Philosophy

My philosophy is that all children are unique. Each and every one has the ability to meet their full potential. When given an environment that is supportive and accommodating to their needs to help them grow. Not just educationally but physically, emotionally, and socially as well. It's important for me to have a positive atmosphere that my students look forward to everyday.

My Philosophy of Classroom Management

The purpose of education is to teach students skills to be successful in school and outside of school. In order to do this effectively I know I must have good classroom management. My plan is to maintain order in my classroom by having positive communicative relationship between me, my students, and parents, as well as maintaining rules and boundaries. I need to create an environment that is safe and supportive so learning can take place. I want an engaging educational environment that includes all students. An environment where all students can learn, be successful, and reach their full potential.

I believe it is vital to set rules, boundaries, and expectations in the classroom from the very beginning. I want my students to help with setting the rules and expectations for the classroom. I will post them in the room so that they can be seen every day. Creating the rules and expectations together will help start the sense of community I want my classroom to have. It will also hold them accountable for the rules and expectations. I will also send a copy of the expectations home for the parents to sign as well. From the first day of class I will work on setting my expectations of the routine in my classroom. We will work on this till I feel like they understand it. Setting routines and expectations helps less discipline to happen and more teaching to take place. I will not focus on negative behavior and my expectations will be clear. Students need structure and consistency to be successful in learning. Structure helps students stay focused. I set the tone for my classroom, so I need to model what that structure and consistency looks like. It’s my responsibility to model, teach, and encourage positive behavior.

It’s important for me to build relationships with each of my students. This is essential to the success of each student in my classroom. There should be mutual respect between me and my students. It’s important to me that I’m outside my classroom door every morning to greet every one of my students by name with a high-five or hug. Making time to talk to my students individually and getting to know them outside of schoolwork. Every student is different and it’s important for me to get to know them and their learning styles. It’s also important for my students to get to know each other in order to create that sense of community that is so important to my classroom environment and learning. They can not only learn from me, but from each other. They can trust me and each other. Balancing that warmth with my high expectations so that I am successful in building relationships with them and maintaining good classroom management.

I believe creating a positive connection with parents will also help me be successful in my classroom. Connecting with parents from the beginning is very important. It’s important that I communicate both positive and negative behavior to the parents. I do not want the first time I communicate with a parent to be when there is trouble with their child. I want parents to know I believe in their child and see good in them. Having a form of regular communication so that the parents are involved and know what's going on to help reinforce things in the classroom and at home. This connection will help everyone be in the know about what’s going on. This will help my students achieve more at school and at home, and hopefully make it easier for me to focus more on the task of teaching. Contact with parents will also help me to learn more about my students’ needs and home environment, which will better equip me to meet those needs.

Finally, I believe to maintain good classroom management, I must model the behavior I want to see. If I can effectively model how to act, then my students will know how to behave in different situations. It’s important for me to use polite language with my students and other teachers. This shows respect for people. It’s important that I maintain my composure in stressful situations so that my students see how to properly handle emotions. I do not want to control my students but lead my students. It’s important that I show confidence in myself and what I believe they can achieve. If I show them that I believe they can do and be anything, they will truly believe it too. If I want my students to believe they can do it, then I need to believe in myself and them. I need to believe in my ability to manage my classroom so that each of my students can succeed.

Being in the classroom as a paraprofessional, I've seen that if I can master these things, then I will be able to increase my students' chances for learning success. Being able to manage my classroom in an effective way will better my student's ability to learn and my ability to teach. I will strive to develop my students' learning not just academically, but socially and emotionally as well. My goal is to have a well-managed classroom for optimal learning. I know I may need to tweak some things as I go, but I will work to have effective classroom management. I want all my students to have a sense of belonging in my classroom. I want my classroom to be a community where we work together to learn and grow. I want my students to feel important in my classroom. Most importantly, I want my students to feel loved and inspired to be all that they can be.