Common Area Observation

Lacy Elementary School is a 60-year-old K-6 public school situated in an urban school district and designed to accommodate up to 500 students. However, the school is currently serving 650 students most of whom qualify for the federal breakfast and lunch program. In addition, the school is a neighborhood institution with 200 students riding buses from surrounding neighborhoods because of the recent rezoning project. While school usually begins at 8:30 am, the school cafeteria is opened for breakfast every morning at 7:30 am. Most of the teachers do not arrive early since they are not required to report until 15 minutes before the opening bell. As a result, the supervision of students before and after school is the responsibility of teacher assistants and paraprofessionals. This paper provides insights on common area observations made in the school cafeteria in terms of things that help keep it well managed and those contributing to various management or behavioral problems.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Lacy Elementary School

As evident in the profile, Lacy Elementary School serves a large student population beyond what it was designed to accommodate. The large student population creates challenges and complexities in management, especially for teacher assistants or paraprofessionals who supervise students before and after school. Based on the mock profile of the school, there are things that work well and those that dont with regard to students behavior and management. These things help to indicate the strengths and weaknesses of Lacy Elementary School as discussed below.

Students Characteristics, Issues, and Factors

The breakfast program was a success as students appeared calm and respectful while displaying appropriate behaviors. The students were able to get in quickly, find a seat, and have breakfast as the room had fewer kids, more room, less waiting time, and appeared calmer. Students displayed appropriate behaviors at all times and across all aspects of the breakfast program. Most of the behaviors during this time revolved around finding a seat, having breakfast, chatting, and completing their homework. Additionally, students would throw trash away in garbage bins when leaving the criteria. The appropriate behaviors displayed by the students contributed to the smooth running of the morning breakfast program with minimal disruptions. However, the situation was slightly different during lunch as students were loud and even shouted across the cafeteria. Unlike during breakfast, the lunch program was loud and characterized by some inappropriate students behaviors. Some of the undesirable behaviors displayed by students during lunch include pushing and shoving each other and wandering from one table to the next. The waiting times during lunch are long as it takes approximately 20 minutes for the students at the back of...

The tables in the dining hall are littered with trash and trays by many students when leaving the cafeteria. The students begin lining up at the door before the bell rings and push and shove each other as they leave.

Teacher/Staff Characteristics, Issues, and Factors

As previously mentioned, the supervision of students before and after school is the responsibility of teacher assistants and paraprofessionals. However, during lunchtime, teachers are required to walk their students to the cafeteria and leave as part of the duty-free lunch practice at the school. During breakfast, the behaviors of the students are supervised by two paraprofessionals and a school administrator. These paraprofessionals and school administrator are able to maintain order during the morning breakfast program because of the minimal student behavioral issues. Management of students behavior by these staff during breakfast is easy because students display appropriate behaviors and the dining hall is calm and quieter. However, supervision of the dining hall during...

…the times classes enter the cafeteria for lunch as part of reducing the number of students at the hall at a time. According to Tat (2016), staggered lunchtimes have been found to enhance students safety by reducing inappropriate behaviors like pushing and shoving and fighting. By staggering lunch times, the school will reduce these behavioral problems, reduce wait times, and enhance behavioral management. In addition, staggering lunchtimes would limit interruptions and fragmentations during instructional periods (Gibbons, 2019). Third, the school principal may assign at least three teachers on a rotating basis to supervise students during lunchtime. These teachers would work in collaboration with parents, paraprofessionals, and school administrators to supervise students. Through this, teachers will retain the duty-free lunch but help in supervising students and encourage appropriate student behavior. This will help ensure teachers collaborate with other school personnel in behavior management, preventing problem behaviors, and enhancing positive social interactions among students (Institute of Education Services, 2008).

In conclusion, the observation of breakfast and lunch programs at Lacy Elementary School provided significant insights regarding the management of student behavior. The common area observation provided insights about some of the behavioral issues teaching and non-teaching staff experience when carrying out their activities in the school environment. Student behavior problems are fueled by individual and environmental factors. The individual factors are evident in their interactions while environmental factors relate to the facilities and personnel in the school environment. Therefore, student behavior can be enhanced by addressing these individual and environmental factors. For Lacy Elementary School, the student behavior problems can be addressed by the addition of a third lunchtime since expanding the cafeteria could be a costly and time-consuming process. In addition, these issues could be dealt with by staggering lunchtimes for different classes and involving teachers in the supervision of students during duty-free…