Bahavior+Tactics

In your Wiki, develop the things you will do from a **//Behavior//** focus to change the culture in the classroom you’ve inherited as a paid intern from chaos to respect, responsibility and rigorous academic work. As a team go back to the course discussion area and post your best idea to create a classroom culture. Comment as an individual on one posting you see that you believe will add to your own work as a team. A quality response may include:
 * Communication with fellow professional educators.
 * A change in the physical environment.
 * A method to present yourself to the students as professional, different from the previous teacher and in charge.
 * A method or methods to get to know each student well.
 * A plan to develop new classroom rules or procedures and practice them until they are routine and a set of consequences when necessary - Remember, if you chose a consequence that removes a student from the room through administrative referral to the office, that student will be back tomorrow and maybe empowered in his peers view. Only send someone out if there are no other solutions. A student cannot learn outside of your class and it is dangerous to turnover your disciplinary issue to another person, even a skilled administrator.
 * Communication with parents or guardians.
 * Classroom meeting procedures if you feel confident to run classroom meetings properly.
 * The end product will be a classroom culture that you are proud of and fosters learning at the highest level.

I think as a person taking over a chaotic classroom, I would like to implement new ways to change the environment. I think the first thing to do would be to introduce yourself to the new classroom and let them know where you stand. Give them an opportunity to form an opinion of you on their own, but you should provide some substance to their positive opinions. New teachers have a hard time adjusting, and as someone who has a hard time with change, I find it weird that I have no problems creating change in the classroom environment. I say this, because I have done it before. First things first, you instruct your students in a way that shows them you're not playing around. If the previous rules have been broken non-stop with the old teacher, then as a new face, I will re-post old rules with new ones that I feel will influence a change in the classroom. I will go over these new rules with the students, have them read the rules out loud after me, and then they will take these new rules home with them to be signed by them and their parents. A copy of these rules will be posted in the classroom for all to see. The first time a student breaks one of the already stated rules he or she will face the consequences. The consequence will be justified fairly with the broken rule. I don't want to share the consequences for every rule broken until the rule is actually broken, because I want to keep the students on their toes. I want them to be cautious when considering breaking a rule. However, I do realize this plan has potential to back fire, because the students might attempt to break every rule just to see what all the consequences are. That's fine. I accept the challenge, and I will shut down anyone who thinks they have the ability to challenge my authority. In the event I see a pattern emerging, I will then take it upon myself to explain to each and every student the exact consequence of negative actions in the classroom. I will emphasize postive behavior and reward those who follow and stick to the rules. These positive reinforcements will be physical (as in the treasure box scenario) or verbal.

Taking over a chaotic classroom will be a challenge, but I think that if the students already know me, because I’ve been their intern for a while, it will be easier to gain their trust and respect than if I was some strange substitute coming in for the first time. Even though the students already know a little about me, I will have to go in deeper and give them a little more about myself to show them I am not afraid of what people think about me and they should feel the same way. I’d want to establish my classroom as a “safe place” where we can say how we feel and what is on our minds without having to worry about anyone else saying something negative. I’d re-arrange the room so that there are tables for no more than four people and plenty of floor space around the room. When the kids come in for the first time I’d ask them to put their back packs away and come sit on our Magic Flying Carpet. After I explained to the kids about how I’m their new teacher we will discuss some of the things they liked and disliked about how their old class was ran. I will write all of these things on the board and we will then modify the things they like to fit the things that I like, and we will change the things they disliked to things that we all may like. We will condense all of our ideas down to three points that will then be explained as our classroom rules. We will make a poster with our rules and everyone will sign it showing they agree to follow these rules, and it will be displayed in the classroom where everyone can see it. The rules will be along the lines of: Respecting myself and others, Being prepared, Being Safe, Having fun. I can’t decided if I like the method of the using clips on a chart that students have to move closer to the danger zone every time they misbehave. But I don’t like the idea of sending a student to time out, because they will not learn anything from going to time out. I like the idea of giving praise and positive feedback to students that behave correctly, and giving those students rewards at the end of the day/week for their good attitudes. To get to know the students better I will give them a little brown paper bag and ask them to decorate the bag and bring three items that fit in the bag that represent them or the things they like to do for the next day. Everyone will go around and share the items in their bag and we will display the decorated bags on the wall. The first day the students will receive a letter from me probably along with a letter from the school explaining what has happened, but my letter will also be full of my fun new ideas for the classroom and asking for parental involvement in the classroom and at home. I’d give an email address and my school phone number and my personal phone number so that I can be reached at any time and encourage them to call me directly if they have any questions or concerns for their child. We will start every morning with meeting on the Flying Magic Carpet and we will start the day off with a funny poem to get our brains thinking, the rest of the day will be filled with centers, group activities, lots of reading, sharing ideas/thoughts/feelings, and lots of arts and crafts and other silly hands on things to get the students really involved with what they are learning. Not too much time will be spent sitting in their chairs at their desk, even if they are working at their desk the chairs will most likely be pulled back to the wall so the kids can stand and walk around their table as they work things out as a group.

Taking over the classroom is a big change for the students as well as for myself. I would dress nicely and spend the first day explaining to the students that some things are definitely going to change. If the previous teacher had a great classroom management system going, I would try to stay as close to it as possible. If not, then the first day would be a great day to implement a new set of rules and classroom management. If I don't already know the students well, then I'll have them complete a simple questionnaire about their likes/dislikes. I'll rearrange the desks so they are in groups of about 4, making sure that the classroom is easily maneuverable. The first day is also a great time to practice classroom procedures like rehearsing for a performance. We're doing it until we get it right. There will inevitably be times where I'm going to feel lost and confused as the new teacher, so I'll be sure to e-mail effective educators with my situation and ask for any advice they may have. The first day I'll write up a letter to send home to the parents that explains the situation and that I'm going to do my best as their child's new educator. ​