EDUC 333 Blog Post 6: Success On The Classroom Level

In one of my readings for my language arts/social studies methods class, I read about the "POC Model" for thinking about classroom management. This model includes teachers having knowledge about themselves, their students, and the curriculum with an emphasis on reflection. I believe this model, although described in relation to classroom management, is also a model for teachers to use when thinking about overall classroom success when working with students in a multicultural setting. When we ask ourselves what would help schools succeed on a classroom level, we are essentially asking:

What can teachers do? 

Teachers first need to know about themselves. This includes their personality, attitudes, adaptability levels, teaching philosophy, etc. This requires self-reflection on the teacher's part in terms of how their own teaching styles, dispositions, etc. mesh with that of the students. You need to ask yourself if the way you structure lessons is working for the students. Effective teachers are self-reflective, they take the time to evaluate what is and is not working in their classroom. They have to be open to change. If students are not responding well to certain activities or procedures, change them! Teachers have to be willing to take that extra time at the end of a school day. This self-reflection of teaching practices is just as important as reflecting on attitudes and dispositions. How do you believe students should be treated? What do you believe about student achievement- do you think that every student has the capability to succeed or do you believe that some are a lost cause? This is important to think about. Great teachers find the potential in every student and work hard to bring out the best in everyone. This also goes to say that great teachers are dedicated, they are committed to student success do not let time or resource limitations become a roadblock. They fight for their students.

Successful classrooms have teachers who are reflective, flexible, have high expectations for all students, and are dedicated! 

After knowing yourself and how you operate as an educator, you need to know your students (something you hear in every education course, but is of the utmost importance!) Who are they? What do they like? What are their strengths? What is important to them? In a multicultural setting, you have to reflect on what you know about students from other cultures. Have you worked with students of this cultural background before? What do you know about their culture? Will their culture play a role in how they interact in the classroom? Great teachers want to think on these questions so they can serve students in the best way possible. They might create surveys/inventories that students can complete the first week of school so teachers can get a snapshot of who they are. Aside from just knowing your students, teachers need to use that information to help students succeed. If the teacher knows a student is a kinesthetic learner, are they going to let that information sit there or are they going to work to incorporate hands on activities? So two questions are necessary for this ideal. 1. What do your students need? 2. Are you going to work to meet that need and how are you going to do it?

This is a video of an amazing teacher I heard about who appeared on Ellen. She is an amazing example of a teacher dedicated to putting students and their needs first!

The last component involves the curriculum. This can look different from school to school because some teachers have a specific curriculum to follow and some have a bit of liberty in their planning. When thinking about successful teachers, I think of the class article on Mrs. Julie Wilson's teaching approach. She truly went above and beyond to make sure the content was relevant and meaningful for a variety of students. She embodied a lot of the characteristics I have mentioned so far. Reflective, adaptable, dedicated, etc. She looked at a curriculum with reading materials that did not represent the diversity in her classroom and she worked to make sure that students got new materials that did. She followed the appropriate standards that were necessary, but she made sure that the road to those standards were paved with lessons that were appropriate and that met students where they were.

If schools want to be successful, it starts with us, the teachers. It's up to us to change the game. It starts with our passion, our excitement for seeing students locked into learning and watching them grow. We can be the ones to change things for students who believed that they would always be the same. We can lead our other fellow teachers to believe this as well as the future educators we may see come into our classrooms. We can be the example.

One of my favorite teaching quotes (I have many!) Our investments are in the students whose lives we can make an impact on. If we're not in it for this outcome then why are we even teaching?