Teaching Philosophy

I walk into my classroom with high expectations of all my students. I believe my students can
achieve academic goals if they put in the effort and if I am there to properly guide them through
the learning process. I want to instill the confidence and motivation needed for them to believe
they can succeed. I want to be more than an authority figure who dictates rules and facts. I
want to be a resource and a coach to help students find ways to seek the answers for themselves.
I aim to make my classroom a safe, comfortable and enjoyable learning environment. I want my
students to feel they are a part of a community where they are able to express their ideas freely.
Students self-expression is important to me. I dont want my students to hide who they are. I
want them to ask questions and make observations about the world around them without feeling
self-conscious.
Reciprocal respect is important and I do establish that in my classroom, discrimination and
prejudice based on race, gender and class are not tolerated. I also feel it is essential that my own
personal beliefs are not shared with my students. Rather, I want to aide my students in
developing their own set of positive values and beliefs they can carry with them for the rest of their
lives.
My role as a teacher is to bring out the best in my students and try to reach them in any way I can.
That is why I tailor my lessons to suit my class needs. I try to find out what my students interests and
backgrounds are and incorporate that information into my lessons so that they can see how the
material may relate to them. I typically go beyond the book and make my own materials for
students to work with in class so that they are not being fed regurgitated information. It is
important that I give my students real-life examples and situations in which they will use the
information I share with them. I believe that English learning is interdisciplinary and by using this
model for lesson planning, I can grab the attention of students who may not enjoy their English
classes.
I believe the classroom environment and the subjects I teach should relate to real-world
experiences in some way. While the majority of my students may never need to know how to
construct a poem or understand the literature I introduce to them in the classroom, the ability to
speak in a way the majority will understand, critically analyze what someone is communicating
and write coherent letters and reports will likely be relevant to most of the students who take
classes with me. Connecting these life skills with the reading, discussion and analysis of a poem is
one way to achieve that.
Not only do I consider myself a teacher, I consider myself a life-long learner. Attending
conferences and workshops, taking classes and reading up on the latest English teaching
methods are ways I intend to satisfy my personal goals for self-development. In my classroom, I
ask students to evaluate my teaching so that I know what to improve when I teach future courses.

Classroom Management Plan

In my experience, classroom management has been one of the least challenging aspects of
teaching. Since I walked into my first classroom, I have carried 7 basic management techniques
that have helped me to cope with almost any situation.
1. The teacher must clearly establish a clear routine from the first day. When students
understand the boundaries, they are less likely to deviate from those boundaries.
2. Consistency is the key to good behavior. When a teacher is consistent with praise and
discipline, students are able to understand and self-correct their behavior based on an
action=reaction model. While I have adjusted some of the rules and expectations for
students who, for example, have learning or behavioral difficulties, I always sought to
create a pattern where all students could understand that certain actions will produce
certain outcomes.
3. Students who feel they are respected are more likely to behave than students who dont. I
find that saying, Emiko, I would appreciate it if you stopped talking while I am trying to
teach, instead of, Quiet down!
4. Positive reinforcement helps students to correct their own behavior. In one class, I had a
student who suddenly refused to have his homework corrected at homework time. His
refusal cut into game time for the rest of the students. I reminded him of the homework
rule: if your homework is not out and ready for correction, it would not be corrected. The
next week, the student did not have his homework ready. I reminded him of the rule and
told him that the homework would not be corrected. He then decided to yell, My mom is
going to get mad at you! I replied, Well then, I guess you will have to tell your mother
about how you did not follow the rules. I asked him to continue working on an extra
worksheet while the other students played the game. The next week, the student had his
homework out during the proper time. I walked over to his mother with him and told her
that he was a very good student and I was proud of him. After that, I had no problems with
that student.
It is a regular part of my routine to frequently call out different students for good behavior.
Mariko has her book out, nice work! or Ryota has his pencil today, keep it up! Help all
students to understand what kind of behavior I am looking for in my classroom and to
follow their example so they can receive praise, as well.
5. If you have to raise your voice to maintain a well-behaved class, it may be too late. In as
far as disciplinary measures for students, I find that the more a teacher yells, the less likely
they are to get the results and respect they are looking for from their students. In my
classroom, I have found the following methods of classroom management:
a. 5 to 1 countdown. If the class begins to get too noisy or if I find they are not paying
attention, I will countdown from 5 to 1. If the students continue the disruptive
behavior, I will take away minutes from their game time. In extreme cases, the
game time will be replaced with a quiet time worksheet.
b. Stop teaching until the class has calmed down. I find that if I am not speaking, the
students are more concerned about what the consequences will be than if I yell
and scream at them.
c. Creating an environment where students must work together in order to reach a
common goal. If students realize they will reap benefits from working together, they
will often work harder in order to reach the goal and will discipline themselves or
others in the group.

d. Point system. This technique is one I reserve as a last resort for particularly
challenging classes. The points can be anything from tokens, play money, tickets or
markings in a booklet. There are two methods I use to establish the system:
i. Traditional system. Students will receive a set number of points per day for
good behavior and completing homework assignments on time. Students
can receive extra points for extra credit homework assignments, highest
grades in the class for tests, etc. While students have the opportunity to earn
points; points can be deducted from their daily tallies for inappropriate
behavior, not turning in homework, or a host of other reasons.
ii. Positive reinforcement system. As with the traditional system, students have
the opportunity to earn points for various tasks completed throughout the day.
It differs in that the students do not get points deducted, rather they do not
earn points for particular categories.
iii. Simplified system. With this method, students are given money for perfect
attendance, scoring 100% on a test, etc. Students can turn in one dollar for
a free point on a quiz up to ten points or students can save their money to
buy prizes at the school store at the end of each term.
The point system works with individual students as well as groups. At the end of the
week or at the end of the month, students have the opportunity to turn in their points
for prizes, such as pencils, stickers, etc. As groups, the students may have an
opportunity to compete for extra free time or a no homework day.
e. Calling students out. If all other techniques for managing individual students have
failed, after I have sternly told a student that I am not happy with the choices she is
making in the classroom regarding her behavior, I will ask the student to push in their
chair and stand for 5 minutes. The purpose of doing this is to 1) allow the student to
be more self-aware of their behavior, 2) instill the theme of negative actions and
their consequences and 3) to show the student and classroom that consistent
disrespect of the rules and the class will not be tolerated.
f. Private conferencing. There are cases where it became necessary to address my
concerns about a students behavior or performance and addressing these
concerns in front of his or her peers would have made the situation worse. I will ask
the student to stay behind for 5 or 10 minutes to discuss these concerns and ask the
student to work with me to come up with a workable solution to the issue at hand.
6. Students who are occupied are less likely to cause issues in the classroom. When I make
my lesson plans, I always like to prepare extra worksheets or educational puzzles for
students to complete if the students are able to successfully complete the lesson early.
7. A good classroom is one where everyone is involved. I believe an excellent class is the
result of good teaching, great students and involved parents. I make an effort to involve
parents by keeping them informed through newsletters, class syllabi, e-mails and
conferences. I help parents

Classroom Management of Larger Class Sizes

As an experienced teacher, it is important for me to be able to manage classes of all sizes and to
accommodate learning styles of all students to the best of my ability. All of my lesson plans can
be adjusted for large and smaller class sizes. The following are examples of how I deal with larger
class sizes, according to the activity.
Classroom Arrangement
All desks facing forward to view the
chalkboard.

Desks arranged in groups of four.

Teams can be arranged by name, such as:
Team Bear, Team Tiger, Team Alligator (or any
other age-appropriate grouping. For
advanced classes, Teams can be named after
famous authors such as Poe, Dickens,
Hemingway or Walker)

Desk arranged in groups of two.

Discussion Circle/Double Discussion Circle

Purpose
This arrangement is used largely for classes
where lecturing with heavy note-taking are
needed or for individually scored tests. There
may be some instances, such as introducing
terminology of a poem or work of fiction where
it is easier for students to make notes prior to
delving into the material.
I may need to teach a grammar lesson where it
is more effective to show examples on the
board for students to acquire the material.
Introducing how to diagram and parse a
sentence, for example, is more effective if the
teacher introduces it to the class, rather than
have students discuss the mechanics of
diagramming a sentence without any clear
examples presented for them to model.
This method will usually be introduced for literary
assignments where students can discuss the
stories or poems being given to them and share
knowledge about the writing. This arrangement
can also be used in aiding students to
complete assignments or projects together.
These teams will be kept for the semester or
school year in order to help them form a bond
and work together to achieve a common goal.
These students will be given research and
presentation assignments and must work
together as a team in the class.
This is a more intimate version of the second
example and may only be used when students
do short assignments (pair work), read dialogs
or make Q&A presentations. Usually, these
students have been paired together with
members of their team, but occasionally, they
will be asked to work with members of other
teams, depending on time constraints.
Depending on the class size, students will
arrange their desks in one or two discussion
circles. Discussion circles are intended for larger
group discussion of the literature they are
reading. Each circle will be asked to discuss a
number of points for the reading. Towards the
end of the class, students will present their
findings and they will be asked to expand on
their ideas for homework.