My Personal Classroom Management Stance

As the mother to five very different children, a full-time teacher education student, and a future educator, I have given a lot of thought to what makes an excellent teacher.  While there are many excellent teachers that are Existentialist , Constructionist, and social reformists,  I personally fall somewhere between the Existentialist and Constructionist theories of classroom management:  I make efforts to do a lot of planning and organizing, yet I still seek the students’ input toward making the classroom feel like it is theirs and that their opinions matter.  With today’s elementary school classrooms sometimes serving 30 or more very different children at a time, I realize that being an excellent teacher is a very tall order.  While even veteran teachers don’t have all the answers, I am confident that some of what I have discovered along the way will help me get off to a good start on the road to becoming an excellent teacher.  Here’s a bit of what I have figured out:

            Excellent teachers create excellent learning environments.   As a future educator, I hope to create a learning environment that will encourage ALL children to have positive social interactions where children will WANT to learn and do their best and where children will feel that they belong.  I will do this first and foremost, by getting to know each of my students and what is important to them.  I also plan to continue to build communities of caring and learning through Morning Meetings.  Morning Meetings are an opportunity each day to for everyone to interact and learn more about each other while building classroom unity.  While every minute of curriculum instruction is vital and important, I have learned that the time invested in helping children feel that they belong and that they matter will always be a worthwhile investment. (Edutopia, 2015)

            Excellent teachers set up “systems” and procedures that help children know what to expect during their day, what is expected of them, and what to do in most situations they will encounter.  I am NOT a control freak nor an obsessive compulsive organizer.  But I learned a long time ago that it is better for me to be proactive than to be reactive.    It is vital for me to put systems in place for situations like: taking roll, show and tell, letting the children know the schedule for the day, turning in homework, turning in classwork, storing home lunches, having a guest in our classroom, passing out papers, entering scores into the computer, letting parents know about parent teacher conference, what we do in the library, what we do in the computer room, etc. etc. etc.  It is also important that children know how and when they can: sharpen their pencil, ask to get a drink, ask to use the restroom, get a tissue, line up for lunch or recess, or ask for individual help on an assignment.  While it is not feasible to expect that children will always remember what to do or how to do it and it is also not feasible to have a system or procedure in place for every situation they might encounter, setting the basic systems and procedures in place will help me to focus on teaching and them to focus on learning. 

            Excellent teachers recognize the individual differences in learners and make efforts to reach each and every student in ways that keep him or her actively engaged in learning.  In classrooms where 30 or more students is not incredibly unusual, this can be a very difficult task, but when teachers make learning fun, show learning to be valuable and applicable to lives, and give the children scaffolding to bridge their understanding, it is totally possible to keep 30 or more students actively engaged in learning.  I believe this is best done by providing a variety of learning activities that can teach the same thing in different ways and then allowing the children opportunities to choose which activities they would like to do.  I also believe that providing the children with guided practice is essential toward ensuring that each child knows exactly HOW to do what it is they are being asked to do.  Progress monitoring can then help me to identify struggling students and seek for ways to meet those students’ needs through small group or individual instruction and through activities that are geared toward that child’s specific learning styles and preferences. 

            Excellent teachers make efforts to communicate respectfully with their students and their parents.  As a student, I have seen what happens when teachers do not communicate their expectations well.  As a parent, I have seen what happens when teachers communicate with children well, but leave parents completely out of the loop.  I feel it is vital to keep every parent informed of what is going on in our classroom.  Since many children cannot be counted on to be reliable messengers of either spoken word or written note, the best way to do this is to use electronic communication when possible.  I also feel that it is vital for all communication with parents to be in that parent’s native tongue.  In a day and age of google translate, there is no reason why this should not be possible.  This effort can also help parents and students alike to feel that their culture and language are of value, which will help THEM to know that they are of value.  (Fields, 1998)

Excellent teachers make efforts to either solve problems that arise in appropriate ways or to help children to solve problems that arise in appropriate ways.  Problems are going to come up.  It’s just a part of putting so many humans in a common situation.  Some problems are best for teachers to handle and some problems are best for students to handle.  But most students need guided practice through solving those problems before they are ready to practice tackling problems on their own.  When conflicts arise between two students, sometimes It is best for teachers to act as a “facilitator” that models and encourages appropriate problem solving skills.

Excellent teachers teach children to be thoughtful and considerate of other people, especially people that are different from themselves.  As a future teacher I will make efforts during my Morning Meetings to encourage children to provide service to each other, allowing the students to learn what that feels like.  I will encourage the children to participate in #operationsprinklekindness where the students and their families look for meaningful ways to serve others in our community and post photos with that hashtag to social media.  We will also use morning meetings to focus on cultures and languages that are different from our own and to spotlight each member of our class.  Encouraging children to think of others and consider others' points-of-view encourages children to make efforts to get along with other people which also encourages a positive learning environment.

            There are a million other things that make up excellent teachers:  They are flexible.  They understand that sometimes things don’t go the way they intended for them to.  They expect the unexpected.  They walk around the room and find out what students are doing.  They always have a plan b and often a plan c that they are not afraid to use.  They realize that helping a student to learn is far more important than proving what a student doesn’t know.  They make efforts to help children succeed, not only in school, but in life.  Excellent teachers aren’t afraid to say, “My mistake!” when they make one and they are forgiving of children’s mistakes as well.  They learn from those mistakes and teach children to learn from their mistakes as well.  They use technology in their classroom but keep it in its place.  They give positive comments and encouragement.  They HAVE FUN with their students but know how to reel students in when it is time to switch gears. 

            I am smart enough to know that my opinions about what makes an excellent teacher will change over the years as I gain more experience with the grand experiment that my classroom will be.  Just like new parents have a distorted perspective of what an excellent parent is, new teachers have distorted perspectives of what an excellent teacher is.  The truth is, the BEST parents AND the BEST teachers parent or teach with their own children or students in mind.  And they realize that what works for one child or student will not work well for another child or student.  The truth is, the most excellent teachers are the ones that never stop learning themselves and seek to learn something from each and every student.

 

Works Cited

Edutopia. (2015, 10 19). Community Begins With the Morning Meeting. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiuAFOv8wvw&feature=channel

Fields, M. V. (1998). Effective Discipline through Effective Communication. In M. V. Fields, Constructive Guidance and Discipline (pp. 139-142). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.

A few fun Educational Blogs of Interest:

http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org/
http://www.principalspage.com/theblog/ 
http://readingyear.blogspot.com/
http://www.learningismessy.com/blog/