My Frame of Reference
I believe that school is a foundation for social awareness. As a classroom, school, community, town, city, province, country, and world, as Socrates, Dewey, Confucius, Egan, and Montessori would say, we need to learn how to work together in order to create a better place to live. For this to happen, we need to get along in all kinds of situations. For many students, school is their first experience to see different routines, rules, habits, eating styles, skin colour and wealth than themselves. To embrace social awareness and acceptance the classroom needs to express an atmosphere of invitation and safety to be who we are and be accepted.
Rules govern safety, respect for others and self, and rights in the classroom where everyone uses their better judgement. My classroom boundary rules will be clear from the beginning of the year. Students will understand that each rule is implemented for a safe educational nurturing environment. These rules will be drawn and printed on the wall and will be referred to often. Individuals and groups will be asked to follow our agreed upon guidelines. Bullying, physical and emotional aggression are not tolerated. Consequences for misconduct will be clear and consistently followed through. Once the classroom adheres to the ground rules, a safe environment blossoms, permitting an introduction to educational matter and open communication. My classroom will be fair, firm and fun.
I believe in a concrete foundation in reading, writing, and math which will help instill self-discipline and confidence needed for creative thinkers. Confident learners accept successes and failures. Failures are part of learning, and when redirected are often seen as an avenue to something bigger and better.
We all learn with different paces and approaches. I find where the student's passion rests. That passion can lead him/her to their lofty heights with a little guidance. I watch, listen and connect with each student to discover what drives my student's interests. I incorporate those interests into my lesson plan and accommodations. I will use parent insight to help guide me with their child's interests. I would like to tap into parent resources when possible. Representing or sharing the parent's hobby or profession will allow for our classroom community to grow a little larger and learn a little more.
Assessment with my written reflections is an ongoing process. I review how the individual student, as well as the group as a whole, receives my lesson. This allows me to see what I can do to improve learning in the classroom. Testing is a small part of the students abilities. I follow John Dewey's philosophy that people learn, understand, and express differently based on their past learning and social experience. Particularly for younger grades, their report card will include: 'This is not assessing your child’s cognitive abilities, but rather testing your child under pressure to perform for me while put on the spot.'
I am not a theorist purist but have extracted what I consider their finer points for my classroom, such as Dewey's philosophy for a social institution, Montessori for her captioning on and exploiting the child's interest, Steiner for his holistic needs in society and allowing the child to be a child, Freire's concept to reflect on the world around us and discover how we can create positive change, and Egan's theory to become an expert in one thing, such as those with a PhD, instills exorbitant confidence in knowing a great deal about one matter.
As a role model, I have a consistent calm demeanour in the classroom. I follow a classroom routine, I eat well and promote fitness, both in my class as well as outside of the classroom. Ample notice is given for transitions during the day and when possible, for any change in the daily routine. Breaks are regularly incorporated with, depending on the grade, song and body movement activities. Learning centres in the classroom are geared towards fine and gross motor skills, creativity and imagination, leaning towards Steiner's approach of doing things with a purpose in mind. I want my students to reach for quality versus quantity.
The classroom arrangement will be adapted to suit individuals needs. Some students prefer a quiet learning atmosphere while others learn better with white noise in the background. For the white noise students, I will offer a headset with either white noise or music. I experiment with this and other ideas.
Field trips are a wonderful way to enrich academic and social learning. It is also a way to enhance a growing community with volunteer parents meeting one another. I use a communication agenda system that travels from home/school in students' backpacks. Monthly calendars allow for advance notice for activities and volunteer requests. My weekly 'agendas' introduce the parents to the content being taught in the classroom. I encourage parents to get involved with their child’s learning by asking 'ask me what I learned today about.....' Parent participation in this manner engraves Madeline Hunt's teaching approach by 'the teacher expresses what is expected, then tell them what I'm going to tell them, tell them with presentation, demonstrate what I want them to do with modelling, see if they understood what I've told them with checking and monitoring, and lastly I tell them what I've told them by tying it all together with a closure.' This closure can be reinstated with the parents participation at home.
I tap into my great resource of fellow teachers. I encourage when I see their fabulous ideas and enjoy discussing possibilities for classroom improvement or inclusion with other grades. Buddy systems with older grades enhances our community building and I invite it with open arms.
Rules govern safety, respect for others and self, and rights in the classroom where everyone uses their better judgement. My classroom boundary rules will be clear from the beginning of the year. Students will understand that each rule is implemented for a safe educational nurturing environment. These rules will be drawn and printed on the wall and will be referred to often. Individuals and groups will be asked to follow our agreed upon guidelines. Bullying, physical and emotional aggression are not tolerated. Consequences for misconduct will be clear and consistently followed through. Once the classroom adheres to the ground rules, a safe environment blossoms, permitting an introduction to educational matter and open communication. My classroom will be fair, firm and fun.
I believe in a concrete foundation in reading, writing, and math which will help instill self-discipline and confidence needed for creative thinkers. Confident learners accept successes and failures. Failures are part of learning, and when redirected are often seen as an avenue to something bigger and better.
We all learn with different paces and approaches. I find where the student's passion rests. That passion can lead him/her to their lofty heights with a little guidance. I watch, listen and connect with each student to discover what drives my student's interests. I incorporate those interests into my lesson plan and accommodations. I will use parent insight to help guide me with their child's interests. I would like to tap into parent resources when possible. Representing or sharing the parent's hobby or profession will allow for our classroom community to grow a little larger and learn a little more.
Assessment with my written reflections is an ongoing process. I review how the individual student, as well as the group as a whole, receives my lesson. This allows me to see what I can do to improve learning in the classroom. Testing is a small part of the students abilities. I follow John Dewey's philosophy that people learn, understand, and express differently based on their past learning and social experience. Particularly for younger grades, their report card will include: 'This is not assessing your child’s cognitive abilities, but rather testing your child under pressure to perform for me while put on the spot.'
I am not a theorist purist but have extracted what I consider their finer points for my classroom, such as Dewey's philosophy for a social institution, Montessori for her captioning on and exploiting the child's interest, Steiner for his holistic needs in society and allowing the child to be a child, Freire's concept to reflect on the world around us and discover how we can create positive change, and Egan's theory to become an expert in one thing, such as those with a PhD, instills exorbitant confidence in knowing a great deal about one matter.
As a role model, I have a consistent calm demeanour in the classroom. I follow a classroom routine, I eat well and promote fitness, both in my class as well as outside of the classroom. Ample notice is given for transitions during the day and when possible, for any change in the daily routine. Breaks are regularly incorporated with, depending on the grade, song and body movement activities. Learning centres in the classroom are geared towards fine and gross motor skills, creativity and imagination, leaning towards Steiner's approach of doing things with a purpose in mind. I want my students to reach for quality versus quantity.
The classroom arrangement will be adapted to suit individuals needs. Some students prefer a quiet learning atmosphere while others learn better with white noise in the background. For the white noise students, I will offer a headset with either white noise or music. I experiment with this and other ideas.
Field trips are a wonderful way to enrich academic and social learning. It is also a way to enhance a growing community with volunteer parents meeting one another. I use a communication agenda system that travels from home/school in students' backpacks. Monthly calendars allow for advance notice for activities and volunteer requests. My weekly 'agendas' introduce the parents to the content being taught in the classroom. I encourage parents to get involved with their child’s learning by asking 'ask me what I learned today about.....' Parent participation in this manner engraves Madeline Hunt's teaching approach by 'the teacher expresses what is expected, then tell them what I'm going to tell them, tell them with presentation, demonstrate what I want them to do with modelling, see if they understood what I've told them with checking and monitoring, and lastly I tell them what I've told them by tying it all together with a closure.' This closure can be reinstated with the parents participation at home.
I tap into my great resource of fellow teachers. I encourage when I see their fabulous ideas and enjoy discussing possibilities for classroom improvement or inclusion with other grades. Buddy systems with older grades enhances our community building and I invite it with open arms.