Reflective Essay On Preparing The Classroom

Preparing the Classroom One thing that almost every teacher I talked to while helping prepare classrooms for the first day of school said was, “preparing your classroom takes longer than you’d think.” I am grateful for the assignment to go in before school begins and help a teacher set up their classroom because it showed me how crazy preparing for the first day really is and how much time is needed for preparation. I did my participation hours at Cassville Primary School where I was able to help many of the teachers in first grade, but specifically Mrs. Crawford. During my participation hours, I was able to help set up “stop, drop, and go” packets, put name tags on desks, check computers, tear down word walls, and make all kinds of copies …show more content…
Mrs. Crawford had some good tips on classroom management. For example, she never sends a child to the principal unless they are harming themselves or someone else. She does this because she feels that sending a child to the principal sends the message that she does not want to deal with the child; that he or she is too difficult for her. She says that it losses the teachers authority when they regularly send students to the principal. In addition, the whole first grade will be using the clip chart system this year. If a student is doing well, their clip will be moved up and if it stays there, they could get a reward. If a student is being disruptive, then their clip will be moved down and they may have a consequence such as walking laps at recess. She shared with me about a student she had last year who was disruptive, so instead of getting him in trouble all the time, she did all she could to keep him focused. For example, during silent reading, he would always talk, so instead of getting onto him for talking to his neighbors, she allowed him to sit under her desk which kept him quiet and on task. From this story, I learned that knowing your students and what they need really helps with …show more content…
Some ways Mrs. Crawford plans to implement learning standards and GLE’s is by placing the codes in her lesson plan so that she knows she is covering those subjects. Before the school year begins, all the first grade teachers meet together and develop an order they want to complete the standards in throughout the year to build their individual lesson plans off. This helps make sure each teacher is on track and meeting those learning standards requirements. They also develop objective tests that use three, two, one instead of actual grades. All first grade teachers give the same objective tests each quarter. Mrs. Crawford also has a pacing guide in her calendar to help her stay on track with the standards throughout the school year as well as placing cards on her marker board of the objectives for the day for students to refer to. The last thing Mrs. Crawford shared about implementing standards is having the students write in a journal that helps them work toward hitting those standards throughout the school year. The journal entries get more challenging just as the standards