Mollie Deuel's Teaching Portfolio

Cultivating a positive classroom community is one of the most important things a teacher can do to not only maximize their student’s learning, but to also create an inclusive and safe environment for everyone.  It is also a great preemptive classroom management strategy that will help mitigate a lot of misbehaviors throughout the year.  “Students who have strong, supportive relationships with teachers and peers learn best” (Pianta, 2012).  I couldn't agree with this statement more. The best way a teacher can foster a positive classroom community is through building strong positive relationships between everyone involved in the classroom community, clearly and positively communicating with students, and creating a climate of trust. This all requires a large effort on the teacher’s part not only in the beginning of the year, but throughout the year as well.    

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Teacher - Student Relationships

From the moment I meet my classes for the year, I plan on starting the process of creating positive relationships between myself and my students.  The best way to do this is for me to try and get to know my students.  To start this process off, in the beginning of there year I plan on giving a “getting to know you” survey to students (see PDF below for example).  Getting to know you surveys should have questions about student’s basic information, how they learn best, and what their activities and interests are.  I plan on passing them out the first day and giving them as a homework assignment thats due the following class.  I plan on reading over the students answers and giving the students a homework grade for completing them, but I really want to have them on file (by class in alphabetical order) so that I can reference them throughout the year.  I'd like to make a goal for myself where I look over a few, maybe 1-3, of the student's surveys every day and try to have a quick one-on-one conversation with them based on something I learned from their survey.  I also plan on taking their suggestions for how they learn the best into account and try to accommodate their needs to the best of my ability.  I plan to keep in mind what their extracurricular activity schedule and home life situations look like as well, before approaching any student who may be struggling in my class.  For example, if a student has to work after school every day and they ask to re-take a test they didn't do well on because they didn't have enough time to study, then I will definitely try to accommodate them.

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Sample “Getting to Know You” Survey: (Adapted from Fires in the Bathroom)

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Since I am going to give this “getting to know you” survey to the students I also plan on divulging some information about myself to them.   I plan on filling out the survey myself and then reading my answers to the class.  I'll also open up the floor so they can ask me anything else they'd like to know. I believe that sharing a little about a teacher’s life can humanize them to their students and give them a sense that you are willing to be somewhat transparent with them.  This is also a good way for a teacher to show that they're willing to trust their students with information about themselves and create a sense that you're not only invested in them, would like them to become invested in you as their teacher.  However, before allowing students to ask me questions about myself, I am going to create boundaries about what I might be willing to share.  Teachers definitely shouldn’t share things like their address, their phone number or anything that might set a bad example for students. I instead intend to share things that will paint the students a picture of who I am as a person and what I value the most.  For example, I would love to talk about my love of traveling the world and learning about new cultures.  I'd also be willing to talk about where I went to college, a little about my family (obviously nothing relating to problems in my family), and some other anecdotal stories about my own high school experience.

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Another thing I plan on doing throughout the year is communicate with the students about what they need and expect from me as a teacher and also be transparent about what I as a teacher need and expect from the students.  My classes and I will establish expectations of each other early on and enforce those expectations throughout the year (see entree 3).  Giving the students some autonomy in how the class is run and what is expected is a great way to foster trust.  When addressing students, whether it be for something positive or constructive feedback, I plan on using a positive tone that reflects the respect I have for them.  I never want students to come out of an interaction with me thinking that I'm angry or upset with them to the point where our relationship isn't one of mutual respect any more.  For example, If I deem a student to be disruptive in class, I'll pull them aside and first explain why I am pulling them aside and then give them the opportunity to explain their behavior.

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If students seem to be consistently struggling in my class or even struggling with one assignment, I plan to check in with them one-on-one and see if there is anything that I as the teacher can do or change to help them out. Even if students don’t seem to be struggling, teachers should still be checking in with them on a daily basis to continue to get to know them and continue to form and strengthen those relationships.  There also may be issues the students are having that are not apparent by just looking at them, so it is always good to keep that communication line open in case they want to share something, but don't know how to initiate it. I also intend to try and take an interest in student’s lives and ask them about things like extracurriculars or anything else that I know the student has been working hard on outside of class.  I feel like knowing about my student's lives and extending the invitation to share, will strengthen the bond between us and foster a sense of community in the classroom.

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When it comes to expectations about their assignments I plan on being transparent with my students about everything having to do with the course and will also be communicating to students any changes that may have been made to the course throughout the year.  This may be in regards to due dates, a shift in the grading system, or any other potential change to the syllabus and assignments in class.  I believe teachers should always keep students in the loop about their own class to uphold the teachers part of the trusting relationships and so not to betray their confidence in me to set them up for success.

 

On top of getting to know you surveys, informal chats with students in class, and other classroom related tactics, I also plan on embedding myself in the community outside of class.  One way I plan on doing this is I'd like to have a calendar in my class where students can mark down the dates of any of their extracurricular events like sports and any other performance. I also would love to get involved in coaching either volleyball or swimming at my high school.  Attending student's events and getting involved in sports clubs will demonstrate to my students that I really want to invest in them and their overall wellbeing.  I'll also get to see a side of my students that they may not express in the classroom. Attending and facilitating extracurriculars will also give me the opportunity to interact with parents and families in an informal setting and demonstrate to them that I want to be a part of their student's community.​

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Peer - Peer Relationships

Facilitating the positive growth of student’s relationships among their peers is another very important aspect of creating a positive classroom community.  Outside of the classroom, some students may not always have the best relationships with their peers, but teachers should always make it apparent that their classroom is a place where students must learn to cohabitant   I plan on explicitly saying in the beginning of the year while we're discussing rules and expectations: "You are all a part of this classroom community now and that means that you will all have a say in how this community functions. I hope that throughout the year everyone can find a mutual respect for one another if nothing else. I hope that you all chose to make connections with your classmates and allow yourselves to become immersed in the learning and culture of our class.  I'm not saying that you have to be everyone's best friend, but I do expect for everyone to be able to cohabitant with each other like mature adults." Even though I know some students may brush this off as something a teacher "has" to say, I hope with time and through the curriculum based measures that the students will see that I really do think of them all as part of our own little community.  

 

Modeling tolerance in the classroom for my students is something I also feel very strongly about, especially since I plan on teaching in a culturally and socioeconomically diverse high school.  I'd like to have posters hanging around my classroom that highlight female scientists and scientists from a wide variety of cultures that usually go unmentioned in typical science classes. I also plan on hanging posters that show my solidarity for the LGBTQ community and if I am teaching any ELL students I'd like to hang their countries flags around the room as well. Below are a few examples of this:

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Throughout the year I also plan on facilitating team building activities to help strengthen student’s bonds with one another and to help foster their communication, collaboration, problem solving and leadership skills. I think that this will  bring a little fun into the classroom as well when students get to work together onside silly tasks where their status in the classroom and their grades will not be affected.  Students tend to bond the most when they are having fun with each other and letting their guard down, and team building activities are not only fun, but they allow for self and group reflection at the end, which many students don't typically engage in in a regular classroom setting.   It also is a good way for me as a teacher to see which students step into which roles during the activities so I can get a better sense of their personalities without having to ask them about it.  Below are some examples of some team building activities I’d like to incorporate into my class throughout the year.  I’d like to do a few in the first week of school and then maybe once a month on a Friday take 20-30 minutes to facilitate one or two activities to continue building the students peer-to-peer relationships. 

 

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Another way I plan on facilitating positive peer-to-peer relationships is through lots of collaboration and group work that is woven into the curriculum.  One way I'd like to do this is to invite the students to learn how to engage in discourse over hot topics in the biological and environmental world.  Whether its the topic of eugenics and designer babies, lab testing on animals to create safe products for human, or the concept of climate change there are a lot of topics that welcome the student's opinions.  This will not only help them hone some of their interpersonal skills, but it will allow them to hone in on their argumentation skills.  I also plan on giving performance tasks and labs that require student collaboration.  This may look like a summative assessment where a group of students need to create a pitch to try and sell their wind turbine design to the school principal to try and offset the cost of the parking lot lights.  Student's will work together using their hard skills and knowledge of the science curriculum and their creativity to create group projects.  I also plan on giving students some say in the evaluation process of how well their group worked together and what were some things that they maybe could do better the next time.  I think that similar to team building, large collaborative assignments should have a little time built in to reflect and debrief on the group dynamic.

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If students are engaged in any conflicts throughout the year, I believe that a mediation between the students is important and should be carried out as soon as possible. I think part of fostering a positive community is teaching the students the skills to work out conflicts on their own.  I think through teacher and/or administrator facilitated mediations, students can be given the supports to work through whatever conflicts may arise with their peers and then gain skills that they can utilize in future conflicts either in or out of school.  If something happens in my class or carries over into my class from some point outside of my class, I would like to address it with all the students involved as soon as possible.  See entree 4 for a more in depth outline of this process.

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Lastly, I intend on having fun in my class and being outwardly excited about the things that I'm teaching. I also intend on trying to have an optimistic mindset about all of my students and my classroom in general.  I think that a lot of negativity could potentially permeate my mind, be it from students, colleagues, or even the news; and I want to be mindful of keeping a positive attitude.  I think this will especially ring true in my first year of teaching, which I anticipate to be very hard. It's hard for students to engage in and feel positive about their learning experience when their teacher doesn't seem to want to be there teaching them or if their teacher always seems to be disgruntled and crotchety. If the teacher is smiling and enjoying themselves, then the students will be more likely to want to engage in learning with that teacher and will be more likely to buy into the material at hand.  While I value upholding rules and expectations in the classroom and uninterrupted learning for the most part, I also realize that students need a break every so often from the rigor of their studies to enjoy a small joke, side conversation or even a short game to keep spirits high.

 

References

• Aubergdesigns (2015, March 17). Aubergdesigns. Retrieved May 06, 2017, from http://aubergdesigns.tumblr.com/post/113905901837/rosalind-franklin-dnas-dark-lady-womeninstem

• Cushman, K. (2003). Fires in the bathroom: advice for teachers from high school students. New York: New Press.

• Pianta, R. C. (2012). Dimensions Guide: secondary class. Charlottesville, VA: Teachstone Training.

• Raffaelli , L. (n.d.). 32 Strategies for Building a Positive Learning Environment. Retrieved May 06, 2017, from https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/32-strategies-building-positive-learning-environment

• Research Guides: LGBTQ: Gender & Sexuality: Home. (n.d.). Retrieved May 06, 2017, from http://libguides.madisoncollege.edu/LGBTQ

• Team Building Activities.  Retrieved May 06, 2017, from http://www.ventureteambuilding.co.uk/team-building-activities/

• Weinstein, C. S., & Novodvorsky, I. (2015). Developing Positive Teacher-Student Relationships. In Middle and secondary classroom management: lessons from research and practice. (49-74) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

• Weinstein, C. S., & Novodvorsky, I. (2015). Fostering Positive Peer Relationships. In Middle and secondary classroom management: lessons from research and practice. (75-93) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.