more in-depth on the importance of classroom management and how properly managing a classroom prevents the need for most classroom discipline. I walked around discussing key points with the different groups as questions and comments arose (“We do”).

Finally, the students were divided into different small groups in which they were given a scenario. They were asked to decide if the scenario described led to, or was an example of, classroom management or classroom discipline. Each group was asked to act out the scenario and what they would do in that situation in front of the class. Then they were to explain their stance as either management or discipline and why (“You do”).

The class ended with a short statement about the power of classroom management after each group presented their mini role-plays.

Reflection:  Overall I think the “I do” “We do” “You do” model worked really well as the students seemed to gradually and easily understand the topic. I saw many students who don’t normally participate answering questions in the “We do” section. It seemed as if they had more confidence than before. I noticed that they used a lot of the phrases given in the “I do” section in their responses which pleased me. It made me feel that they had clearly understood my contrast between management and discipline. I liked how simple I was able to make it. However, I do think the “We do” practice section could have been a little longer, allowing the students to create their own examples of management and discipline. I think this would have given them the opportunity to really internalize the difference between the two terms. On the other hand, the application section did give them some solid examples of real world situations and the students really seemed to enjoy it. Furthermore, the students were right on in their analyses of the situations, making me believe that the “I do” “We do” “You do” model effectively scaffolded the students’ learning to prepare them to be able to successfully complete the final task. It also showed me that they understood the topic.

My biggest problem in this lesson was time. I always seem to underestimate how much time students need to prepare a role-play regardless of how short it is. Even though the beginning portion of the script was laid out for them, they seemed to be rushed in creating the ending.  Therefore, if given the chance to do this lesson plan again, I would make fewer groups and give out fewer scenarios to allow more time for brainstorming before presenting in front of the class. The remaining scenarios could be given for homework. I think in general I need to try and incorporate more time for the “You do” section in my lesson plans. I tend to overdo the “I do” and “We do” sections often omitting the chance to the students to apply their knowledge and show me they understand the topic. I know the “You do” part can also be saved for the next class, but it is so difficult with this class because I only see these students once a week and for so few class periods in the semester. It is hard to drive a point home when one topic spans across several weeks.