Reflection on First Observation

February 22- Today was my first observation at my designated school. I have worked with the teacher previously last semester so I think I can say that I am beginning to build a special relationship with the students. The students themselves from this classroom are students with discipline and behavioral problems. There are perhaps only two that don't necessarily step out of this box but maintain rather a calmer behavior compared to the rest that is. The atmosphere of the classroom today was a bit hectic. We came in and Mrs. M gave out a red card to D. He had been disrupting the class for a while so the teacher felt it was necessary to change his yellow card to a red one. In terms of classroom management, the system that Mrs. M works with is a behavior chart with cards labeled and colored as green, yellow, red. A green card shows that the student is showing acceptable behavior, the students aim for maintaining their green cards throughout the day. A yellow card means a warning, it shows that the student has disrupted the classroom and should be more careful of his behavior. A red card shows the student has exceeded disruptions and that a note to his/her parents will be sent. Each student has a composition notebook in which Mrs. M notes particular comments on his/her behavior for that day. She might write positive feedback praising a student or if the student received a red card she might write about this. Personally, I think this system works to a certain extent. While it does remind students of their behavior and allows to self-monitor, at the same time it allows students to have chances to make these disruptions. The students in the past have received plenty of red cards and these same students haven't really made an effort to change their behavior, so in terms of how effective it is, I would say that it is not so effective. This made me aware of problems that I myself might face as a teacher. How would I deal with students who constantly disrupt instruction time? Will writing notes to parents alter their behavior or would that just make it worse? I haven't found answers to these questions yet but I have, from observing my classroom, considered them and thought about possible solutions. I think in my classroom I want to set high expectations and I will set them from the very beginning of the school year, I will remind them constantly and I will want to have effective consequences for expectations not met. At the same time, I do want to create a strong bond with my children, perhaps this bond will help me understand them and help them respect me as a teacher.