Practical Application of Classroom Management

In my MT's classroom, she is quite firm with her rules and procedures with the students, which I believe is necessary in order to have consistency with them. However, earlier this week when she had to go to a workshop and a substitute teacher had to teach her 3rd grade class, she came back to school the following day with not so good news regarding her classroom's behavior in her absence. Her solution to the problem was to rearrange seating arrangement, and it worked! Because students had a new orientation in regards to the whole class, they were not as social with each other as in their previous table groups. In addition to this solution, my MT also spoke firmly but lovingly to her class. At the end of the day, she had to have a heart-to-heart talk with her class (because she will be absent again the next day and the same substitute teacher will be back). She stated her expectations for their behavior in her absence; she reinforced their ability to follow directions and be "mature" about it; she expressed to the whole class what she really felt: she was sad to leave them and loves them very much. It was a touching moment for my MT and her class. I was glad that I was there to witness all that

I think that what my MT did was fantastic! Rearranging the rooms was a physical response to classroom milieu, which is a big factor in classroom management. Also, the heart-to-heart talk with the class before she had to be absent again was a form of intrinsic motivation. I feel it was necessary for her to do that so that the students understood what's expected from them and how much their teacher loves them. It just shows that each classroom is like a family and my MT just taught her class the value of accountability and value, which I think was a great unplanned lesson for character education. When its my turn to have my own class, I will adapt that strategy of rearranging seats (because it's practical) and being honest to my class, which is just the right thing to do.