Bridging Theory and Practice Part 2

Standard #2
Too often is the phrase, When are we ever going to use this? uttered throughout
classrooms within a given school year. It is essential that teachers make their best effort to
connect what is being learned in the classroom with individual students and real-world
experiences. The following artifact illustrates an activity students participated in during their
morning work time. From the time students come into school in the morning until Morning
Meeting starts, students go through their morning routine and work on some type of math
activity that reviews what was learned the previous day. This is extremely helpful in getting
students brains thinking and ready to learn as soon as they get to school.
During our unit on measurement, students explored different customary units of capacity.
The day following the initial lesson, I had students compare the capacity of the two jars below.
Both jars held the same amount of water, but it was up to the students to determine this and why
it was possible. The answers provided by the students were split almost in half: half thought the
capacity of Jar A was greater than that of Jar B and half thought the capacity of Jar A was less
than that of Jar B. Only a few students thought the capacity of the jars was equal.
The start of the math lesson that day began with a discussion about the activity from the
students morning work. Students were sharing reasons as to why they had chosen greater than,
less than, or equal to. Allowing students to guide the discussion, eventually one of the
students who had chosen equal to shared his explanation at which point the rest of the class
responded with, Ohhhhh!! It had clicked for them; the light bulb was on! The student was able
to share with the rest of the class why the jars were able to hold the same amount of water: one
was shorter but wider, and the other was taller but skinnier. This demonstrated that students were
able to apply what they knew about capacity and different sized containers to a real-world
problem that might arise in their lives one day. Having the jars in person for students to examine
provided further motivation for students to think about capacity in a way that might be important
for their own problem solving in life. Students did a great job and came up with some awesome
discoveries and explanations.
Artifact: Morning Work, Real-World Connection with Capacity

Standard #3
Discipline plays a role in any effective teachers classroom management plan. Creating a
positive, safe, and supportive environment along with an expectation of behavior allows one to
establish a preventative approach to discipline. Classroom management can be viewed as a
process that is 80% prevention of misbehaviors and 20% response to misbehaviors. Through the
creation of a welcoming physical environment conducive to the needs of all learners,
establishment of caring relationships, the implementation of engaging instruction that motivates
students to learn and work hard, and clear rules and routines, students will be set up to succeed in
ways that will prevent opportunity to engage in misbehavior. While the hope with a classroom
management plan is to prevent misbehaviors completely, misbehaviors will arise and the way
teachers deal with these misbehaviors effects the entire mood of the classroom and other
students. It is essential that teachers deal with misbehaviors in a way that does not damage
teacher-student relationships as well as the overall classroom community. When working with
children, an appropriate level of discipline is necessary, but children also want to be supported in
their learning, motivated to learn and take risks, and feel cared for.
Artifact: Classroom Management Discipline Philosophy
While the ultimate goal of my classroom management plan is to establish an environment
that supports both academic and social-emotional growth and prevents misbehaviors from
occurring, there are times when interventions will be necessary to redirect students. When
necessary, I will correct minor misbehaviors such as talking during a lesson or not paying
attention, with hand signals, proximity, using the students name in the lesson, and the look. All
of these techniques address and hopefully stop the behavior without interrupting the flow of the
lesson and maintaining the dignity of the student.
For more serious misbehaviors, we will have a classroom consequence plan. This will be
displayed for students to see easily in the classroom and we will discuss it at the beginning of the
year. Students will be well aware of the consequences should they choose to engage in a serious
misbehavior and the consequence plan will be revisited when necessary. The consequence plan
will read as follows: 1) Warning, 2) Logical Consequence, 3) Phone call or note home, and 4)
Sent to the principal. As a class, we will discuss each of these steps so that students have a clear
understanding of the plan. When implementing the consequence plan in my classroom I will be
sure the consequence is related to the behavior, reasonable, and respectful. I will also make sure
to interact positively with that student shortly after the consequence is given so the student
knows that I still care about him/her.
Lastly, there may be times when those minor misbehaviors turn into chronic misbehaviors.
In this case, I will use a problem solving approach that involves the student(s). If there is an issue
that involves the whole class, we will identify the problem, brainstorm possible solutions, vote
on the most popular solution, and try it out for a week. We will then reevaluate the issue to see if
the solution worked. The same will be done if the behavior is occurring with only one student.
Including the student or students in the process of choosing a solution to stop the behavior
demonstrates that I care about and value the students input as well as increases the students
accountability. Overall, prevention of misbehaviors is the ultimate goal, but when that is no
longer possible, these strategies will help me respond to misbehaviors appropriately and
hopefully eliminate the misbehaviors.