Learning from Mr. Mascal

There is something about sitting in Mr. Mascal’s classroom that makes everyone excited to quiet down and listen.  His presence in the classroom is warm and inviting while also being 100% down to business.  As I observed his class, I tried to key in on the strategies that make Mr. Mascal able to manage his classroom so effectively.  Here are some ideas:

• Calm & Friendly. Mr. Mascal’s tone stayed calm and friendly the entire class period.  Even when he was reprimanding a student he framed it as a favor or redirection: “Can I ask you a favor?  You don’t need your phones right now.  Could you please put it away?”  
  And even though he was completely kind, the students knew he was expecting follow-through.  
• Quick, consistent redirection. Mr. Mascal is quick and consistent in redirecting students.  If a student does something that is not meeting expectations, Mr. Mascal redirects immediately.  Even if it is just one student playing with lab materials, Mr. Mascal very quickly (and again, politely) reminds the student what they should be doing and then moves on with the lesson.
• Uses wait time.  There would be moments of transition where students would have to bring their attention back to Mr. Mascal after having participated in one step of a lab.  Mr. Mascal used a tiny bell (genius!) to signal the transition, and then used his same calm, gentle but firm voice to say:
• “Right now I don’t have everybody’s attention because you’re playing with the cards,” (very specific redirection)
• He waited 1-2 seconds
• Then the students were ready to continue
• Scaffolds teamwork.  Students were not seated next to their friends, and even next to people they didn’t know.  But I did not see any students who hesitated to turn to their partner when it was time to complete steps of the lab.  Mr. Mascal scaffolds this teamwork by
• (1) giving very specific directions as to what person 1 is doing and what person 2 is doing, and when they are to do it
• (2) taking the class together through the first step of the lab and giving specific directions for each part (“Now, Person 1 is going to…”)

When the students had to work with their partners, they knew exactly what to do and who was going to go first, so there wasn’t any awkwardness.  

• Gives 1 direction at a time.  I was so amazed by Mr. Mascal’s ability to break down a lesson into its smallest steps and then only give one direction at a time.  That being said, Mr. Mascal moves at a quick pace. The students always knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing and had enough time to do it, but not enough time to lose interest.  They always had to stay tuned-in.
• Positive affirmation.  Mr. Mascal’s lessons are filled with positive affirmations of expected behavior.  Like, “I like the fact that people are being very careful to…” and “You will be able to get this done,” and “I’m glad to see there are so many people who…”