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Joe's
Class Management
Style
| Time Management | Resource Management | Behavior Management |
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Introduction
Managing a classroom is a difficult thing. There are so many variables one must think about. These variables include things such as how to work with kids, how to work with parents, how to work with other staff, and how to keep on top of all of the paperwork. It becomes a nightmare. But, as a person who loves to work with kids, there are solutions, and even an ideal setting where one can be at his best. I've tried to outline here for you how I think I can be at my best, as a teacher.
In the hypertext links above, you can learn about the type of classroom that I would like to have as a teacher, and how I manage time, physical and human resources, and behavior. Enjoy, and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me here.
Setting for Class Management
Every teacher out there has an ideal setting of the type of environment in which they would like to work. I am no exception. While I know I could enjoy and appreciate working in a variety of settings, outlined below are a few conditions that would help me to be at my best.
Believe it or not, I think I could be at my best in an eighth grade middle school classroom, teaching honors Social Studies, and also some music appreciation or music history. While Music Education is my primary certification, I've found myself more excited by my secondary certification of history, where I can use many creative ways to impart knowledge.
I specifically mention honors students because these students would be able to handle the type of curriculum that I could offer, best. I know how to change the curriculum to work with all students though.
Brief Teaching Philosophy
I am an advocate of the Constructivist model of education where students and teachers build knowledge together as learning partners. While the teacher runs the classroom and keeps order, students and teacher work on projects or study for tests together in a fairly cooperative work environment.
A typical month in a Social Studies class would include a two week section learning about Andrew Jackson and his successors, while preparing for an objective test. During these first two weeks, kids would work on mini projects, some of which would be presented to the class, to help them prepare for a test.
This would be followed by a larger two week project of putting together a historical newspaper to send home to friends and family. The focus would be on writing in a newspaper style, alongside learning history. Each student would be responsible for an article.
The key to this style is creativity. Learning cannot become rote memorization for objective tests. It must be more than this. When students attach a feeling or an experience to learning, they learn in multiple ways and more synapses in the brain fire, creating multiple pathways to access information and then store it. Ways of doing this are immersion, active, hands on learning, and making subject matter exciting and interesting by doing unique lectures, class discussions, and games.