Standard 6 - Demonstrates competence in classroom management.
As a Career teacher I promote social development and responsibility within a caring community where each student is treated fairly and respectfully. I create physical or virtual learning environments that promote student learning, reflect diversity, and encourage constructive and productive interactions among students. I establish and maintain learning environments that are physically, intellectually, and emotionally safe. I create a rigorous learning environment with high expectations and appropriate support for all students. I develop, communicate, and maintain high standards for individual and group behavior. I employ classroom routines, procedures, norms, and supports for positive behavior to ensure a climate in which all students can learn. I use instructional time to optimize learning.
I am an educator who uses effective classroom management techniques, employes, good teaching practices by having students engage in interactive learning activities that have the power to turn on the learning lights. As an educator, my ultimate goal for all of my students is an intrinsic passion and love for learning. In order to accomplish this goal, I must make a series of calculated instructional and non-instructional decisions. I know that establishing a safe, welcoming, and inclusive classroom environment is the primary step I must take before I can implement any meaningful instruction.
When interacting with my students, I make an explicit effort to get to know them both as learners and as human beings. In order to encourage my students to expose their academic and personal sides, I start by allowing them to get to know me first. I reveal my academic strengths through efficient and effective academic instruction. However, I am also sure to make obvious mistakes to reveal my human side. I want my students to know that even I, as the classroom facilitator, make mistakes. I also share my personal life with my students. I bring in pictures of me when I was in elementary, exposing my braces and bleached blonde hair. Again, I understand that if I want my students to feel comfortable revealing themselves to me, I must feel comfortable revealing myself to them first.
When it comes to their lives inside my classroom, I seek to understand their academic strengths and their growth areas through continuous formal and informal assessment. Once I have gathered this data, I can plan my instruction to cater to my students’ strengths and develop their growth areas. Instruction that is appropriate for my students allows me to connect with them as learners.
However, I also want to know what my students’ lives are like outside of my classroom. What are their passions? What activities will they avoid at all costs? An understanding of my students’ passions and dislikes outside of the classroom allows me to better connect with them as children. All of this information, academic and non-academic, contributes to the non-instructional strategies I make to ensure all students feel welcomed and valued in my classroom.
I believe that my students should take risks. The most meaningful learning occurs when students take risks. But taking risks often times results in failure. I believe my students should embrace failure as an opportunity to grow as an individual. In my classroom, my students are supportive of one another and encourage all on their paths towards learning. As a classroom manager, I have zero tolerance for disrespectful or harmful words towards others. To establish a safe and welcoming classroom community, I believe in providing my students with opportunities to take ownership of their experience. I believe that students should be responsible for establishing yearly classroom expectations and rules.