Classroom management philosophy
The goal of classroom management is not only to provide a caring and orderly environment in which students can learn, but also to enhance students’ social and emotional development. To reach this goal, I will focus on establishing a caring and respectful relationship with students, fostering self-discipline and personal responsibility in students and teaching students social-emotional skills to deal with conflicts and solve problems. With more experience, I believe I will be able to achieve the ultimate purpose of my classroom management: the students have a personal code of behavior and follow it without others' supervision.
Rules
Classroom rules
- 小眼睛,看老师 (Eyes on the teacher)
- 小耳朵,认真听 (Listen when someone is talking)
- 要发言,先举手 (Raise your hand to talk)
- 手和脚,要放好 (Keep your hands and feet to yourself)
Incentive systems
- Be first in line.
- Choose a game for the class to play.
- Choose a story to read to the class.
- Record songs or nursery rhymes in a CD and send it home.
- Keep score during a game.
Consequences
In case of students' misbehavior, the following consequences will be applied. They are intended to promote good behavior, rather than punishing mistakes.
- Green color: This is appropriate behavior. All students start each day on this color so that it allows that to have a “fresh start” every day.
- Yellow color: Teacher and student discuss behavior. This is a warning that allows students to gain control of their inappropriate behavior.
- Blue color: Student loses a privilege. Teacher will decide what an appropriate privilege to lose. A behavior plan that the student and teacher complete together will also be sent home that day.
- Red color: Teacher calls home.
- Black color: Student discusses the behavior with the principal.
Weekly behavior report
Every Friday, students bring home a completed weekly behavior report. This report records their behavior in the past week in colors consistent with the above behavior chart. When a student draws or writes Chinese characters in green in every grid, he or she shows good behavior five days in a row. When you see yellow or blue color on your child's report, that means he or she sometimes fails to follow our classroom rules. In such case, a short note will specify necessary areas of improvement. It is helpful that you spend some time over the weekend to talk about these areas with your child. With our joint effort, I believe a friendly and orderly classroom environment will be created and maintained throughout the school year.
Routines
Using bathroom
- When students need to use the bathroom, they first check if the bathroom door is open and then make a sign language “B” to me;
- They then wait for me to make eye contact with them and either nod if it is okay or shake my head if it is not;
- They need to leave the bathroom door open after using it;
- When I teach the whole group, students are not allowed to use the bathroom unless it is an emergency;
- During other times, they can use the bathroom when they need to without ask permission.
Getting a tissue or a drink
- When students need a tissue or a drink, they show me with their hand signals.
- They then wait for me to make eye contact with them and either nod if it is okay or shake my head if it is not.
- I say “一二三,你看我” (One two three, you look at me), students respond “一二三,我看你" (One two three, I look at you).
- I raise one hand counting down from 5 to 1 and gradually lower my voice so that by 1 I am at a whisper.
- I say “面包” (bread), students reply “果酱" (jelly); I say “可乐" (coca-cola), students reply "雪碧“ (sprite); I say "小朋友" (kindergartners), students reply "葛老师" (Ms. Ge).
Lining up
- Walking feet.
- No talking.
- No cutting.
- Putting hands in the back.
Walking in the hallway
- Resting mouth.
- Walking feet.
- Hands kept in the back.
- Follow the person in front of you closely.
- Look straight ahead when walking.
Cleaning up
- Put crayons, erasers and scissors into the caddy.
- Put waste materials on the table and floor into the trash can.
- Put supplies into boxes and put boxes into the cabinet.
- Push in chairs quietly.