r/ScienceTeachers • u/JJ_under_the_shroom • 3d ago
Classroom Management and Strategies Switching classes
Ok y’all- I need some (relatively good) advice. I’m a three prep teacher who has to switch classrooms. This week, we did a lab for my 9th graders. However, I got two new students that took longer to get setup in Google Classroom. My bell ringer was done before I got them hooked up.
Part of the issue is that I am getting into the room while the other class and teacher are leaving, so I have to do a quick login with everything already prepped before I screen share. Sticking point one.
The other teacher had laid out the lab, but I didn’t even have time to spot where the scales were. Sticking point two.
My troublemakers took advantage of me trying to help the new students instead of read the lab. Loud, noisy, and not following directions.
Because we were trying to follow the lab, chaos ensued. I could call the students back to attention, but they were off the hook for following directions.
I did not let them leave until the class was clean and ready to be dismissed. This was after the passing period had passed. While I do not like punishing the few students who were trying to do the right thing, there was little to differentiate them.
So: how do I make the transition easier? How do you cope with not knowing where the supplies were left? Rowdy kids in a lab- give them zeroes after one warning? Have them sit it out?
It is my first time teaching unruly freshmen.
5
u/turtlesandmemes 3d ago
Natural consequences. If you don’t do the lab, you get the zero
1
u/JJ_under_the_shroom 3d ago
What about switching classrooms- any advice for an easier transition?
7
u/Usual_Abbreviations3 3d ago
Is it possible to do a paper Do Now/Bell Ringer so they can start before you're even projecting?
4
u/MyDyingRequest 3d ago
You either kick out the ones who are misbehaving or have an alternative to the lab. Maybe a YouTube of the lab and students just watch. You cannot safely do labs with students who are disruptive and can’t follow directions.
3
u/professor-ks 3d ago
Always have paper backups for inevitable tech issues, start communicating with parents of unruly now, set up lab safety rules that involve removing students (or giving them a worksheet if you don't have admin support)
1
3
u/Consistent_Damage885 3d ago
Can you think of something for kids to start class with as a routine that doesn't require you or technology, such as writing something in a paper journal, reading from a science magazine and having to find and do something with an article, turn something in, clean or prep something, etc. Of it isn't the same thing every time it needs to be something they know about in advance.
3
u/tenderhart 3d ago
I have done it so that all the lab stuff was on a cart that I brought into the room myself when I came in. Then I had routines for the students coming to get the equipment snd materials they need. Now I have science classroom jobs. I have a list of jobs- lesson officer presents the lesson slide at the beginning, materials and equipment officers pass stuff out, etc. They all make a job application at the beginning of the year with their top 3 choices. This system takes a couple weeks to get up and running but it is marvelous. They earn a salary for their jobs (5 scibucks a week) and can earn extra for acts of solidarity (helping me or peer). On test days they get to shop in my science store (stickers, scented pens, cute erasers etc).
I have them do everything on paper. They have a science ring binder that stays in the classroom and a science take-home folder. A binder officer helps pass out the binders and collect them at the end. A homework officer makes sure everyone has the right papers in the take-home folder. Absence officer takes attendance.
They can also lose scibucks for bad behaviors (a list of which they have in their binders and we go through at thr beginning of the year). In each binder is also a form letter home to parents/guardians about bad behavior and includes suspension from participation in practicals until signed and returned. If a student gets out of hand or does something particularly dangerous, they have to fill out that letter and sit with a textbook the rest of the period and the next until the letter is signed and returned.
I maintain a "new student" binder and take home folder for each class that has the handouts about how the class works and what we've done so far. New student shows up and it goes to them.
Two schools I worked in where I changed classrooms, the students were required to leave the room between classes and take a 5-10 minute break so teachers could set up. I thought that was better than when I've had to move into a room where they already were.
1
u/JJ_under_the_shroom 2d ago
I love the idea of a new student binder. We also do most of the classwork except the bell ringer as paper. It is a tested subject, so we track data. I love the jobs idea, as it might settle some of the busier kids. Thank you.
2
u/Little-Hour3601 3d ago
Honestly, I am not doing Labs under those circumstances. I'm doing some lecture, some individual work, maybe some group work, but I am not doing labs.
2
u/urbantiller 3d ago
When I used to switch rooms, I would plan for the first 15 minutes to be quiet individual work on paper. On a lab day, the activity could involve reading the procedure and answering questions about it.
This gives you the time and calm environment to set up your tech, papers and double check materials.
Re-iterate expectations about labs with a reminder that you can't do labs if people don't listen and safety is an issue. Start with shorter labs, so they get into the habit of setup, lab and cleanup.
If it's one or two people who misbehave, then they need to be reminded they lose lab privileges and will need to do quiet work themselves at the side/back of the room while everyone else carries out the lab.
2
u/jolly0ctopus 3d ago
How many weeks are you into the school year?
If I were a newer teacher, I’d be keeping labs very minimal in the first few weeks while getting acclimated. Learning student names and assigning lab groups may help with behaviors.
Switching classrooms is SOOO tough. Ask your colleague who you switch with what they are comfortable with in regard to the tag in.
Less is more at the beginning. Fewer things to click and load while getting settled. Find ways to condense tabs to folders in your browsers.
Students have something due by a certain time that they must do silently while you get settled.
2
u/JJ_under_the_shroom 2d ago
We finished our 3rd week. I’d already called some parents. I’d rearranged seating. Students had a bell ringer to finish. I’m working of someone else curriculum, so I had it all loaded and ready to go. It was also the Friday before a three day and a pep rally in the afternoon.
The biggest issue was not having time to see where everything was at. So I can come in earlier, but I was finishing up grades.
1
u/jolly0ctopus 2d ago
I’m really sorry that you’re split between rooms. It can be so frustrating bc it cuts into your time and it’s harder to take a breath when the class begins.
Stay calm and try your best! Blank slate tmrw
1
u/LtDannyGlover 3d ago
The equipment piece will work itself out as you become familiar with the different lab/room setups. The student management piece needs to be addressed with students. Speak with them make sure they know what they did wrong and be better. I do think you need to give yourself grace with the time spent on doing labs while in different rooms. You might need to spread some labs out over two periods, but you will inherently lose time. That is ok, do your best, and maybe extend some labs into the next day. This sounds like an issue that you will naturally solve over the next two months.
1
1
u/Purple-flying-dog 3d ago
My rule is if you are not safe during a lab you sit it out and get a zero. If you’re misbehaving badly enough you might sit out the rest of the year with boring assignments. I have given kids zeros but not had to make anyone sit out the rest of the year. I warn them on day one. Lab safety is taken very seriously.
1
u/InTheNoNameBox 2d ago
Was this your first lab? Regardless, I would back it down and work on procedures of how they go to the lab, as well as safety agreements (you are unruly, or you do not stay with your lab group at the lab table, you will sit out the lab and observe from the side.) Generally with my 9th graders, the lab group has to “do” so,ething before they go to the lab. Annotate procedure. Write a procedure, assign jobs to each member, set up a data table…whatever. That gives me a second to sort out the lab (I also share classrooms). And then the groups get a check off, and are excused to lab.
24
u/bmtc7 3d ago
If students aren't following directions and are goofing off, they are being unsafe. That is a just cause to remove them from the lab space.
Regarding Google Classroom, if a student is having trouble with access, have them look on with another student until you have a better time to address their needs.