As educators, it is essential to create a space that invites students to be comfortable and a place that stimulates their learning and growth as human beings. Classrooms set the tone. They also allow students to have an inner voice that gives the option of either wanting to be in the room or not wanting to be there at all. Therefore, the tone needs to be set with agreed high expectations between the teacher and the students. Coming to an agreement with the students begins with collaboratively discussing their own expectations and visions of classrooms running like a well-oiled machine. What do they expect to see in the classroom from the teacher and one another? What will make for productive conversations within the classroom’s whole group or small groups? How can we make sure we are all learning in OUR environment? These questions can carry out a deeply rooted conversation that will allow students to have a voice in the classroom and hold each other accountable for their behavior we deem appropriate for our classroom environment.
I believe that it is not only my classroom, but also everyone who’s on my roster and the students should know that. This promotes a fair environment so students understand the importance of being modeled citizens of our little nation. I don’t plan to have many rules or rules that are intricate. But, I do plan to enforce and reinforce the rules we set in place to ensure students understand there are rules we must follow even past our days in school buildings.
In my classroom:
- Respect everyone and everything in the classroom.
- Be fair.
- Be prepared.
- Don’t give up.
Although I plan to use more non-verbal cues than verbal prompts, I do recognize that not all students will understand these cues unless they are specifically stated. Thus, I will implement a three strikes policy that is as followed:
First offense: Student is asked to self correct.
Second offense: Student is asked to step outside to speak to teacher.
Third offense: Student is cross-teamed.
If the behavior continues, the student’s parent will be called and an administrator will be notified of the behavior to proceed with further steps. I prefer to keep all behavior mistakes within our classroom environment, but I will use the process illustrated by the school if the classroom plan is exhausted.
This upcoming school year, I am set to be a traveling teacher, meaning I do not have my own classroom. Because I will be moving around and can’t display them as often, I plan to use computer programs like ClassDojo or Classcraft, to help with that process and also reward students as much as possible. I believe we don’t applaud students enough for interpersonal skills that build modeled citizens and that will accomplish that goal. All my students are considered to be entering/beginning leveled ESOL students and the class is made to help their English proficiency development to supplement all their other courses. Therefore, these rules will focus on their abilities to push through the difficult parts of the class as well.
During the first week of school, I will spend an entire day going over behavior norms with students and prepare to address them as needed. I like to let students act out the positive and the negative behaviors because it can add a level of fun to understanding our rules and the students are able to physically see behaviors that are expected and the ones that will be redirected. I want to be sure that students are well aware of the consequences for both acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. It will also be encouraged for students to add some expectations to the small list I expect.
As mentioned above, I want them to feel like they are contributing to OUR classroom setting. As far as how we go about these expectations, I will design, with the use of the computer programs, my expectations to be managed and monitored in a way that promotes positive behavior and redirects misbehavior. A lot of their rules may be covered in the one of the four rules presented already. If so, we can also discuss the points-system I will utilize to reward great behavior and skills or behaviors that are worth redirecting. Each student will sign and date a behavior contract in order to show that they understand the expectations, take it home to get signed by their parents, and that will hold accountable for any and all consequences proceeding bad actions.