The first days of the school year are important; it’s a time
to get to know your students and to let your students know you. During the
first days of school it's important to set the classroom guidelines, and rules.
It's the beginning of a new year, new students, and new personalities. During
these few first days it's important to set yourself as the authority figure in the
classroom. In First Days of School
Wong states that "What you do on the first day of school will determine
your success for the rest of the year. You will either win or lose your class
on the first days of school." Whatever you decide to do on those first
days of school will shape your classroom for the rest of the year. If you
establish a poor authority figure and inconsistency then you are going to have
a hard time engaging your students and enforcing the rules in your classroom.
However if you start off the year being consistent and establish and enforce the
rules in your classroom then it will be easier to keep your students engaged and
on task. But what happens when these first days for you happen in the middle of
the year instead of at the beginning of the year. How do you establish yourself
as the authority figure in the classroom after the students have already had a different
authority figure for half of the year? As a student teacher this is something
that I struggled with when I first began to take over the classroom.
When I began my school year with these students they knew me
as the student teacher who would eventually take over the classroom. I was a
second authority figure in the classroom, I helped managed the classroom, and I
assisted students when they needed help. My cooperating teacher asked the students
to treat me with the same respect that they would treat her, which they did. When
I finally took over the classroom second semester the students were used to me
being in the classroom but not to me teaching them for more than a couple of
days. Most students were respectful, and they treated me like the authority
figure. But they still looked to my CT as the main authority in the classroom
for simple things such as passes to the restroom, tardies, questions about
their grades, and questions about the work they were assigned. I also had the
occasional students that decided to not listen to my directions. A couple of students didn't take me serious,
they didn't listen when I told them to put their phones away, they would talk
while I gave directions, or they would just ignore anything that I told them to
do. These problems occurred when my CT was not in the room, when she was in the
room I didn't have these problems because the students were still looking to
her as the authority and since they didn't do that when she taught they didn't do
it when she as in the room, but as soon as she stepped out of the room the
problems occurred. As Student teachers and sometimes even as first year teachers
I think that we want to be nice, be on the students good side, we want to be
the "cool" teacher; but that isn't something that is going to lead to
a productive classroom. As Wong states "The only way to improve student
learning is to improve teacher instructional practice," we need to be the
authority and shy away from trying to be the students' friend.
What helped me establish myself as the authority figure in
the classroom is that my CT was gone a couple of days for trainings, due to the
fact that she was not in the classroom I was forced to establish the rules.
Being the only consistent authority figure in the classroom I was able to come
across as the main authority figure. Now I have no problem addressing any
problems or distractions in the classroom. The students also treat me as the
main authority figure in the classroom. They no longer act out when she leaves
the classroom, and if they have any questions or concerns they come to me
instead of pestering my CT when she is busy doing other work. Her being out of
the room helped me become more comfortable with disciplining the classroom and
taking control of it. My question for my fellow classmates is how did you
establish yourself as an authority figure in your classroom? Did you have any
problems when you began to take on the teacher role in the classroom?
References
Wong,
Harry K., and Rosemary T. Wong. The First Days of School: How to Be an
Effective Teacher.Second ed. Print.
