Emily Sands

March 10th 2017

Classroom Management
Portfolio B
Dear Parent(s),
Its school time again! Hi, my name is Emily Sands and I will be your childs fourth grade
teacher. I am very happy to have your child in my classroom. I believe that by creating a
respectful working environment and community, together we can make this year a very
successful one. I consider your childs education my primary job and hope to work with you to
help grow your childs mind and heart. I hope this letter will give you an idea of what to expect
from both me and my teaching.
I think that it is important for you to know a little bit about me before we get the school
year started. I recently graduated Washington State University with a degree in Elementary
Education, with an endorsement in ELL and minor in Spanish. Due to my love for traveling and
being outdoors, I completed my degree with an element of foreign language hoping to one day
travel to Spain and other parts of Europe. I also wanted to give you a heads up that I adore
animals. This means that there will be a few classroom pets that may come and go throughout
the year, ranging from lizards to hamsters. If you have any concerns about this please feel free to
contact me directly or come in to meet with me after school hours. That being said you are
invited to phone me or visit the school any time that you have a question concerning your childs
progress, safety, or education.
Throughout the semester I plan to send home a weekly newsletter that will give updates
of the coming week and will include a sample of your childs work from the week. The newsletter
will ensure better communication between both me the teacher and you the parent. In order to
ensure that the letter has reached you, there will be a spot to sign and leave any comments at the
bottom of the letter. The newsletter will then be returned to me on Monday by your child. If your
child has trouble with missing work or assignments, I will notify you. As well, I hope that you
advise me if at any time your child has gone through problems, academic, social, or emotional.
We will also have a class dojo account so if at any time you wish to reach out to me please feel
free to do so through the app. It is private and I will be the only one who has access to the
information.
It is very important that each student in the classroom be informed and aware of my
standards for behavior. Each student is expected to know what the class rules are and follow
them both in school and outside the classroom, i.e. playground, afterschool care, etc. I have
always found that parent involvement and support help scaffold good behavior in the classroom
and help maximize classroom learning. I will be attaching a copy of our classroom rules and
expectations; children learn from example so each of the rules listed I will abide by and model
for students in the classroom.
By the end of the semester my goal is that your child has grown in learning and has taken
away something useful for both life and their education. I consider it a great privilege and
responsibility to be your childs teacher this year, and look forward to meeting each of you.
Sincerely
Ms. Sands
 Weekly News
Ms. Emily Sands
A peek at the week:
Math: Progress***
Reading: Progress***
Science: Progress***
Social Studies: Progress***
Art: Progress***
Comments and Concerns
Open for parents ***
Parent Signature:
www.emily.sands@wsu.edu
Mark your calendar:
January 12th- first day of
school
January 15th- open house to
parents
February 2nd- no school,
teacher in service day
Note from teacher:
Text***
Reflection
The skill I feel most comfortable with when it comes to addressing student conflict
directly is constructive assertiveness. The book describes it as relaying your concerns clearly and
insisting that misbehavior be corrected. One of the key parts that I took away from the class text
was that the teacher must resist being coerced or manipulated by students when they are
approached in a corrective sense. I believe that in the classroom it is important for the teacher to
have control and respect. In order to have a functional and successful classroom I believe that it
is important to have a structured well organized classroom that is based around respect.
In order to obtain constructive assertiveness in the classroom, the student needs to
understand that the teacher is in charge. Though the classroom is an environment for students to
explore their individuality and branch out to create their own identity, they still have to maintain
some form of respect for authority. Without authority I the classroom, then students will no
longer see the teacher as a person who is in charge, they view them as an equal. For a teacher to
ensure that they have control of the classroom they must create a bond with students. This bond
allows the teacher and student to understand when they have crossed their bounds and have
pushed too far, this minimizes the need for constructive assertiveness and sets up a strong
relationship between student and teacher.
Often times in a classroom, I feel like when I am being constructive and assertive that I
am being mean to students. I want to give in right away to their pleas and excuses. I think that is
human nature, we natural want to forgive the student and see the good that someone has to offer.
However when we do this it gives students the go-ahead and allows then to further their negative
behavior. Constructive and well thought out criticism allows students to review their own actions
and see how they can further themselves. By giving the student constructive assertiveness it
grants them the opportunity to look inward and find their own fault and how to improve. Yelling
and screaming at a student to get your way, will not get you far, it doesnt give them time to
reflect on their actions, it just gives them times to react.
One skill in the classroom that I need to improve on is empathetic responding. Though I
know as a teacher this may be a bad skill to have, personally I find it hard to view things from
another persons perspective. Some teachers in the classroom always want to be right, and I think
that for me in the classroom it will be important for me to not feel the need to always be right.
Clearly I know that there are two sides to every story and that often times the only way to settle
an argument is to find a compromise. In order to help better myself.
I think that in order for a teacher to be successful in the classroom they must successfully
utilize all three skills that are listed in the text book. To further myself and push myself to be a
better teacher I hope to one day fully master each of the skills that were listed. Though I have
troubles being empathetic, I am a kind hearted person and always try to see the best in people, by
using this gift I intend to be more empathetic and find solutions to the problems at hand. By
using each of the three skills I hope to create a well-rounded, fair, and respectful class full of
students.