Children's Principles of Learning

1.     Safety/Trust:

Kids in any environment need to be safe both physically and emotionally.  They need to know that they will be free from harm and free from embarrassment and judgments.  Children should also feel free to make mistakes.  There needs to be a feeling of trust between the teacher and the students.  One way to ensure this is to offer daily affirmations to all students. 

2.     Relationships/Respect:

Establishing relationships with students is extremely important.  Kids should feel they are able to share their true feelings and that you are there to listen to them.  The environment should also create an atmosphere that nurtures peer relationships.  One way to do this is to play community building games in the classroom daily.

3.     Caring/Nurturing:

Children should feel nurtured and cared for at school.  They learn best when they feel their teacher is interested in them and what is going on in their lives.  They need a teacher who wants what is best for them and who is genuine.  The classroom environment should be one that nurtures all abilities and learning styles.

      

4.     Community/Teamwork:

A classroom should feel like a family.  Children should be encouraged to work together.  This can be as a whole class, in small groups or with a partner.  This allows them to gain valuable social skills and build a sense of togetherness within the classroom.

        

5.     Play/Creativity:

An important part of a classroom is allowing children plenty of opportunities to play.  This gives them the chance to practice valuable social skills.  It also gives them the chance to explore and use their imagination.  Creativity is important as well.  It also allows kids to use their imagination and explore new materials. 

6.     Routine/Structure:

These two are very important in an elementary setting.  It gives children a sense of safety and security when they know what to expect during the day.  It also ensures that the classroom runs smoothly and effectively.   Having a posted schedule that the children can see is helpful.  Following the same schedule on a daily/weekly basis ensures that all children know what to expect each day.

7.     Openness:

A classroom functions at it’s best when there is a feeling of openness.  Kids should have the freedom to make mistakes and to know there will be no judgment – that they will be accepted no matter what.  Everyone needs to be open to different cultures, learning styles and personalities.

8.     Connections:

Making real world connections is necessary to engage students in learning.  When you can make a connection in the standards to their personal life, it becomes much more meaningful and therefore, more likely for them to remember.  Another way to ensure learning is to connect the curriculum to things that are happening in the community and the world.   

Persistence

Persistence is an important character trait that successful people possess.  A large piece of persistence is about making mistakes and learning from them.  I think that this is something I try to instill in my students.  We talk all the time about how our room is a mistake-making classroom and that is how we all learn.  I talk about my mistakes and show them how I learn from them and keep going. 

I don't know if persistence is necessarily something you can teach but I do think it is something you can model.  I liked how the author of the article said  "When faced with challenges, effective teachers let their passion guide them as they persevere to find the right solutions."  I think this is true for not just teachers but everyone.  Those people with persistence and grit are the people who find solutions and succeed in life.  

Persistence inspires me to get up everyday and to do the best I can in whatever I am doing that day.  I want my children to see that no matter what life throws at you, you get back up and try again and again until you get what you want.

Virtues

I learned that courage and empathy are my biggest virtues.  I am not really that surprised by this.  I feel that those have strong virtues for me for quite some time.  These are very important in my life as a spouse, mom, student, friend and teacher. 

These are essential characteristics to have, as it’s extremely important to be empathetic in all these areas of life.  I need to be understanding, kind, caring, thoughtful, considerate and loving.  I also must be courageous in these areas.  In life, it’s important to be bold, brave and to have grit.  You will accomplish nothing in life if you are not courageous.  I believe I get this virtue from my dad.  He has always told me “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”

These virtues relate the AGAPE ideas.  They especially connect with the idea of Generativity.  This idea focuses on community building, giving of self and creating a caring classroom.  You must be an empathetic and courageous person to do these things.  Part of a caring classroom includes being empathetic and teaching kids to be empathetic.  They also connect with the idea of generativity.  You must be a courageous person to form collaborative relationships and bring people together from different areas.  

Classroom Management

            Throughout my reading and writing this summer, I came across some very interesting information regarding classroom management.  Every teacher should understand the importance of community building in order to increase classroom management.  By forming positive connections between the students as well as the teacher, you are increasing the trust, which leads to more positive relationships within the classroom.  These positive relationships are likely to decrease the amount of misbehaviors in the classroom. 

            This information is important to all teachers including specialists.  As teachers, we want to have good connections with students and for them to have good connections with us.  This leads to better classroom behaviors and who doesn’t want that?!  This information has shaped how I run my classroom this year.  I include various brain breaks and games during our time to help break things up and keep their attention.  I try to keep things moving in order to keep them interested. 

Implementing some of these ideas has greatly benefitted my classroom.  I include a new game at the end of every morning meeting and I also include brain breaks throughout the day or when I see the kids getting restless.  These changes have been extremely good and I will continue these games in order to build community in my classroom.

Roadblocks and Successes

Roadblocks:
I think my biggest roadblock - as always - is TIME!  It's so hard to fit everything in that I would like to do and that I feel is important and necessary to include in the day.  Another roadblock is the curriculum.  It doesn't leave room for teaching things such as social skills that are equally important as academics.  To mediate these, i will need to look at what where I can add in some relationship building activities because I do feel passionately about forming connections.
Co-workers and feeling left behind is yet another roadblock to teaching with my non-negotiables.  When co-workers are doing other things or way ahead in the curriculum, it makes it challenging to keep teaching the way you feel works best.  In order to solve this, I will lay out my curriculum in advance and see what extra time I have where I can include the social skills and activities I feel are important to build relationships and form connections within the classroom.
Successes:
Well, so far I have been able to include a few games and social skills activities into my day.  Granted they have been shorter and fewer than I originally wanted but at least I have found a way to include them.  At this point, aside from showing up again tomorrow!, this is all the success I have found.  I am hoping to continue to find ways to include these lessons and build upon them.  

Teaching the "non-negotiables"

There are several non-negotiables that i will not sacrifice in my classroom.  With this, I need to be sure to plan to teach with these in mind.  To do this, I need to plan my lessons with intention.  I need to be sure I am thinking about meeting all students needs in these lessons.
I also want to help my students form connections with one another.  So when planning my lessons, I need to be thinking about including activities that will build relationships.  I will also be better organized in my planning, prep and  classroom management.  I think these things will help reduce behavior issues in the classroom as well as improve relationships.
As far as my school and colleagues, I will be doing more collaboration between buildings.  I would like to find out more about what the first grade teachers at the other building are doing and to do some more planning as a whole team.  I think this will benefit all of us - both teachers and students.
By planning and teaching with these "non-negotiables" in mind, I will be sure to help my students become successful.