By: Cortney Marschuetz

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. ~Donald D. Quinn

A. Physical I created a classroom for third grade students. Obviously my classroom arrangement will depend on the money I am given to fund it, the amount of students I have, the size, shape and much more. For the purpose of this assignment we will say my classroom is rectangular and made for 20 students. I want to start by saying that when I first thought about the design of my classroom I knew it needed to be a welcoming environment. I want my classroom to be a place where students are comfortable and happy. I want the walls to be filled with purposeful but wonderful decorations that encourage student learning. The door in my room is located in the upper left hand corner. When students walk into the classroom immediately to the right there will be cubbies for them to hang all of their belongings and place their lunches or anything extra they may have with them that day. To the right of the cubbies will be a station. This station will have the morning message, the lunch for that day, attendance and the schedule for the day. The morning message is simply a little task I will give the students to do in case some are earlier then others so they are not wandering around the room. The lunch will be done right at the beginning when they walk in along with attendance because this way I do not waste class time with this task. I have seen teachers spend 15 minutes on just this, which, is a waste of time. To the right of the station will be a storage cabinet where I will place anything I may need to store. Next to this storage cabinet will be a small group table. The small group table will have five chairs around it the chairs will face the wall and my chair; will be behind the table facing the students. The reason I do this is because by placing the chairs this way the students at the small group table will have no one to look at but me. I will use this table for any mini lessons I need to do with students or for reading groups. Perpendicular to this table will begin the new wall, which holds first a bulletin board, a white board and then another bulletin board. My bulletin boards will always display my students work because there is nothing better to decorate then with that of the work of children. Hanging above my white board will be a projector that will pull down along with maps. I know from taking social studies methods that maps are important to have in a classroom because a lot of teachers leave this

essential part out. The next wall, which is the wall facing the cubbie wall will start with my desk. To the left of my desk will be a window. In front of the window will be a filing cabinet where I will store assessments. This will also be where I store all the confidential information on my students. By storing all of this in a filing cabinet I can keep it locked at all times. On my desk will be my laptop, elmo and phone for the classroom. To the left of my desk will be the kids computer station and a little ways down will be the reading library corner. This corner will have two comfy couches along with bookcases. I want to organize my bookcase by genres and have a book recommendation wall that is created by the students. Next to this on the wall to the left of the door will be my three center tables. These tables will always have different fun games or activities to each table for my class to be working on when I need to have mini lessons for different subjects. Next to these centers will be a sink and water fountain. Now in the front center of the room facing the white board will be where I place my students. I will have my students sitting at tables with four chairs to a table and a total of five tables. The tables will be in the front of the room directly facing the whiteboard. The tables will be different colors. I will use these tables for groups. This will help my classroom management for when I need the kids to line up and when I want them to collaborate during a lesson. It also adds to the mood of the room. I feel the different colored tables make the room more welcoming and inviting for the students. Tables will change throughout the year so that every student gets a chance to sit at the different colors. Below is what one of my bulletin boards will look like for the first day of school.

Behind my desk I will hang this quote, which was given to me by Jen Huegel and I think it reflects teaching perfectly

Ive come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. Its my personal

approach that creates the climate. Its my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a childs life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated and a child humanized or dehumanized. - Haimm Ginott B. Operational Teacher Record- Keeping Procedures: In my physical description of my classroom I talked about how there is a filing cabinet next to my desk. This filing cabinet will contain an individual file for each student in my class. Each students file will contain all of the information essential for that student. These files will hold things such as; IEPS, behavior plans, or any special needs the student may require. I will continue to observe my students and document my observations in this file for my own use and for future teachers, along with the childs family. I will organize my lessons by subject. Each subject will have its own binder. Each binder will be a different color. The binder will be divided into units. I will also have a filing drawer which is old lessons from past years organized by subject in case I have a class that is similar to one I had in the past I can reuse certain lessons. I will grade students with a grade book and electronically. In a grade book, I will keep track of students behavior, participation, progress and attendance. I want to do this both in a grade book and electronically in case I lose everything electronically I will also have a grade book to back it up. I will also keep track of the way I put students into groups to remind me of how to break up my students when the time comes and to make sure I am constantly changing groups up. Finally, I will also keep a portfolio/time capsule for each of my students. This is something I am really looking forward to for many reasons. For starters, when I was in the fourth grade I had a teacher St. Patricia who picked some of our best work throughout the year in all our subject areas and organized it in a neat little portfolio. She would then use this at conferences to show our parents all the great work we had been doing. After the year was done most teachers may just give the portfolio to the students who then might bring it home and lose it the next week. Instead, she kept it until we graduated from the middle school and gave it to us the last week of school. It was so amazing to see work I had done from fourth grade and how much I had improved/what I wrote like back then. I will definitely do this from my students some day!

New Students in my Room As I have said I want to make sure my classroom is an inviting and comfortable place for all of my students. This of course includes new students too! Before the new student even steps foot into the classroom I will notify my class about the student. I will let them know this new student will be nervous or maybe even scared just like they were their first day of school. I will then have them do a writing reflection with the prompt being, Imagine, you are moving to a new neighborhood. You do not know anyone and have to leave your old school and friends behind. How would you feel? What would you do? This way my students will really have to reflect on what it would feel like to be the new student. Before my new student arrives I would try to contact the parents my making a telephone call. I would ask them if their child needs any special accommodations and anything they want me to know about their child. I would also contact the previous teacher to get an idea of what the child is like in a classroom and see if I can get any previous assessments on the child so I can have an idea of where the child is at academically. When the new student arrives into my classroom I will pair the student with a buddy for the week. This buddy will make sure to help the new student with class procedures and also just making sure the student feels welcome. I will talk beforehand with the buddy to notify them of how important it is for them to make this new student feel welcome and I will also purposely pick a student I know will be able to handle this task. I feel this is a perfect way to help my new student make friends and adapt to the management of my classroom. Keeping the Classroom Clean 5

As the leader in my classroom I will always have my desk and area clean and organized to set a model for my students as to what a clean and organized work area looks like. I will tell my students how important it is to keep the classroom clean and organized. The first week of school I will show students how to organize their work area. This way they will know what it looks like to be clean and we will then talk about how great it feels to work in an organized area. Once a week we will have a procedure where when I notice the students are extra messy in their work areas I will say, take 5 and clean I will then play a song and once the song is over the students are to be sitting in their clean work area. I will tell the students that every time there is a week that goes by where I do not have to tell any of the students to take 5 and clean they will get a sticker on the classroom achievement chart and once they get 15 stickers they get a party. To aid my students in keeping the classroom clean I will keep hand sanitizer and disinfectant all throughout the room. I will also assign jobs to students, which will change weekly. These jobs will include: Floor monitor, whiteboard cleaner, chair stacker, and station organizer. To help make my life easier and to make sure everyone gets a chance at each job I will have the students names written on clothes pins and have the jobs on the board. I will just pin their name to a job and rotate it down so that everyone gets a chance. To set my students up for success I will make sure to have multiple receptacles around the room for trash. Recycling will also occur in my classroom along with hand washing before snack and lunch and after restroom use.

Displaying Student Work Displaying student work will be something I take very serious in my classroom. My class and I are a family and the classroom is their home. It is their safe place where they learn and grow. I want it to also be a place where they are reminded of all the hard work they do by seeing their work displayed all throughout the room. This is why instead of decorating my bulletin boards with stuff from the learning post I will decorate it with my students work. I want my students to be proud of the work they have created and I want others to recognize their peers for the hard work they have done as well. I will also hang up work in the hallways so other people in the school can see what my students have achieved and all the hard work they have done. Everyone of my students work will be displayed at some point to make sure everyone in the classroom feels special. I will also always ask my students if it is ok to display their work before I hang it up. Sometimes students do not want things they have done shown to everyone and I want them to feel comfortable at all times. To model for my students of what their role in decorating the bulletin board will look like the first week of school I will decorate one bulletin board with a sign that says, Welcome to Ms. Marschuetz 3rd Grade Class! You fit right in! Then below this will be puzzle pieces with each of the students name on it formed into a puzzle. On the other bulletin board I will have a, All About Me board where I will take a picture of each student and have them right a mini biography about themselves

and we can take time to share it and have the students share one thing they learned about each classmate. This is a fun way of getting to know everyone and also a way to decorate the board with the students work. Also, by creating this wall, I will have formed a sense of community in my classroom, which is very important for a successful school year.

teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. ~Henry Brooks Adams

Classroom Rules/ Expectations The first week of school my students will come up with the procedures for the classroom. We will brainstorm together and make expectations for the class. The reason I want the students to do it is so they are a part of the way the classroom runs. I think this gives the students a chance to have ownership in the classroom and it holds them more accountable for the procedures. When the students set their own expectations I think they will be more likely to abide by them. After discussing as a class I will create a poster board with the expectations and hang it on the top left part of our whiteboard. During the first month of school we will review and go over the expectations so the students get them down perfectly. After this I will begin to assess and see what works and what doesnt and adapt to that. I will also have the students come up with their own contracts to go over with me in a mini conference. It will talk about what they will bring to the classroom and it will also include the classroom expectations. We will both go over what they think might be difficult for them and come up with a plan to help and then both sign at the bottom. This holds each and every student accountable for his or her actions and also helps them with writing along the way. Consequences for Breaking Rules I will not bring the consequences up on the first day of school, as I do not want to overwhelm the students. After we have created classroom expectations I will tell the students what will occur if they are not following the expectations of the classroom. We will have a classroom smiley face bar. All of the student will have their names written on clothespins that will be attached to the different smileys. The top smiley face will be a happy face and that is where all the students want to be and stay. The one below it will be a face that is not so happy

that is the first warning and they will choose their consequence. An example would be student moves away from group with head down for 5 minutes. The second disruption would make them move their pin down to the sad face. This means they need to go to a buddy classroom and fill out a reflection form about their actions. If they come back and are still disruptive they will take their name off of the smiley bar and bring it up to me. This will mean me walking them down to the principals and will also result in a call home to the parents. Sometimes during the day if it is really nice outside I might say all students who are on the happy face lets go outside and have a five- minute recess, those that are not will not be able to join. I will also have a mystery hero jar in my classroom where all the students names will be written on popsicle sticks. I will randomly draw a name from the mystery hero jar and say that I am watching the mystery hero. If they are good the whole time I am watching them then they will get a reward but if not I will say the mystery hero has not been good and I will put the name back in the jar. I will never yell in my classroom because I feel it makes everyone uncomfortable and as I have said many times I want my students to always feel comfortable in my class. Classroom or School Rule Infractions If a student in my classroom breaks a rule that was established by the school or another teacher, I will make the student move their clothespin down a smiley. If a student breaks a rule in another classroom and the teacher has already given this student a consequence then I will not double the consequence however, if the teacher has not and comes to me then I will have the student move down smileys. I want the other teachers in my school and my principal to know that I respect their rules as well and am willing to work with them in anyway possible when dealing with my students or anything else for that matter. I will make sure my students know that they need to always be respectful of others and the school policies and that they will always be held accountable for their actions in and out of my classroom. Student Disrespect for Others or I I will not tolerate students disrespecting me or any other teachers. If a student ever disrespects me or another teacher by talking back, using a bad tone, or inappropriate language they will always be held accountable. The severity of their disrespect will determine their punishment. If a student disrespects me by talking back or using a tone then they will move their smiley to the bottom smiley and go to a buddy classroom. However, if they use inappropriate language or disrespect any other teachers they will be taken to the office immediately. I will also make sure to meet with these students and tell them why what they did was wrong and what they could do instead of what they actually did. Student Conflict on the Playground

Playground situations can be the toughest to handle. Mostly, because as a teacher we are not always there to see what occurs on the playground so when students come in and tell on others we do not know who to listen to. This is why in my class I will enlist a playground monitor. Beforehand we will discuss what the duties of the playground monitor will be. They will wear a badge so that people know that they are the monitor. They will take their duty seriously or it will be taken away. The rules they are monitoring will be: no pushing, no interrupting, take-turns, no putting others down, and no physical fighting. If a conflict arises on the playground the conflict monitor will be notified and they will go resolve the situation by having those involved in the conflict talk it out and come to an agreement. If they cannot come to an agreement then an adult monitor outside will be notified or myself. The conflict manager is to report all situations to me and I will decide if they need to be further handled. Student Inattentiveness or Lack of Attention I will have a classroom that is full of differentiated instruction and meets the needs of every learner in my class. This will help me to start of with keeping all the students attention. A lot of times when students are not attentive it is because the work they are being given is not challenging enough or perhaps too challenging for them so they either get bored or shut off. I will also work to learn what motivates my students and what interests them and incorporate this into all subject areas. I will also have all my students in assigned seating. Students who are lazy will sit next to those that work hard and students who have trouble staying on task will sit up near the white board where I can really keep an eye on them. Students who have difficulty staying on task and getting their work done will be given a daily checklist with tasks that they need to have accomplished during the school day. I will check their checklist before lunch and at the end of the day. Students who need a little more guidance will meet with me individual once a week or month depending on the needs of the student and we will set a goal list that will be generated from the student and we will come up with reasonable rewards for that goal and then they will take it home to get signed by their parents. My classroom will also be an inviting and comfortable place for the students like I have said earlier I will have it be a place that encourages learning. I want to create students that want to succeed for themselves in my classroom and outside of my classroom. I will always encourage my students efforts and reward the positive behaviors they demonstrate. Tardiness: If a student is continually tardy I will first speak with the student and ask them what is going on and why they are late. I will explain to them how important it is to be at school on time and how they miss very important parts of the day when they are not their in the morning. I will then send home a note first explaining how many times they have been tardy and include in the note what they missed when they were tardy. If the tardiness continues then I will need to meet with the parents. I will explain to the parents how important it is that their child arrives on time and that when they miss in the morning they miss very crucial things that are important for their learning. I will also discuss how it is

important to teach our children to be on time and that showing up is important. As my father has always told me showing up is 90% of your life! Disrupting or Offending Another Student During Class: This is something I will take very seriously if it occurs and will do everything in my power to prevent from happening. From day one of class I will tell my class that we are a team. When one of us is down we all are down. At the end of each week on Friday for the first couple months of school we will do team building exercises that will work on getting everyone in the class to work together. I will NOT tolerate bullying of any kind in my classroom and will tell my students this from day one. Bullying is not cool and it does not make you popular. I will explain to my students that if they do bully that is not a being a good team member in our classroom. The first time I see offending of another student occur I will send a note home explaining to the parents what happened and have them talk with their child and sign. The next time the student will go to the principal and will be immediately kicked out of our classroom. I will make sure every student in my class knows they can come to me at anytime and also I will tell them there is a school counselor they can talk to as well if they are ever feeling down or blue. For the student that I notice is doing the disrupting and offending I will get to the source of WHY the student is doing this and give that student other things they can do when they want to disrupt or offend. Students Not Getting Work Done: So students understand the importance of getting their work done and turned in on time, I will use a stoplight system that one of my teachers used in grade school. The system worked great for her and made each student accountable for his or her work. On the wall I will hang a huge stoplight with a red, yellow and green light. At the begging of the year I will explain this procedure to the students. The first time a student does not turn in an assignment, nothing occurs, I will explain to the student that this is their first warning and they will get a warning slip. The second time a student does not turn in an assignment, their name will be dropped down to yellow. The fourth time they will receive a warning and then the next time after that they will move down to red. When a child is on red they will have to bring a slip home to get signed with their parents and come up with a plan to get approved by me on how they are going to be better about turning their homework in on time. If the problem persists after this then I will meet with the parents and help come up with a plan to make sure the child turns in their homework on time. This is important to deal with in elementary school because they are always going to have homework and the amount will increase as they move up grade levels so they need to develop good habits and plans to turning it in on time. Cheating I will talk about and address the issue of cheating right at the start of the school year. I will explain to my students what it is and why it is bad. I will explain to my students how it is important that they feel they have ownership for 10

their work and how great of a feeling that is to have! If I see a student is cheating I will first pull them aside and ask them to remind me why cheating is wrong. If they cannot I will remind them. If the student continues to cheat, I will have a meeting with their parents to talk about the issue. By getting the parents involved it is my goal that they will support me in addressing this issue and explaining to their child why cheating is wrong. If the cheating continues after I contact the parents I will see this as more than just a cheating issue and will then contact the principal to see what he or she feels I should do. When Parents/Guardians Get Involved I will do my best to deal with problems in my classroom on my own as I feel this is my job as the teacher. I am the leader and mediator in my class. I also feel like it would look bad on me if I always had to get my principal involved so that will always be my last resort. If I am unable to solve an issue I will first contact the parents and hold a meeting with them. I will explain to them that I want to work with them and come up with a plan for the betterment of their child. If the problem still does not stop I will then contact my principal and explain all that has been done to solve the problem and ask where to go from there. If the problem at hand is something severe such as physical violence or bad language I will address that very seriously and get parents and principal involved immediately. My Behavior as a School Professional Being professional at work is very important to me. The first thing I think of every time I talk about being professional at the work place is Harry Wongs speech about dressing appropriately and professionally and how this can help your classroom management and the respect your students have for you. If you are dressing sloppy or wearing pants that are five sizes too small students will not take you seriously and as a result they will not respect you which will affect your classroom management. I will make sure to always wear appropriate clothes at the work place. I will also always respect and never talk down to all of the people I work with no matter what their job is at the school. I will respect parents and students. I am a role model and leader for my students so it is important that I demonstrate good values. I will always stay positive at the work place and be motivating no matter what is going on at home. My sister-in- law, Karen Marschuetz always tells me that teaching is one- fourth classroom preparation and Three-fourths Theater.

Lounge Gossip I will keep my gossiping to a minimum. I will never talk bad about a teacher or administrator or anyone I work with in my school because as I have said earlier I want to demonstrate good values for my students and that is not a

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good value. I know that I will talk about students but never in a negative way just to get a teachers input on what I should do if I am ever frustrated. If other teachers are gossiping to me or to others I will always remain neutral. I will never talk negatively about students to anyone in my work place that is not appropriate. Not Getting Along with a Colleague I will always be nice and respect my colleagues no matter if I like them or not. My dad always gave me good advice when I played soccer. There was a girl on my team who I could not stand. I never wanted to pass to her because I did not like her and my dad explained to me how when I avoided passing to her I was hurting everyone on the team. He told me that I played soccer with her and she was my teammate this did not mean we had to hang out and have sleepovers on the weekends, but the hours we spent playing soccer I needed to respect her and treat her nicely because at the end of the day she was my teammate. This is how I will look at my work place. I do not have to have sleepovers or be best friends with my coworkers but when I am at work they are my teammates and we need to work together to make sure that our school is a great place for the students. If I have a colleague who is rude to me or disrespectful I will go to them and ask them what I can do so they are not upset and how we can work this out. If they continue I will go to my principal and ask him or her what I should do. Disagreeing with the Leadership Strategies or View of my Principals This is something that is bound to happen in the professional world. I will always respect my principal and whatever he or she feels is good for the students. If there happens to be a disagreement between the two of us, I will talk it out in a calm professional manor. I will make sure we can come to an agreement. If my principal is a horrible person and I can not deal with them and completely disagree with the ways of their teaching then I would just suck it up and look for jobs elsewhere. At the end of the day, my principal is my boss and I need to respect and impress him or her wherever I work.

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 A truly special teacher is very wise, and sees

tomorrow in every child's eyes.

Student Sharing Sharing is important for the students to learn. I will tell my students at the start of the year that it is important to share because there might be a time when you need something and if you never share then no one will want to help you. I will talk about when you borrow from someone how it is important to be respectful of what you are borrowing because it is not yours and that if you ruin it you will be responsible for replacing it. I will talk about with my class again how we are a team and if one our teammates are in need then we need to help them out! I want my students to know that sharing their thoughts, ideas and emotions are all welcome in this classroom because we are a team. Collaboration and communication are huge parts of learning I want my students to be comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas with one another so that they can have a good and positive learning experience in their time spent in my classroom. Room Helpers I will have a job list posted next to the whiteboard where all my students can see it. Each students name will be written on a clothespin, which will then be attached to a job. At the end of each week, the clothespins will be rotated one spot. The jobs will include, chair stacker, desk wiper, floor sweeper, white board

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eraser, paper distributor, messenger etc. Each student will have a job they are responsible for doing. Use of Free Time Free time will be rewarded as a privilege in my classroom. If a student has completed all of their work to the best of their ability and with neatness they will follow the free time procedure. The free time procedure is a series of steps. When doing tasks that do not take a lot of time they will have related work. There will be a, what do I do next poster hung up in the classroom with a list of ideas for what the students can do when they are finished with their work. The first thing students are to do after completing work is to check their, yellow folder. This folder will hold any uncompleted work for the student to finish and will be stored in their desk. Ideas that may be on the poster for the students to check are: check your yellow folder, read a book, organize folder, write in journal. Field Trips I hope that when I teach I am able to take a lot of field trips with my students. I feel that field trips are such a great way to learn because it is hands on and to me so beneficial for the students. It is important before planning a field trip to make sure I have enough adults to help me with it. This ensures the students are safe and all accounted for. Field trips require a lot of planning and should be planned far ahead of time to make sure that every detail is included. At the beginning of each school year students will be given a field trip permission slip to take home. The parents will sign the permission slip to allow their student to attend field trips. Throughout the year when field trips are coming up I will send home reminders to the parents. Doing Homework I am not crazy about assigning homework to elementary school students. When they are not in the classroom it is my hope that they will be able to also have fun and get outside and run around and be a kid! I want most of their learning to occur in the classroom with me. However, when needed I will send home assignments. Completion of homework is mandatory. When students have homework they will have a planner in which they write their assignments. When it is due there will be a homework basket that they will place their homework in. At the end of the day I will check to make sure everyone has turned in their homework those who have not will be given a warning or moved down on the stoplight that I talked about earlier. Handing in Papers There will be a homework basket located at the station that the students pass right when they enter the classroom where the lunch count and attendance is. Any homework that needs to be turned in that day will be placed in the homework basket. If a student does not have an assignment they are to come up to me and tell me. I want them to verbally tell me so they are held accountable 14

for when they do not do their work. Students will be EXPECTED to turn in their assignments on the day they are due. Activities for Students if Finished with Their Work Students will know to check their, yellow folder for work they still ned to finish. If that is empty then they will look at the, What do I do next board for ideas. They will be allowed to go to the reading library and read quietly on the couches or play an academic game. These games will be located on the computers. The activities the students do while they are waiting for others to finish are to be done quietly and should not disrupt students working. If they do disrupt others they will be taken away. Passing Out Papers and Announcements Passing out papers will be one of the classroom jobs that one student will do everyday. For papers that need to go home or announcements students will have a, Monday folder that they will take home every Monday that will have any information their parents might need in it. Every Monday students will take this home so that everyone is always in the know about what is going on at school and in our classroom. Students graded work will also be in the folder. After students review their will be a slip to sign every Monday that I will look at on Tuesday to make sure parents have seen the folder. Dismissal for Recess, Lunch, Specials and End of the Day: Only I will be allowed to dismiss the students from the classroom. When dismissing at the end of the day students will get ready to leave in a respectful quiet manor, which we will practice the first weeks of school. They will be let out to get their belongings my their colored tables. The tables that are quietest will be allowed to pack up first. Once students are all packed up and in line I will wait for them to be quiet. I will count down from 5 to let them know I want their attention. While walking through the hallways students will know to keep their hands to themselves and stay quiet. They will always be staying quiet in the hallways so they do not disrupt others learning. If my students are talkative and not following the procedure we will go back and start all over again. They will not want to be late for lunch so this will be a quick way to teach them this procedure. Bathroom and Drink As a class we will have two designated bathroom trips each morning and afternoon. We will travel as a class to the bathroom so that I can monitor the students behavior. If students need to go to the bathroom or get a drink they will need to raise their hand to get permission. Once they leave they are to take a bathroom pass with them. They will also take a cut out person with their name on it on the door, which will be magnetized so that I can see who has left for the bathroom. Only one student will be allowed out at a time. I will allow for students to have a water bottle at their desk too because I do not think kids get enough water during the day. 15

Going to Specials: I will treat this time like I would for taking the kids to lunch or dismissal. They will be asked to line up by table on who is being the quietest. They will remain in a line and keep their hands to themselves. If at anytime they break a line rule we will go back to the classroom and start all over again until they get it right. I will make sure that when going to specials they are equipped for where they are going next. For example if the children need to bring a recorder for music I will make sure they have them all. I will also make sure that the children know they are to respect their special teacher. If they are not quiet and cause us to be late for specials because we had to start over again to line up they will lose time for recess. In that time they will write an apology letter to the specials teacher explaining why they were late. Differentiation Policy: Assisting Students Who Dont Understand Directions/ Tasks When I give my students a task to do I will make sure I explain it very clearly. I will use pictures and explicit instruction to describe the task and model it for my students so they can see what it looks like. I will write the directions on the board and for those students who need extra guidance I will have pictures. For those that need extra guidance they will have a picture schedule to follow at their desk. They will check off each task throughout the day as it is completed. Challenge for Gifted or High Ability Students For each lesson that I plan I will make sure to add an additional part for high ability students so they are challenged. This will not be extra work it will just be a part of the assignment that they will do differently so that it is more challenging for them and so they are not bored. It will be something they are interested in so it is fun for them! I will know all of my students needs for learning. For group projects I will place high ability students together to do a different project, which will be more interesting to them and more on their level. Most of time, I will have all of my students learning together as a group but each student may be given different tasks depending on their abilities. Students of high ability will not be given busy work because this does not enhance their learning. The work given to high ability students will be just like that given to all my students, it will be work that interests them and furthers their development as a learner.

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Parents: Regular Communication with Parents: It is very important that parents and teachers work together and form a healthy relationship. This allows the teachers to know everything they need to know about the student and for the parents to be able to voice any concerns they may have while the year progresses. It is important the parents know that your number once concern is their child and that you care endlessly for their child. They should always feel comfortable contacting you at anytime. I will give my parents my home number and tell them they can call me at anytime because I want them to know that I really truly do care and will always do whatever I can to make their childs learning experience positive. I will also always have my students take home their Monday Folder, which will have all the information parents need to know. This will help parents stay in the know with what is going on at school. They will sign the folder each time they look so I know if they are seeing it or not. Parents may also send me notes in the folder with questions or concerns. Preparing for and Constructing Parent Conferences I will hold an Open House night at the beginning of each year for parents and students to meet me and see the classroom. I will have fun stations for the parents to go through with information for the year and while parents are

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circulating throughout the stations I can talk to them individually to make the night more personal and address and specific questions. I will stress the importance of conferences to parents and guardians on the evening of the open house. I will explain how they sign up for a conference and give them the dates so they can mark it in their calendar. I will also tell the parents all the times I am available but they can come to me anytime with questions or concerns they might have. Two weeks prior to conferences, I will send home in the Monday folder a sheet with available times. Parents will be told to provide their top three choices of availability. Each student will have a file folder containing samples of their best class work. I will always say positive things before any negative things I need to tell the parents during conferences. I want parents to think of school as a positive thing for their child. I also want to make sure to go through the portfolio at conference and have the child tell their parent what their favorite piece of their portfolio is and why because this makes the student feel proud and the parents proud too! I want everyone to think of conferences as a positive time to talk about the student and how we can continue to reach our goals. If there is a time during the conference where I just want to talk to the parents I will have a game for the student to do while I meet with the parents. If you promise not to believe everything your child says happens at school, I'll promise not to believe everything he says happens at home. ~Anonymous Teacher Resources Wong, Harry K., and Rosemary T. Wong. The First Days of School. Mountain View: Harry K. Wong Publications, 2004. 2-289 Jen Huegel: Greenwood Elementary Sally Beisser: Classroom notes Quotations About Teachers. http://www.quotegarden.com/teachers.html

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