For
a class period we observed the class and kept track of when students were
on-task versus off-task and found the following data:
On this
particular day there were 25 students in class, and at the beginning of class
24 out of the 25, being 96% of the class were on-task, ready to start class. It
took only a minute or two before the whole class was prepared and ready to
start the activity for the day, but as seen by the data, the whole class (100%
of class) wasn’t recorded to be all on-task until 15 minutes into the class,
this being the most attentive time in class. This was when the whole class was
working on a problem given by the activity we were working on. The least
attentive point in class was at 1:57, so 45 minutes into class, where only 21
out of the 25 students, being 84% of the class was on-task, working on the
problem given by the activity.
I noticed
most students were on-task this particular day throughout the whole class time.
I also noticed most students were on-task towards the beginning of class, but
towards the end of the class time, more students gradually were off-task. The
students may have taken a second to become on-task at the beginning of class
from the transition of passing period of getting settled in their seat, but the
expectation in the class is that once the bell rings, students are in their
seats working on the warm-up and silent. The lesson today was an engaging
activity with watching videos and using information from the videos to complete
problems. This engaging activity was most likely the reason for students being
engaged throughout the class. The small amount of students’ off-task towards
the end of class may be due to students getting bored of the activity, or
preparing for the transition of leaving class. The increase of students’
on-task before leaving class is due to another expectation in the classroom,
being that students are seated and packed up before being dismissed from the classroom.
These expectations and resulting behaviors are large influences on students’
on-task versus off-task behavior because these well-established expectations
from the beginning of the year helps students know how they should be acting
and what they should be doing during class time, with some reminders when
needed of these expectations.
The students
today surprised me with how on-task most of them were throughout the whole
class period because the day before many were very off-task, as the lesson wasn’t
very engaging as the lesson this day was. This idea is one way to encourage
on-task behavior, lessons that are more engaging keeps students’ on-task and
allows students to have a bit more fun with the material. Another strategy that
helps students stay on-task and will help achieve my goals in the classroom is setting
very structured expectations for the class such as expectations of what to do
when they’re working in groups versus partners versus individually, and what
students should be doing when they arrive to class & how they show they are
ready to leave class. Overall I think these expectations/management of the
classroom, combined with engaging lessons/activities help students stay on-task
and engaged overall.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing your observations and analysis, Erika! I think that this blog post really highlights the importance of setting clear expectations at the beginning of the semester. Since students know what is expected of them, they are able to monitor their own behavior in a variety of situations. Do you think that the main reason for off task vs on task behavior from one day to another was because of the instruction? Were there any other possibilities?
You mentioned setting expectations, but could varying the type of instruction be something that you try in student teaching as well to increase on task behavior?
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