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Hi Nick,
My name is Sarah Walker and I am a pre-service teacher at Wartburg College. I will be student teaching about a year from now and your current situation is something that every pre-service teacher fears. I think the best thing that you can do is to keep a positive attitude. Talk to your supervising teacher and see what he/she reccomends. However, I think trying to quiet the class may not be the best form of instruction. Have you considered using constructivism in the classroom? You could try and come up with concepts, projects, and ideas that imcorporate group work and problem solving. I have never been in your situtation before, but I wonder if it would be helpful to develop some kind of reward system in your classroom. Do you teach different classes throughout the day? Perhaps make a competition between classes and make a chart on the wall to see which class can have the best behavior overall. The class who has the highest score at the end of your student teaching period gets a reward. I know that when I was a student, rewards always helped my class stay on task. Good luck and hang in there.
Sincerely,
Sarah Walker
Wartburg College 2020
Elementary Education
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