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Did it impact other areas of your teaching; how? 

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Did it impact other areas of your teaching; how? 

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I actually had a community circle on the first day of April with my students and they effectively advocated for a 2-minute "phone friendly break" every class period. I have happily incorporated this into our agenda for the past couple of days and I believe it really helps keep them engaged before and after. It is also a good time for students to run and use the bathroom, get up and stretch, and talk to their friends. I can't believe I thought my 50 minute classes wouldn't be able to run smoothly with a short break in the middle.

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What did the changes you make show you about who you want to be? 

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What did the changes you make show you about who you want to be? 

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Lemov's firm, calm finesse rules demonstrated to me that it is entirely possible to not let the small bumps in the road derail my teaching. This is something that I have to work on, as teaching is a really personal process that brings out individual characteristics within ourselves that we might not be comfortable with. I think the reason that it is so hard for me to confront students who are negatively contributing to the classroom climate is because I am such a perfectionist and view small upsets in a lesson as an overwhelming defeat. This is something that I will always have to deal with in the classroom, and each time it happens I will better be able to manage the next time it happens. I find that understanding my position as a teacher as a job rather than a reflection of who I am is really important too. Of course the person that I am brings forward a lot of strengths in my teaching, but I need to remember that that does not mean that any failures I encounter in my profession are a reprehensible mark on my character. Taking notes on how to adjust these approaches in the classroom has made that experience personal, while reminding me that this is a practice and that I will continue to get better at it with time.

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Did the changes you make help you get closer to who your students needed you to be? 

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Did the changes you make help you get closer to who your students needed you to be? 

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The student that I talked about in my domain progress tracker, Ariana, has been out of class a lot more talking to her counselor which has been really good for her. I have spent a lot more individualized attention on her lately, going to the back of the room to lecture sometimes to make sure her phone is put away and tailoring assignments more towards what works for her. I recently allowed her to do a group project alone, and instead of presenting to the class, she will present to only me. Lemov's firm, calm finesse rules helped me open up to being more comfortable directly confronting issues in my classroom in a way that is confident and cooperative. I think that this has really benefitted mine and Ariana's relationship.

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Did it impact other areas of your teaching; how? 

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Did it impact other areas of your teaching; how? 

# data[].attributes.body
I actually had a community circle on the first day of April with my students and they effectively advocated for a 2-minute "phone friendly break" every class period. I have happily incorporated this into our agenda for the past couple of days and I believe it really helps keep them engaged before and after. It is also a good time for students to run and use the bathroom, get up and stretch, and talk to their friends. I can't believe I thought my 50 minute classes wouldn't be able to run smoothly with a short break in the middle.

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Did the changes you try to make align with who you are?

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Did the changes you try to make align with who you are?

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This question makes me think of the same kind of thing I ask myself whenever I try to reinforce school policies and act from a position of authority. Correcting student behaviors never feels right because I hate to make it feel like I am punishing my students. But we are in a space where there have to be norms to carry out everyday activities and ensure that the classroom climate stays comfortable for everyone. This is why I think it is so important to make class time for self-reflection and community based activities. When this time is focused on taking a step back and really questioning our norms, it bonds us closer as a group and opens honest dialogue between my students and I. The best part of this process is that it allows them to be critical of my teaching- and I love when they are critical of my teaching! If I want to learn from anyone, it's my students. Being open and receptive to their feedback comes with the added bonus of modeling that behavior to them. I am hoping that continuing to implement self-reflection and community circles will foster the development of my students' growth mindset.

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What advice do you give your future teacher self?  

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What advice do you give your future teacher self?  

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Trying to strategically place my students in groups and assigning them roles in those groups helped me remind myself that each of my students have a unique strength that they bring to my classroom. The advice that I have for my future teacher self is to not forget this, keep an eye out for ways in which one student can enhance a group activity or a the social dynamics of your classroom. Thinking critically about which students could best help each other in a project was great practice for our unit assessment, where students will have to work in groups to create a policy brief for the president. I put them into groups based on who they best get along with and what skills they bring to the community. So far I think this has really paid off and it makes me excited for the possibilities that my students enable others' learning to be.

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The best strategy that I implemented for this element was my practice of intentional grouping. I thoughtfully put students into groups that I thought made sense for their sociability and skill level. This yielded fairly positive results and I am excited to keep using it. The reason that I was able to pull this off so well was because I have gotten to know this group of students in such a meaningful way. Since my scope of practice is beginning to expand, I am interested to see how well I can pull this off once I have more than one class period to plan for. The other strategy I implemented did not work so well. The group roles I assigned were good, the students just didn't bother to engage with them much. Next time I need to better scaffold them up to these skills. I also need to provide more time for them to become comfortable in these roles.

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Learning Community

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Expectations for Behavior

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Monitoring Student Behavior

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Management of Cooperative Groups