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In a classroom my philosophy is that everyone is equal and capable of learning. In our society today students are extremely divided by their learning capabilities. In my opinion all students are capable of learning in a regular classroom not based on their background or disabilities. With having all students in one classroom management does become that much more difficult. Teachers do need to take the time and resources in order to surpass these problems that they may face. It is a matter of finding these resources and using them to the full advantage. Some schools unfortunately do not have the advantage of having the budget for resources. This does create problems with frustration with the teacher and students which leads to misbehaviour. The students are not learning about the latest technologies and the teacher can not use them then creates students getting bored. Teachers have to be creative about the classroom management and think of creative ways to manage the students. The learning environment is the building blocks to how the students feel and learn in that classroom. First the teacher needs to have very good structure, without structure there will be chaos. With structure a good seating plan needs to be in place. Students need to have that home base. There are many different possible seating plans and based on the classroom make up. The teacher needs to remember the students learning styles in order to develop a successful seating plan and give it time to adjust. The classroom environment needs to be positive and upbeat in order for students to be in a positive mood. Another factor about the environment is having it gender neutral. I have noticed while volunteering in classrooms that many women teachers have their classrooms extremely feminine. The environment needs to be both gender neutral in order for both genders to be welcomed and not think that teacher will favour a certain gender based on their learning environment. As a teacher we need to be assertive yet approachable in order for the students to feel like they can approach you can for questions. The teacher needs to have many different hats in the learning environment but these hats need
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to be assertive and strong. Building relationships with the students is a positive effect on the both of you. The relationship needs to be school related and the teacher can not turn into being a “friend” and not discipline the student. I have seen teachers like this and their classrooms are chaos as all the students think they can do whatever they please. Teachers need to come into the classroom each day with a positive attitude and lots of energy. The students feed off the energy that the teacher has and needs to be energetic in order to get the students motivated. In my opinion the rules of the classroom rules need to be done as a team between the teacher and the students. This way students are aware of the rules and have had input. It is all about building relationships when it comes to teaching. The relationship we can relate to a triangle. It is a three way relationship between the teacher, parent and student. If any side is broken the whole relationship between all three is broken. The role of the teacher is to support the teacher, respect the student, challenge the student in order to the progress their learning in a positive manner and always give the students equal opportunities. The role of the student is respect other students in the classroom, try their best in all their work, respect the teacher and work cooperatively with other students. The role of the parents of the student is to communicate with the teacher, respect the teacher and their decisions, and communicate with the students. Other people that are involved with this relationship is the administration. Their role is support the teachers, provide teachers with resources, support all students in their learning and have a positive attitude about the school. It is important for the students to understand these roles and how each person does play a role in their life. The problem that a teache may face is students who don’t have a good relationship with their parents, or don’t have parents and live in a foster home. As a future teacher I need to get to the know students background and I may have to play many roles for that teacher and try to have communication with their guardian. If the
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student sees you putting in effort they may slowly come around. All behaviours are one’s that need to be dealt with there is none that should be ignored in my opinion. It will be hard to decide which ones are more prominent than others and how to deal with them without making the other students look like all your attention is just on one student. I personally think that this will be hardest for me as behaviour is such a broad spectrum in the classroom and each student is their own work of art. We as teachers need to realize that each student is different, and use our resources. This can create a problem for some teachers as they do not have all the resources due to budgets. For example getting students fidgits to have in there hand while working to keep busy can be expensive for the teacher or school. Some schools are not capable of spending this kind of money and neither is the teacher. Small things such as fidgits can solve small problems for students. Behaviours and dealing with the parents is going to be the toughest part of teaching for me I think. I have never been one to get mad at someone and discipline them and tend to give in. As time goes on I need to create that tough wall in order not to cave in. Also dealing with parents and how they perceive their child’s needs. It is said in the child care licensing regulation that 4.5 year olds need two day care workers (rounded up) to every sixteen children (Government of Alberta, Pg.20,2008). If we compare this to a classroom where on average there is about 25 students with one teacher. There is going to be much more managing that the teacher must have to do and be much more attentive in the classroom. As class sizes are rising this will become a greater problem for teachers. I know as a future teacher this will be a problem for me to try and manage twenty five or more students in one classroom with just myself in their. Teaching is a very complex career and everyday we are learning new things to help progress our career. When it comes to classroom management I believe it is a very much opinion based topic. It
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is up to the teacher how they want to run their classroom and how they want the learning environment to enhance their students learning. Their is many resources that a teacher can read and research in order to achieve the best classroom they can but they must be willing to try new things if something does not work. I believe a teacher must go into the classroom each day with an open mind because each day we don’t know what is going to happen. Also in this career a teacher must be willing to work with other in order to collaborate about topics, problem and resources. I believe that classroom management is the topic that all teachers need to focus on as a first year teacher and understand. In my opinion if you don’t manage a classroom well then your students will not learn. If a teacher focuses on that then the rest just falls into place. Our princicples of Management text book I believe says it perfectly “ teaching just the facts is not sufficient” (Levin, Nolan, Keer, Elliott. Pg. 46. 2007). This statement is very true in many ways as some teachers stand at the front and just relay the facts by lecture format. This is not engaging the students and most likely the students dislike that class due to the way the teacher manages the classroom and the learning environment. The greatest effect I believe a teacher can have on a student is how they engage the students. Teaching is a profession where a person must be willing to try new things and learn from different people and their mistakes.
Works Cited Government of Alberta. Child Care Licensing Regulation. (2008). Child Care Licensing Act: Child Care Licensing Regulation. Retricved from
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http://www.qp.alberta.ca/1266.cfm?page=2008_143.cfm&leg_type=Regs&isbncln=9780779735570
Levin. James., Nolan. James. F., Keer. James.W., & Elliott.Anne.E. (2007). Principles of Classroom Management: A professional Decision Making Model. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson Education Inc.
Bibliography Web Based Government of Alberta. Alberta Education. (2003). Program of Studies. Retrieved from http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/program/ict/programs.aspx.
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Government of Alberta. Alberta Education. (2013). Learn Alberta. Retrieved from http://www.learnalberta.ca/Home.aspx?lang=en The Alberta Teachers Association. (2013). The Alberta Teachers Association. Retrieved from http://www.teachers.ab.ca/Pages/Home.aspx Laura Candler. (2013). Teaching resources. Retrieved from http://www.lauracandler.com/
The 2learn.ca Educational Society. (2013). 2Learn.ca. Retrieved from http://www.2learn.ca/
Text Based Bennett, Barrie., & Rolheiser. Carol. (2001). Beyond Monet: The Artful Science of Instructional Integration. Toronto,On. Bookation Inc. Levin. James., Nolan. James. F., Keer. James.W., & Elliott.Anne.E. (2007). Principles of Classroom Management: A professional Decision Making Model. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson Education Inc. Jordan. Anne. (2007). Introduction to Inclusive Education. Mississauga, ON. John Wiley and Sons Canada Ltd. JONES, K. A., JONES, J. L., & VERMETE, P. J. (2013). Exploring the Complexity of Classroom Management: 8 Components of Managing a Highly Productive, Safe, and Respectful Urban Environment. American Secondary Education, 41(3), 2133
Romi, S., Lewis, R., Roache, J., & Riley, P. (2011). The Impact of Teachers' Aggressive Management Techniques on Students' Attitudes to Schoolwork. Journal Of Educational Research, 104(4), 231240. doi:10.1080/00220671003719004
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