Standard 1: Roles and Relationships
A. Relationships with Students
In what ways does the student teacher:
  • exhibit a consciousness of classroom dynamics and climate?
  • create a safe and secure learning environment for students?
  • interact professionally, equitably, and fairly with students?
  • encourage learners to become independent, responsible citizens in the classroom who demonstrate self-discipline while carrying out assigned tasks? Does the student teacher reinforce, remind, and redirect student behaviors as necessary?
  • discern and address stereotypical references to gender, race, class, age, culture, disability or sexual orientation?
After acclimating to the classroom for a few weeks, I began to lead our daily morning meetings, which is the first scheduled period and the tone-setter for the day. I followed the Responsive Classroom morning meeting routine, which is highly structured and student-centered. There are four primary stages: first, the students greet one another by name, in a different manner each day. This might be in a foreign language ("aloha!"), with a salty salute, or just a simple handshake and hello. Second, three students talk, or share, about a topic they find out when they get to the classroom each day . Each sharer then has an opportunity to take three questions and comments from other group members, his or readiness signaled by the routinized phrase, "I'm ready for questions and comments now." Third, the group participates collectively in an activity; this might be a fun team-building game, it might be a mini-mini-lesson, or it might be a discussion of an applicable topic. A couple times a week I led handwriting lessons during this time; for a week we practiced the Birmingham Pledge , which the class performed in front of the lower school; sometimes we'd play 'Simon Says' or another game. While there was variety, it was still within a structured time that the students grew to expect. They didn't know what kind of activity we'd be doing, but they knew the order of events. Many students regularly brought pencils to the rug in case we were practicing cursive letters, a testament to their anticipation of our morning routine. The fourth step of morning meeting, formally News & Announcements, serves to forecast the rest of the day, read the schedule out loud to the students and field questions they may have about the day.

While the class held morning meetings regularly before my arrival, they were less structured, covering roughly the same elements but in no particular order and without such emphasis on the routine. In addition to bringing everyone together each morning, Morning Meeting gave my students an opportunity to begin the day in control, knowing that structured time would precede whatever else the day may bring. In the second half of the term, kids were coming to the rug on time, with pencils; initially I had relied extensively on a chime, announcing, "Okay, I rang the chime, the chime means come to the rug," generally having to ring it repeatedly at increasing volumes. Its necessity dwindled over the course of the term, to the point where I would simply ring it at 8:02 even though—typically—more than half the class had already seated itself around the rug.

By taking an existing structure and modifying it slightly to follow a more programmed, predictable sequence, I helped create an environment in which children were comfortable among one another. Everyone had a chance to share once per week, but the topics and the order always changed (I kept track of who had shared and when to make sure everyone had the same opportunity). If someone had shared or asked a question, those who hadn't spoken would be encouraged to participate. By consciously following a routinized structure whose explicit priorities were mutual respect and community building, I effected a marked difference in how the first half-hour of school felt each day.


B. Expectations of Students
In what ways does the student teacher:
  • establish and maintain an orderly and cooperative classroom?
  • enforce, fairly and consistently, classroom rules and deadlines?
  • demand high expectations for all students? Are students expected to take responsibility for their own learning?
  • create an active learning environment characterized by mutual respect and intellectual risk-taking?
It was interesting joining a classroom community halfway through the school year, because most of the routines and expectations had already been established among the students and my mentor teacher. My job was to slip in and try to adopt as many of these structures as possible. So in that sense, my contributions to maintaining an orderly classroom were really piggybacking on the previous efforts of my mentor teacher. However, that does not mean that things always went smoothly or were easy.

One consistent issue in our classroom was students speaking out of turn and interrupting one another. My mentor and I both struggled with this; they could slow down and agree on what it means to be a respectful listener, but five minutes after such a conversation, several students would be talking on top of one another again. This was challenging for me to address since I am rather easily distracted—it can be difficult for me to track my lesson objective and keep the kids on track, too.

One reason I can easily be thrown off track is that often, what an interrupting child may retort can be pretty interesting and relevant, tempting me to follow the tangent. As a result of this tendency to want to hear and recognize what the kids are thinking, the strategies I found most effective for dealing with these outbursts involved not simply stifling the question or comment, but asking the student to write it down for later, either on a post-it note, in whichever notebook he or she happened to be using, or on scrap paper. This solution worked because it allowed me to gently keep the class on track, while allowing kids to express their thoughts without feeling snubbed. It also was interesting to observe some students call out less frequently as I held them accountable for actually putting in writing whatever they had said or started to say out of turn. (By writing their thoughts down for later, the students were able to reflect on what kinds of comments and questions they were presenting, as well as notice that I would end up answering many of these questions as part of my planned lesson, which cut down on the preemptive question-asking.) Granted, I never achieved this on a daily basis, but it is a system that I will continue to use and practice.

Another way I would express my expectations, as well as strengthen my relationships with my students and their families, was by calling them at home. I’ll never forget one specific incident that occurred over SummerPrep, with a particularly problematic girl. This girl, “Sam,” was regularly at the center of conflicts and was very difficult to engage. On a daily basis my co-teacher and I found ourselves discussing what to do about Sam and her disruptive behavior. I went home one day and called Sam’s grandmother, with whom she lived. Her grandmother immediately assumed I was calling to report a problem, and was astonished when I explained how wonderful Sam had been that day, and how impressed I was with the way she performed a certain task. While I can’t say this action eliminated all the problems we had been having with Sam, but she was all smiles for the next couple days — remarkable for someone whom I had barely seen smile for a month.


C. Relationships with Colleagues and the School Community
In what ways does the student teacher:
  • fulfill classroom and school responsibilities?
  • work with fellow teachers?
  • interact professionally, fairly and equitably with colleagues, parents and others?
  • work collaboratively with agencies in the larger community (when necessary and appropriate)?
  • follow school policy and procedures, respecting the boundaries of his/her professional responsibilities when working with students, colleagues, and families?
  • make use of codes of professional conduct adopted by his/her professional organizations?
  • understand local, state, and federal laws and regulations related to students’ rights and teacher responsibilities?
I have to say honestly that my professionalism as an MAT candidate and teacher followed a rather sinuous curve as I struggled to juggle my numerous responsibilities to myself, to the MAT program, and to my mentor teacher. While I tended eventually to get all my work done and lead successful lessons, I consistently struggled to get lesson plans to my mentor teacher early enough for her to review them. There were weeks when I had everything planned by Monday, but there also were times when I was overwhelmed by the volume of work required of me, and simply unable to complete everything on time. This was difficult for me, becuase I don't feel it reflects my capacity to work in a truly professional setting; it better reflects my lifelong and unfortunate ambivalence as a student, which persists despite all common sense. Were it my own class and classroom, I am confident that I would develop work habits that suit me, the environment, and the schedule.

Notwithstanding the timeliness with which I was able to relay my draft lesson plans, I feel that I consistently got along congenially and professionally with the school faculty, including my mentor teacher. I attended faculty meetings, parent-teacher conferences, fourth-grade teacher meetings with the head of the lower school, and division planning meetings, in all of which I was an active participant. (For example, as a full-time math teacher from my first day in class in January, it was enlightening and necessary for me to attend and engage in the weekly fourth-grade math planning meetings, at which times, at the other teachers' requests, I distributed copies of the worksheets I had created for that week's lessons for use in their own classes.)