BY LINDA CASTILLO If I have a pencil sharpening procedure will the classroom have fewer distractions?

Introduction I began this assignment by speaking with my third grade mentor teacher. I explained that the purpose of this assignment is to identify a problem that could be either academically related or behavior related within her classroom. I explained that based on the identified problem, I would collect classroom data, develop an action plan, implement the plan, and collect data once again. After a couple days of classroom observation, I decided that there needed to be a pencil sharpening procedure. I came to this decision after seeing students get out of their seats numerous times to sharpen their pencils whether it was needed or not.

Literature Review Wong, H. (n.d.). How to effectively manage your classroom. Retrieved from ages/SuccessfulTeaching.pdf This article discusses Harry Wong’s thoughts on how to effectively manage your classroom. The key to a successful classroom is to have routines and procedures in place according to Harry Wong. The article says when implementing a procedure, in this case we will use a pencil sharpening procedure as the example, you cannot simply just say this is how we are going to do it. You must clearly define the procedure, demonstrate, model the procedure, and allow for questions. The article goes on to say that you must teach the procedure, rehearse the procedure until it becomes a student routine, and most importantly reinforce the procedures. You must give corrective feedback so that the students know your expectations as well as acknowledge when students follow the procedure correctly.

Literature Review Burke, K. (n.d.). Retrieved from classroom-procedures-before-school-starts.html The article, Determine Classroom Procedures Before School Starts made some important points. It begins by asking, “If a student gets up to sharpen his pencil while you are teaching, is that all right with you? “ It’s very important that you must set your routines and procedures in place in order for students to meet your expectations. The article talks about how setting and practicing procedures early on in the beginning of the school year is a time saving strategy in the long run. The article provides a list of procedures and asks you think about which of these your students will need to know and practice. For example, one of those procedures is how and when do students sharpen pencils? Most importantly this article says that setting up routines and procedures allows you to focus on teaching and students to focus on learning.

Literature Review Kode, K. (2012, 08). 5 keys to effective classroom management. Retrieved from MID/821/ArticleID/187/5-Keys-to-Effective-Classroom-Management.aspx The focus of this article is the importance of the decisions you make as a teacher on how to manage your classroom. It talks about five key principles that will help any grade level and all teaching styles. The principles are; consider your teaching style and preference, keep it simple, incorporate positive reinforcement, make simple changes first, and start now. The article asks, “Should students be able to get up to sharpen their pencils whenever necessary or only at specified times?” If the answer is no, then a procedure must be set in place since day one. Overall, the article explains that you should use a management style that fits your teaching style and think about how you want your classroom to run. You should keep procedures and rules simple and they should be worded in a positive manner. Most importantly rules and procedures should be put in place immediately and students should be held accountable for your expectation in the classroom on day one. This will show students that rules and procedures are important and will be enforced immediately.

Methodology Before implementing the procedure, I tracked how often students got out of their desks and recorded my data on a tally chart. I tracked how often students asked for a pencil because they actually needed one. This data was collected on Wednesdays and Thursdays, twice a day, during mid- morning and after lunch. Implemented following procedure:  At the beginning of the day I will hand out a brand new sharpened pencil to  each student.  When they line up for recess, each student will turn in their pencil to me as they head out the door. (will be kept in a container)  When students return back from lunch, I will hand out a pencil to each which will be freshly sharpened (by me).  At the end of the day, I will pick up pencils as they head out the door for the day. (pencils will be re-sharpened at this time) After implementing the procedure I tracked how often a student asked for a pencil because they actually needed one. This data was collected on Wednesdays and Thursdays, twice a day, during mid- morning and after lunch.

Data Table and Analysis

How was the data analyzed? Tallies will be collected and will be used to compare between the data before implementing the procedure and the data after implementing the procedure. How was the data presented? The data will be presented on a double line graph and two bar graphs.

Findings from Data Analysis What do you know from what you did? I have found that if you have sharpened pencils readily available then there will be fewer distractions such as students getting out of their seats during instruction time. What have you learned that you did not know? I learned that students actually like procedures. Once I introduced the pencil sharpening procedure, the students would ask me things such as; is it time to turn in our pencils and are we following this procedure every day? The students seemed excited What was unexpected? I did not expect for the students to willingly follow this procedure that was not coming from their teacher. I also did not expect for the students be excited to follow a procedure. The students did not seem to be bothered by not being allowed to get up to sharpen a pencil themselves. Were your hypotheses supported? Why, why not? Yes, my hypotheses was supported because once I created a pencil sharpening procedure the classroom had fewer distractions. Students were not getting up during instruction to cause a distraction.

Conclusion After conducting this research, I learned a few things. First, I learned that if you do not have structure, even for the simplest of things, the classroom can be distracted quiet easily. I also found out that students actually want structure and procedure. I believe that the data presented in the graphs can certainly reinforce these statements. In comparison to the before procedure bar graph, the amount of times students were out of their seats dropped to at least half once a procedure was set in place, which is represented in the after procedure bar graph. This is also apparent on the double line graph. Overall, my conclusions bring me to believe two things. First, when there is lack of procedure, distractions occur. Second, taking the time to implement a procedure can make a difference in your classroom. Therefore, we should take the time we may feel we cannot spare to create structure and procedure. In the end, the time we took benefitted the classroom as there were fewer distractions which allowed for more instruction time and meaningful learning.

Implications The knowledge I have gained from this research has proven to me the importance of classroom management. I have read articles on classroom management but being able to implement a procedure in a real classroom makes it even more concrete for me. After I put this procedure in place during my first rotation, I was not sure if my mentor teacher would keep it. A couple weeks later I had the opportunity to go back and visit with my third grade classroom and to my surprise I found that my mentor teacher had kept the procedure in place. This and my data has proven to me that it is worthwhile to take that extra time to set up rules and procedure in the classroom. For my future classroom, I will make sure to have procedures set in place because I have been able to see the implications from having and not having them in place.