Critical Thinking/Reflection

The rules that I started off with this semester worked well for our classroom.
My cooperating teacher and I let the students help create the rules. Even
though the rules might be a little different according to the type of classroom I
will have in the future, I would like to keep the strategy of having the students
help create rules. I think it gives the students a chance to voice their opinion on
what they expect from the class as well as what I expect from them.
The behavior plan the semester started off with was a 1, W, 2, 3 system. All
students started off with a 3. When a student moved down to a W for warning, a
note was sent home to the parents. I didnt like this approach because I thought
it was too much to get parents involved when students were just being warned. I
think the students felt discouraged from improving their behavior after receiving
a W since their parents were already involved. I decided to change my plan to
having parents being involved only when students have been warned more
than once and moved down to a 2. I want my behavior plan to show the
students that good behavior is expected but it is possible to recover from
making poor choices. Another change I made to the behavior plan was
rewarding students for good behavior. I will keep note of students who maintain
good behavior and they will receive some type of reward as they maintain that
behavior for a certain amount of time.
Over the semester I have learned that you need to be consistent with your
behavior plan. Students need to know there are consequences and they will put
into action if you decide not to follow the rules. I also have learned that
students need to be rewarded for good behavior as well as punished for bad
behavior. I want students to know I appreciate when they follow the rules and
contribute to a positive classroom environment.