Reflections+on+Climate


 * Add your reflections below or in the discussion area. Have a wonderful weekend!**

Classroom climate is obvioulsy very important. It makes me think of the old saying "If mom is not happy then no one is happy" and how it applys to our rooms. The teacher sets the tone for the class. If the teacher can model how to write by writing with the students as well as do think alouds with writing then students may see that writing is valued. It is very important to give as much validity to an assignment as possible. Kids always want to know why they are doing what is being asked of them. A lot of my reflection the other day was on how my classroom will be structured to reflect that writing is important (wow-that is irony in itself because and I am structuring something that can't necessarily be structured). Through this reflection I realized that I only do writing with my class when they are really struggling. Next year I am going to write with them. I want them to see me as someone who is always learning. I have always told my kids " I am a person too and I understand that real life happens" yet I am not sure if I have modeled it. As Ted once said "kids don't care what you know unless they know that you care". This will have to be the focus of my efforts. Jane

Here Ted' behemoth 3-page reflection on Climate Here are 3 brief exerpts:

"Make sure that team members know they are working with you, not for you." ~John Wooden

One of the things I brow-beat my cheerleaders with about "climate," is to ask themselves whether they're more of a thermometer or a thermostat. Thermometers respond to the climate, thermostats influence the climate. You can react to the crowd, or be proactive about leading others in a positive way.

When I was in high school my older brother was my boss at the grocery store where we both worked. His philosophy was, never ask someone below you to do something you're not willing to hunker down and do yourself. That doesn't mean to micromanage or to do everyone's job for them- you have to delegate, but it does mean that if your employees see you working hard too, and you're humble rather than arrogant- those employees will respect you and be a lot more loyal to you and motivated to perform for you. The same is true for coaching and teaching.

A classroom should be a maternity ward, not a hospice for the terminally ill. Sometimes they need intensive or acute care like accomidations or differentiation to get them as healthy as they need to be. Never should the classroom be a place where hopeless cases are temporarily housed to just pass time until they die intelectually, academically, or emotionally.

As the old saying goes, "they won't care what you know, until they know that you care."