My Management Skills

EVIDENCE

My management skills are always a work in progress. I have found tactics that have been useful, and I continue to implement them daily, I have also tried things that have not worked so I take the loss and move on. But I will never be satisfied with the management of my classroom. I will always feel like it is an area I can grow in. Every year, with new scholars, things change. As I grow as an educator, things change. I try to keep my mind open to new and better ways to do things in the classroom. I do that by watching and observing other teachers and find out what works best for them. I also research and attend workshops on how to better my students in the classroom. I will address a few things that I do in my classroom that supports my management skills.

(Also, please check out my procedure page to see the classroom management strategies I employ in the classroom.)

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1. My room, while it appear to be a bit messy at times (ART ROOM!) it is very organised. My scholars know where their things are to be turned in, where their belongings go, where supplies are, where the STEM bins are, and with that my kids are able to take ownership in their movement around the classroom. An observer may see my room as a bit chaotic from the outside, but it is a controlled chaos with all the cogs in the machine working independently to make the dream work!

2. I, as an educator, used to, and still sometimes do, struggle with organization. But I have learned and grown so much just this year alone! A wonderful team member of mine sat down with me and showed me what works for her and she has changed my life. I am so much more organized at home and work. It has been a great growth for me this year personally and professionally.

3. Below you will find evidence of within my observation reports that shows my classroom/supply organization, my student involvement and engagement, along with my positive disposition.

4. To speak further on my disposition, I feel like I do a good job of being happy and positive. I know I can have my bad days, just like anyone else, but, I I make it a point to smile, encourage and love each of my kids!

5. When it comes to parent communication, I respond withing 24 hours of receiving the email or phone call. I have called parents many times after hours on my own time because it is the best time for the parent to communicate. I am always willing to speak with parents and ready to help and listen. I also respond to other my students if they contact me over email very quick to give timely feedback. I feel that communication is HUGE! I want to make sure people know they can speak with me anytime they need to!​​

Engagement

It is important to keep scholars fully engaged during class time. There are many benefits and reasons for this:

• It Is Our Duty - Learning hours are precious, we only have them for a short amount of time, it is our duty to teach them as much as we can!

• Classroom Management - It helps with classroom management, scholars that are busy being engaged, are not scholars who are bored and acting out.

• Builds Relationships - It builds trust with your scholars, this may sound funny, but a scholar can tell if their teacher cares about what they are teaching. Scholars are more willing to learn when they know I love the subject I am teaching. I personally have seen scholars begin to love artists or games when they realize how much I love it. It also shows my scholars that I respect their time and their education. They can see that I care about them learning so they know I care about them and their well being.

I keep my classes engaged by:

• Planning Ahead - I love looking at my week and feeling confident in my classes ahead of me. It allows me to come in and with no down time, I am able to quickly jump into the lesson and maximize as much class time as possible.

• Having a Back Up Plan - There are some lessons that are new, I am also learning how to teach younger scholars this year! So I have back up assignments or projects just in case we need to make adjustments or we finish early (little ones FLY through art projects it seems).

• Teach What I Love - Similar to what I said earlier, I have really focused on teaching what I love. I tried many methods, many styles, and nothing felt right. I felt friction and struggled to plan and enjoy my day. I thought I had to teach in a certain box. I finally realized to teach from the heart and choose projects that mean something to me. Doing this, I have incorporated art history into my lessons/projects. When researching elementary art projects, I kept seeing that art history at times was too much for little ones. I did not find that to be the case. To be fair I LOVE art history. So when I get to talk about an artist I love I get really excited and I think the kids can see that. In return, the scholars become more invested in the project at hand.

• Be Willing to Adjust - I have learned over the years that things do not go to plan. I may realize a project is too easy or needs to be scaled back DURING the lesson. This was a learned skill for me, I used to get flustered when things derailed, however now, I am able to think critically and creatively in the moment and smoothly adjust and continue on.

• Know my Scholars - This is major in art and pe, knowing each individual scholars personality, currency, abilities, interest, are all EXTREMELY important. I really make an effort the first few weeks of school to get a "baseline" for each scholar, this allows me to see what each scholar needs individually. Because of this, I am able to individualize project for each student. If I know a scholar with struggle with this particular project I will plan accordingly, same if I know I have a scholar who will fly through a project. I have ways of scaling up and scaling down my projects and assignments. This has just taking years of trial and error. I am of course still learning! But this has been a big help to me over the years.

EVIDENCE

Click here to find evidence of how my classroom operates from observation forms that have been completed.