The Big 8 of Classroom Engagement & Management
o Identify each area of the Big 8, describe in, and give two examples of each that can be used in the classroom to both increase student engagement and classroom management.
Journal Entries/Reflection
o Students will reflect on how their management approach went in the practicum classroom each week. Included will be what went well, one area/skill could be improved or worked on, and how the improvement goal went from last week. With the goal of small, intentional adjustments by the teacher, the journal is added to each week to help reflect on each teachers’ management growth and journey. Three times throughout the semester, students will reflect on if they are making intentional adjustments and where they might need to make a more concentrated effort and/or where more support from the professor or mentor teacher is needed to continue to improve.
Management Expectations in a Lesson Plan
o Students will take one of the first lesson plans they planned and taught in the practicum and highlight where management expectations should be included, how those should be communicated, and the importance of planning for management when planning content, instructional strategies, and learning activities.
Procedures in the Classroom
o Students will identify classroom procedures that would need to be taught to children, explain how those would be taught to children, and what the importance of those procedures would be in the classroom.
Classroom Rules & Consequences
o Students will create a list of potential classroom rules and include what both the positive and negative consequences would be for those rules.
Classroom Arrangement
o Students will plan and practice arranging the classroom in a way that would limit disruptions and increase the learning environment.
Attention Signals
o Students will identify effective attention signals to use in their practicum classrooms.
Professionalism & Communication with Parents
o Students will identify and plan for ways to communicate with parents in positive, transparent, and effective ways, with the goal to help each child succeed.
Team Building
o Students identify and share different ideas to build a positive classroom climate through class team building activities.
Discipline Policy
o Research what the discipline policy is in a district or school.
Motivational Activities & Engagement Strategies
o Reflect on what motivates the students in your practicum classroom and plan specific engagement strategies that would be effective to both motivate and engage children in learning different academic concepts.
Management Plan
o Student will compile what they have learned about effectively managing children in a classroom into one final plan.
Teaching Video Demonstration #1 and #2
o Students film themselves teaching a lesson to their practicum classroom, review it for what went well and where improvement can be made, reflect on goals that can be set, and share it with their professor for further feedback.
Disposition Self-Assessments
o Students fill out a dispositions report on themselves in the practicum setting with children at least twice throughout the course.
PLC Attendance
o Students attend and participate in at least one professional learning community meeting with their assignment practicum grade level team.
Mentor Observations
o Mentors observe and give specific feedback to students on lessons taught in the practicum setting. Students then reflect on both the lesson taught and the feedback and set goals.
Practicum Timesheet
o Students submit a timesheet, signed by their mentor teacher, that shows how much time was spent in the practicum setting.
Practicum Lesson Plans
o Students turn in and get feedback weekly from professors on the lesson plans submitted throughout the semester before teaching the lesson plans to children.
Final Reflection Paper
o Students reflect on their experiences in the practicum setting, including management strategies and adjustments throughout the year, and reflect on what went well, what they could do differently to improve, and how they will use what was learned to improve teaching strategies/approaches in the future.