The management of the classrooms within
my placement has functioned similarly in terms of the size; all of the classes
are comprised of 23-26 students within the fifth grade level. This quantity of
students leads to the utilization of group collaborations and cooperation
within academic lessons. The physical size of the classrooms have also been
uniform throughout the fifth year school classes, all of the classrooms being
located on the same floor of the school layout. The size of the classrooms is
comparable to public schools within America as well; in my past practicum
experiences the class size of a public elementary school was on average 23
students.
With
regards to the rules enacted within the classroom I was not present within the
classrooms to observe the commencement of the school year when considering the
implementation of classroom routines. At the current time period of the
academic year I have not observed a plethora of established classroom
routines/rules. As mentioned in a pervious blog reflection, the more informal
relationship between student and teacher is prevalent within the classroom. The
behaviors of the students are not chaotic, but there is a lack of structured
classroom rules within the academic setting. There are no visual
representations of “class rules” or the rules of the school that I have noticed
in previous classrooms in America. For the age level of fifth grade I would
have assumed there to be a list of class rules that the students would have
comprised together at the beginning of the academic year. The expectations
within the classroom are clear with regards to behavioral and academic, even
with the lack of explicit classroom rules.
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to honestly reflect on the classroom management issues you have observed at your practicum in Italy. I am surprised to discover how your placement school does not have established classroom rules, as behavior and academic rules are often key for classroom routine and management. Do you think the large size of the class has something to do with the lack of well-executed rules? Do you think the size may overwhelm the lead teacher and thus take too much of an effort to properly execute in the beginning of the school year?
I am curious as to how the extent of the students' unstructured rules and routines affect their learning in both maladaptive and benevolent ways. Some students may abuse their "freedom" and possibly not put in a respectable amount of effort into respecting the teacher and completing tasks. Some students surely will also work hard, but have trouble completing their work in such an unstructured environment. It must be challenging for students to stay focused when their teacher is constantly disrupting lessons in order to direct misbehaviors. At the same time, it is important to consider that the lack of class structure may inspire pupils' creativity and push to take responsibility for their learning. Hopefully students will take advantage of their freedom and share their ideas and questions with the rest of the class. Maybe classrooms need both structured and unstructured time for students.