Day 3

After a great start to the year and having the opportunity to feature my new step chart I finally reached Day 3. Day 3 took place under hot 32 degree temperatures and immediately after Australia Day. The day was different to the first two days of the year and blogging now afterwards I didn't leave feeling like it was a job well done. On reflection there are two factors that I believe contributed to less peaceful classroom compared to earlier in the week.

Firstly, on the Tuesday I played musical chairs as I marked my role. This meant as I said each student's name they had to stand up and move to another table that had a spare chair at it. As a result students weren't sitting next to their friends who were likely to distract them. Because students were sitting next to other students who might distract them today there was slightly more silliness. Saying this I was still very happy with the amount of work they completed so perhaps I am worrying about nothing. However, tomorrow I plan to move the students around to avoid any issues.

Secondly, I started to teach a health unit named Decisions! Decisions! and I hit a brick wall with many of my students. We were sitting on the carpet discussing the groups students belong to and how they can influence each of them. During the discussion the students seemed slightly restless. I think this was a result of the amount of time required for the lesson. We were sitting for around 45mins. If I taught this lesson again I would either place it in the first session or break it into far smaller parts and require the students to move around throughout it.

Finally, I was disappointed to hear my students' behaviour was poor during their PE lesson with the specialist teacher. In my opinion this was a result of a very hot day and possibly me pushing them too hard with diagnostic testing.

In summary, during future lessons I am going to make sure students are seated appropriately around the classroom to set them up for success, be aware of the day I have planned to ensure it is not going to overwhelm them cognitively and plan activities that allow them to move around regularly.