Classroom Managment Observations in an AP Classroom

In Ms. ELA’s AP Literature class, classroom management is more about developing a reflective nature in her students than directly interfering during off task behavior. This is in line with her overall teaching approach for this class. Students are part of making decisions regarding reading material and deadlines and then asked to reflect on their decisions and how it affected their work. I have seen these conversations in other classes. The reasoning for this approach Ms.ELA explains as a response to the fact that students had to sign up for this class. It is the only AP Literature class and about 10 students dropped the class in the first week. The students that remain want to be there and are continually asked to show that.

This classroom management culture was evident as the class split into two groups to work on a project related to The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. To receive one of their speaking and listening grades for semester (ohhh hi Common Core), students would stage a faux court case taking the roles of lawyers and witnesses. The class did not have a ‘do now’ or anything to really signify the beginning of class. This is in contrast to Ms.ELA’s other non AP classes which always a have a ‘do now’. I believe she does not do something like this as religiously for her AP class because she expects better behavior for them. For the most part she is right. They are pretty well behaved even though they are often off task. The class started with a discussion on attendance. It was filled in through a program set up by the school on her classroom computer. About 6 students were absent because they were on a field trip to URI. They were all from the same group. From that group there was palpable fear. How could they possibly practice as much as the other group? An absent student had all the work they’d done! She decided their group would have an extra day to work. It almost affected the level of fear in the group.

To start the academic work, Ms.ELA had the class break into their groups. She spent the first half of the class working with the group that had all its members present. She was helping them solidify their roles in the court case and helping them to flesh out their argument by citing the text. During this time the other group was not making any of their own progress and Ms.ELA was not addressing that. When she began working with the group missing students the first group began having conversations about their cousins and babies and weddings in a really obvious way. They weren’t loud but they weren’t trying to hide their conversation. She did not admonish them until it was time for the groups to check in within each other. She was calm but made statements like:

“Why weren’t you looking at this passage?”

“I don’t understand why you can’t put this together.”

Students responded with statements like:

“We should have been finding it miss.”

“Sorry miss. We’re procrastinating."

At one point during this class a student asked if they could go to the bathroom but it was too close to the end of the class. This was a school policy that prohibited students from going to the bathroom 10 minutes at the beginning of class or 10 minutes at the end.

I believe the way Ms.ELA conducts her classroom management is yielding some of the desired results. She is trying to have her students be cognisant of their learning processes. Acknowledging their shortcomings and areas that need improvement is the first part to fixing the problem. Ms.ELA comments that these students want to go to college next year, they won’t have someone collecting drafts or setting up checkpoints. I hope they develop the habits she is working to instill in them.