Blog #4

The article I selected this week, Classroom Universals to Prevent Problem Behaviors, was written by Robert P. Trussell. There are two pieces of knowledge I gained about my topic as a result of the article I selected this week. First, this article mentions how it is important for teachers to develop daily schedules for their classroom and to make sure that the schedule is clearly visible to all students. The article mentions how when there is unscheduled time in a classroom, that gives the students an open invitation for disruptive behavior. I had never really thought about how important displaying the daily schedule would be before reading this article. I have noticed at my daughter’s middle school the daily schedule is displayed but I never knew why. Second, this article mentions that wait time is the amount of time a teacher waits for a student to respond after being asked a question or a prompt. According to this article, the longer a teacher waits for a response, the higher the student’s cognitive achievement is due to the students having ample time to think through the question or prompt. I did not know this information prior to reading this article.  

Some search strategies that were particularly helpful for me in locating this article included using the advanced search in the Academic Search Premier database. I have used this database for past classes but really had no idea on how to use the advanced search options to narrow my results. For our Assignment 1 this week, I narrowed my search by limiting my search to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals and references available. I also limited the search modes and expanders to boolean/phrases. After setting up the advanced search settings I wanted, I searched a couple different terms but found my article using the search terms “effective classroom management AND classroom behavior.” I did not have any difficulties or frustrations while searching for articles. I just used trial and error to limit my search results to articles that contributed to my research. As I continue to research my topic, I hope to find out more about how wait time is an effective way to enhance student’s cognitive achievement.