Domain 2: The Classroom Environment
2b. Establishing a Culture of Learning
2b of the Danielson Framework addresses creating an environment of respect and rapport in the classroom. Students should feel welcome and respected in the classroom environment, especially since they spend so much of their lives within the walls. In my classroom I work very hard to create a positive atmosphere where all of my students feel welcome to talk with me and express who they are. The attached documents are copies of evaluations my students completed regarding my teaching. In them I was pleased to see that a number of my students noted that I had created an environment where they felt comfortable asking questions and being themselves. It is my goal that my students feel at home within my room, and the evaluations have shown my success in doing so.
2c. Managing Classroom Procedures
2c of the Danielson Framework addresses managing classroom procedures. It is important to establish set procedures for a classrom to run effectively and to allow behavior to manage itself. The pictures in this slideshow are of two QUIET signs. The white sign is from my first placement classroom and the striped sign is one I made for my current placement. A strategy I learned in my first placement, these signs are used as an attention getter to signal to the students it is time to turn their attention to the teacher for directions. Students typically respond quickly, and will quietly remind their peers that the sign is up. It is simple classroom procedure that is a a respectful, calm way to help the students wind down and focus their attention.
2d. Managing student behavior
2f of the Danielson Framework addresses managing student behavior. Effective classroom management, if implemented correctly, does not only provide consequences for misbehavior, but helps avoid misbehavior completely by helping students learn self-management. The pictures in this slide show are of the NOISE strategy I implemented as part of my action research to help create a stronger classroom management procedure in my classroom. Each letter represented a minute of free time at the end of class. If a majority of students misbehaved, letters/minutes would be deducted until the students lost talk time. This strategy quickly helped to curb much of the misbehavior in the classroom, and soon it was the students telling me when they thought the class lost a letter, demonstrating a growing sense of responsiblity for their own actions they had not demosntrated before. (for more information please refer to the Action Research tab)