When it comes to how my classroom will be run, I want to find a middle ground in which

I can let my students be themselves, but also they need to learn when it’s time to follow

instructions. My students should come into the classroom prepared. With me being an English

teacher, I would want them to have a mini journal for them to have their bell work, so they

would need to have that out when they arrive to my classroom because I will have the bell work

prompt on my board. At my old high school, I had teachers who were different on their late

policy. One teacher I remember wanted us to have our butts in our seat by the time the bell rang

or else we would be tardy. To me, that isn’t logical for a variety of reasons, so all I ask is for my

students to be in my class by the time the bell rings. They’d have a thirty second grace period or

else they will be tardy and by that time I will hand them their tardy slips because I’d rather my

students miss bell work than my lesson, and bell work should take no longer than five minutes.

I am firm believer in Vygotsky’s social learning theory, so I would have my desks in

groups of four and would seat them based on their strengths and weaknesses that way each group

can work symbiotically. Given that I want to teach high schoolers, I know they don’t want to be

treated like little kids, so attention grabbers like “1,2,3 eyes on me” aren’t ideal to me. I would

want to make it fun so I’d cup my hands together around my mouth to increase volume and yell

“Scooby-Dooby Doo” in which my students would respond “where are you?”. As stated before, I

don’t want my students to feel like my class is a prison, so I would allow for some leeway for

them to go to the back of class and stretch just because I know sitting for about an hour does take

its toll. When it comes to students leaving my room for the restroom, I would have them ask me

first, then I would do a collateral policy. Most students have cell phones so they would need to

give me their cell phone first before they leave my room. With this, I hope that I would reduce

drug activity and other sorts of misbehavior outside the class. To get my attention, students are to
raise their hand that way I can see that they need to ask my a question or respond to a question I

asked. For my students who are much more introverted, I would encourage those to come up to

my desk and ask me a question.

My students are to be respectful to myself, my classroom, and their peers. I understand

not everyone will be friends, but there needs to be a mutual respect for one another and they need

to be cordial with one another. We are to be quiet one another person is speaking and raise our

hands if we have questions regarding what was said. Once anyone is done speaking, then

students can go about gathering supplies or sharpening pencils. Assignments are to be stacked in

the middle of the tables for me to pick up with ease, and late assignments are to be turned in to

me personally. Penalty for late assignments will be a ten percent deduction per day late unless I

was made aware of needing an extension. If students need to make up work, I will hold office

hours before and after school as well as during lunch. Because my content area is English, I will

be nitpicky on students’ grammar, syntax, diction, etc, but I’ll make sure to also give feedback

and make sure I praise the areas of an assignment I liked. I wouldn’t want to punish them too

much if they understand the concept, but I do have to make sure they’re improving too; thus, my

nitpickiness.

I will be sure to have the standard and objective of the day on my board that way students

can see at all times what it is they will be learning. I don’t want to baby my students too much,

but I’ll be sure to remind them about big projects such as research papers and projects. We all

procrastinate, so I’d tell them about three weeks in advance because I know that they have

classes other than mine. A rubric will also be shown so they know what grade is to be expected

based on what is provided. Everybody is going to fail at something at one point, so I would offer
reattempts on certain assignments, but the catch is their new grade would be the average between

the old and new grade.

Overall, I have all these ideas on how I want my classroom to be ran. I know it will be

trial and error, but I look forward to the challenges. At the end of the school year, I would like

my students to fill out a survey asking them questions about the classroom layout, structure,

policies, etc. With time, I know I’ll find my groove and I look forward to having my students

become better English students.