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“…it allows students to admit their part in a problem and opens the doorway to allow them to make things right.” (Milner, p. 148).

This quote talks about how the circle method gives students an opportunity to realize what they may have done wrong in a situation and how to make up for that by apologizing and/or showing kindness. The circle method is designed to give students a safe space to be able to speak their minds while also learning from their mistakes. I chose this quote because I liked how it acknowledged that students should not only admit mistakes but also take the time to apologize and grow from what they did. I plan to implement a practice like this in my class by creating a designated space where I could take students who may have been involved in an argument to talk out what happened and be able to apologize to one another and learn from the situation. By making this practice a priority, I will be setting my students up for success.

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“A caring classroom environment includes a critically self-aware teacher who holds deep belief in all students’ ability to achieve at high levels, has high expectations for all students, and provides the academic rigor needed to grow all students to high levels” (Milner, p. 104).

This quote means that to truly have a caring classroom environment, a teacher must see capability present within every student and hold them all to higher standards, not just a select few. The teacher should make it a goal to see all students accomplish tasks at a higher level. I selected this quote because it depicted what I strive to be when I’m an educator. I want all of my students to feel that they can accomplish what they set their minds to; everyone deserves that kind of support. I also know it is important to set forth high expectations for all students and not just, “make tasks easy” in order to get a higher success rate initially. I want to encourage my students by showing them that challenging yourself and not getting something initially is totally okay and is actually a good thing. In order to accomplish this, I need to show/talk about my own challenges I’ve faced and how I’ve overcome them. Allowing myself to be vulnerable in front of my students will make my students feel more comfortable with being vulnerable in class and to be more open-minded about trying new things.

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“When teachers get to know their students and the communities in which they live, it becomes an essential part of their practice to draw examples from student lives to help them make sense of academic content” (Milner, p. 73).

This quote means that if an educator makes the choice to get to know their students on a deeper level, then student engagement and academic success will follow. This quote also stresses the importance of including student backgrounds within lesson and unit plans. By allowing students the opportunity to see themselves represented within class content, then they will become more interested in the material and allow themselves to be open to learning more new content. For some students, especially in history, they have never seen their culture depicted within lessons, so they feel as though they have no connection, therefore easily losing interest. In order to accomplish greater student understanding, I will give students the opportunity to share information about themselves at the start of the year. After sharing, I will start a discussion where I will also share more about myself. By establishing these relationships and learning more about my students, I will have better success with the content throughout the year.

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“Exclusion from the classroom disrupts academic progress, fuels negative attitudes about the school on the part of the student, and promotes a feeling of alienation between the offending student and the school community (Suvall, 2009)” (Milner, p. 42).

This quote means that if students are excluded from class as a punishment, then it will result in future infractions and students becoming less connected to school and their peers than before. This quote also shows that exclusion can have a negative impact on academic achievements and that exclusion is not an effective form of punishment and will cause more harm than good. I selected this quote because it informed me and reiterated that exclusion, although commonly practiced, is not a good route for punishment and that I should consider other methods. Sometimes as educators you think that exclusion is not the answer for a punishment but are sometimes challenged to find an alternative. This quote stressed the importance for an alternative. In my eyes, if you want a student to change/improve their behavior, then you need to provide students with the tools to do so rather than excluding them from class activities. This quote has informed my future classroom decisions by encouraging me to use redirection rather than exclusion. Sometimes asking a student to take a moment to reflect on the situation with negative behavior rather than leaving the classroom for an extended period of time still provides the student with the proper time to reset their attitude.

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"When teachers allow students to showcase their strengths, students become more curious, and they take intellectual risks in the classroom" (Milner, p. 14).
This quote is centered on the idea that if your students feel that your classroom is a safe place, then they will be more open to challenging themselves and be less afraid to be vulnerable. It also supports the idea that students become more curious within a safe environment. This quote struck a chord with me because it stressed the importance that in order to expect your students to truly learn, you first and foremost must prioritize your classroom culture and students comfort before focusing on strong content engagement. Strong classroom culture will lead to strong content engagement. I selected this quote because I know in my experience so far, I have put a lot of focus on the content and how to write effective lesson plans, but sometimes I get so caught up in that aspect of teaching that I forget to prioritize creating classroom culture that makes my students feel safe. This quote has informed my teaching by reminding me at the beginning of the year, I need to establish that I am available to my students for issues outside of school as well as school issues to establish trust. If my students know that they can trust me on a personal level, then we can accomplish more with the content. The image I selected pictures a person leaping across a cliff, which symbolizes the intellectual leap/risk my students will be more willing to take once my class is established as a safe place.