Sara Zavadsky

ED 321 DDP Performance: Understanding the Role of Discipline in Creating a Positive Learning Environment Write a self-assessment in which you respond to the following prompts: 1. In assessing the challenges inherent in your classroom and in the planning of your lesson, describe how you applied the premise that discipline as a key factor in the teaching/learning process. 2. Describe the teaching instance from your video in which you saw yourself responding appropriately to a discipline issue, the implications of this for student learning, and the insights/ perspective you gained as a future middle school teacher. OR 3. Describe a teaching opportunity from your video in which you could have been more effective in dealing with a discipline issue, the implications of this for student learning, and the insights/ perspective you gained as a future middle school teacher.

When I was planning this lesson I knew that it was going to be a challenge to keep the students focused on my teaching before I let them get to the lab and measuring things. There were a lot of distractions on the students desks and I was planning on walking around the room a lot to ensure that I could see all the students and make sure that they were on task and not playing with all of the objects or the beam until we were ready as a class to move onto the lab. I knew that the students like to play with objects and that they get so excited about the lab so I tried to tell them that in a short time they will be able to measure all of the objects and get their share of practicing on the beam. I said the sooner I can get through this, the sooner they would be able to move onto the lab. This seemed to work pretty well, and most students did not get distracted by the beam and the objects that surrounded them. In the very beginning of this video you can see that I am talking with a group of four students at the front of the room. Todays lesson is on using the triple beam balance to practice measuring the mass of various objects, and the students must work with their table to accomplish the lab and learn together. When the students sit down at their desk , and before I even start teaching, I hear that group of four fighting with one another about where the balance should be placed on the table. The two girls are sitting on one side of the table across from the boys and they are arguing that the balance should be on their side, while the two boys are arguing that the balance should be facing them. I head over to their table and try to calm the students down. I let them explain to me why they are fighting and I try to ask them what they could do to solve the problem. Both sides give think of options and I let all of them share what they have come up with as possible solutions, of course each one thinks that there solution is the only way. I look at all of them and suggest that they just put the beam in the middle of the table and that way everyone will have to move to use the beam. I purposely do this because I know that the beam cannot go in the middle because it will not be on a flat surface, so I play dumb and then suggest another option and see what they have to say, and I make suggestions until they can all agree and have all chosen that that is the option that they are happy with. I think that the way that I handled the situation was pretty effective. By allowing the students to share their thoughts

Sara Zavadsky

and come up with ideas first and then hearing my ideas, they were able to all eventually settle on a solution. I think that if I would have walked over there and just took care of the solution by saying that the balance is going to face this way and that was final, and not have allowed them to work together to find a solution, I think that the entire hour they would have still fought with each other and nothing would have been accomplished. Working with the group and letting them problem solve might have taken some time away from my teaching and distracted me from the other students, but I do not think that I would have done it differently. I am glad that I was able to work through the problem with the students. I tried to look around the room while we were having our discussion just to make sure that the other students were all doing ok, but they were otherwise distracted in their own conversations and at the time I thought that it was ok for them to continue on with one another while I tried to work through this problem.