Reaction to "Chalk"

My initial reaction on Monday night after viewing the first part of this movie was mixed.  I couldn't decide if it was believable, and whether or not I could take it seriously.  I found myself laughing quite a bit while watching it, and it definitely kept me attentive and entertained.  But after class, I was wondering if these were really the appropriate responses for me to have, and what my reaction meant.  

It was really almost painful to watch the portions of "Chalk" where the social studies teacher was attempting to teach his lessons, engage his students, and keep classroom management under control.  He seemed to fail miserably at every single one of these things.  I was thinking to myself while watching this, how could this situation even happen, because it seems that any person who could make it past the student teaching and out into the real work force, would at least have a vague idea about how to handle these situations.  However, as I thought about it more, I realized that almost every one of us has experienced a teacher like this first hand.  So it has to be real.  Now I see how extremely crucial it is for us future teachers to learn effective classroom management, because it can literally make or break a classroom of students, or a teacher.  

In connection with "Chalk," I read the article "The Building Blocks of Positive Behavior" that was linked to our homepage. This gave me a new perspective on how to approach discipline and management in the classroom.  It talked about PBIS, "Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports," which is a system for improving student behavior that has been implemented in several schools in Alabama.  It is a school-wide approach that focuses on reinforcing positive behavior, so you catch the behavioral issues before they happen.  Two really important ideas that I took away from this method were the fact that the entire school is on board with this system, and that it really concentrates on the positives of behavior and not the negatives.  With the whole school operating on the same system, the children know clearly what is expected of them, and won't be able to get away with different behavior depending on whose class they are in.  This is a huge deal because it is CONSISTENT.  Concentrating on the positive is always better than concentrating on the negative because it takes the ATTENTION away from those doing the inappropriate things (which is what they are seeking by doing those things), and puts it towards those who are exemplifying the right behavior.  Both key ideas for successful classroom management.

Mr. Steve C's presentation

I thought that all of the advice that Steve gave us was pretty valuable in one aspect or another.  He talked about a lot of things but several specific things caught my attention.  First, I was intrigued by Steve's background in teaching.  He did some of his teaching in a suburb of Chicago and discussed how different and what a difficult experience this was.  This especially interested me because I have always thought that I would want to start out my teaching career in inner city Chicago.  I know that this would be a very ambitious and somewhat daunting task, especially in the first years of teaching, when many are likely to discontinue.  But I have lived in St. Paul, Minnesota all my life and coming to college in Decorah, Iowa has made me realize how much the city atmosphere means to me and how much it influences me.  I would really like to return to a city to teach, and I know that I could impact lives by teaching in a very low-income area.  In contrast to the panel of young local teachers that we had last week,  it was nice to hear that Steve had actually gone and had all of these experiences.  Despite the undoubtedly many obstacles and hardships involved in teaching in an area like inner city Chicago, I was able to see that it was possible and that he gained many valuable teaching experiences from teaching in an extremely needy area.   This gave me hope for accomplishing something that not many people really think I can have success with.

Another point that Steve made that I thought was really important was that he told us how important it is not to do the same thing for 40 years.  He emphasized that it is crucial to switch grade levels, schools, teaching positions, and administrative positions in order to continue to grow and learn throughout your teaching career.  This was quite important for me to hear because I tend to be someone who gets very comfortable with routine and will sometimes be scared of change.  I see now that I need to stay active in my career and open to learning at all times because it will ultimately continue to make me a better teacher, which will allow me to better prepare my students, which is what truly matters in this profession.