Longwood University



Bailie McDougallMs. BaldwinFuture Classroom ProjectEducation 260April 10, 2015Classroom EnvironmentWhen entering my classroom it will be very organized because I believe that a key to success is to always be organized. You have to have a certain area for everything in order for your day to go properly. I will have a schedule for each day because I think days go by easier when they are planned out so you know what is coming throughout the entire day. I will have my lessons planned out the night before so I won’t just spring any random stuff that I’m not fully prepared to teach. I will have a fun activity for them to distress about everyday such as crafts and physical activities for them to get loose before working on an assignment for class. My classroom will have inspirational posters around the room saying positive reinforcements that they should always remember when being at school and around others. A classroom of this style would most likely have the students’ accomplishments such as projects hanging from the ceilings and walls, encouraging them to fulfil the assignment to the best of their ability and be rewarded by having everyone’s hard work displayed. No feeling was better than having my best work up on the wall as a child. I think it’s important that they see how well their work is appreciated and how much it shines to other people and helps them strive to do their best on the next assignment. I am a strong believer in the idea that by creating a comfortable and safe environment in the classroom, the students will be more engaged in learning and their receiving and obtaining of knowledge will be at its fullest potential. I also believe that teaching in a comfortable and positive setting would be more efficient and have a greater impact towards students in the end. I would be more comfortable teaching knowing that the children are comfortable and happy. Classrooms with this style of setting would include areas of materials such as an interactive wall with many hands-on boards, titles, “popcorn words”, colorful educational pictures and diagrams such as multiplication sheets, and a calendar for each month with pictures to describe that month. My classroom may also include a cozy reading rug with a couch or bean bags for the children to feel at home. This is where all the students gather to read to one another or when I would read a story to them. The set-up of the classroom would consist of the desks being grouped in per say 5. I believe in order for the students to learn better and to have that interaction with each other is more beneficial than single file desks facing the front of the room. I strongly believe that when working in groups you learn to your fullest because you can bounce ideas back and forth from one another. The children will have bins in the middle of their desk setups with materials that we would be using in class that day. By having a mutual bin for all the children to use, it will help teach the children how to share and how to wait their turn when working with others. Having patience is a big necessity that they will need when they are growing up. Kids are one of a kind and you have to not only enjoy but also respect that aspect of them. You have to be patient and wanting to enhance their minds in the most meaning full way possible. They will come number one in my future class because I know I’m the one that is teaching what our future may hold. Policies & ProceduresMy day will start out with the children coming in to class and getting settled for the day to start, they will hang their coats and get whatever they need out of their book bags and hang them when they are done at their hooks. They will be in groups of five because I believe that students are capable of more when they are surrounded by peers. It gets them into that comfort zone knowing they will have those friends walking into that classroom each day. Children need that security knowing that someone familiar will be with them through class time each day because that’s their time when they are away from mommy and daddy. Being alone and without their parents gives them that un secure feeling that every child is afraid of, being a security blanket for them while they are away from home is what I inspire to become, if needed. They will have an area in the classroom that feels like home with comfy rugs and a couch that they can relax on while reading and such. I will let the children speak their own opinion on any topic because in order to understand fully they need to enhance their vocals skills and know that they will have to be able to be outspoken for any situation when they grow up. They will know that at any time they will are influenced to say their opinion on the topic as long as it’s respectful and their hand was raised. I will have the basic rules that every child should know to follow when in school hanging up, such as being respectful to others, always raise your hand, do not cheat, always follow directions and etc. They will have to practice all safety drills that they should know of when being in school. Every day we will have a different line leader and caboose so everyone can have a turn and they will know to always stay in a straight line when walking together as a class. They will be respectful to their classmates and always wait their turn to talk when having a discussion. Behavior Management In my future idealistic classroom, student behavior will be managed with a system that consists of positive reinforcement. A teacher once told me about a system that I will most definitely use someday in my own classroom. This system was viewed as a “bowl of ice cream”. The way this works, each student is given a paper with a bowl and two scoops of ice cream on it at the beginning of the week for good behavior. Every time the student is having not the greatest day, and doesn’t make the wisest choices in the classroom, they would be asked to take away a scoop of their ice cream. As depressing as this comes across, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. When that same student that “acted up” is caught doing something effective in the classroom, they can earn their scoop of ice cream back. But it doesn’t stop there, at any given time when students are “caught doing well” they can add toppings onto their ice cream. At the end of each month, they get to bring those scoops and yummy toppings to life, in a scrumptious class snack. This teaches kids that although they could just be having a bad day, they will not get caught and stuck in that slump forever because they can bounce back up, and will be rewarded when they do. I love this process that she used and I’m almost positive I will use this positive reinforcement for behavior management. When a student is miss behaving I won’t necessarily call them out because I learned in class that that’s why the child wants, they want attention and when you call them out in front of the entire class you are giving them what they are begging for. You have to have them know what means business in your book, slowly give them “that look” that they know that if they keep it up they will have consequences. After a warning I’ll most likely write a letter home to mom or dad, according to how they misbehaved. Hopefully by sending a note home the child will have that reinforcement from their parents and not act off again in class. If the behavior gets too much and is occurring too often, I will send the child to the principals and from there we will figure out what should be done about it. Curriculum, Instruction & AssessmentCharles Handy once said, “Instead of a national curriculum for education, what is really needed is an individual curriculum for every child.” Along with the curriculum (standards of learning) required for every state, a great teacher visualizes these standards as the minimum and strives to achieve past them, to provide the greatest and most amount of knowledge for their students. I will not only strive to touch the topic areas that my students will be tested on, but also teach on a wider spectrum, that of which will encourage the students to think outside of the box and will create lifelong learners and possibilities for them to achieve. In doing so, the future of our nation will be great because individuals will be able to understand more and dig deeper into the meaning of certain topics, coming up with new ideas and improving the old ones.Personally, I believe in the productivity of a classroom modeled by progressivism. Through this philosophy of teaching, I as a teacher would continuously rely on the students and putting their needs first in a classroom. I would be focused on supporting the students and relating/ teaching to each of their learning strategies and struggles. Not only would I find a way to teach to each strategy, but I would also find a common ground with their students and offer several different choices on how to accomplish an assignment/question. I will most likely base my class off of active participation, group activities, problem-solving strategies, and simulation activities such as field trips. Although the information found deep inside of a dusty old textbook is useful and important in the teaching of curriculum, the teacher would bring the text to life, rather than bore their students by reading the text. I hope to teach in a manner that would encourage the curiosity of my students. Here is an example of how my lesson plan would look like if I were to have done it the night before class began:Lesson Plan 1.Academic Standards: 2.4The student will investigate and understand that plants and animals undergo a series of orderly changes as they mature and grow. Key concepts includea)animal life cycles; andb)plant life cycles.2.5The student will investigate and understand that living things are part of a system. Key concepts includea)living organisms are interdependent with their living and nonliving surroundings;b)an animal’s habitat includes adequate food, water, shelter or cover, and space;c)habitats change over time due to many influences; andd)fossils provide information about living systems that were on Earth years ago.2.Instructional Objectives: I will start my lesson with a flower drawn on the board while my students are at their seats with the same flower on a worksheet with empty blanks pointing to all parts of the flower. I will then begin to instruct what parts of the flower include and how those parts help the flower become an adult and grow. After filling in the blanks on the board I will walk around and help students and make sure they have copied all parts down correctly so they received all the correct information and don’t get them mixed up. My students will be given a piece of paper with materials that could be demonstrated as parts of a flower and be able to create their own with the parts in the all the correct places and be able to label each part of the flower.3.Instructional Design: I will be walking around the classroom as they are creating their own flower with the materials given and be giving hints to them if they need a little extra help with remembering where each part should belong. Ill also allow each group of students to ask each other questions to possibly bounce off each other with clues they give each other and methods to remembering each part of the flower. This isn’t group work but I will also students to talk amongst the subject matter. After all students have created their flower I will ask them to switch with someone in their group and have their “partner” check and make sure that they all are in the correct places and this gives them also a chance to review the flower over.After all flowers are corrected and in the labeled correctly I will then ask each student to bring their flower out to the hallway and I will hang them on the bulletin board.4. Differentiated Learning Characteristics:-This is my 2nd grade glass-We are in the subject matter of Science-There are 20 students in my classroom-They all speak fluent English -I have 17 White students, 2 African Americans with 1 Spanish student-I have 11 girls and 9 boys, so I’d say its split pretty evenly making it easier to make groups with both genders and not just all girls or boys, which would most likely cause trouble. -I have 0 special needs children in my classroom-I have 2 girls who are at-risk students and 1 boys. They sometimes get a little wild during classroom activities and tend to act up for attention, but at the beginning of each class I remind those three that if they pay good attention today and follow all instructions that they will receive a nice note home to mom and dad saying how good of day it was for them. If they don’t listen after I remind them of that, I give each a warning if they act out and after that if they don’t follow the rules they receive a note home to mom and dad on why that day in class wasn’t good for their child. - My classroom is set up with 5 groups of 4 so that all students get a different sense of variety in each group. They bounce off each other with ideas and thoughts of their own, which I strive for them to do. I make sure all students are being included in whatever activity is being done and encourage them to be friends with everyone in the class. Whenever I have them go into partners, I choose them and I pick out of a cup that has sticks with their name on them so no one is ever left out or sad about not being chosen for a partner. This allows my students to get a better knowledge of everyone in the classroom and be able to know everyone on a deeper level than just seeing each other in the same class and not having conversations or getting to know what each person is like. 5. Instructional resources and Technology: Materials needed for this lesson to go correctly; -Worksheet at the beginning of class with the flower with blank spots for them to label all parts of the flower. -A pencil -Blank White paper for them to create their flower on -Glue stick or Bottle of Glue - 1 Straw (for the stem) - 3 2in long Strings (for the roots) - About 10 Pinto Beans (For the petals) - 2 Cotton Balls (stretched to make leaves) - And their favorite color marker (to color in the inside circle surrounded by petals) 6. Formative Assessment: I will be giving a test at the end of the week/lesson to know what they remember and see if they have grasped the concept of all the parts of the flower. I will have them take home the worksheet we worked on at the beginning of class today, so I know they have all the right answered that they copied form the board. I ask them to study that paper so that when the test comes (which will be the same worksheet with empty blanks) they will have had time to go over it and study it before then. My role as a teacher is to educate, and to be a role model to my students, aspiring and encouraging them to follow and achieve their dreams, no matter the reach or how far the distance that might be. I should be a guide to the students, by modeling how to be a lifelong learner and also how to take time to think of every detail to the problem, and to come up with maybe more than one obvious solution. The role of the teacher also includes being a provider of resources for my students. Some students may enter a classroom with multiple unknown home struggles, weighing down their backpack, and as their teacher it is my responsibility to be the most caring and understanding support system there is, with a list of resources, that some students may never acquire at home from their own family. I cannot stress enough, that the most important role of being a teacher is that of being supportive and devoted towards each and every student no matter what situation or circumstance. The roles of my students in a classroom consists of learning and gaining knowledge. In order to do so, a student must first partake in several other crucial roles for his or her success. These roles include, being an active listener and contributor in a classroom. Each student is responsible for participating and engaging in class discussions, as well as group or individual activities. By doing so, the students will grasp the information and curriculum first-hand, enabling them to question and learn on a wider spectrum. Another role of the student is to be cooperative and courteous in a classroom. Each student will learn and understand the difference between the concept of respect and tolerance towards their classmates. They will all be understanding and accepting of one another in and outside of the classroom (including me, the teacher). They will need to understand the relationship they need to have with everyone who partakes in the classroom on a daily basis. They will not only play the role of a student, but also one of the teacher and educate others around them in different ways. Meeting standards for everyone Students should interact with each other actively and learn from one another. Through group work and projects, students will learn how to engage with one another and bounce ideas productively off of each other but also getting everyone’s opinion. Students will always treat each other with patience and respect. Showing acts of compassion and understanding how to form a personal bond that will help connect some students. The teacher should interact with each student, in a way that leaves a lasting impact on the student, and teacher themselves. When having this bond with students I can help them in any way that they may be struggling in from classwork or to personal issues. If a child is below average I will be able to help guide them into the right direction and help them learn to their fullest ability, even if struggling. I will have an environment in my room where no child will feel lesser than anyone else. Having a student with learning imparities and coming from homes with no food, I have to be able to identify this and be able to act upon the problem and help in anyway. Every child learns at a different rate and to meet those needs you have to accommodate the ones who need your attention more than those who understand it on the next level. A system I plan to use in my classroom is to have different reading groups based off of the reading level they were placed in. Having accelerated readers with slow readers is very frustrating for both students. You want to be able to read at the pace you are able to without feeling flustered and lesser than those who read faster. With peers who read at the same level as you and having them read all together really helps with confidence when reading. I believe you have to give every student that one on one attention when they are young to get them to want to improve on their work rather than talking to the entire class as a whole that is working on the same spectrum. I cannot stress enough that you have to build that one on one relationship with the students in order to get their full attention in the classroom and to get a full understanding on how they learn. TechnologyIn my classroom I will have technology but not a lot of it. I will of course have my computer at my desk and a spare computer that will be open at certain times for the children to use. They will be able to use it for certain activities or free time when given. There will be rules that are followed when using it as well, and if rules are broken than so are there privileges. I will incorporate a smart board into certain activities so they children will be able to come to the board and be able to know and have that experience with being hands on with it. The students will not be allowed to have cell phones in class or a laptop, unless a note saying so. Technology will be a small part of my classroom, because I think it’s better to be hands on and straight forward from me as a teacher than a computer screen. But I do think it is very important for children to be accessible to some technology due to how modern the world has become and how technology plays such a big role in everyone’s day to day life. Community Interaction I hope to have a close bond with the community I’m involved in. I’ll be able to share ideas and hear from others about theirs and hopefully improve what needs to be improved. I hope to have a big impact on the community I live in and have a positive look for myself and have their fullest respect. Having their respect would mean a lot due to the community I will be in will play a big role based off of where I live. Having people I know within the community is very beneficial for when I ever need something or need backup information. Knowing your community and surrounding mean a lot when you’re a teacher and should have such a professional standard to live by. Educational AutobiographyWhen looking back on my past years in high school and to when I finally decided to become a teacher, only one teacher really stuck out. This teacher went beyond ways to make everyone in her class feel comfortable with what we were learning about and how fast we are moving with it. Every student should have at least one teacher who pushed them to do what they really wanted to do and to do it at their best. Mrs. Conner would always push me to conquer what I wanted to do, no matter what my family had to say or peers. She was the one who had the class’s attention and would always make us feel as if she wanted to help us learn rather than force it. With one teacher doing that for me, it really made me realize that every student should have more than one teacher who is like that, but many few do. Someone to make you feel good about yourself even when you messed up but brings you up because you tried to begin with. She influenced me to become the best teacher to my ability and to impact my student’s life as she did to mine. I wouldn’t be in the process I’m in to become the teacher I hope to become If she never was my teacher to begin with, and I couldn’t be more thankful. When it came to my community and how it influenced me to become who I inspire to become, I can’t say a lot. The community where I am from didn’t play a big role with associating with the schools. The community and teachers within the schools didn’t matter. I want to play a role in the community I live in when I become a teacher, so can make a difference even in the smallest way. I want to make an impact on something I feel strongly about and have the communities respect behind me. I hope to learn from the community I lived in and when I get the chance I hope I can make a difference in the community wherever I land. Having the community behind you can change a lot when situations happen, which is why I really hope I am involved with an amazing community. When you want to become a teacher, not many jobs can influence and accommodate that, unless you were blessed to work with children. I was, I was so grateful to be able to be a nanny for a 2 year old boy and see him grow and learn within the course of 3 years. Having to be a caretaker for a child, you really are his teacher all day long outside the classroom. I taught him how to eat correctly, how to sing the ABC’s and how to ride a tricycle plus many more day to day activities. It may not be curriculum that schools intend to teach but it’s still his day to day life that is being taught to him. Seeing him learn from me and achieving happiness in something he did, was seriously the best feeling anyone could ask for. Seeing a child get excited about achieving and learning something new is so rewarding. I hope to see this in the children’s reactions and in their eyes when they learn in my class. I hope they get excited to hear about new things in the world they live in and tell their parents what they learned. I couldn’t ask for a better reward for doing something I love than to have children smile and be happy to learn from me when I become a teacher. Pledge Bailie Mcdougall ................
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