Millicent Powell Classroom Pedagogy Introduction When I was a freshman in high school, we had to take a personality assessment that

predicted what type of job would suit us best. I received scores that suggested I should become an architect, a pharmacist, a marine biologist, or a teacher. After I got my results, I really started thinking about what job I could see myself doing. They all seemed interesting from the descriptions that I was given, but I began to consider teaching more and more. I remember a commercial that I had heard that day that said Teachers, creating the leaders of tomorrow. I believe that was the moment when I started to see teaching as a worthwhile profession. My own teachers had always inspired me to be my best and I knew I wanted to have that kind of impact on any students I would teach. It is funny to think about what I expected teaching would be like starting out my school six years ago, because I have grown so much since then. I used to see it as a slackers job that was a back-up plan in case I didnt like pharmacy school. I now see that teaching is more than relating with students, coaching, and getting summer breaks off. I have realized that teaching is a profession that requires me to plan and make every action intentional within the confines of my classroom. Not only am I providing information with the students, I am also teaching them the skills they need to become contributive members of society. As I prepare for my student teaching semester, I feel confident in the teacher I have become and comfortable with being myself in front of a classroom. I used to think that I had to change myself to be a good teacher, but now I see that my strength is being myself and allowing my past to influence my teaching. I have always believed in following the rules and that rules should only exist if there is a logical reason for their existence. I have also played and coached team sports throughout my life and approach my classrooms culture and students in a similar way to my team and players. All of my life experiences have shaped the way that I approach classroom management and I will discuss that further throughout my pedagogy. Curriculum

Mathematics is a subject that builds upon the most simple definitions, such as the definition of a line, until it becomes larger concepts that relate to and affect one another. The core standards that I am required to follow according to the school district and state regulations give me the basic skills and concepts to build upon with my instruction. I see curriculum standards as a map and the way I choose to get to travel from place to place is my instructional methods. It is my job as the teacher to help students reach beyond the rigorous curriculum and get them to apply higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy. Along with the mathematics-based standards, I also have a set of personal standards that I hold for the students in my classroom. It is very important that I hold my students to high standards that require them to be independently responsible for their own actions. I believe in giving all of my students choices for how they want to conduct themselves in my classroom by informing them of the consequences and gains of each action, but allowing them to decide if they will make the responsible decision. My students are also expected to treat themselves and others with respect. Culture I believe that the classroom culture needs to encourage all students to succeed regardless of social, cultural, ethnic, cognitive, language, or physical differences or disabilities. I strive to create a pluralistic society in my classroom that respects individuals cultures and encourages cooperation between all students. The classroom should be a creative environment and students should be rewarded for their creativity and uniqueness. My classroom is a safe place for all students where we all support one another in order to reach our full potential. I relate this to a sports team because the students need to trust their classmates and me in order to be successful. This allows them to forget to be selfconscious about themselves so that they can share their thoughts and ideas without the fear of failing. The classroom culture creates the support for the students if they need more help. To make another comparison to the idea of a team culture, each student is unique in his or her personality, skills, and background knowledge. I focus on providing all of my students will opportunities to succeed at their level. Some students are naturally high achievers compared to others. It is important to teach those high achieving students to be leaders and to differentiate my instruction to help those other students succeed. When I coach a team, I ask my best players to act as leaders and to help raise up their teammates

who need help. My classroom culture satisfies the students needs for safety and belonging, which allows them to acquire self-esteem and work towards self-actualization. Once their basic needs are met, they will be more willing to work toward their ideal self and explore how they impact the world around them. Discipline The structure of the classroom is ultimately dependent on the teachers fundamental rules. The rules help to give students enough structure to encourage them to cooperate in their education and they guide them to acquire productive learning strategies. I believe that the purpose for discipline is to cultivate students to become responsible, confident children who grow up to be adults who think for themselves, care about others, and live satisfying and useful lives. As I mentioned before, I only believe in having rules when they are absolutely necessary and have a logical justification. It is also important to me for the classroom to be built upon a democratic system in which the students are led by me, but can help establish the rules and consequences. The classroom should be self-regulated with the support of the students, which provides them with more freedom and the ability to succeed out of their own free will. It is important for me to allow the students to help me create some of the rules. One rule that I like to involve my students in is creating a sign or method to gain their attention without yelling. Students are usually pretty creative and since they made the rule, they are more inclined to follow the rule. I will maintain the illusion of control during classroom instruction with a set progression of timeout related actions. The goal behind using timeouts and moving the student is to get the class to ignore an unwanted behavior to extinguish the unwanted behavior. The first time that the student acts out, they get a verbal warning from me that describes what they are doing and what they need to do instead. This gives them the opportunity to regain self-control or move themselves away from the stimuli causing their behavior. The next time they exhibit the behavior I move the student to the back or front of the classroom so that they are still in the instruction area, but can clearly tell that their behavior needs to change. The next step is an exclusionary time out in which the student is moved to the far back or side of the classroom where they are out of the instruction area and are no longer able to distract other students. The student is allowed to follow along with the lesson, but they cannot participate verbally. The student will be given

opportunities to move back to their seat after part of the lesson if they think they can handle it. The final step is a seclusionary timeout where they student is removed from the classroom and they either talk with me in the hallway or are escorted down to the Deans office. This type of action is reserved for students who continue to have outbursts after the exclusionary timeout or they break school rules such as swearing, obscene gestures, or fights. I also will use a system of logical consequences for when students are individually struggling more than normal or blatantly break my classroom or school rules. This structure informs my students of a consistent discipline plan while also giving them opportunities to exhibit self-control and create their own system of consequences. Along with the natural consequences and timeout system that I will use in my classroom, I also think it is important to find ways to define how and why a students unacceptable behavior occurs. It takes self-control over my own emotions so that I can study the students behavior without anger or pre-judgment. Once I am able to find the triggers for my students behaviors, I can monitor them and their surroundings better and give them a better education. Strategy There are several strategies that I use in my instruction and assessments. I work hard to give my students experiences that help them reach higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy. I believe that every assessment needs to encourage students to continue learning and require them to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create. In my classroom I use project-based learning in which the students are asked to create a product that shows their level of mastery with the material. The projects also allow me to differentiate my instruction because all of the students can create products that reflect their level of ability. I am also able to give students more choices for how they want to prove to me that they have met the objectives for the lesson or unit. It allows the students to be creative and use their own strengths to relate to the math. My teaching tends to apply more student-centered strategies than teacher-centered strategies. Student-centered instruction creates a classroom in which the students and the instructors share the focus of the lesson and explore the material together. This differs from teacher-centered strategies because teacher-centered instruction has the teachers

focus on the teachers instruction such as lectures or demonstrations. Some studentcentered strategies that I use in my classroom are student-led discussion, student presentations, small group work, and pair work. These types of strategies encourage students to communicate with their peers and have intellectual discussions about mathematics. They also allow me to be a guide on the side who provides scaffolding by encourages students to develop problem-solving skills and be in charge of their own learning. Expectations I hold high expectations for my students and myself. As the teacher, I need to be continuously practicing to become better and help improve my instruction. I expect myself to always have professional conduct and treat my students with respect. I cannot expect myself to become a great teacher if I judge my students, act immaturely, or treat my students unequally. Beginning on the first day of school, I must be consistent and stick to my classroom management plan. I cannot waiver or make exceptions to the rules because it will dissolve the structure and illusion of control that I have worked to create. I believe that I should be able to teach my students with respect and as adults. In order to earn this type of trust and respect form me, my students need to be constantly practicing to improve their own skills and make good personal decisions. My discipline plan will allow me to treat my students in this way because they are given enough structure to understand what is expected of them and what the consequences are if they cannot conduct themselves appropriately. Classroom structure Students thrive in a classroom that has an organized structure. Daily routines are important for students because they help to organize their days and keep them feeling comfortable because they know what is expected. I display a agenda for each day with objectives for the lesson so that the students know what to expect. It is also normal in my classroom to have entrance and exit slips throughout the week, so the more I do these in the first month of class, the more comfortable they will be completing them. I also think it is important to establish routines for group work such as how to transition between different seating arrangements and expectations for the type of work they do.

The physical structure of my classroom needs to allow for proximity control and encourage classroom conversation and easy transitions for group or paired work. My desks will be in rows that are in a V or U shape so that students can easily discuss in a large group or combine their desks to work together. A final piece of my classroom structure is how I have decided to handle bathroom passes. I allow students to use the bathroom whenever they like as long as only one student is gone at a time. I expect students to be mature enough to handle a bathroom pass. However, if they dont respect the level of trust I give them, I will address the problem individually with the student and their parents if necessary. I explain to my students that if they want to waste their time in the bathroom, it is their fault if they do not learn as much.