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Education Portfolio Receptivity Intelligence Knowledge Experience Expression |
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CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PLAN
My personal perspective on teaching and classroom management is a composite of my own experiences as a student and teacher and what I have learned in my reading and most recently, in my studies. I have been fortunate to have teachers that inspired me, cared about me, believed in me and helped to bring out the best in me. Self-referral performance. According to Maharishi Vedic Science, the most important principle of education is Self-referral performance. This is also the goal of education. Teachers are responsible for the total development of their students.Through our teaching strategies and classroom management, we can help create the conditions that will develop a disciplined life both inside and outside the classroom, because a disciplined life means always moving towards success. Enliven Receptivity Maharishi has also told us that a prime ingredient of any relationship is to "Meet with warmth and meet to give." I have seen how the best teachers enliven receptivity by being models for their students. I believe that a teacher can be a leader in the classroom - empowering and inspiring the students, leading them to discover their own consciousness - that total knowledge and its infinite organizing power. It is important that teachers nourish, uplift, encourage and support each student and the class as a whole through their attitude and behavior while guiding everyone toward achievement of the highest values in life. As a teacher, my goal is to meet the students on their level of understanding and raise them from there step by step. I believe the teacher can guide students' understanding to deeper, more powerful levels of the field of study. This includes always relating parts to wholes, especially to the Self. According to the Joneses, there are five steps to effective classroom management:
Reciprocal influence between the Individual and Comunity I believe, along with many educators, that students are naturally motivated to learn, but this motivation can be supported by activities that relate to their goals and to what is considered desirable in society. Classroom management is oriented toward the creation of a community climate. It requires the establishment of a set of rules, procedures, and interventions to help students learn the necessary elements of appropriate and successful behavior. There is a reciprocal influence between individual and collective consciousness and group coherence.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Effective classroom management begins with developing a community. Communities are made from teacher-student and student -student relationships. The most influential person in the classroom is the teacher. Effective teachers develop relationships with students that are open, caring, interdependent, separate, and that satisfy the needs of both. They make systematic efforts to get to know their students and create opportunities for personal meetings. Effective teachers also have effective communication skills, including good sending (confronting, feedback, and positive expectations) and receiving (empathic, non evaluative) listening skills. I would begin the school year with acquaintance activities, activities for establishing a cohesive, supportive group and activites for enhancing diverse liking patterns. Throughout the year I would focus on improving the classroom climate by systematically monitoring and improving the quality of teacher -student and peer relationships to create positive student behavior and increased achievement. According to the Joneses, "If the classroom is to function in a supportive goal-directed manner, teachers must initially set aside time for activities that enable students to know each other, develop a feeling of being included, and create diverse friendship patterns."(p. 124). Recent research on cooperative learning provides the impetus to create positive peer relationships as an important variable influencing sutdent behavior and learning. It is important to select a range of methods for creating classroom environments supportive of high student achievement. The recent concern about at-risk students inspires me to focus on meeting students' personal needs as a critically important goal in itself and also as a prerequisite to higher achievement.
PROCEDURES, RULES AND REWARDS Spontaneous Right Action. Yatinam Brahman Bhavati Sarathih. I know that teachers who take the time to establish rules and procedures early in the year have a much more orderly and productive class by mid-year than teachers who do not. I see my role less as disciplining students and more as reteaching appropriate behaviors if students have difficulty demonstrating these behaviors. Rules and procedures - Do Less and Accomplish More Rules and procedures create a microcosm of orderly activity that mirrors the orderly activity of the universe. If our rules and procedures are a natural expression of the desire that we as teachers have for our students' learning and growth then we will receive the support of Nature in the form of our students' cooperation and help in running the classroom. External order supports internal order and internal order naturally expresses itself in orderly behavior. The Joneses have a four step process for establishing rules which includes
In addition to rules, I seek to establish routines in the classroom that support the orderly flow of the business of learning such as procedures for the use of classroom space, whole class activities and small group work; how to begin and end the class and procedures related to academic accountability such as homework and tests. Rules and procedures ensure that students know what to expect and how to best support their own learning. When teaching new procedures, I first discuss the need for the procedure, soliciting students' ideas, and having students practice the procedure till it is performed correctly and reinforcing the current behavior. When procedures are taught properly, I'm able to do do less and accomplish more. DEMOCRATIC APPROACH TO CLASSROOM DISCIPLINE When I respond to disruptive behavior in my classroom, my main goal is to support the growth of self-referral consciousness in the student. Disruption of school rules and routines is often an expression of the frustration students feel in trying to meet their need for unrestricted growth. I try to help them develop the behavior which will allow them to be successful in class, while still meeting their personal desires. Research indicates that the punitive-oriented discipline systems (e.g. assertive discipline) are not as effective as education- oriented systems which emphasize helping students internalize the values of orderly growth and develop self-control over their drives and feelings. Whether praising or correcting, I try to support students' desire for growth in the direction of self-referral consciousness. I believe teachers' response to classroom misbehavior should:
My general procedure for dealing with disruptive behavior includes nonverbal cue and verbal cue, indicating choice student is making. Then student moves to a designated area of room to develop a plan, and finally student is required to go somewhere else to develop a plan. Maharishi School uses a three check system: name on board, check, out of room. When dealing with seriously upset or angry students, the Joneses recommend a three phase process beginning with validating and clarifying student feelings: providing choices and alternative behaviors and an invitation. Thus, good classroom management helps put students in touch with themselves and maintain broad awarenesss while focusing sharply on the situation at hand. Chronic behavior problems When dealing with chronic behavior problems that are not solved through the steps above, I add four other steps: analyzing the environment to see if I can change anything that will improve the students behavior, contact the parents, refer the student to the office or another professional such as a guidance counselor, and develop a behavior change plan (Nourishing Creative Intelligence in CBE) with the members of the education group or team. In dealing with minor and major classroom disruptions I have a series of rewards and consequences responding to student behaviors. I try to nip misbehavior in the bud, or, if necessary redirect it toward more successful and progressive action. As I continue to evolve myself, I am better able to take recourse to my own level of pure consciousness and help teach student remember who he or she really is - an unbounded field of bliss and organizing power. Individual and group problem solving Individual and group problem solving is the final component in a comprehensive classroom management plan oriented toward education rather than punishment. Problem solving is solution oriented rather than blame oriented. We know that problems are born of narrowness of consciousness. I try to help my students by presenting a broader, more inclusive perspective on their difficulties. When simple reminders, consequences or one-on-discussions do not alter students behavior, a more systematic effort to help students learn to solve their own problems must occur. William Glasser gives a systematic approach to solving problems which helps students understand their current behavior and its value in context; work out a plan; and follow up on this plan. Class meetings Class meetings are another form of problem solving that allow groups to work through problems in well-structured sessions. After I have led several meetings, students can begin to run their own. Guidelines for class meetings include: should be held in a circle, agenda items submitted in advance, be solution oriented and constructive, definite rules of participation are discussed and followed, are held once a week in elementary school and once a month in secondary school.
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