Rothstein-Fisch Ch. 5 / Levin & Nolan Ch. 4

Rothstein-Fisch:

This chapter was all about how to create harmony in your classroom by making everyone feel important and involved. This means including each students culture, family and individuality in the classroom. It also touched on how to manage the classroom in a positive way which I loved because we as educators are constantly moving towards learning how to manage our classroom in a less negative way. From this chapter I tookaway the importance of recognizing that there are differences in every students cultures. For example, while saying thank you in some cultures are very prominent it may not be as important in others. It is very important to me that I am constantly working towards making everyone feel important and their cultures recognized in the classroom.

Levin & Nolan:

Throughout this chapter I think the 9 questions about influencing student behavior really stuck with me. When thinking about my furute classroom the one question that really stood out was question number 5, "How much choice will you give students within your classroom?" To me, this is a question EVERY teacher should ask herself because it could ultimately ruin classroom management or make it. I beleive that this question is one of those with grey areas because I beleive it would differ from day to day, classroom to classroom, student to student, and within different subjects. There is no straight forward answer when it comes to this question but rather what works best for your classroom, your students, the subject you're teaching and the activity (if there is one).

After looking at the theories that can influece student behavior, I think I have come to the conclusion that my CT uses student directed in most situations in her fifth grade classroom. The students make many of the decisions and often times it does not really work for this classroom. Through seeing this used in the classroom I believe my classroom will lean more in the middle of involving both the teacher directed and student directed theories, switching for certain days and topics when appropriate. I want my students to feel involved but still know that at the end of the day, I am the adult in the classroom.

Rothstein-Fisch, C., & Trumball, E. (2009). Managing diverse classrooms: How to build onstudents cultural strengths. Virginia: ASCD. Levin, J., & Nolan, J. F. (2010). Principles of classroom management: A professional decision-making model, (6th Ed.). Boston: Pearson.