Appetizer:

In my student teaching internship next year I will most likely be placed

in an English classroom at either T.C. Williams High School or the
Minnie Howard campus for ninth graders. Alexandria City is a racially
diverse urban/suburban area. The racial breakdown is as follows:

Enrollment (as of 9/2015):

2,619 students (grades 10-12)
975 students (grade 9)
African American: 33.8%
Asian: 5.3%
Hispanic: 37.7%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander: 0.4%
Native American: 0.2%
White: 20.9%
Multi-racial: 1.7%

(About Our School)

The main consideration I am taking in regards to student diversity is to

consider how I will interact with parents. My parent plan invites parent
interaction but does not require it. Also, kids may be dealing with some
difficult circumstances at home so my behavior management system,
introductory survey, and family plan invite students and families to let
me know what challenges a student faces that may interfere with
school.

I also made sure to check that all of my students have laptops. They
will have chromebooks, which are unfamiliar to me, but I am not too
concerned about any technological differences. My management plan
takes technology into account.

In the following hypothetical scenario, I am applying for a job teaching

standard level 9th grade English. Below is a transcript of my interview
with the Minnie Howard principal Minnie Mouse.

Ms. Mouse: Mr. Rauen, come in. Its a pleasure to meet you.

Me: Its a pleasure to meet you too, Ms. Mouse.

Ms. Mouse: You know, Im always a little reluctant to hire new

teachers. A lot of them dont last. Cant handle a class, you see. I dont
know how much they teach you about classroom management at UVa.
Me: Quite a bit, actually.

Ms. Mouse: Good, good. Well tell me: if you could boil down your
classroom management philosophy to one word, what would it be?

Me: Respect.

Ms. Mouse: Why respect?

Me: Great question. I believe respect is the foundation of all positive

interpersonal relationships. Respect breeds confidence that students
will need to take intellectual risks. This is especially important in an
English class where students may be in a position to share personal
information about themselves either with me in their writing or with
peers in small group and whole class discussions. I want students to
not only feel like they will not be ridiculed for their ideas, but that their
ideas are important. Respect is necessary for an optimal learning
environment. I want students to feel like they can approach me or their
classmates to ask for help. I want them to feel smart even if they are
struggling with the material.

Ms. Mouse: So what exactly does respect look like in a classroom?

Me: It all starts with me putting respect forward. Nobody who doesnt
give respect gets it in return, especially from willful teenagers who
dont believe that my position as a teacher gives me valid authority.
There will be a lot of autonomy and trust in my room. By not being too
controlling, I let the students know that I respect their ability to make
appropriate decisions. I will let them get water and use the restroom
when they need to. I will usually grant extensions on deadlines if they
can show me they have been working hard and not procrastinating. I
will give them the same books to read as the honors classes but go
more slowly and add more scaffolding. Part of showing respect is
having high expectations for professionalism and academic
achievement.
To give them even more autonomy, I will let each class decide on
a set of norms. I will provide some guidelines, but they will decide, for
example, if it is appropriate to use the pencil sharpener while I am
talking. We will work together to establish what actions demonstrate
respect and which demonstrate disrespect.
Respect goes in three directions: teacher-student, student-
student, and student-classroom. The first I already touched on.
Students will decide how to be respectful to me. Some ideas they
might generate in the first of week of school are: dont talk when the
teacher is talking, dont play computer games during class, and turn in
all of your assignments on time. Student-student respect will be
articulated through establishing discussion norms like dont interrupt
or call your classmate by name when referring to her ideas. Student-
classroom respect is just things like dont write on the desks.

Ms. Mouse: Do you think that UVa taught you what you need to know
in order to make your classroom environment respectful?

Me: I think they did. I had a few points of concern going into my last
semester that I felt I was able to address. My four learning goals were:
1. I will know criteria for evaluating student teasing to
differentiate friendly banter from bullying. What I really
wanted to know is how I can prevent bullying in my classroom. I
thought that it would help for me to evaluate intent, but what I
really want is to eliminate bullying language from my classroom
altogether regardless of the intent. I have built discipline
measures into my behavior management plan that I will explain
to students at the beginning of the year. We will also discuss
bullying language when we build our norms.
When I looked for resources on stopbullying.gov, I realized that
by building a positive classroom environment, I was using most
of the advice they had to offer (Build a Safe Environment). You
obviously know about Minnie Howards policies. I learned that
there are prevention measures built into the school such as an
app that lets users report bullying anonymously (Bullying
Prevention).
2. I will be able to articulate enforceable consequences for
students who repeatedly violate class rules or policies.
This is clearly articulated in my behavior management plan. As
opposed to punishing students for misbehavior, I prefer a
restorative justice approach, one that involves mediation through
conversation. My system of consequences becomes
progressively more unpleasant for repeat offenders while at the
same time asking my student to reflect on the root of the
misbehavior and think of ways he or she can restore respect into
our relationship.
3. I will know how to create a physical classroom
environment that is inviting and reflects my values. I
learned to analyze a classroom space so that it creates a positive
environment according to Weinstein and Novodvorskys six
functions of a classroom setting. I got some ideas about
decoration, but mostly I realized that it has to reflect my
students as much as me.
4. I will know what class norms and expectations I will ask
students to construct and which ones I will mandate. This
line is clear in my management/behavioral plan. I know what
 guidelines are important and those are the ones that deal with
respect.

Ms. Mouse: I want to hear more about your management plan, but
you said something that caught my attention. The six functions of a
classroom setting. Im not familiar with those. Can you explain?
Entree 1: Classroom Environment: Physical Layout & Features

Me: The six functions of a classroom setting influence how I lay out
and decorate my classroom. Let me show you a model and explain how
it meets those criteria.

My hypothetical classroom is 25 by 15 with 24 students. The white

rectangle represents the white board. The red rectangles represent
bulletin boards where I can post student work and personal
decorations. The black circles represent outlets and the black lines
represent where laptop cables can go. My possible paths are
represented by the blue lines. The yellow circles are trashcans. I built
this model using classroom architect, an online layout tool.

The first function is security/shelter. I have walked around your school

and seen that the classrooms are in good condition, so I should not
have to worry about the roof falling in or anything like that. Physical
safety takes the form of having wide aisles free of obstructions. The
bulletin board in the bottom right hand corner will be a place for
students to store backpacks if they do not fit under the desks. This
issue is especially important for me in my massive wheelchair. I need
to make sure there is enough space for me to maneuver without
running over toes or destroying property. The pods of four allow me to
open a wide central aisle. The wide aisle will also be useful for students
who may need crutches or a walker (Weinstein & Novodvorsky 2015,
30).

The second function is social contact. The pod structure encourages

students to interact because of their close proximity to each other. This
setup can be distracting at times, but I believe it is more helpful than
harmful if I build cooperative tasks into my instruction. I intend to
utilize literature circles where students choose a book to read and
discuss with a small group. Whenever I conduct whole class
discussions, I usually like to start by asking a think-pair-share question.
Students will think about their responses then discuss and refine their
ideas with an elbow buddy before sharing out. Writing workshops also
function well in small groups.
Research has shown that some students have trouble staying on task
when sitting in clusters and do much better in rows (Weinstein &
Novodvorsky 2015, 30). I have considered this research and decided
that the benefits of keeping with clusters outweigh the cost. I feel like I
need to be able to approach every student, which I will talk about in a
moment. My pod system still gives me the flexibility to move students
around. If they are having trouble concentrating during individual work
time, I can have them sit at the conference table or out in the hall, or I
can suggest that they rotate their desk to face away from the pod. I
will also have a few testing dividers that students can use to block out
the distractions of their friends.

The third function is symbolic identification. How are the personalities

of the rooms inhabitants reflected in its appearance? To start, my two
bulletin boards can include personal touches such as the logos of the
sports teams I follow. I learned how to use a Silhouette printer earlier
this semester, and I can show you a photo of some stencils I made. I
also like the idea of putting up comics or short stories so that students
can contribute their own writing to the bulletin boards. I discovered
six word stories from a peer in my methods class. Some examples
are the smallest coffins are the heaviest and Siri, delete mom from
my contacts just to give you an idea. I can cut a few of them out and
explicitly tell my students that they are welcome to contribute their
own six word stories.
Next is task instrumentality. Is the space useful for the work that needs
to get done? You already heard me say that enabling social contact
helps work get done. This is only part of the issue. The room needs to
facilitate their interactions with me. I want to be able to have a one on
one conference with any student at any time. This may be a writing
conference during workshop time or a reading conference during SSR.
If I see a student with his head on his desk, I want to go up to him and
privately ask whats wrong in case there is a problem he doesnt want
to share with the class. As I will talk about later, this setup also allows
me to subtly correct minor behavior issues without interrupting the
flow of a lesson.
Note that I have given myself access to all corners of the room. I have
found that I prefer to lecture from the center where I am closest on
average to everyone, but I like to shake up my routine and talk from a
corner. The corner perch (Pastores Perch) has the advantage of giving
a smaller scanning arc, as I learned from Doug Lemov (2015, 389). I
can reach the whiteboard easily. I even mapped out where laptop
chargers will go to make sure I did not have to run them over en route
to a particular location. I intend to use laptops every day in class, so it
is important to have a layout where they can stay charged.
The fifth function is pleasure. My classroom has to be a place that is
pleasant to be. Until I save up some money to buy artwork for my
room, I will rely on my trusty Silhouette printer skills. I can cut literary
words out of construction paper and tape them up around the room.
Perhaps I can even cut out silhouettes of famous literary figures and
ask students to guess the identities. Some of my students will likely
have some talent in the visual arts and they may be willing to donate
pieces. It might be a few years before I establish a strong collection.

Lastly, my classroom must be conducive to growth. The most

important way I will do this is by having a classroom library. Again, this
will take a bit of time to cultivate but I can slowly build it up over time
by going to garage sales and asking for donations from parents. A good
library should have a wide selection of YA lit, including fiction,
nonfiction, and graphic novels. Students may bring their own books for
SSR but I always want to have the next book in their wish list on hand
in case they finish or dont like their current selection. There will be
easy books for struggling readers and challenging ones for those who
want to test themselves on steeper slopes.
A second way I can promote growth is by posting creative work on the
bulletin board, both by students and other writers. Stimulating
environments can foster growth (Weinstein & Novodvorsky 2015, 40).
Having writing on the walls will give students something to explore
during free minutes before or after class. As I mentioned earlier when I
described the six word stories, students will be able to post their own
work without asking my permission. Risk-taking also leads to growth.
My classroom can be a place where students take the risk of exposing
their work to wider audiences.

Ms. Mouse: Wow. I learned a lot just now. But why dont we shift back
to the topic of respect. What will you do to bring respect into your
classroom?
Entree 2: Classroom Environment: Cultivating a Positive Classroom
Community

Me: Establishing a positive classroom environment starts on day one. I

have to establish it and I have to maintain it. Let me explain some of
the activities I intend to use.

My introductory survey (appendix a) gives me information about

students home lives, academic motivations, and personalities. Some
of the information will inform need-based differentiation. For example, I
want to know who is not a native speaker so I provide extra scaffolding.
Also, I need to know who can complete assignments online at home so
I can work out alternative assignments or extend deadlines. I also
asked about reading habits so I can recommend books that students
are likely to enjoy. The boxes for tweets and texts are not so that I can
recommend reading in that format, but merely so that less hungry
readers always have a box to check. I borrowed the question What
responsibility do you resent from Inside a Trauma informed School
as a way for students to share challenges in their home lives (2017).
This and the question about personal goals inform me of the
motivations that will be competing with school in my students lives.
An introductory letter (appendix b) will give students the opportunity to
tell me about what my survey may have missed while also allowing me
to assess students writing.

I can work on building student-to-student relationships on the first day

of class. Nancy Steineke describes a popular introductory activity that
begins with asking students to sit in a circle. A brave volunteer starts
by saying her name and an animal or food that starts with the same
letter (e.g. Salmon Sally). Then the person next to Salmon Sally
repeats Sally's name and gives his own. Each person must repeat all of
the previous names (with help from classmates) and after the last
person has gone, the circle starts over in the opposite direction and
students supply a second alliterative item (Smelly Salmon Sally)
(Steineke 2002)

To build relationship among students over the course of the year, I will
incorporate a lot of group work. Most of the time, students will be
sitting in pods of four so they can collaborate and discuss. To make
students see the benefit of a good environment, my first Do Now
question of the year will be across all professional sports, the home
team has a higher winning percentage than the away team (Ill have
some stats to back this up). Why do you think this is? (Steineke 2002).
To guide students in maintaining such an environment, my students
and I will create a list of class norms in the first week of school
(Weinstein & Novodvorsky 2015).

I hope to maintain positive relationships by keeping up with how

students are doing in their extracurricular activities. My AVID teacher
last semester followed all the school sports teams closely and knew
which students were on the varsity teams. She congratulated students
on a good win and consoled them after a loss. I may also want to have
a social media presence (Weinstein & Novodvorsky 2015). I will create
an account as Mr. Rauen that has none of my personal information. I
can use that profile to remind students of deadlines and post English-
related material. I do not intend to step in on personal matters, but my
presence alone may make students feel like I care about them. Ideally,
I would like to open my classroom to students during lunch if Minnie
Howard allows that.
 Appendix A

Name: What do you prefer to be

called?

1. What is your favorite academic subject and why?

2. Is English your first language? If not, what is?

3. What type of reading do you prefer? Check all boxes that apply.
Short stories

Magazines

Newspapers

Blogs

Poems

Novels

Texts

Tweets

Other (list below)

4. Do you have access to a computer/internet at home? If not, do you

have a way to get access?
5. What are your academic goals for the semester? What are your
personal goals?

6. List the members of your family (please list their names and one word
to describe each individual remember that they do not have to be
blood related!)

7. What books or writers do you particularly enjoy?

8. What responsibilities do you resent?

9. What is your favorite way to spend a Saturday afternoon?

10. With the remaining space on this page, please draw me anything
that represents you: a self-portrait, a symbol, your greatest fear, an
inside joke, etc. You can add a sentence to describe it if youd like!
Appendix B

Hello there! How nice to meet you. In order for us to work together in
the best way possible, I want to know who you are as a student and as
a person. I learned a little about you from the survey you filled out on
the first day of class, but I want to know more! Your job now is to write
me a letter introducing yourself. This is your opportunity to fill in the
gaps that the survey did not ask about. What should I know about you?
If youre having trouble getting started, you might want to consider
these questions:

How do you define yourself?

What experiences have you had that have shaped your character?
Who are the people that are most influential in your life?
What responsibilities and challenges do you face outside of school?

Remember: first impressions are important, so show me your best

writing! Spelling and grammar should be accurate to the best of your
ability. Your letter should be 300-500 words. It does not need to be
double-spaced but it must be typed. This assignment will be graded on
completion, but if the writing is sloppy or unreadable, I will ask you to
rewrite it.
Ms. Mouse: Tell me a little more about how you plan to keep your
classroom operating smoothly after you have established an initial
environment of respect.

Entre 3: Classroom Expectations & Routines

To give students a sense of responsibility for the class norms, I will let
them help create them. Ideally, every class would create them from
scratch, but I want enough similarities among classes that they all
have the same core norms I can reference. I will start with some broad
values and ask students what those values should look like in the
classroom. My template will be:

Respect each other This is the most important one. One of Weinstein
& Novodvorskys functions of the classroom setting is security, which
includes psychological security (2015). Students cannot learn if they
feel belittled or bullied by their classmates. Classrooms should be
conducive to positive risk-taking. Students in my class have shared
very personal information in class discussions, which would not have
been possible if others did not show respect. The class benefitted from
seeing diverse perspectives that students could only share in a safe
space.

Respect your teacher I have this on my template because I dont

want students to feel like they are bowing down before an authority
figure. They should respect me because I am a person in the class.
When we build our norms, we will talk about keeping appointments,
exhibiting appropriate email etiquette, not talking while Im talking,
turning in assignments on time, and staying on task during work time.

Respect the classroom My classroom will reflect the personalities and

achievements of my students and me (see entre 1). Respecting the
classroom is an extension of the first two expectations. When we write
our norms, we will talk about taking care of school property and using
classroom supplies responsibly.

Stay positive This just means never giving up on something before

you have given it a fair shot. As an extension of respecting me,
students will know that everything I assign has a purpose. Students
who exhibit a growth mindset will learn and grow so that is something I
require.

Learn together As I talked about in entre 2, I want students to see

themselves as one team. They should not be competing over grades or
stepping over each other to gain advantage.
Routine Rationale Implementation
Sustained Students improve First of all, SSR only works if
silent reading their reading by you have a class library. If you
practicing. Giving try to use the school library,
them time to read students disengage easily if
something that they the first book they try isnt
enjoy makes interesting. Moreover, it is
reading seem less important to have a wide
onerous. variety of selections, including
nonfiction, YA fiction, and
graphic novels.
Once every student has a
book, we will read for 10-15
minutes. This will happen
every day if I have block
schedules and every other day
otherwise. I plan to taper off
SSR time as the year goes on.
It is best to have on Fridays or
following a quiz/test.
Do Nows These five-minute The second day of class, I will
warm-ups make have a do now projected on
students practice the board. As soon as the bell
writing for at least rings I will get the classs
five minutes every attention and explain to them
class. They may that I expect them to be
introduce new quietly working on the do now
material or assess when the bell rings. They are
old material. They allowed to talk before the bell
help maintain order rings, but they should have all
because students their materials ready so they
know exactly what can start working as soon as
they have to do as the bell rings. Having
soon as they enter materials ready includes
my class. getting backpacks put away so
they are not in the aisle. Then,
I will set a timer on a
PowerPoint for 3 minutes and
have the class go back out
and try again. If I am not
satisfied with the
performance, the whole class
will have to try again. They
will have to repeat the routine
the next day if they cannot do
it correctly before class starts.
The horn of I need to have a The first day of class, I will
immediate signal to get the explain that when I honk the
silence classs attention, horn on my wheelchair I
especially since I expect immediate silence.
want to incorporate Then students will practice. I
a lot of group work. will ask them to talk. After a
few seconds, I will honk the
horn. We will practice at least
twice.
Journals Students will keep Students will be allowed to
their do now have digital or paper journals.
responses and other Entries will have specific
in-class reflective headings (date, prompt) that I
writing in a journal will model when I introduce
so that it is all in the concept of journals.
one place for me to
grade.
Objectives I believe Every day, I will write the
transparency is learning objectives on the
important. same corner of the board
Students will I cant imagine a I will have two bathroom
be able to get situation in which passes. Students will sign
a bathroom preventing a them out on a sheet by the
pass without student from using door so I can keep track of
asking the bathroom would where the passes are at all
be productive. It is times. Having only two
impossible to think prevent mass migrations and
when you have to gives an incentive for students
pee! Also, this is a to hurry. Knowing that
sign of respect. I am hoarding the passes prevents
giving students the others from using the
rights that adults bathroom may discourage the
have in any abuse of the passes for non-
professional essential excursions.
context.

Ms. Mouse: I notice you dont have any routines for disciplining
students. Have you thought about that at all?

Me: As a matter of fact, I have.

Entre 4: Responding to Misbehavior

Me: I like to think of my behavior management system as being like an

iceberg.

Mouse: Ah, cold and hard. Thats what I like to see.

Me: Well, not exactly. I mean that much of it will be below the surface. I
believe in transparency, but students will only see the upper portion.

https://pixabay.com/p-1421411/?no_redirect

This iceberg outlines how I will deal with minor misbehavior such as
talking in class or playing games on their laptops. Management begins
at the bottom. First, I will give students a teacher look, which looks like
this:
The next two steps involve getting closer to students. In class, we
talked about red, yellow, and green zones. Students in the green zone
(farthest away from the teacher) do not feel as much pressure to
behave. When I get closer, they will feel like I am paying closer
attention. A hand on the desk intensifies the effect.
The next strategy, using a students name in an example, is one I
borrowed from Management. It lets students know that I know they
werent paying attention but does not let the rest of the class know
(Weinstein & Novodvorsky 2015, 305).
I borrowed anonymous correction from Lemov (2015, 399). I will say
something like I need two more sets of eyes or I need three more
pencils down. I will always say at least two even if there is only one so
a student does not feel singled out. This strategy is more direct but still
avoids humiliation.
When it gets up to a private chat at the desk, students are getting
close to part of the iceberg that is above water. This will be a quiet
verbal warning. It may be to more than one student. I will let students
know that they will be warned before the above-water consequences
start. The above-water intervention methods will be the ones that are
transparent to students.

Here is what I may say about rules and consequences on the first day
of class:

Im not a big rule guy but I firmly believe in expectations. This

classroom is a community and in a community there are certain things
you are expected to do. Be respectful. Be honest. Work together. And I
you dont act the way your community members expect you to act,
there are consequences. Consequences are different from
punishments. Punishments are designed to make you unhappy
because thats supposed to be a fair way to pay back bad behavior. Im
not about that. Consequences are what happens when you make a
choice to do something (slides). Like if you stick your hand in a
beehive, youre going to get stung. The bees arent trying to punish
you; they just dont want you to stick your hand in their home. Theyre
just being bees. Sometimes consequences are just as unpleasant as
punishments, but the point is that consequences are designed to be
teaching tools.
The first expectation I have is that you will come to class on time.
Now I recognize that things come up and this is a very large school, so
the first two unexcused tardinesses will earn you warnings. After the
third time or if you are more than five minutes late, we have a problem
we need to correct. You will write me a paragraph detailing why you
have trouble being on time and what you can do to correct this
problem. Youll notice how all of my consequences involve making an
action plan to get you back on track. If you are late two more times
after that, you will need to come to lunch detention to make up the
time you missed. We do a writing activity in the first five minutes of
class, which I will talk about next class, so if you are late you will
inevitably fall behind on that work.
I also expect that you do not use cell phones in class unless you
are explicitly asked to do so. The consequence for using your phone is
that it will go to cellphone jail (I hold up a shoebox with the Monopoly
In Jail icon glued onto the front). Do not pass GO. Do not collect
$200. Your cell phone will stay in jail until the end of class. On the third
incarceration I will send home an email to your parent or guardian
letting them know that your phone is becoming a hardened criminal
and asking their help in finding a way for you to keep your phone out
of sight during class.
Another expectation I have is that you do not bully other
students. I have a very low tolerance for bullying and the
consequences will be swift and unpleasant. I recognize that what I
perceive as bullying you may perceive as playful banter, so the first
offense will elicit only a private conversation where I can communicate
my impression of the interaction. I will probably recommend a verbal
apology to the offended party. On the second offense, we will have a
longer conversation during lunch detention. The conversation will be
accompanied by a reflection paper of no fewer than two double-spaced
pages detailing exactly why you felt licensed to violate our classrooms
community of trust and the steps you intend to take to repair your
position in that community. I will email that paper to your parents or
guardians. The third offense will earn you a conversation with Ms.
Mouse. There will not be a fourth offense.
Now please keep in mind that those are just my policies for
instances that I notice. But I know that a lot of bullying, maybe even
most of it, I am not going to see. You may remember talking about the
ACPS mobile app tip line in your homeroom. That is one way you can
report instances of bullying to an administrator. Or if you want to report
something to me anonymously, you may write me a note and leave it
in my mailbox in the office. If you see something, say something even
if it is not happening to you. You will never get in trouble for reporting
something you perceive as bullying.
I am even tougher on cheating. If you cheat on an assignment,
you will redo it during lunch detention. You may have noticed that I
have a three-strike policy. Well in this case, strikes one and two happen
at once. Thats how much I hate cheating. This is your first warning;
you will not get another. So on your first offense I will also be notifying
your parent or guardian. On your third offense, you get an appointment
with Ms. Mouse and a guidance counselor to see if we can get the
situation corrected for good.
If there is any physical violence in my classroom, thats strikes
one, two, and three. You get to see Ms. Mouse. I dont expect that to
happen, but I just wanted to make that clear that my lenience only
extends until the safety of one of you is threatened.

Ms. Mouse: Its good that you have your consequences all figured out,
but what about good behavior? How are you going to reward students
who do good work?

Me: I agree with the philosophy of Alfie Kohn when it comes to rewards
(class slides). Rewards take away from the intrinsic motivation of
schoolwork and the discourage creativity and risk-taking. I have been
in classrooms where instruction time is eaten up by students quibbling
over how rewards should be applied. I think a simple good job or
youre really coming along is okay because that is part of the
students authentic relationship with me. I also intend to update
parents about student performance periodically so some rewards may
come through the family.

Ms. Mouse: Ah, youve touched on one of the least popular parts of
the job.

Me: January fire drills?

Ms. Mouse: Worse. Parents.

Side 2: Working with Students Families

Me: I am not too worried about dealing with parents. My first priority is
to open lines of communication to those parents who want them. Not
every parent wants to be involved with the childs school life, but these
students are only 14. Theyre still kids. I will start by sending a letter
home:

Dear parents and guardians,

Earlier today, I welcomed your young scholar to English 9. We

begin a nine-month journey full of challenges and growth, and I wish to
welcome you to participate fully in that journey.
You may be asking yourself how you can be involved in a course
that you are not taking. The first way is through Blackboard. Every
parent/guardian is issued a parent observer account through ACPS
Academic Access so that you may view all the information on your
young scholars blackboard account. If you have not already been
issued your login information by the administration, you should expect
to receive a letter with this information shortly. This account lets you
access report cards, current grades, attendance records, teacher
contact information, and class schedules. You may also alter your
preferred contact information so that if I or another teacher or
administrator ever needs to reach you for any reason we will be able to
communicate in the way that is most comfortable to you. In addition to
graded assignment, I will post information regarding current and
upcoming assignment so that you are aware of what is expected of
your young scholar.
The second way you can be involved is by communicating with
me directly if you have a question, comment, or concern about
anything that happens in my classroom. Email is the best way to reach
me. I usually respond within 24 hours. If you would like to set up a
conference before or after school or during one of my planning periods,
please reach out to me and we will agree upon a time. My schedule is
usually flexible. I hope all of you will be able to attend back to school
night on Xday, September X so that we can meet in person and you
can see the classroom.
On a final note, you can help keep the classroom clean by
donating a box of tissues. This is not mandatory and no extra credit will
be given. It would just be nice.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rauen

Parent-teacher conferences will be in late October. I will send out an

email two or here weeks before and also make an announcement at
back to school night. I recognize that some parents will be hesitant to
contact me because of cultural beliefs about education or personal
aversion to anything school-related. I will not ask for two-way
communication, only invite it. If a parent cannot or chooses not to
attend conferences, I will still give a paragraph summary of their
childs standing in the class.

I will be hesitant to involve parents in matters of discipline, as

evidenced by my discipline plan in entre 4. When the need does arise,
however, I will make sure to frame the issue as a need for a solution
rather than a problem (Weinstein & Novodvorsky 2015, 159). I may
also choose to contact parents if a students performance declines
suddenly or I am consistently unable to motivate them to participate in
activities or complete assignments. As we discussed in class, there
may be external factors influencing performance that would be helpful
for me to know. I would prefer to communicate by email so that I can
clearly articulate exactly what I mean, but if a parent specifies a phone
number as the preferred means of contact, I will give a call instead.
Before that happens, I will inform a student the day before. Here is a
sample email script:
Subject: check-in from Nevilles English teacher

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom,

I hope you are doing well today. I am writing to discuss Nevilles recent
performance in my class. I have noticed that he has failed to turn in
three of his last five homework assignments, and on Mondays reading
quiz he left more than half the questions blank. During literature circle
yesterday he put his head on his desk and when I asked him what why
he was not participating he told me he didnt want to do group work
today. We agreed that he would do some individual reflective writing
instead, but he had nothing to turn in to me at the end of class. Neville
seems like a bright and energetic young man, but I am concerned
about him and was hoping you might be able to provide some insight
into his lack of motivation. Is there anything going on outside of school
that might be influencing this behavior that I should know about? I very
much wish for Neville to succeed in my class but I am not sure how to
help him.
If you would like to discuss this matter over the phone, please respond
with a phone number and time at which I can reach you and I will give
you a call. We can also set up a time to meet in person if you would
prefer.

Sincerely,

Mr. Rauen

As for parent conferences I will not script one of these because there
are so many different directions they can take. I just need to remember
to LAFF not CRY:

Listen, empathize and communicate respect

Ask questions and ask permission to take notes
Focus on an issue
Find a first step

Dont:
Criticize people who arent present
React hastily and promise something you cant deliver
Yakety-yak-yak (Weinstein & Novodvorsky 2015, 163)

I will strongly recommend to parents that the student be present at the

conference. The three-way conference described in Management
begins with each party discussing the students strengths, then
continues with areas of improvement, goals for the future, and support
that each party will provide. The conference ends with the teacher
summarizing the agreements and fielding any questions (Weinstein &
Novodvorsky 2015, 168).
Side 5:

Self-Care Strategies & Plan

Ms. Mouse: what will you do to make sure that you are devoting
yourself 100% to your students?

Me: Maam, thats an excellent question, and I think its a trick

question. The short answer is Im not.

Ms. Mouse: Thats a bold statement to make in a job interview

Me: I hope youll permit me to start my explanation with a baseball

metaphor. I am a Nationals fan. A few years ago, we drafted the
pitching prospect of the century, a young man named Stephen
Strasburg. His fastball was 100 mph with a nasty changeup to go with
it. The problem was that most human bodies are not meant to
withstand the torque of a 100 mph fastball, and Strasburgs was no
exception. Shortly into his major league career, he tore a tendon in his
right elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery. When he came back,
his fastball averaged around 94. He had to learn to really pitch, to
locate his spots and pace himself so he could go deep into a season. If
I come into a classroom throwing 100 mph, Im going to burn out. I can
best serve my students if I am happy, healthy, and well rested. I want
to bring as much energy to my lessons as I possibly can and I dont
want to let a bad mood inflect an interaction with a student.

My calendar:
The above screenshots depict a schedule of a sample week. The
academic schedule is based on the bell schedule of T.C. Williams
Minnie Howard campus (https://www.acps.k12.va.us/Page/1816). As
you know, the school operates on a block schedule. I optimistically
gave myself planning periods during blocks 2 and 5 so I would have a
block in the middle of the day to rest and regroup between classes.
That leaves me teaching three classes per day with a total of five
(since I teach block 1 every day). During my planning periods, I will be
eating, grading, or lesson planning.

My calendar is color coded to show which activities are work, which are
fun, and which are neutral. The fun activities are green, the work
activities are pink, and the neutral ones are maroon.

Commute:

My commute is green because I like to listen to audiobooks while I

drive. I find these driving periods very soothing, especially because
most of the drive to Minnie Howard takes place on the scenic GW
parkway.

Freshman seminar:

I dont know if I will be teaching or planning during this time. If I do not

have a class, I will use this time as daily creative writing time. I really
want to find a time each day when I can write. If this window is not
open to me, I will have to dip into wildcard time.

Chess club and Game club:

The afterschool clubs at nearby TC Williams, which many Minnie

Howard students attend, offer me an opportunity to interact with
students in a nonacademic setting. I chose the two that most interest
me to put on my schedule, but I would probably start with the club my
mentor teacher sponsors.

Wildcard:

I like to have some flexibility in my free time. How I plan to use it

depends on my fatigue level. When I am not too tired, I like to spend
time with my girlfriend (see below) or write. When I am very
exhausted, I like to watch Netflix or sports. I will not be able to watch
every Nats game like I do now, but wildcard time could be a way to
stay caught up with the team.
The large chunk of wildcard time on Saturday should be spent with
friends or on a solo adventure. I just need to get out of the house. My
favorite place to go on weekends is the Maryland renaissance fair, and
I hope to make at least two trips this coming season.

Girlfriend:

My girlfriend is a grand piano named Layla. The relationship is very low

maintenance and her schedule is quite flexible. She never makes
demands for my time so it is important that I make an effort to set
aside time for her. A majority of my wildcard time will be spent with
her, but I did not block out specific times just for her because the
amount of time we spend together will depend on my mood and other
sources of enjoyment in my life. I notice that when I make an effort to
sing with her every day my lungs stay open and loose and I have more
energy. Also, this is the only kind of physical activity that I enjoy.
Actively pursuing it helps alleviate the restlessness that accumulates
from sitting in a chair all day.

ZZZ:

My sleep is very important to me. I budgeted just under eight hours a

night on the weekdays, which should be enough if I sleep a little extra
on the weekends. My body will need to adjust to the early bedtimes, so
I budgeted thirty minutes of meditation before bed to get my mind
settled for the night. My meditation sessions have little to do with
mindfulness; they are just intended to help me fall asleep. My mother
has some guided meditation CDs that she has been begging me to
borrow. These CDs will guide me through calming breathing and
mental exercises. My main goal with meditation is to avoid recursive
thought patterns. I tend to go over conversations that I have had or
plan to have and imagine everything I could possibly say. Sometimes
my mind goes through chess combinations or Candy Crush cascades,
and this pointless activity makes sleep very difficult to achieve.

Game night

Every Friday I like to go to a board game meetup group that is only a

ten minute drive from Minnie Howard. Because it is so close to the
school, I will probably stay and work until it starts at 6:30. I budgeted
grading time for Friday afternoon because grading is very linear and
does not require too much creativity. I think I will be able to grade
adequately when I am tired. I plan to invite all my Curry friends in
NOVA to come to game night with me.

Sports

I budgeted 90 minutes on Sunday for watching the Redskins, and I

expect that to be the majority of the sports time I allow myself. I still
plan to watch the 15-minute condensed versions of all Nationals games
through September, and will devote some of my wildcard time to full
Nationals broadcasts and basketball games come November.
As much as I want o discipline myself, sports will occasionally cut into
my sleep. First of all, the redskins sometimes play in the evenings and
the games do not finish until close to midnight. I will watch them
anyway. The same holds true for MLB playoff games. If the Nats make
the postseason, which they seem poised to do, I will watch all of their
October games. I believe that my passion for my teams will make up
for the physical energy I lose by cutting into my zzz time.

Exercise:

This isnt on here. The reason is not that I do not value exercise, but
rather that I dont realistically see myself adhering to an exercise
regimen. I find going to the gym not very helpful because I cant use
most of the machines. Also, I think I will be too tired. I have considered
joining a wheelchair rugby or tennis league, but I think I want to get
settled in my teaching routine before I pursue that path. I get a little bit
of a workout just from the standing feature of my chair. You know ou
are really out of shape when just standing is a workout, but that is
where I am physically right now.

Enforcement:

I will play off both my positive and negative qualities to enforce my

schedule.

Positive qualities Negative qualities

Comfortable with routines: Easily distracted:

Some people find routines stifling. I tend to daydream a lot, and I

They like a lot of variety. I am very
comfortable doing the same thing
over and over. I like to take the
same route when I drive
somewhere, so I will know exactly
how long it takes me to get
somewhere. I can eat the same
thing for breakfast (apple w/
cashew butter) and lunch
(sandwich w/ turkey, pepperoni,
goat cheese, spinach, and
mustard) every day. I even eat the
same thing for dinner most nights:
some kind of meat sauteed with
vegetables and a purple sweet
potato on the side. Having a
standard eating routine means I
know that I am properly nourished
at all times. It also makes my
Wegmans trips more efficient.
lose focus if there is something
nearby that looks more fun than
what I should be doing. I have a
bad habit of giving myself too
many short breaks that add up to
long breaks. This habit leads to
long hours of middling
productivity.
Since I am not good at saying no
to myself, I will have to shut off wi
fi during lesson planning time. My
environment will need to be
someplace where I would feel
uncomfortable playing games
such as a teachers lounge or
school library.
Hard working:
I may not be the most efficient
worker, but I will put in the hours
necessary to complete all my
teacher tasks. I have a knack for
meeting deadlines because I give
myself so much time to get things
done.
I will actually have to balance my
hard working nature by planning
time for fun and friends. If I give
myself more time than I need I will
use all of it instead of finishing
early. Some people think it is not
good to procrastinate but I think I
work most efficiently as a due
date approaches. That is why I
have fun on Friday and Saturday
but leave Sunday to work time.
Able to say no:
In class, we stressed the
importance of saying no when
someone asks you to do
something. I have no trouble
doing this. If someone asks me to
hang out on Sunday I will be able
to say, sorry, thats my
work/football day. No can do. The
only exception to this rule is
attractive women. I cannot say no
to them. Luckily, I dont anticipate
having any in my life next
semester, or any time in the near
future.
Introverted:
I do not require a lot of social
time. I can go weeks at a time
without speaking to another
person outside of my immediate
family. I get all the interaction I
Slow:
I am very slow in my physical
movements and in my work. I do
have occasional spurts of high
productivity but usually Im a
slogger. To counteract these
tendencies, I have kept Sunday-
Tuesday, which I expect to be my
heaviest planning periods, friend-
free. If I desperately need more
time to work I can use my
wildcard time.
I am also not a morning person, so
I gave myself thirty minutes of
buffer time before I need to be at
school just in case I have a slow
morning.
Lax with schedules
My past attempts to keep a
schedule have all failed within a
couple weeks. I simply forget to
look at them. To counteract this
problem, I have tried to make my
schedule as repetitive as possible
so that it will be easier to
remember. Even on the days when
I dont have afterschool clubs, I
still stay after for the same
amount of time so my evening
routines stay similar.
Unique events will have alerts so
that my phone remembers them
for me and I will not have to
remember to check my calendar.
need from my girlfriend and sports
broadcasters. If I hit a heavy load
or I am ill for some reason, my
mental health will not suffer from
being alone.
Dessert

I stroll out of the interview feeling confident I have articulated my

vision of classroom management. At the same time, I feel
apprehensive that Minnie Mouse realizes I still have a lot to figure out.
On the positive side, I think I have figured out how balance lenience
and intractability to come across as a warm demander. I may still err
on the side of being too nice, but I have improved. Entering my second
semester at UVa, I would have tried to treat my students the same way
I treat adults and they would have walked all over me. I feel confident
that I have a procedure for dealing with misbehavior that is not
authoritarian but will still force respectful behavior. While students still
have some say in regard to how the will show respect in my classroom,
the core values are nonnegotiable.
I gained many useful ideas from the class readings, especially
Management and Champion, and the SE journals were incredibly
helpful in my efforts to compile them. As I reread relevant portions of
those books, I had trouble knowing when to add onto my components
and when to stop. I felt like ach one I left out of my plan was a missed
opportunity that I was foolishly ignoring. Eventually I had to just tell my
self to stop. I know what my core values are and what ideas will be
particularly useful to me. It feels like I am being neglectful, but I want
to leave myself room to improvise. Even if I put every strategy that
was mentioned in class into my project, how many would I really
remember to use on a consistent basis? I decided to keep my routines
minimally complicated so that I would actually follow through with
them.
My behavioral management skills have improved immensely
from reading Doug Lemov and from watching my practicum teachers in
action. My 488 teacher is a master of giving subtle corrective gestures
without interrupting the flow of her lectures. She has a knack for
communicating extreme displeasure without yelling, and I feel like I
have become a better warm demander by trying to emulate her. My
388 teachers have had to deal with more behaviorally troubled kids.
They take a softer approach driven by inquiry to motivate students.
The warm aspect is emphasized in that classroom over the demander
side and it works well. I also witnessed a highly instructive conference
my 388 teacher had with a student about an instance of bullying. The
student did not understand that his comment had offended his
classmate. It was a great example of restorative justice in action. Doug
Lemov gave me some great suggestions for how to notice misbehavior
and let your students know you notice it.
One area where I am still struggling to grow is in creating the
physical classroom environment. My interior decorating skills are sadly
lacking. The suggestions I made in entre 1 are still a big step up from
the Spartan, depressing classroom I would have created if I had not
gone to Curry. Physical spaces are just not something I pay attention
to. My mother picked out all the artwork in my room and my apartment
is completely barren except for a chessboard on the coffee table. I
would have been afraid that decorations were too elementary school
but I need not worry about that. I am still going to be teaching kids,
even if some of them are taller than I am.
 References

Appetizer:

About Our School. Retrieved from

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/domain/1150

Bullying Prevention. Retrieved from

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/domain/73

Build a Safe Environment. Retrieved from

https://www.stopbullying.gov/prevention/at-school/build-safe-
environment/index.html

Entre 1:

(2008). Classroom Architect. Retrieved from

http://classroom.4teachers.org

Lemov, D. (2015). Teach like a champion 2.0: 62 techniques that

put students on

the path to college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Weinstein, C.S., & Novodvorsky, I. (2015). Middle and secondary

classroom

management: Lessons from research and practice. NY:

McGraw-Hill.

Entre 2:

Steineke, N. (2002). Reading and Writing Together: Collaborative

Literacy in Action.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Wait, Brandon (Director). (2017) Inside a Trauma-Informed School.

Minnesota

Public Radio.
Weinstein, C.S., & Novodvorsky, I. (2015). Middle and secondary
classroom

management: Lessons from research and practice. NY:

McGraw-Hill.

Entre 3:

Weinstein, C.S., & Novodvorsky, I. (2015). Middle and secondary

classroom

management: Lessons from research and practice. NY:

McGraw-Hill.

Entre 4:

Lemov, D. (2015). Teach like a champion 2.0: 62 techniques that

put students on

the path to college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Weinstein, C.S., & Novodvorsky, I. (2015). Middle and secondary

classroom

management: Lessons from research and practice. NY:

McGraw-Hill.

Side 2:

Weinstein, C.S., & Novodvorsky, I. (2015). Middle and secondary

classroom

management: Lessons from research and practice. NY:

McGraw-Hill.