Professional Interactions
Introduction
As a teacher, I have a lot of ideas about how I want my class to be run. I know what kind of teacher I am and I know how I handle misbehaviour in the classroom. I believe that the purpose behind every decision made is for the students learning and growth. I have a lot of ideas about how I want to run my classroom, how I want to interact with others as a professional and how I work with others. There are also many skills and qualities that I have that will make me a good teacher and a good collegue. I will share them with you.
Classroom Environments & Interactions
The way that I start the year will set the tone for the remainder of the year. This is my plan for the start of my first year.
As a young teacher, I believe that I need to be very firm as the leader of the classroom. I will have an authoritative management style..I want to have a enjoyable and fun relationship with my students, but I think that the relationship needs to start with respect. My plan for attaining that respect is to be quick and firm in implementing the rules that are in place, but making sure that the students understand why they are being disciplined. I intend to begin the year setting rules for the class with the participation of the class. I believe that if the students are part of creating the rules for the class they will be more inclined to follow and will not be surprised when those rules are enforce. I also believe that it is a good opportunity for the students to demonstrate some responsibilty as they are already in high school and should be preparing to be responsible adults. The goal is that students will understand that I will not allow them to walk all over me and if they respect the rules they helped create then they will be able to enjoy the class.
This is a diagram of my classroom.
I would want the class to be able to work with their neighbours, but I would also like it if they were able to all see the front easily for when I am explaining things. I think that it is very important that I am able to see the entire class at all times to maintain control the class and to see when people have questions. I also think it is important that I am able to circulate and check everyone's work as I walk around.
Example of Changing Students Behavior
When I was teaching in River East, there was an incident where one student was playing music from his phone in the middle of class and distracting all of the other students. This first time he did this, it seemed out of good fun, so I made a joke with him and asked him to put it away or it would be taken away. A few minutes later he began playing the music again, so I took his phone away. This ended the disruptions for the day, but I knew that he would be tempted to continue again the next day. At the end of class when he came to me to pick up his phone, I asked him what he thought we should do about the disruption, if he wanted me to make a seating plan so he wouldn't be sitting around people that he wanted to impress or if he could handle the pressure. He suggested that he could have one more chance and if things went poorly again, then he would move to the other side of the class. I agreed with that and we tried it out.
It turned out that the distractions did end, and the student and I were able to remain on good terms. I am not sure whether I should have been stricter sooner with this student, but I am glad that we were able to solve the problem together.
Behavioural Management
I believe that one of the most important jobs in education is building students that can be successful in the real world. In order for students to be successful they will need to have some sort of behavioural instruction. This is the job of the teacher. It is my intention to give that instruction to my students through demonstration, through planned discussion and through constant intervention.
When students observe the way that their teachers treat each other and how they treat the students, they will be able to recognize what proper behaviour is. It is my goal to be a role model that the students can strive to emulate.
I also plan on developing class rules with the students. In those times I expect that there will be a lot of opportunity for intentional discussion about what is right and why it is right. During this time students will be encouraged to question why we behave the way we do and they should gain a better understanding of what it takes to live in a community.
And when students do misbehave, it will be my job to quickly and consistently step in and help resolve the situation so that they understand that misbehaviour is not an acceptable practice. The students should not be able to be ignorant of the misbehaviours that they do, they need to have the knowledge that is necessary for them to have the choice to change.
Professional Interactions & Collaboration
Philosophy of Discipline and Management
I plan to have the students of the class heavily involved in creating the rules of the classroom. It will be our job as a group to come up with the rules of the classroom, and it will be my job as the teacher to make sure that the students remain within their rules. There should be logical consequences to all misbehaviours so that if students do misbehave they will understand what the consequences will be and they should be ready to take them on. This way they will less reason to fight against authority because it is not a punishment, but rather a consequence of their action.
When students break the rules, I plan to have made specific guidelines with the students beforehand so that they will know what the consequences of their misbehavior will be and we will be able to deal with the problem and move on together to a solution that will benefit them. I believe that it is also very important that I develop a plan with the student so that we can together avoid another instance of misbehaviour.
I understand that I, being a new teacher, will not have all of the guidelines defined beforehand because I will not have experienced all possible misbehaviours, but as I gain experience my list of guidelines will grow. In the meantime my job will to be as consistent as possible so that students know what is expected of them.
Collaboration with Collegues
While I was at River East I stayed late almost every day and talked with my cooperating teachers about how I was doing, how they would be doing things, how they learned, what the policies of certain things are and what materials I could borrow from them. They were very good to work with. I really felt that they wanted the best for me and that we were a team working to gether on teaching. I have put a lot of time into my relationships with my collegues, and I hope that we can keep up the relationships and the information sharing (though it has been mostly one way).
Ideally, I would love to be part of a team of teachers who all love teaching as much as I do. I am very interested in sharing ideas and challenging each other to become better and to try new things. I believe that collaboration brings confidence and helps new ideas to grow. I look forward to working with other teachers to develop a more inclusive style of teaching.
Professional Obligations - Social, Legal, Ethical
Because of my love for being with people, I have always had good relationships with people. I have a deep desire to have good relationships with all of those around me, and so I put a lot of effort into building positive relationships. I am very comfortable and always have a can-do attitude which makes me easy to work with. I am very patient and slow to passing judgement and I have found that people feel comfortable with me and find it easy to trust me. I have good relationships with everyone that I know, holding no grudges or bitter feelings.
Also, I am quite focussed on my work, and so when people want to talk about work and share information I will be more than willing to work alongside them because I know that working together we will be able to come up with better ideas than on our own.
Reflections
I believe that it is my role as a teacher to be the best leader that I can be. I want to be a person that others can look up to, and I also want to be someone that is easy to approach and ask for help. I have a lot of ideas about how I want to run my classroom, how I want to interact with others as a professional and how I work with others. Though I still have a lot to learn, I think that I am moving in the right direction and have been doing a lot right already.