How can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? (If you are an administrator, how you can create more of a self-running school by giving staff more responsibility?) In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home?
How can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? (If you are an administrator, how you can create more of a self-running school by giving staff more responsibility?) In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home?
ReplyDeleteMy classroom is already pretty much self-running already. My students know to read what's on the TV as soon as they enter and begin whatever task is there. They know where things get turned in and where things go that need to be taken home. Students know there is a binder with their work in it if they are absent and it is their job to get those assignment's as well as any notes they missed while they were gone. This isn't something that happened magically though. I spend the first couple of weeks each year really making these expectations clear and making sure everyone knows what to do.
At home is where I need some work. It seems easier to just do things myself and not deal with anyone else having to do things. I could have my daughter do more like helping with chores.
I do write assignments on the board so that students know what is expected of them throughout the day. This does cut down on questions as to what they need to do next.
ReplyDeleteI could give more responsibilities to the students with things like emptying the pencil sharpeners, straightening the book shelf, and putting books on the bookshelf. It is difficult to let others do things that are not always done to "perfection." I need to remind myself that they learn from these experiences and get better at it each time they do the task.
I could let my husband do more chores at home. It would let me have a few moments to relax and take a moment to breathe. I always see one more thing that needs to be done.
I think creating a self-running classroom comes with setting routines. I know that I definitely need to work on the self-running part. I get caught up in the chaos of 24 students sometimes and just do it all. My students know the routines of the day and the structure, but most don't take it upon themselves to make happen what needs to be before I say something. I did like what the book said about a grading station for kids to check their own papers sometimes. I could also be writing their missing assignments on the board and they have the responsibility for finding and completing.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this chapter, I realize I have a problem. I just always do things at home so they get done and I don't have to listen to whining or complaining. I am self sabotaging! A job chart for my girls, like when they were little, could still work now. Also, more open communication with my husband about what I could use help with might be beneficial. Otherwise he pays no mind!
How can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? (If you are an administrator, how you can create more of a self-running school by giving staff more responsibility?) In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home?
ReplyDeleteI do have certain guidelines for my classroom that the students know they need to do when they arrive and when they leave the room. However I could require more of them in order to accomplish more when they are here. This is sure something to think about.
I am a firm believer in the phrase 'What you permit, you promote" I do think in school settings, coaching and at home this rings true. If I permit my child to leave garbage from their snacks in the living room after watching TV, Then I am promoting that behavior. I check myself with this phrase all of the time. Not sure if this applies to the question, but, it has helped me with delegating help and encouraging kids to be accountable in the classroom and at home.
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ReplyDeleteI serve as the K-2nd ESL teacher for our building. I spend part of my day pushing in and part of my day pulling out. I am still working on "perfecting" my role as a push in teacher as this is new for our building this year. My pull out groups run like a well oiled machine due to routines! Each day has the same "flow" even if the activities are different day to day and the students have their assigned tasks to help the groups go smooth. For instance- my upper newcomer group each student will have a task at the beginning of our time to get the materials or set the daily calendar up. When we get to the table we are ready to work. Any visitor that has ever entered into my room to watch always comment on how many skills we cover in a 15-30 time due to the routines we have set.
ReplyDeleteAt home we definetly need to set some better routines. During the school week I feel like I come home and run ragged because there are just some things that I have "always done" myself and I feel that do not get done to "mom standards" and I end up doing them over- supermom syndrome!
I am hoping to create more of a self-running classroom by trying a new format 2nd semester: students watch instructional videos as "homework" at home or in study hall (or end of class if they are done with everything). During class time, we will start with everyone practicing on the board and recapping the information. Individual practice will not be graded by me - I will either use online/automatically graded materials or will give them access to the answer key at the front of the room for the worksheet. They will make their own study guides. The only thing I will grade/put in the grade book is a weekly quiz/test and a spiral review "Math Minute" that is automatically graded. At home, I'm hoping to get rid of a whole bunch of stuff so we have less to clean around, and set things up to where my daughter can reach and do more chores like putting away her own laundry and picking up. I also seriously considered getting a Roomba vacuum. ;)
ReplyDeleteHow can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? This year is the most self running classroom I've ever had. Students know our routines and a pretty good at following them I like this but also know I need to give them more choices. Self running classroom does not mean teachers aren't teaching or are being lazy. Self run classroom means students listen and know expectations regardless of the content. They know the outcomes I'm looking for and show them in their work in a timely manner.
ReplyDeleteI have 3 kids under the age of 6. I don't know if I'll ever have a self running home. We have recently made a calendar and have a task to do each Sunday afternoon. This helps us stay on top of things that might get neglected during the week or all together. Laying out our kids clothes the night before and staying up to date on laundry helps a lot.
In my classroom, I have incorporated some of what the author suggested. I have classroom jobs, which frees me up from certain tasks and makes some tasks a go little faster and smoother. I also have stations activities with answer keys that allow students to practice a task and check their work immediately.
ReplyDeleteIf someone knows the trick to running a smooth household, I am all ears. I have a 3 teens and we all have very busy schedules, so most of us are not home several evenings each week. Depending on the time of year, we may have busy weekend schedules too. Sadly, we often exist in survival mode when it comes to our house. It is probably my fault for not establishing good routines and chores habits when the kids were young. It always just seemed like such an effort to get things done in a timely manner, so I lowered my standards for housework. Yes, my family helps with the chores, but it is almost never self initiated. Though my children do take care of their own laundry, so that is a plus.
I think I can give students more responsibility when it comes to collecting papers and tidying up the computer lab. I know students love to be helpers, so for me, it’s just remembering to assign these responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteAt home, my kids have responsibilities, but I find myself constantly reminding them to follow through with them. Chapter ten really hit home for me when the author writes about project manager and superhero syndrome. There are times that I need to let go of my perfectionism and let my family members own more of their responsibilities. My favorite paragraph was, “Intentionally “dropping the ball” empowers the people in your life to find their own approach for tasks which they complete independently, rather than waiting for your directions, reminders, and approval.”
I am not always good at giving up control of my classroom, but I can allow students to help me with different tasks. I can have them do things and not redo it later when they don't do it exactly the way I think it should be done. This would give them more responsibility in the room and take some tasks off of my plate.
ReplyDeleteAt home, I can allow for more help when I am trying to keep up with the housework and kids. I liked the idea of delegating by strengths. It is not always going to be fair, but it could be a huge help. Also, I need to remember that asking for help is not a bad thing. It will help the house run more efficiently. Keeping up with the small things that just take a few minutes will help minimize my bigger cleanings on the weekends as well.
Callie Dutenhoffer
ReplyDeleteWhen I was teaching in my junior kindergarten classroom, the way that I had a self-running classroom was assigning classroom jobs and asking my students to help me with things that would not only truly help me do less, but teach them a little bit of responsibility. They thought it was awesome to have a "job" like me and to do things around the room that is known as an "adult task."
When it comes to my personal life, it seems a lot more challenging. I have a hard time letting things go or asking for help because I just want things done and want them done my way. My daughter is too young to have household chores, but I can see this happening in the future to help with the idea of a "self-run home." I also feel like my husband does a decent job at helping, but potentially setting certain things for him to do each night or at the end of each week would help us have a better self-run home.
How can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? (If you are an administrator, how you can create more of a self-running school by giving staff more responsibility?) In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home?
ReplyDeleteI can create a more self-running middle school special education classroom by:
- asking students to update the wall calendar
- asking students to write the lunch menu for the day
- training EA's for recording data
A more self-running household:
- training our three children to fill and empty the dishwasher
- training our children to clean the bathrooms
- training the children to do their own laundry
How can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? I use to have my work-study student make all of my copies, do bulletin boards and grade some of the daily assignments.
ReplyDeleteIf you are an administrator, how you can create more of a self-running school by giving staff more responsibility?) In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home? I have grown to be satisfied by the way others do things. It may not be up to my standards, but who cares, it is done.
I'd like to think I do a pretty good job of giving students responsibilities in the classroom but I also would be open to working on this area as well. I try to make sure students filled out their planners and clean their desks weekly. We have a helper of the day who helps with various tasks as well. I'm sure if I give it some more thought and effort I could come up with more creative ways to give students productive responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteAt home, I try to give my kids routines of checking the lunch menu every night and packing their lunches ahead of time if need be, picking out their clothes for the next day, and making sure their homework is done.
Self-running classroom: In order to do this, I think you need to talk with the students at the beginning of the year and practice. I need to do more practice and discussing. When things don't go smoothly with self-running classroom, I need to use that as a teaching moment, rather than a lecture. If something needs to be corrected, I need to make my words golden.
ReplyDeleteTo make the school more self-running, I would need to let the teachers run with their responsibility, support them, and watch, not micro-manage.
At home, I need to sit with my wife and decides who does what. Whatever she does, I need to support her and if she does something different than I would, I need to keep that to myself because I do not want to micro-manage and if she decides to do something let her do it.
Making my classroom more self-running: As a high school teacher, this is a little tougher for me. I did like a couple of the ideas she mentioned in the book, about assigning a student or pairs of students to go through the turned in work and see who was missing, or having students do more to help with the classroom library. My classroom was in a very small school, but with 5 classes of work getting turned in, finding a student or 2 to go through each class of papers and make a list of who was missing would have been helpful.
ReplyDeleteAt home, doing more assigning of jobs to my kids would be helpful. My husband has "trained" me that things won't always be done "my way", so getting the kids more involved wouldn't be a big stretch, but it would be a big help!
I realized that I am most overwhelemed when kids keep asking me the same questions, repeatedly, day after day after day. I believe structure and routine is the key to a self- running classroom. My students know what to do when they come in each day, put their lunch card in the hot or cold lunch bin. This does a few things - tells me attendance (if the card is out of the pocket chart, they are here) and tells me how many people need hot lunch without having to ask every kid. It also has all their cards ready to go then so I can grab them and take them to the lunch room when it is time. IF a student doesn't know what to do, they can check the slide on the board. If they ask me what to do, I simply point at the slide and then they remember. They have jobs like praciting spelling words when they come in. This was taking a long time for some students during class time so now they have the time they need and the whole class isn't waiting on them.
ReplyDeleteDuring reading groups, I teach groups for 75 minutes straight. I send groups to both spanish and english at 4 different times and to 4 different classrooms. It is confusing! SO I made slides. Its all laid out for the day so everyone knows when they are going, the current group is highlighted so they know who should be gone, and there is a timer so they know when the next group is leaving. It also lists their independent jobs at those times.
I was taught, never do anything a student could do. Doing those things gives kids responsibility, pride, ownership of the room, and saves us time! So I have a student put the lunch cards in the chart every morning, whoever gets their first. A student turns on the decorative lights around the room. A student gets the cold lunch bin everyday and makes sure it gets emptied and put away. Every kid cleans up their own table area in the classroom. IF it's still a mess we play do one thing to make our room look better. If they did their job, we play a fun game. There's so much kids can do that we don't need to waste valuable time and energy on. And most of the time, students love being able to help.
When I ran my own classroom it was pretty self run. We would spend a lot of time at the start of the year going over procedures and how our classroom should run. A month or so in and the kids could do everything without me having to tell them. This help us get more time in because our transitions were short and everybody knew what was expected of them. At home, I'm not so great at this. I tend to do a lot myself instead of delegating things that need to be done. I think I can establish a lot better routines at home by making it known to my family what needs to be done on a daily basis and why.
ReplyDeleteHow can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility?
ReplyDeleteWe have classroom "jobs" already, but they are pretty basic. I would like to extend this idea to include a few more tasks that would help me me. One is gathering make-up work for students who are absent. That could save some time and would be a good job for an eager, responsible student. Another idea would be learning to sort their own papers for their "mailboxes." I have always preferred to do this myself to avoid parent calls/texts wondering where papers are, but with the right training, students could probably learn to do this themselves.
In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home?
It's just my husband and me at home. He is quite helpful and contributes to the household chores regularly. I could be more vocal when I'm having a hard week & need extra help. I usually just put things off until the weekend and do it when I feel better.
As I was reading this chapter I was making notes of how I can give the student's more responsibilities of the items that I am taking care of. Fourth quarter is upon us and that means several students are out of school for many different events. What if I had students volunteer to be absent student aides to help all students stay on the same page (keep track of homework and help others find what is needed) and also have people help make up labs or other projects we are working on that students missed.
ReplyDeleteAt home, I just need to ask. I am a 100% project manager for all that we do and I have created a monster. My spouse relies on me (at times) to tell them what needs to be done and the kids don't function unless it is directed from me. Seriously, it is not that bad but I know I can delegate more and look the other way if a task isn't up to my standards.
In the classroom, I had the most success with giving students more responsibility when I created routines. I had different bell-ringer activities we cycled through, and I had a good process for getting work to absent students (without me chasing them down!). During my junior high study hall time, I would ask students to run little errands for me or do small tasks in the classroom if they were finished with their homework. Most of the time they would jump at the chance to help out. If I could add anything, I would probably try to utilize the "answer key station" idea more, and I would consider involving my students more in small cleaning tasks in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteAt home, I'm trying to be better about letting my kids help with household tasks, even though they are very little. I think I need to be more consistent with having my kids clean up one thing before we start another. Many times I will do it myself because it's faster and I know it will be done "right". People have mentioned to not do something for a child that they can do for themselves. I'd like to be better about applying that idea throughout the entire day, instead of only with certain tasks. My husband is a huge help when he's home after work, so our evenings are definitely a team effort and that makes a huge difference.
I liked the idea that the author gives of having successful activities such as gallery walks in your back pocket and implementing that into various lessons. By having 4-5 activities that you know are successful and easily adaptable, you won’t have to spend hours upon hours scouring pinterest or the internet trying to make something just right for each lesson/activity. Maybe not all papers need to be graded by you. You need to find areas where you can do fewer things better or everything is going to feel quite overwhelming. In my personal life, I can create a more self-running home by not nit-picking chores that my husband does. He is willing and able to do the laundry (a lot more frequently than I ever did myself), and it shouldn’t matter to me that he doesn’t fold or hang things up exactly how I would like him to. I realize this, but it’s a work in progress. I also am going to have to give up a little more control in preparing meals after we have our baby. He is perfectly capable of preparing supper without me hovering over him making it more stressful and impossible to accomplish. Letting go of control is something I definitely need to work on.
ReplyDeleteI could free up my time by assigning tasks to others. At school, some students love to help out, so I should let them more often. At home, I sometimes do tasks because I am the one who has always done them, but I could encourage other family members to do them now. I am sure that they would be willing to, I just need to ask. Even if things don't get done exactly the way I want them done, at least I am not the one doing them.
ReplyDeleteHow can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? (If you are an administrator, how you can create more of a self-running school by giving staff more responsibility?) In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home?
ReplyDeleteBy giving students responsibility, they are to hold themselves accountable as well as their peers to get those jobs done. In my first-grade classroom, students have a weekly job. My jobs include energy expert, pencil patrol, teacher in training, line leader, snack boss, door duty, stellar substitute, trash trooper, and caboose chief. Students are in charge of making sure their job is done throughout the day. They have one week on and one week off. Students are chosen at random using their numbers so their job usually switches. One job I would like to add for next year, is a library organizer. I constantly find myself organizing our classroom library or asking students to do so.
To make my home run smoother, I need to continue to do one load of laundry a night and maybe 10 minutes of dishes. This way I should never get behind and the system will continuously run. Especially with laundry, it is so easy to get behind even with 2 people in the house.
I love the idea of a self-running classroom and feel I do this! I went to a summer workshop with Scott Ervin a few years ago and implemented those strategies in home of a self running classroom. Anything that I see fit for students to do-- I give that out as a job. Kids are so eager about getting the jobs. Jobs out of the ordinary classroom jobs (line leader, door holder), that I currently have: Ipad chargers, headphone sorter, mailbox deliverers, plugging in my Ipad, attendance taker, milk count, and many others. Students are in charge of doing their jobs-- if they don't; they are fired and have to train their replacement. I think when students get meaningful tasks in the classroom they feel important. Also, a great way for students to prove they are responsible.
ReplyDeleteAt home is a different story, I feel If I take care of it, the way I want it that is best. However, I can feel the stress this cause me. I need to feel comfortable with my husband doing things, even if it is different than how I would do the chores. I need to commit to one household task a night instead of the pile up and every weekend spent resetting the house for the next week.
Things that I already do to create some semblance of a self-run classroom:
ReplyDelete-I have daily routines (at the high school level) that students become familiar with. We transition through them daily so that students aren’t surprised by the variety of activities, they aren’t doing one thing for too long, and so that I have an outline for each day as I build my lesson plans.
-Absent Box-a milk crate on a table at the front of the room that has a folder for each day of the month (the idea came from Pinterest I believe?-years ago). Any time that I hand out papers for a lesson, I save one for each student who is absent and write their name at the top. I file the papers in the folder for that day. When the student returns, they know to check the absent box for any handouts that they missed. It has taken several years for students to remember to use this system (even after daily/weekly reminders-I almost gave up on them!), but now three or four years in, I’m reaping the rewards of not having to remember to give each individual student their handouts when they come back.
-Graded Paper Return Boxes: kind of like the absent box, I have milk crates for each class and a folder for each student. I file all graded papers at the end of the day and students know that they can collect them at any point. This saves me so much time and headache trying to find class time to hand out all of the graded work that I collect!
-Participation Points: On “practice” assignments (usually grammar or writing work), I take participation points, meaning that I have students do the assignment on scrap paper with their name. They correct their own work and turn it in. I look over the work to get a general idea of how students are doing with the concept, and then give anyone who did the assignment a point or two for simply doing the work. I don’t take an actual grade (higher points, of course) until I feel confident that students are where they need to be with the concept.
Somethings that I might look into changing (in order to create more time and facilitate deeper learning):
-More quizzes: easy grading for me/them, but keeping them accountable for doing the reading that we are not able to complete in class on a given day. (I often avoid reading homework because so many students fail to complete it.)
-More discussion: a little prep work on my part would create big dividends in student understanding and application, I think (also not something that requires heavy grading or participation on my part, yet increases student depth of knowledge…I’ve just always felt that my students need help actually “taking”-so that’s something I need to work with in order to implement.)
As I read these chapters these were questions that I thought about a lot. To make my classroom more self-sufficient, I can try giving students more responsibility. I can mix things up by assigning students roles like line leader or tech support, which helps them feel more in charge and responsible. I can also let them take the lead in discussions and activities to boost their confidence and show their independence. Also, involving students in decisions like setting classroom rules or rewards gives them a stake in their learning space. At home, keep things running smoothly by setting up a chore chart to divvy up tasks among family members, can make teamwork and responsibility easy. Get everyone involved in planning and cooking meals to share the load and have fun together. I can also encourage each family member to keep their spaces organized and stick to routines independently for a balanced home life.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, I can give students more responsibility by having them grade each others daily work. Instead of me having to collect and grade it every day, we can take a few minutes to have them either peer-grade or even self-grade. I can easily display an answer key and have them grade their own while I walk around and see how their assignments look. I have also began to think about how I can make my homework assignments more digital so that students can do them online and have them be graded by the system for quick feedback.
ReplyDeleteAt home, I have learned to take advantage of grocery pickup. This has been such a time saver for me. Instead of having to spend 1-2 hours at the stores on the weekend, I can now use that time to get other things done around the house and pick up my order at a time when it's convenient for me.
In order to give my students more responsibility in the classroom - I need to look at each of my classes individually. I teach grades 7-12 throughout the day and each period would look differently. Each level requires more/less of teacher instruction for such duties. I can have upper grades correct the papers of the younger students. I still like to go over the papers to see how they are doing their work, but the time to grade will be far less. Some students want to be helpful, while others just want to do their own thing. I really like her suggestion of "homework coupons" and such as a thank you for helping.
ReplyDeleteAt home - grocery pick up has been amazing! I live nearly an hour from a major town, so that has been a huge timesaver. During Covid time, I started having family meal planning time and have continued since. Nothing I hate worse than to get home after work, and try and come up with something to eat for supper! As my kids got older, they wash their own clothes...another amazing time saver. I just feel I'm able to get things done that normally get pushed to the back burner.
How can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? (If you are an administrator, how you can create more of a self-running school by giving staff more responsibility?) In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home?
ReplyDeleteI do not run a classroom, but I do try to make my office accessible for students so they can help themselves as able. For example, I have a self serve cart with bandaids, lotion and vaseline. It's always stocked and in the same place so kids can get what they need, freeing me up for students that require assessment. At home is where I really struggle with "super hero syndrome". I like things a certain way, and I feel like I am the only one who can do it. I also get frustrated when no one helps me... clearly I am the one with the problem! This year as my girls have gotten a little bigger I have been trying to put more responsibilities on them, they are in charge of cleaning their own bathrooms. I showed them how to do it, and then I have them check in with me when they are done so I can check their work. They have actually been doing a great job, it's good for them to be responsible, and it has taken a big thing off my plate! I know I need to continue giving up some control to find that balance at home!
In my classroom, students can take more responsibility by getting their materials for labs, cleaning up those materials, asking peers for assistance before coming to me, ensuring there is more student voice during lessons and activities than teacher voice, etc. In my personal life, being okay with things being done differently than I would do them and also at different times. I have an adult son with non-visible special needs. One way I have been able to find more balance is giving him tasks to complete but giving him a more open time frame. For example, instead of telling him to cut the grass today, I will say things like, "Hey, can you make sure the grass gets cut before Friday?". This works for his brain - choice and deadline at the same time. This works for me because the task gets completed and its not on my list of things to do.
ReplyDeleteAs a school nurse at an elementary school, I don't have an traditional classroom but there's a few aspects of my health office that helps it be "self-running". Most students know that they need to ask me, but they can help themselves to extra jackets, gloves, and hats if they need to borrow some. I also have a few students that often forget their snacks, and they know where in my office to get them. My office is also organized and they can easily get kleenexes, bandaids, lotion, etc. This all helps free my time and attention to giving students medication, calling parents, or triaging students as they come in.
ReplyDeleteAt home, I try to have some tasks for my kids to help it self-running, but I still have to give reminders. They are great at accomplishing the tasks when they do it, but I wish that I didn't have to remind them so often. They will forget or continue to try to put it off. But my kids are great at picking up on my mood, and when I seem stressed they will quickly jump in to help.
I feel I already do a good job with a self-running classroom because I have a job for each student in my class. I have a bulletin board with jobs listed on a pocket and students name on a popsicle stick in each pocket. Every week I rotate the sticks and they get a new job. They love this! In my personal life my kids help out as well. They have a chore chart where they have to complete one chore a day. They also help out with dishes and clean up after themselves when they make a mess. I could ask them to help out more often to take some stress of my everyday tasks though too.
ReplyDeleteI think there are a couple of things I could do to make my classroom more self-running. One is to figure out a better system for when I have students returning from being absent. I loved the idea from the author about putting a student in charge of filling the other student in on what they missed, but I think I could also create a "What Did I Miss?" Station. This could have any materials the student missed along with a short description of what we did in class. I could put a student in charge of writing the description each day. Another thing I would like to try is having more of my work be self-assessed by students. Even with essays, I think I will try having students score themselves first before I score them. If they scored themselves the same as I would score them, I wouldn't have to do as much work while I'm grading them.
ReplyDeleteAt home, I could definitely get my children doing laundry. I am responsible for 99% of the laundry right now, and there is no reason that my kids (15, 13, 11) couldn't do their own. That would free up a ton of time for me to do other things!
I teach small reading groups throughout the day (each group is about 30 minutes). Because the routine is similar each day, the students know what is expected of them. The students come in, quickly find their seats, and we get rolling. During writing time, each student has a role to pass out certain materials--this allows us to waste very little time and get as much instructional time as possible. I would like to start incorporating more "independent goal setting". This will allow students to take more ownership of their reading progress. When this becomes more natural for the students, it will help to save time during student-teacher check-ins.
ReplyDeleteAt home, I can definitely delegate more household tasks to both my husband and my son. As FTB pointed out, I have a tendency to do things "my way", because I feel like I complete them "better". (ie--laundry, vacuuming, etc.). My goal is to ask each of them to complete something on my to-do list each day. This not only helps me, but it will also help create responsibility within my son. Hopefully after this becomes a part of the household routine, I will have less on my daily "plate" and the household will run more smoothly.
The idea of a self-running classroom is something I have been thinking about a lot recently. I teach Spanish which feels like a very teacher-directed subject for the learning part, especially because they won’t really speak much Spanish if I don’t continually request them to. However, I plan to build new routines next year to allow the students to take on more of the workload. I imagine it being more teacher-centered at the beginning of the year as I teach them the routines and then transition to more student-centered. I am also thinking of incorporating jobs, even though I teach middle school and it might be a bit trickier to organize. My hope is that the technology will function better so they can have their independent study online, coupled with some whole-group speaking exercises every day. We play lots of games and once they learn how to play they do a good job at leading the activities themselves. They also plan and make lessons for younger students which is definitely student-centered. At home, I try to find any opportunity for my toddler to “help me”. Even if she’s actually making it more work for me, she enjoys “helping” and it is good for her to practice taking responsibility. I love the idea the author shared of having her put the clothes away at such a young age so that it becomes a part of her routine early on in life.
ReplyDeleteI think it really all boils down to communication. Making sure that your students and/or coworkers are aware of what the expectations are. If unsure, being comfortable to have conversation about it and make sure everyone is on the same page. Also as a teacher, you have to be ok knowing that there are multiple ways to do the same thing and "your way" isn't the only way. Allowing people to have the capacity to bring forth their ideas and talents is going to open up doors for them and you. In personal life, much the same way as teaching in that making sure communication is happening in regard to what the end goal is. Being a team player at home is going to help accomplish all the required tasks.
ReplyDeleteEstablishing routines for your students from day one helps create a self-running classroom. This gives students more responsibility and they enjoy having jobs in Kindergarten. They love to help out the teacher and their classmates. It makes them feel important and helpful. If students know what the expectations are each day there are less behavior issues. I go over our schedule during morning meeting each day so they know what to expect. Students love routines and when things change it throws them off a little bit. I try to keep my routines and schedule the same from day to day.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal life I try to create a self-running home. This is easier said than done. My daughters do their own laundry and are expected to keep their rooms picked up and clean. This helps me out a ton. They are also expected to empty the dishwasher when needed. Little chores around the house that are taken off my plate help to create a self-running home. We are all so busy and if we all help out it keeps our house clean and running smoothly.
A self running classroom is a great idea. I believe with routines in the preschool classroom, this is possible. A goal in my classroom is to create more independence and awareness in my students. There are a few things that I want them to be able to do on their own but the concept of extending to more responsibilities can work but would need to be implemented and modeled extensively. Establishing more jobs in the classroom, could be a start to this.
ReplyDeleteI REALLY struggle to let go of the superhero syndrome at home. I tend to get worked up if things aren't done the way I expect them to be done. I have never related to a chapter more. I am tired, overwhelmed, and overstimulated. I want to create more of a balance for myself and let go of that perfection. I like the idea of thinking about who notices the little things. If it's only me then can I let it go? I have slowly started to let the reins go in our household but I do feel like I need to communicate with my family that they need to be able to see that things need to be done. I don't want to have to delegate. I think discussing what we are all capable of doing and playing on our strengths could help.
How can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? (If you are an administrator, how you can create more of a self-running school by giving staff more responsibility?) In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home?
ReplyDeleteAt school, I try to let the students (8th graders) do lots are their own. They run errands to the office and are trusted to walk to the BR on they own. I still have a hard time with letting them take control of their of learning. I want to lead them, not let them explore for answers.
At home, I try to have our home run 50/50. Some days I am very successful, and some days, not so much.
I believe it's possible to have a self-running classroom if routine is established from day 1. Many students are happy to help out where they can in the classroom, so I believe showing them what your expectations look like and sound like will be a good start to having a self-running classroom. There may be a day or two in which you have to visit expectations, but I believe it's possible as long as you give the students the tools.
ReplyDeleteIn the library, it is pretty self-running. When I teach lessons though, I definitely take on all of the instruction. Before teaching a database lesson I could have the instruction to the class be to get logged in and find an article on UFOs using a database. This will get students exploring rather than sitting there waiting for everyone to get their computers out and going, something to write with, etc. Minds will be activated!
ReplyDeleteAt home I very much need to work on this. With young kids sometimes I end up doing too much for them with the idea that I need to to get out of the house on time. I need to MAKE time for them to take the time needed to get themselves dressed, etc.
As I was reading this chapter, I was trying to come up with different ways to give more responsibility to students in the band room. After an afternoon of 3 different grade levels moving chairs, stands, and instruments, my room can be quite different than it was before my first class. I think that my last class of the afternoon could be responsible for picking up any pencils on the floor/stands, resetting chairs into rows, picking up any extra books or music left on stands, and percussionists can cover their instruments and make sure everything is put away in the cabinets.
ReplyDeleteI know that keeping a clean house is not my strong suit. I've been experimenting with how to make it easier for me, and not get completely out of hand. Cleaning every room feels too overwhelming, so I started scheduling which area of the house to clean each week. That way, at least once a month, every area is getting at least a little bit of attention. This will hopefully save me from having to all of a sudden rush to get the whole place tidy.
How can you create more of a self-running classroom by giving students more responsibility? (If you are an administrator, how you can create more of a self-running school by giving staff more responsibility?) In your personal life, how can you create more of a self-running home?
ReplyDeleteIt's all about transfer of responsibility. In the classroom, I really liked the idea of an IT team. So often, I have to pause a lesson when someone says they can't log into the textbook website or some other issue. Their password was saved and it's "not working." 90% of the time, no matter the issue, I ask, "Have you tried restarting your computer?" and it's fixed. I think that could save me a lot of multi-tasking and being pulled in different directions in the high school classroom.
At home, I know I need to transfer more housework to the kids. It's a lot of work up front to teach them when I'd really rather sit and zone out while they go play upstairs for 30 minutes, but it'd pay off in the long run.
I could have done better in this aspect. Many students love to help out teachers and be an assistant. For those who did not want to I offered it as extra credit. Having students who arrived first in class hand out materials, write instructions neatly on the board. Some students love technology so I had them set up the video and move it to the section we needed to watch. I used to teach a Basic Chemistry class to IEP students. While taking notes they loved to highlight and we would learn how to highlight key words. The students would take turns handing out the highlighters at the beginning of class.
ReplyDeleteThere were a few students who loved to come in before or after school and help me set up labs. If they listened carefully and handled chemicals and glass they way they were assigned they received bonus extra credit for being safe.
At home just having my boys clean up after themselves was a huge bonus. This wasn't always so easy. They always were in a hurry and forgetful. We have a son with autism. The structure was amazing. His room always looked better than anyone else.
The superhero syndrome at times would set in at home. This can be a tough one but it didn't take long to realize the anxiety this lead to.
I am excited for the next school year and giving my kids more opportunities to share in the responsibilities in our classroom. I have a multi-grade situation so making an IT team will be helpful if I use older students to trouble shoot for the younger students when learning the ins and outs of technology. There are several other teams I am also pondering. I already have a payment system set up in my room and love the idea, of being hired, fired, promoted, transferred, or applying for a new job. What a great real world experience.
ReplyDeleteBeing an empty nester my home life is not nearly as busy. I have been able to adopt my father's quote of "There's always tomorrow" I no longer worry if things get a little untidy. I have been working on downsizing and freeing myself of unwanted and unused things, this is so freeing! I really want to declutter my classroom as there are things in the cupboards from the beginning of time!
I think since I am older taking time to enjoy a cup of coffee on my porch just comes easier these days. Don't let life go by so fast, take the time to enjoy it.