1. Management Style and Philosophical Beliefs: Teachers do not play simply one role. They play countless roles that get rolled up into one job that gets the label of teacher. Being a classroom manager is just one of the many job requirements of a teacher. Effective teaching and learning cannot occur in a poorly managed classroom. If disorder and chaos become the norm, how can there be a healthy learning environment? The person most responsible for maintaining classroom management is inevitably the teacher. Teachers have a clear effect on student achievement, but how individual teachers have this effect is not nearly as clear. It is clear however that students determine whether teachers are good or bad based overwhelmingly on their classroom management skills. Management styles and strategies can be widely varied. It is important to remember however that the notion that effective teachers can prevent all student misbehavior is a myth. Student misbehavior happens in every classroom. The only difference is the frequency and severity of it along with how the teacher reacts to it. It is important to have strong classroom management skills for the benefit of both you and your students. Students need a well-run classroom in order to learn properly. It is a proven fact that poor classroom management leads to lower academic engagement. But it is also important for you, the teacher. A staggering 40-50% of teachers leave the profession within their first five years of work. Many of these teachers on the way out cite the stress of classroom management as one of their main reasons for quitting. As for my classroom management style, I definitely prefer an authoritative style, or as one website I researched put it, a toned down tyrant as opposed to the all-powerful one. I do not plan on having an excessive amount of rules outside the two most important ones, Safety and Respect. For these two rules however, I will be rigid and unmoving. I will explain to them my expectations and rules and the reasons behind them so that they are not left in the dark. I will be very receptive of student verbal interaction, including criticism as long as it is respectful. I want my students to feel comfortable interrupting me and engaging with me throughout the class as long as its important, relevant, and respectful. In this way, communication will flourish and allow for growth in student emotional intelligence. I want praise and encouragement to dominate my teaching style, and my students need to feel comfortable and safe to share out what they think about any and all topics.

2. Establishing a Positive Classroom Culture: As I somewhat mentioned before, in order to establish a positive classroom culture, I will enforce my two rules of Safety and Respect. Respecting other students points of views will be a must. I will respect their opinions and I expect that they will do the same. I also fully plan on sitting outside the classroom during passing periods and greeting each and every student as they walk through the door. I want to know who my students are and what they are interested in. That is why at the beginning of the year, I plan on having my students fill out student interest-surveys and to refer back to them throughout the year. If my students know that I care about them, then they will care more about the class.

3. Developing Classroom Rules and Procedures: To be honest, I do not plan on establishing my classroom policies with my students. I know it sounds rather undemocratic of me, but I have reasoning for it. I was a camp counselor at a summer camp for the past two years and we did something exactly like this with our cabin groups. It was a sort of cabin contract where we sat down our campers and had a discussion with them about how we were going to live together and what rules we should live by. I really like the idea and I think it works well when the kids are younger and when youre all actually living together. But for high schoolers, they know what rules they should basically be following. I think sitting down with them to hash out the rules would take up precious time when it could be just as easily explained to them. It is a good idea though to make sure that students understand why there are the rules that you have in place. I also think it might be a good idea to have them still sign it to make it feel as though its a contract.As for expectation that I will have, I will try to limit them as much as possible. Of course, I expect students to be respectful. Respect me, respect other students, respect property, that kind of stuff. This is a broad category and will be rigorously enforced. Safety is another. If anyones safety is endangered, that is immediately a ticket out of the class. I am totally fine with students leaving the classroom to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water or whatnot. They dont have to ask me, they can just be mature about it and excuse themselves. If they take their time coming back to class, it only hurts their own learning and thus their performance within the class. I am also totally fine with food and drinks in the classroom. I will ask students about allergies, but other than that, I have no problem with it. For tardiness, once again, theyre only hurting themselves by not being in class and learning. I am not going to harass them about it. I will always accept late work. As long as the paper or test or project is done and turned in within the semester, they will be absolutely allowed to. All assignments should be important to student learning, so what we as teachers should want is our students to do it. Why should we stop them from doing the work? If they will learn from it, then thats exactly what we want. However, I will take 10% off the grade for every day after the due date. Once it gets down to 60%, it will stop there and remain there for the rest of the semester. This may seem lenient, but I believe that it makes a lot of sense. If they do they do the paper or test or project perfectly (as in 100%), the best they can receive on it is a 60%, or a D-. It is likely that they will not get 100%. However, there is still a chance to not get an F on the assignment. Students need to be able to see this light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. Otherwise, how hard will they work on a certain assignment if they can do no better than an F? If a student is absent, then he/she will not get the participation points for that day. There will be no extra credit assignments in class. If there is any academic dishonesty such as plagiarism, then it will result in an automatic 0% and a one-on-one talk. If there is down time at the end of class, then that means I did not prepare my lesson very well. In that case, I would let them get homework done or converse quietly with one another. As long as they stay in their seats and are relatively quiet, then I see no problem with i

4. Monitoring the Classroom and Responding to Student Misbehavior: When it comes to monitoring student behavior, you have to consider whether or not certain misbehaviors are worth your time. By that, I mean that not all misbehavior deserves attention from you. There are many ways to deal with student misbehavior. Many teachers send these problem students out to the hall or to the principals office. There are many other ways however to respond to student misbehavior without nearly as much stress or time. And this is good to know because, as can be seen in my graphic artifact, there are quite a few ways for a student to misbehave. Simple eye contact can work like charm. So can placement. Go walk by the student(s) who are misbehaving and without saying anything, just let your very presence affect their behavior. These are both great ways to get students attention when they are off task. Student behaviors that are unacceptable to me are those that concern respect and safety. Consequences to these transgressions would be a quick trip out to the hall, or if necessary (very rarely) the principals office. Then, we would have a talk one-on-one after class.

5. Parents as Partners: Students are much more likely to be academically successful if their parents are encouraging them and involved in their academics. Also, parents by in large love to be involved and kept up to date with what their child is doing and learning. Parents are valuable resources to have on your side, for they can help you know more about your students. Tap in to that valuable resource!The first thing I would do is meet some of the parents during registration at the beginning of the year. This is a chance to make good first impressions and get contact information. I will create a comprehensive syllabus and send it home with the students to have their parents sign and return. This way, students and parents can go over the syllabus together and gain some understanding as to what the class will be like and entail. I will also try to get as many parents as possible to come to the Open House Night, where parents can retrace their students class schedule and find out about it. I will be sure to contact them regularly so as to give them updates about their students. Not just with bad news however. It is just as important to contact parents with good news and to do so regularly. If a particular student did especially well on a project or helped teach another student something, that is most definitely worthy of a call home. Also, I utilize email frequently addressing any misbehavior or academic problems. Parents need to be informed about their children. My artifact depicts a classroom newsletter. It does a good job of addressing what is happening academically while also displaying student work that was exceptional. Students love being recognized and parents love it as well.