Today during my visit to the Middle School, I had the opportunity to observe the students during an atypical school day and school week. Firstly, the regular classroom teacher was absent, secondly, the students had pictures during class time, and thirdly, this week is a short week for the students due to conferences and the state basketball tournament. These changes to the regular routine were reflected in the behavior of the students. I tried to observe as many of the management strategies that I could as this will be a situation I will likely encounter as a future educator.I was also anxious to see how the teacher would handle some of the off the wall behaviors that I encountered.
The class began with a poll to determine what activity would be done for the day and the students decided they would play "Capture the Flag." After the class got the activity set up, the instructor blew his whistle and the game began. However, the game did not begin with much energy or enthusiasm. In fact, few students even attempted to capture the flag. This was remedied with teacher motivation (Come on guys, let's go! Pick up the pace! etc.). After the energy level of the students increased, so did the behavioral mishaps. In fact, one of the students ran to the other side of the gym to capture the flag screaming as a means of distracting the other team. He then dropped to the floor and rolled across the gym. In this instance, even the teacher had to laugh.
Overall, I found that when the students are feeling particularly distracted, it is important for the instructor to remain focused, keep the class focused, and roll with the punches.
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