Blog Entry 6: March 8, 2018
Response: Teacher interview- classroom managment
Part I: Summary of the interview information /data
I interviewed Mrs. Deana Mafua, who teaches third grade at Caleb Greenwood elementary school. This school is part of the Sacramento City Unified School District, and is a small middle school with about 450 students. Caleb Greenwood is an International Baccalaureate school, and has a curriculum that emphasizes global connections and international thinking. Class size is limited to 24 students, and teachers develop most of their own curriculum or purchase commercial packets. The number of boys and girls in Mrs. Mafua’s class is roughly equal (13/11) and students are dominantly white. Roughly one third qualify for lunch support, so this is a relatively affluent neighborhood. There were no African American students and four Hispanic students in Mrs. Mafua’s class, and she commented on how “white” they are. She has one ESL student and three who are receiving special tutoring as part of IEP or counselling agreements. Four boys have diagnosed ADHD and an additional boy is being evaluated. In general this is a high performing, well-behaved classroom. Last year Mrs. Mafua’s class scored highest in the district on third grade common core math tests. She has taught for 18 years, and I appreciated the opportunity to ask her some questions.
Mrs. Mafua does not use a particular approach to classroom management, but her class is very well controlled. She achieves this by involving students in classroom management. Each year she starts by having the class create their own set of rules. This takes up to three weeks, and when she is done the class has ownership of the rules. She carefully guides them toward a democratic and inclusive environment, it looks like a great way to keep order in a classroom. Mrs. Mafua prefers third graders, although she has also taught fourth, fifth and sixth grades. She said that she prefers this age group because they are inquisitive and independent, without some of the attitude that comes with older adolescents.
We talked about social and emotional needs of this age group, and she told me about her classroom management strategy. She puts desks in groups of four, and has a careful plan for each group. Stronger students are paired with weaker students, and problem students are separated. She moves students between groups frequently, and it didn’t seem like a big deal to students when it happened. I observed the class, and students seemed motivated and on-task. There was a high level of cooperation and participation. I think her careful use of groups is one of the main reasons for her success with student discipline and classroom management. She also has a positive method of reminding students to stay on task, and issues a series of simple, gentle prompts when someone’s attention wanders.
We talked briefly about Common Core and testing, but she seemed more interested in telling me about the social and developmental side of teaching. The constraints that many teachers feel with Race To The Top (RTTP) and teaching to the test (Koch, p. 120) were not issues for her. She has a very high-performing class, and can take time to work with the handful of students who have learning problems. She doesn’t have much conflict in this class, but we did talk about her experiences in an Oak Park City School. This is a rough neighborhood, and she told stories about evacuating the classroom during fights and middle school students with terrible home lives. She seems like a very inclusive teacher, and I get the feeling she has the best interests of each student in mind.
We also touched on the environment or climate of a school, and Mrs. Mafua mentioned how important it is to have the support of the Principal. She said that Caleb Greenwood has a great Principal who is a good communicator. This theme of communication also came up with classroom communication and working with parents. Mrs. Mafua works hard to include parents in the educational process, and this includes emails, hard copy notes each week and a regular system for turning in homework.
When I asked Mrs. Mafua about her hardest management issue, she said it was “saying no”. She likes to use a positive approach, and it isn’t natural for her to say no to students. She said that she often delays a decision instead of saying no.
Part II: Interview Opinion and Reflection
The part of the interview that interested me the most was Mrs. Mafua’s description of how the class developed their own rules. They started on the first day of class, and over a three week period refined the rules until they had agreement from everyone. Mrs. Mafua told me that this democratic approach is essential for getting students involved with the rules, and mentioned that the students even police themselves and remind each other when someone misbehaves. I was surprised how long this took, but she insisted that time invested at the beginning of the year pays off later when you need students to work independently. I don’t think I would have spent this much time creating the classroom rules, but the results speak for themselves. Mafua’s approach to classroom discipline and establishing the rules was completely new to me, and I think it will change the way I teach.
I watched the class do several exercises, and saw third grade students working with each other to solve problems. Mrs. Mafua used direct instruction to focus student attention and start exercises, but there are elements of project-based learning and problem solving (Koch, p. 116-117) in many of her assignments. Mrs. Mafua also uses differentiated instruction (Koch, p. 114), although she did not call it this. She designs special projects for learners with different abilities, and everything from the seating arrangement to the homework is customized for some students. I was impressed by the amount of time she spent with some students.
The one thing that discouraged me was watching third grade teachers developing their own curriculum. I’m a new teacher, and I don’t even have lesson plans ready. I was counting on established textbooks and help with lesson plans to get started, and I don’t think I will have time to develop every shred of the curriculum by myself. This issue might be enough to make me look at a different school when I’m looking for jobs. I’m going to have a lot of trouble developing exercises for every Common Core standard, and I don’t want to do this by myself.
When I finished the interview, Mrs. Mafua gave me some great advice. I asked her what she would tell a new teacher, and she said “Get control of your class first, then teach”. This makes sense on several scales, from developing the class rules at the beginning of the year to introducing the next lesson.
Reference:
Koch, J., (2014), Teach, Wadworth, Bellmont, CA 210 p.
Send problems/comments/suggestions to: tcHorner@csuchico.edu
All blog entries are the property and personal opinions of Tim Horner, and may be shared with appropriate credit.