Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
As I reflect on my own thoughts of entering the teaching profession, as well as the thoughts of some of my fellow aspiring teachers, I know that classroom management represents a major concern. Dr. Hodgkinson even mentioned at the beginning of the year that in the results to his pre-class survey, it showed a solid majority of students listed classroom management as a concern and something that they want to learn more about. I suppose I should feel somewhat comforted by the fact that I am a bellwether instead of an exception in this instance. However, I know that that first difficult and confrontational student of my career is just up yonder, and our paths are bound to collide sooner rather than later. My Methods of Secondary Education class has given me a bag of tricks to handle this situation in theory, but I feel that it takes failingor at least not perfectly handlingat managing student behavior many times before this skill is perfected. Classroom management is so important because it plays a huge role in the success of 20-30 students in a classroom, and also the level of happiness that a teacher has with the teaching profession. A person can learn all that there is to know about a content area, and can master all the theories of instruction faster than academia can churn them out, but that educational knowledge is all for naught without the ability to keep students attentive and on task. Having to spend extra time focusing on certain studentsasking them to do or not do certain tasks, disciplining them, and all other activities related to getting desired behavioral outcomescuts into the time spent planning and instructing the rest of the students who come to class with the expected attitudes and behaviors in tow; therefore negatively impacting the quality of education these students get. Classroom management also impacts the desire of teachers to stay in the profession, as ineffective behavior management leads to stress, exhaustion, and negative attitudes about teaching. The What is Your Classroom Management Profile questionnaire distributed by Dr. Hodgkinson in my Methods of Secondary Education class revealed that I am authoritative. After reading the description of authoritative teachers, I think that my beliefs definitively fit the profile. Authoritative teachers set limits and controls but simultaneously encourage independence. They may give a firm reprimand, but are polite and offer the reasons behind
their rules and decisions. This method of moderation is something I wholly subscribe to, because I think that being too democratic with students in the classroom decisions will diminish my role as the leader of the learning, but I definitely dont want to be seen as an inflexible dictator. I personally think teachers need to set clear boundaries and expectations for students, explain their rationale, but always be willing to listen to student feedback on the policies. Glassers Model best describes how I envision my future classes. The model maintains that in order to be able to learn, students need to have their basic needs of survival, belonging, power, fun, and freedom met. For this to happen, teachers must manage the classroom to create an environment that is fun, gives students some power and freedom, and must make students feel as a part of the learning community. Once these needs are met, teachers should lead students in activities that both parties view as worthwhile (Larson and Keiper, 2013, p. 35). I want to create a classroom environment that is fun and inviting for students, with opportunities for them to exert their own independence from all too typical once-size-fits-all, cookie cutter lesson plans; however, without basic parameters and rules set by me, I dont think that teenagers would be able to maintain this type of an environment on their own.
What educational and/or career paths are you considering after high school?
having a successful and fulfilling social life. With that said, the Real World is filled with having to meet an endless number of deadlines, and students do need to learn this. Since my top concern is that the students do the work and learn the material instead of beating an arbitrary stopwatch, my policy will be to accept assignments up to three school days late for the potential to still receive 100% credit. However, with each passing day I will be a more critical graderexpecting absolute perfection by the third day. Whereas for students who turned their work in on time, they may receive corrections or suggestions that do not result in docked points, but I will not be as generous with late work. Students will have an additional five days to receive up to 50% credit, deducting 10% per day. I will also allow one late homework pass per semester.
Classroom Layout
I designed my classroom with tables that are facing the marker board in a semi-circular, theatre-style manner. This provides open walkways for students to move around without distracting others, and, most importantly, space for me to move about to do formative assessments or nip misbehavior in the bud by hovering around the students who are off task. The tables are also situated in a way so that all of the students should have pretty clear sightlines to the marker board. Also, none of the tables are facing each other directly because that could result in the students goofing around and distracting each other during lectures or quiet work times. However, facing the marker board and not interacting with other students will hopefully only compose a minority the time spent in my classes. The tables provide a great setup to do student-centered activities in which the students can work in teams with their peers. My desk is off to the side, out of the way but still in a place where I can monitor the class in the few instances per hour that I plan to be sitting there. I will have a Wall of Excellence to display great work, which can be seen immediately as people enter the room. The other walls will contain some customized pictures that I find and/or create that are pertinent to the business department.
Wall of Excellence (Displays Good Work) My Desk Projector Screen Marker Board
Entry
Parents as Partners
As teachers, we have a great responsibility to the parents of our students. From a cold, bottom-line perspective, they are the taxpayers who fund our salaries and depend on our outputand educated citizenryto be able to sustain and grow the economy and provide them with better employment opportunities, higher incomes, and government services. But from a human perspective, our students are the parents children. All good and loving parents want to see their children succeed. They want to see them get a quality education that will open up doors for them to choose a careera livelihoodthat entails work that is personally and/or financially rewarding. And as teachers, we want to see that too. Teachers and parents are on the same page in terms of the desired end destination, so it is important to say on the same channel en route to that locale. The most important thing to do is to communicate; dont let optional parent-teacher conferences and voiceless report cards be the only mediums. As a teacher I will start every year off with a letter to the parents about the things that the students will be learning in the class, provide my contact information, encourage them to reach out to me at any time between the 7:00s (AM and PM), and provide some surprise phone calls when the students are doing exceptionally well, because phone calls to parents are not limited to being consequences for negative behavior. As a career and technical education teacher, I think it is very much my responsibility to be observing certain real world aptitudes and to discuss these with the students and parents. I would really like to provide students with advice on careers and help them choose a profession that is rewarding to them. I know from personal experience that seventeen year olds left to their own devices are not great at choosing what they want to do with their rest of their lives; they need assistance from people who have already gone through the same process they are going through. It is my hope that I can see things in traits in my business classes that the parents, other teachers, guidance counselors, and Myers-Briggs-type tests dont see. I would like to be able to relay these observations to parents and say, Johnny shows real potential as a(n) [accountant/graphic designer/salesperson/copywriter/investor/teacher/supply chain manager/etc.].