Najiyah A.

Bello Undergraduate at Loyola University Chicago

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Swift Elementary Action Plan
Goal:
The goal of this action plan is to enhance teacher-student relationships that will reinforce
the fundamental learning environment in a classroom. The fundamental learning environment is
an environment that establishes respect, security, freedoms, ownership, and so much more that is
created to ensure all students have an effective learning environment. However, when disrupted,
students and teachers lose the meaning of school. A school is an institutional building that
inspires the young to be ambitious and constantly push themselves to achieve higher while also
gaining personal connections and experiences with peers and adults of diverse races and
ethnicities. Within a school, classrooms are supposed to ensure a small community where
everyone is valued equally and learns and teaches each other along the way. Essential to
establishing this goal, teachers and students need to form a bond that is unique to each
individual. This bond will inspire students to have the desire to attend class, actively participate,
and effectively learn the daily material. In the end, a beautifully, well-structures classroom
community would be established because of the distinctive teacher-student relationships. In order
to achieve this, it is essential for teacher to allocate an environment of safety, and comfortability
that will result in bettering learner to educator relationships.

Purpose:
The purpose of this action plan is to fabricate a beneficial learning environment in which
students and teachers build a powerful bond with one another. This bond will allow teachers and
students to befriend each other by having open communication and seek each other for assistance
when needed. Swift Elementary, alone ensures a community that is accepting to all students,
staff, and family no matter the differences they all bring. The eagerness to function as a
community, from the entire school, while visiting there on the assigned days have been enjoyable
to observe. It is clear that Swift has established a welcoming community as a whole however, I
believe individual classes could be restructured into favoring connections between the educator
and the student. The success and effectiveness of this goal relies on educators and learners
working in sync, recognizing that they are on the same team, and wanting each other to achieve
their desires. In order to do this, teachers need to construct a learning environment that gives rise
for unconditional care, allowing individual voices to be heard and seen, and inspiring students to
create hopes and dreams that will lead to creating a classroom that cares deeply for one another.
Classrooms should provide an atmosphere that revolves around caring for one another,
even when something is done wrong. Disciplinary actions only evoke more misbehavior from the
student(s) however, “caring encompasses the moral and cultural values of how people relate to
others, caring is an alternative to traditional discipline and class management” (Oakes et al.,
1999, p.238). Caring is an alternative choice that allows teachers and students to get to the root
of an issue in a more calming and collective manner. Thus, enacting a caring tone with students
will lead to forming a stronger bond and understanding why a student reacted in the way they
choose to. When observing a 5th grade classroom, students were instructed to work on their
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assigned paragraphs quietly at their desk until time to move on. However, one student was not
attempting to do his work. Noticing this, the teacher started to remind him to get started yet, he
never did. He simply would sink lower and lower into his chair and role his eyes. It wasn’t until
the teacher sat next to him and guided him through the process one-on-one that he then became
more motivated to do his work, ask clarifying questions, sit up straight, and make eye contact
with the teacher. Implementing actions that show students their teacher cares for them and their
work encourage students to work harder.
Students of any age need to feel that they are being heard and seen by their peers and
teacher(s) in order to feel accepted and comfortable in their classroom. Providing a classroom
that calls for freedom of expression and individuality provides “the safety that comes from the
belief that their teacher sees them. Mutual trust grows from the security when all children feel
seen they are released to work.”(Charney, 2012. p.29). In order to develop the trust and security
needed for a teacher-student relationship to be known, the teacher needs to ensure that they are
giving the student a chance to share thoughts and ideas. Most importantly, the teacher needs to
respond in a respectful way that would not make the student feel dumb or lessen their understand
of a concept as it being wrong not, a different perspective. In the 5th grade classroom, students
were instructed to sit on the carpet in front of the board. While asking the students questions, one
student rose her hand and gave her input yet, it was not entirely correct. Instead of saying she
was wrong, the teacher connected her idea to a previous assignment they worked on and onto
something she was thinking that guided the student to the correct answer. Students voices need to
be heard and their thoughts need to be reciprocated in order to create a comfortable environment
where they can talk to their teachers about anything.
School is a safe heaven place that is supposed to inspire students to achieve, think, and
crave for bigger and better things in life. For this, teachers should always want to hear their
students aspirations in life and guide them to their goals. In a classroom, “hopes and
dreams…establish a positive view for the year to come and name core expectations to work…we
hope are promoted and nourished in the classroom” (Charney, 2020, p.77). Hope gives students
something to look for, something to depend on, and security for what is next to come. It gives
students the drive to continue moving on or how to reassess their actions to make sure they are
doing what is expected. In the classroom, the teacher shared a students work with the class
because she had done it correctly. The student had a big appreciative smile on her face for being
recognized for her hard work. This action also motivated other students to reread their work and
make corrections to be acknowledged also by their educator and peers. Teacher-student
relationships builds from the foundations of trusting one another which then gives each person
hope that in the future something greater will occur.

Person(s) involved/Role/Responsibilities:
Teacher: As the role of being the educator, it is essential to implement authentic rituals and
connections with each student in order to create an engaging learning environment, seek advice
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from other educators, administration, and parents/guardian, and a classroom that promote safety,
care, and hopes and dreams.
Student: As the role of being the learner, it is essential to be willing to accept modification to
classroom environment, allow for open communication to assist in improving classroom
relationships. Be able to lead peers and other educators into implementing positive change within
themselves and their classrooms.
Parent(s)/Guardians: As the role of being the care giver(s), it is essential to encourage the
learner to communicate with their educator, ensure the responsibility of being there to guide the
learner through difficulty, and build a friendly bond with the educator.
School Administration/other Teacher: As the role of being those that have higher
empowerment, it is essential to create a school-wide community that can be reflected on learners,
educators, and parent(s)/guardians. These actions will promote a school environment that is open
to idea from all, ensures no one is left behind, and preserve that everyone has equal entitlement.

ISBE SEL Standards:

Stage C - Goal 2B: Recognize individual and group similarities and difference.
Be able to recognize that each student has their own individual intersectionality’s that can
positively contribute to the classroom learning environment. As an educator, secure a
comfortable classroom that will allow students to express themselves freely to one
another. Students need to recognize their own parallels and contradictions with their
peers in order to be accepting of others.

Stage D - Goal 2C: Use communication and social skills to interact effectively with others.
Be able to allocate a cooperative learning environment that will allow learners to build
positive connections with their educator and peers. Let students, own their own, develop
the courage to navigate and initiate conversations with their peers and educator. Students
need to recognize their own levels of comfortability through trial and error than being
forced to have vulnerable conversations with others.

Stage E - Goal 1B: Recognize personal qualities and external.

Be able to effectively lead peers and adults to success by demonstrating influential
classroom behavior. As a learner, acknowledge negative behavior in the classroom, and
be fearless to reinforce the respectable manners that is expected. Be bold to express
personal rights and wrongs that encourage others to be vulnerable and seek security with
one another. Students need to recognize that their weaknesses and strengths are
commonly shared in a classroom in order to shape a caring environment.
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Stage I - Goal 3C: Contribute to the well-being of one’s school and community.
Be able to guide one another to obstruct harmful community beliefs in order to build
healthy relationships between residences and the institutional-educational building. As a
community institutional building, supporting community values and beliefs will
strengthen community to school relationships. Educators, learners, and school
administration need to recognize their community needs in order to offer valuable
assistance to maintaining a safe community with open communication.

Action Steps:
Step One: Construct a system of anonymous feedback that allows students to input their ideas,
thoughts, concerns, and/or complements on how to improve the classroom learning community.
Students should not be pressured to voice their opinions to others if they do not want to.
For this, the teacher needs to provide a simple, easier, less assertive system that allows
students to input their feedback. This system will “give student the responsibility for
choosing…action’s that will fulfill their own needs”(Oakes et al., 1999, p.228). The
power of choice within a student’s own classroom will motivate them to learn because
they are having a saying in how they are being taught. The bright ideas from students can
positively impact their peers to actively participate in classroom functions. Students know
more of what they want to see in the class than the teacher therefore, hearing their ideas
and implementing them into lessons can change the behavior of how the student treats the
teacher.
Step Two: Educators need to personally asses their involvement with each individual student in
order to implement the necessary means that guide students to achieve their personal hopes and
dreams.
Teachers should reflect on their own involvement with their students by having these
daily conversation with each student. Teachers need to implement activities or give
students the opportunities to show what they love to do to their teacher and their peers.
Students enjoy when their teachers personally show care in their academic and wanting to
know more about their likes, dislikes, ambitions, etc. Teachers should learn and make
note of their students like and dislikes and use it in their lessons. This shows students that
their teacher listens to them and remembers what they say.
Step Three: Set time available for students to talk freely before, after, and during classroom
breaks in place to empower students to use their voice when they are comfortable.
Students need to be allowed to freely ask for help at any time during school hours. For
this, the teacher needs to ensure that they are providing down time for students who are
less comfortable talking in class, for last minute questions, or simple check-ins.
Extending from the concept known as “Choice Theory”, “[a] successful teacher-as-
manage should provide students with a…”[empowerment]”… by allowing them to
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choose (Oakes et al., 1999, p.228). In other words, educators showing that they are not
busy and always open for conversation allows for students to choose when they are
comfortable to come up to you. If teachers are reflecting an awareness that shows they
are open and not busy, then student will talk to them more.
Step Four: Establish mechanisms that will lead to a positive learning environment of respect,
security, and acceptance of all students learning abilities, intersectionality’s, and opinions.
Student thrive to share their opinions and reactions to what they are learning, For this, the
educator needs to establish activities that will allow students the chance to expand on
their knowledge and contribute to others. Schools and classrooms were built to “[ground]
respect for children, their interest, curiosities, potential, and over all development”
(Oakes et. al., 1999, p.237). Teachers should always allow time for students to interact
with one another and share their questions, reactions, thoughts, etc. about any and every
class assignment. This is beneficial for the educator because it can let them know what
they need to change if majority of the students are still struggling to grasp the concept or
what they are doing correct.
Step Five: Create assignments and/or projects that foster students to freely express their beliefs,
values, and morals with their peers in order that promote a judge free classroom.
Students should have time to be creative and inventive through out their time at school.
Projects and/or assignments that allow for students to do what ever they feel can allow
for the educator to get to know students who are quiet or even more about students who
are not. Truly a teacher can always learn more about their students “whether diverse
voices, perspectives, and languages are heard or ignored in classrooms, they are there;
they will not be silences or assimilated out of existence” (Oakes et. al., 1999, p.12).
Projects can be beneficial in the classroom environment by creating an open classroom or
generating discussions that wouldn’t be able to be thought of, in a normal classroom
agenda.
Step Six: Nurture students to have the power to care by constructing a daily, authentic, ritual
routine(s) that convey themes of protection, trust, and honesty upon entering and existing the
classroom.
Empower your students to be resilient, determined, and proud of themselves in the
classroom and out of the classroom. In order to do this, teachers need to create a daily
routine that would show to them that their teacher cares for their success and their
participation. Always equally acknowledge each individual student for something they
did in the class. Educators need to “be tolerant, giving each student the opportunity to
vote his or her side… [tout] fairness and mutual respect, always [tell]…students
how…[valuable] their ideas and insights. However, prove to them through actions that I
was sincere” (Oakes et. al., p. 226). Whether it be something small or something big,
ensure that all students recognize that they made their teacher proud.
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Step Seven: Enact community projects that will allow students to provide assistance to up-keep
their school environment and influence students to act selfless when attending to community
obligations.
Inspire your students to giving back to their community who works hard to ensure their
school is safe and well-cared for in order to provide them with the necessary education
that would lead them to complete their goals in life. Teachers need to make their students
acknowledge that “a caring community need ways to support student to develop and
enact care towards one another” (Oakes et al., 1999, p.243). By students showing that
they care for their community the community will do the same in return.

Predications of Change:
Implementing these steps in the classroom would hopefully lead to students-teacher
relationships becoming stronger and hopefully essential to all classrooms no matter the age of the
students. In return, the hope is for students to have a newfound love and respect for school,
greater communication with their peers and educator, and a higher wanting to achieve
academically.
One response to improving student-teacher relationships would be that students would
have a greater respect for school. They would want to go and interact with their teachers and
peers thus resulting in higher academic scores and more participation. Students would not need
to be forced to participate in daily discussions, reminded over and over to do their work, or feel
they have to act out to gain attention from their peers and teacher. In a classroom that is better
behaved “students learn to make judgements based on what they can’t “get: and “get away with”.
Rather than learning to read the environment and make choices that are appropriate for
themselves and for the classroom community” (Oakes et. al., 1999, p.231). Bettering classroom
relationships leads to student being able to recognize how their behaviors affect others.
Extending from students wanting to attend school more often they could then improve on
skills they have yet mastered. Improving the classroom environment would result in students
wanting to learn more thus, improving test scores. On their own students would then begin to
start behaving better on their own and not needing their teacher give rewards in order to get the
necessary participating. The continuous act of “giving external rewards for good behavior can
actually diminish students intrinsic motivation to learn or to conform to the special morals of the
classroom” (Oakes et. al.,1999, p. 231). Teachers on their own need to figure out that if they
truly enjoy the school and classroom environment they would not need to be bribed to do
something.
Lastly, students would know that their teacher cares for them beyond academics.
Imitating a positive student-teacher relationship will also result in a classroom environment that
relies on the values of care. When a teacher continuously shows that they care for their students
well-being and not because of their career they those, students would then want to be more open
with their teacher. Under the values of care, a teacher’s job can become significantly easier
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because their students would come to them with any issues or problem solving ideas that and be
beneficial to one another. It is important to know that “When a teacher conveys personal
interesting in and liking for students are more likely to initiate the teacher’s behavior, adopt his
or her attitudes, and be sympathetic when other students misbehave” (Oakes et. al., 1999, p.233).
Students are more willing to listen to their teacher and peers when they know that what they are
saying is only to do them good and not to embarrass them or make them seem less than others.
Student-teacher relationship improvements enacts a substantial amount of care on both parties
that can then improve the classroom environment.

Assessment to Determine Effectiveness:

In order to moderate the effectiveness of this goal and the steps, the school, community,
teachers, and students can participate in questionnaires/surveys, teachers need to develop an open
communication with parents/guardians of their students, and the school needs constantly track
the students progress academically as well as have check-ins with teachers and the students about
if they are benefiting each other and/or what other improvements could be beneficial to the class.
Conducting questionnaires and/or surveys allows for students to gain a voice in their
school environment and also for teachers to get a sight of their students voice in order to
implement accordingly. In today’s system, “many has been ridiculed, silences, demeaned, and
misunderstood and to them, I was just another teacher who would continue to do the same”
(Oakes et. al., 1999 p. 226). School systems are losing the importance of listening to their student
body, for these reason problems are slowly being arise and the students behaviors can become
out of control when they feel that are not being listened too. It is important to give students a
voice or thought of mind when they bring attention to something that is bothering them. Because
of this, conducting questionnaires and surveys throughout the school year allows for them to give
complete and honest critiques to their learning environment.
More so, teachers need to establish an open communication line to all their students
parents/guardians. This could mean sending home daily notes, weekly/monthly notes, personal
classroom report cards each guardian, etc. that would update them on their child’s well-being in
school. It is important to remember that the learning process also happens outside of school.
Adults need to be constantly informed on their child’s progress in school. Known as a humanistic
education, students learn to be “[engaged] in discussion and stimulation exercises to help them
discover and examine the principles by which they choose to live” (Oakes et. al., 1999 p. 233).
Adults can contribute to children’s thoughts and perceptions of scholarly concepts and lead them
to develop their own opinions thus can lead to deep discussion in the classroom. Because of this,
they should be involved in the students lesson concepts and teachers lesson plans.
Lastly, the school can track student’s academic progress and have communication with
their teachers if it is necessary. Schools need to be invested in their students success beyond
ensuring they are meeting state standards but also making sure they are being well educated.
Schools need to ensure that they are seeing changes in test scores and also in school interactions.
For this, administrators should make time to visit each classroom and try to speak to each student
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or split time between two days to visit a set of classes for those days. This will allow for them to
develop relationships with the students and to ensure they are personally excelling from the new
classroom implication than focusing only on scores. Students are beyond their scores and schools
needs to recognize this aspect more.