Implementation Plan

Note:

This PBL presents activities for undergraduate secondary pre-service teachers to learn about Classroom Management. In many cases, classroom management is neglected in teacher preparation programs so this PBL will provide them with the opportunity to do some research, create a classroom management plan, and communicate it to parents and students.

 

Set up the Stage

  1. Assign students to read about Problem-Based Learning (PBL) or discuss PBL in class.
  2. If you do not teach in a lab, reserve the lab for 3 days of 2 hrs. each for the PBL lesson.
  3. As the instructor, you can assume the identity of the Principal in the problem or you can ask a colleague to play the Principal's role.

 

Problem Presentation

  1. Point your students' browsers to http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jf36//pbl to display the PBL high school webpage.
  2. Start by telling your students a story of a high school that has received an award as the best school of the year.  As part of the faculty of that school is Mrs. Lorelle Miller, the recipient of the prestigious award "The National Milken Educator."
  3. Make sure that your students visit the links where they can see the faculty, and the facilities. The purpose of this is that the students feel the website as being a "real" website.
  4. Tell your students that, although the many accomplishments of Monroe HS, the principal has been having problems with a newly hired teacher. Tell the students that all of them will be playing the role of Mrs. Miller, the National Milken Educator and that the principal will explain everything to them.
  5. If you are playing the role of the Principal, this is the time when you "convert" into her. You can go outside and put a different coat or something that will make you look different than when you were in class. On the contrary, if a colleague is playing the role, this is the time when she enters the classroom. As the principal gets into the classroom, she will pretend that she is in a hurry and will give the students general information about the problem; she will also mention that there is a memo in their mail box so they can learn about the problem.
  6. Pointing your students back to the opening page of Monroe High School, ask them to click on the apple situated at the bottom right-hand corner of the page. This link will take them to the PBL documents/evidence.
  7. Your students will get first to the Memo Mrs. Jones (the principal) was talking about. There are other links at the bottom of the page with more documents to present the problem. Ask your students to start with the class video so they have an idea of the problems Ms. Norton is having. Then ask them to carefully read the following links: Mr. Brown's Note, Ms. Norton's Note, and Mrs. John White's Note..
  8. Pointing the students back to the Principal's Memo, ask them to click on a football icon situated at the bottom left-hand corner of the page; this will take them to the Solution Parameters page.

 

Problem Discussion

  1. The Solution Parameters page provides the students with more detailed information about the problem.
  2. The students will be asked to provide the following artifacts as a way of solving the problem:
     

    A Classroom management plan that is based on research

    A newsletter that communicates the classroom management plan to the parents

    A classroom procedures poster

    A student contract that includes the main points of your classroom management plan which is to be signed by the parents and the students

    How will this plan be supported?

  3. You can ask your students to form dyads or to work by themselves. It is better to ask them to work in dyads so they can discuss the problem with a classmate and they can also divide the workload.

 

Problem Timetable

  1. The problem is set to be solved in three class sessions. In the first session, they will do research using the Internet about classroom management plans, and they will create their own. If they do not have enough time, they should finish it for homework.
  2. During the second class, the students will create a simple newsletter with the information contained in the classroom management plan. They will also create a poster with the classroom procedures and the contract with the main points of the classroom management plan, and a simple PowerPoint presentation to present their results.
  3. Although it is not necessary, your students can create the poster using MS Publisher. They will need to print it and send it to enlarge to poster size. If you decide to ask the students to use Publisher, you will need to add one more class session to the timetable.
  4. Depending on the number of students, you can give them some time during the third session to finish their products and then start with the Power Point presentations.

 

Problem Evaluation

  1. You can evaluate the newsletter using the rubric created for its evaluation.
  2. The Power Point presentation can be evaluated by you and other class members using the Classroom Management Presentation Rubric.
  3. Since the poster for this problem was created without using computer technology, the instructor did a subjective evaluation of the same.