I think that personally, I want to create an environment that encourages thinking "outside" the box, discussion, creativity, and problem solving in healthy ways (meaning talking through problems, etc.). Growing up in a private school, most of these were not encouraged or even mentioned, and I think that is a great disadvantage to students. As you can probably guess, when I came to UT I was exposed to a side of education that promoted these things and consequently was told that it very important for me to pass it on and emphasize in my dealings with education. So, given the educational environment I was in, it was very hard for me to embrace this openness about discussion, creativity, thinking differently and problem solving within college classes even.
In order to have this ideal classroom, there needs to be a foundation of behavioral limits and expectations. I am not one to desire many eloquent rules in the classroom being as I never understood the reasoning to have so many, so I would probably have more of an "expectations" approach. Meaning I will have classroom expectations and clear explanations of consequences if these are not met behaviorally. Along with this, I think it is extremely important (although personally very daunting) to have a professional and working relationship with the parents and children alike.
Something that I think should play a central role (as hopefully any teacher would express) is the curriculum, instructional methods, and assessment measures. Whether I am required by the school to use a certain curriculum or certain books, I hope to stay true to some of the methods and ideas taught to me in my education classes. I think that assessment is a big deal in classrooms, not the TCAP-state standard tests but ongoing monitoring assessment like observing and note-taking. I think something that will contribute to a successful classroom as well as the management is knowing your students and being able to bend and change to their needs.
In my Special Education class, we are currently looking at the RTI approach to catch struggling students early in their academic lives to prevent further gaps and struggles. Eventually "nipping the problem in the bud" meaning this approach strives to catch the student before they start to fall behind or even fail. Upon learning about this approach, I truly hope that the school I work with uses this approach. You can find the website that we used to explore the RTI approach here. Once you are on the page, go down the page and click on RTI on the left hand side. I truly enjoyed learning how this approach worked and think that it can significantly help teachers manage and observe students that need extra intervention or help.
Overall, when thinking about my ideal classroom management or environment there are so many things that come to mind: a place of respect for others, a place for optimal learning, a place (regardless of what most people think) to have fun from time to time, and a place to grow together as learners. I am excited to see how these thoughts are played out in years to come.
Now, in regards to my CSEL I am going to reveal what case study I chose and explain my continuum of responses for dealing with misbehavior afterwards. My CSEL case study is as follows:
"It has been one month since the school year began and most of your 25 kindergarten students know class procedures, such as the schedule of learning activities, where they are supposed to be for each learning activity, where they are supposed to keep their personal items, and how they are expected to move about the room and the school building in order to ensure a productive learning environment. Then there is Willard. He must ask 20 or more times a day, “Teacher, when can we go outside to play?” In addition, he often does not stay where he should to work on a given learning activity. Instead, you find him wandering around the room and getting into other children’s personal things. Three times this past week you looked up just in time to see Willard walking out of the classroom without permission. Some of the other children in your classroom community have started making fun of Willard. Others are beginning to become less engaged in their learning."My initial thoughts about Willard were that he could possibly have a learning disability (namely ADHD or some form of it). However, I am in no way saying that he does have it I think that it would be a starting point for me as a teacher because of the behaviors present. In knowing this, I would say these thoughts would be the driving force behind the following continuum:
The first step I would implement would be to contact Willard's parents and ask them for a time to meet to discuss the different observations I have made throughout the first weeks of school. I would ask if these behaviors were parallel to those that happen at home daily or if this was explicitly at school. If they are similar behaviors at both places, we could come up with strategies for both sides to use to ensure consistency in expectations for Willard and his behavior.
Second, I would provide Willard with his own personal picture list or other visual cue of the steps and routines in our classroom. This could possibly cut down on some of the questions asked and could help him stay engaged for longer periods of time since he knows what will be coming next and when certain steps are to happen. Since it seems hard for Willard to stay on task, I would tailor his activities to possibly keep his attention for longer periods of time. Whether that is a different instructional method or a slightly different way of presenting work to him.
Lastly to address him walking out of the classroom, I would probably explain to him the dangers of leaving our classroom without anyone knowing and reiterating his expectations that we (his parents and I) have to him while explaining that there would be consequences if he continued to leave the classroom. If it continued to be a persistent problem, I would have to implement some sort of punishment or system (like having a "buddy" making sure he does not leave the classroom) to ensure that other students do not continue to become less engaged.
Throughout the process of each tier, I would continue to monitor Willard and take many notes about what strategies seem to work and what do not and continue to tailor my thoughts and ideas to the ever changing situation.
Hope this all makes sense, it is pretty late!
-S
