I concur with Carl Rogers' philosophy that the teacher’s first and foremost role ought to be the establishment of trust in the classroom. Carl Rogers also cites other priorities such as participatory decision making, instilling confidence and self-esteem, uncovering excitement, teachers finding satisfaction in their work as well as having those attitudes that are the most effective in facilitating learning, and an awareness that the good life is within, not dependent on outside sources.



As a teacher, I want to continually strive to build trust with my students. I will show respect for all students, in every situation. I want my students to feel free to take intellectual risks. I will try to avoid those communication roadblocks such as nagging, moralizing, excessive questioning, etc. I will create a powerful environment for learning by encouraging positive social interaction and properly managing class time. Throughout my program, I have developed a comprehensive Classroom Management Plan (Artifact #9). This management plan includes my personal philosophy of discipline, a yearlong calendar, a daily schedule, attention getters, classroom design and layout, a substitute packet, and safety rules. This plan will enable me as an educator to maintain a positive social environment and make the most effective use of instructional time.

During Stage 3 and 4, I was really able to polish and fine-tune my management skills. I practiced transitioning students back to their seats, doing spelling chants, and reciting poetry. I established solid routines for coming into the classroom quietly, planning for students on a weekly basis, setting up and managing centers, and maintaining an organized and clean work environment. We incorporated music in to the opening and closing routines to establish a positive and fun social environment. I transitioned my fourth graders back to their seats with “movie director” transitions, mirror games, and trivia questions. Because my classroom was a 4/5 class, quite often I had to teach in many different places. I taught students at the rug, in the library, in core classrooms, on the benches in the lunchroom, and on the playground. I was able to maintain order and a positive social environment in all these different settings. I used different methods of working with students including lining up in number order, sitting double arms distance away from other students, having students clean up after themselves in each setting. We practiced using two-inch voices, playing the quiet game, having “silent” lessons, andusing quiet signs. I encouraged students in natural ways to calm themselves and focus on their lessons. We made extensive use of ASL hand signals for quiet and more effective communication, including signals for quiet, comments, questions, answers, just a minute. Students learned to consistently wait to speak and take their turn.

As a student teacher, I developed a system for effectively managing and recording positive and negative classroom behavior (Artifact #10). I kept daily records of student behavior by making notes on my clipboard. This was an effective way of managing behavior with out interuppting the class. It was also private and did not make students feel inferior or on the spot for having their name on the board. It was a simple routine that was easy to maintain.

Addionally, I came up with procedures for technology use in my classroom (Artifact #11). In my last rotation, we did not have computers in our classroom but alternated between using laptops in the classroom and visitng the computer lab. These rules helped tremendously in established order and peace during computer time.

One of my favorite management techniques is that of the circle meeting. I use this quite often when incidents come up within the classroom. During a circle meeting in my last stage, students came up with several ideas for walking into the classroom in an orderly fashion. They were much more enthusiastic and willing to accept change if we had first discussed it in our circle meetings.

I also learned to speak softly and guide my students in a gentle manner. I found that the children mirror my demeanor. I found this to be the most effective way in working with children and parents. I learned to develop working relationships with students and parents. Students came in each morning to take down chairs and pass out papers. Parents came in to grade papers, give tests, and lead art projects. In this way, they not only felt more a part of the classroom, but they also witnessed first hand effective teaching strategies and a positive social environment for children. They could then apply these things to their own home environment.