Safe and positive Learning Community |
Overall, I want my students to be excited to come into class everyday. I want them to be curious, make connections, be involved in and informed about the community we live in and most of all I want to help each of them grow and learn to love learning. By building positive relationships with my students and promoting a safe working environment, I hope to inspire my students to take risks with their learning and push themselves to the edge of their comfort zone.
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Relationship with students and families |
The first step in creating a positive environment in your classroom is establishing a positive relationship with each student and their families. The more you can get to know a child and have a positive relationship with them, the better you will be able to create an environment and activities that will help them best learn. Families also play an important role in a child's learning and as a teacher. It is important that we build a positive relationship with the families so that together we can be the support system necessary to help each child reach their full potential. The American Federation of Teachers stated that there is evidence showing that parent involvement benefits students in a variety of ways, including increased academic achievement, higher attendance rates, and a more positive attitudes towards school overall. When both the families and the teacher are communicating about what is happening in their child’s classroom and life, the ability of both parties to provide the support needed to the child increases. I believe open-communication between school and home benefits all students, the more support a student has both at home and at school, the more successful they will be and the more we can adapt the environment to best benefit them.
Read more about my thoughts on parent involvement and communication in my TRB Standards section (link to left). |
Classroom Management |
I believe that the first step in effective classroom management is cultivating and maintaining a positive relationship with your students. Getting to know your students, building a mutual level of trust and respect, and being fair and transparent with expectations are things I believe contribute to running an effective classroom.
I believe that student voice has a place in expectations and management and I see value in co-creating a community agreement at the start of the year. In order to successfully achieve a positive learning community, all members of the community must be invested in the expectations and desired outcomes of the group. A community agreement should outline teacher expectations of students, student expectations of students, and student expectations of teacher. Showing students that you value their values by co-creating the expectations and referring back to them throughout the year shows your students the respect you have for their voice in their learning environment which will create the reciprocal level of trust and respect we strive for. I also believe in establishing consistent routines and procedures for day to day tasks and routines as well as making the expectations surrounding them clear. At the beginning of the year, it is important to teach, practice, and reinforce the expectations you have around daily management so the students know what is expected of them. I also believe it is important to create a discipline plan that works to reinforce positive behaviour and minimize disruptive or unacceptable behaviour. What the plan looks like will depend heavily on if the school I'm in has a school wide system in place and what works best for the students in my class. In general, however, I like systems that reinforce the behaviours I'm wanting to see and that do not single out students that are posing behaviour difficulties. Overall when it comes to classroom management, I believe that relationship and planning are key. Your students need to know that you care about them and have their best interests at heart and you need to have a plan in place and know what you expect for each task before you do it if you want the day to run smoothly. |