Thoreau, the transcendentalist author, must have known something about the life of a teacher. He said "I, who cannot stay in my chamber for a single day without acquiring some rust... am astonished at the power of endurance, to say nothing of the moral insensibility, of my neighbors who confine themselves ... for weeks and months, aye, and years almost together. I know not what manner of stuff they are of -- sitting there now at three o'clock in the afternoon." Indeed the teaching profession can become, at times, quite solitary. With only the comfort of a stack of papers needing grading, there arises a need for a more human connection. Tragically, some teachers prefer to remain in their own classroom while as Mary Oliver reminds us "There is, all around us, this country of original fire." Taking a walk through the classrooms of any school will reveal a wealth of experience. Teachers taking walks have the potential to benefit from a formative experience as it can be used to generate new ideas. That is, if the walk causes the participant to become reflective on his or her own practice. In the webinar below, Connie M. Moss & Susan M. Brookhart discuss their book Formative Classroom Walkthroughs: How Principals and Teachers Collaborate to Raise Student Achievement. In it, they share ways in which classroom walkthroughs can be used to reflect and improve teacher practice in an attempt to increase student achievement. If that is the potential outcome, it is indeed worth taking a walk.
need help/support with lesson planning. Sitting with them to reflect on their teaching highlighting positive things they have done may boost them back up. This may also be a good time to model lessons for them or video one another to observe teaching in both classrooms. Support them in planning and scheduling testing as they move forward.
We have very likely heard the quote concerning an ounce of prevention. However, when it comes to effectively managing the classroom, many of us forget and attempt in a futile gesture to instead focus on cures. We attempt to stamp out the behaviors instead of finding preventative solutions. According to Bill Gates "treatment without prevention is simply unsustainable." Luckily, we know what works to prevent a majority of behavioral mishaps. Recently, the USOE published the http://www.schools.utah.gov/sars/Behavior/ManualPrint.aspx to help educators understand and implement best practices concerning student behavioral management. On the topic of prevention, they state that "All students benefit academically and socially when their classroom and school environments are positive, preventive, and responsive" (LRBI, 27). So, it is not just a way to relieve teacher stress (though it might do that too). Taking positive actions to control behavior is an essential component of an optimized learning environment. The first pillar in prevention is establishing rules. It would be difficult to overstate the importance that establishing and maintaining rules has in the classroom. Unfortunately, not all rules fall in the effective category. In fact, classroom rules sometimes cause problems they are intended to prevent. In order to ensure that classroom rules bring about the desired consequence of preventing behavioral problems, a few recommendations should be satisfied (LRBI, 28).