Cook-Sather asserts that it is important to create and maintain “a positive classroom environment based on comfort, respect and challenge” (32). There are many other principles to include in a classroom, but these are the foundational aspects of a classroom that must be included. After consulting students, she says that “students point out that particular modes of working, such as collaboration, create an atmosphere conducive to learning, and when teachers ‘have a set plan for the day,’ have ‘tools and resources available in the classroom,’ and invite students to actively engage with those, students ‘gain responsibility, gain trust, and gain independence’” (35). Thus, the classroom should be structured in a way that reflects student-centered learning that allows them to work independently and together and foster relationships both with the teacher and their peers. As such, my classroom regardless of the age of the students, would look be structured in which students are sitting in small groups. With this kind of classroom orientation allowing for social interaction with peers while still maintaining the focus at the head of the classrom, it may also be easier to find an easy balance between “control and fun” (Cothran, Kulinna, & Garrahy, 2003, 442). Many of the students in the dialogue project expressed the need for a varied classroom environment that allowed students to talk in the classroom, but also allowed students to work in silence. Maintaining this healthy balance between the needs of different students through frequent feedback in the form of questionnaires or verbal suggestions might prove useful for producing a classroom that respects both the students and the teacher.

 

In terms of discipline, Perrone’s framing of “developing and maintaining productive classrooms” is preferable to adopting models of classroom management and discipline because it moves away from more punitive models of teaching (121). Some features of this include “be[ing] well prepared for each day, us[ing] challenging ideas and materials, be[ing] reasonably consistent (students should know what to expect in terms of teacher expectations and response), show[ing] respect for students, be[ing] clear about what really matters, [and] know[ing] the students” (122-123). “Other principles developed by my students have been maintaining calmness and being culturally aware and sensitive. The latter is related closely to knowing the students, having a genuine desire to learn from and with them, finding ways to construct an inclusive curriculum, and being conscious of language. It also represents a means of demonstrating respect” (126). The basis of this framing is knowing the students and being understanding and respectful of the needs of each student. While there is no set formula regarding how teachers should act in order to model respect and be respected, teachers should be very conscious of their position of power in the classroom when working to maintain student respect. “Because teachers occupy the positions of greater power within the classroom and school, because of their age and role, they must take the initiative to treat students with respect. To demand respect from students first, rather than first modeling it, is to reinforce the power differential that already disadvantages students” (Cook-Sather, 2010, 58). Being conscientious of the power dynamics of the classroom is thus a really important way to get a sense of how much students feel valued and respected in the classroom. 

 

Developing and maintaining productive classrooms then looks like setting consistent standards and expectations, which can be explained the first day of class, and working to develop active and positive relationships with students. Wasicko & Ross have very specific recommendations on how to do this: “expect the best from kids; make the implicit explicit; focus on rewards and if you must punish, focus on removing privileges; consistency is the best policy but let the punishment fit the crime; know each student well, and use school work as rewards” (e.g. bring in pies and cakes when teaching about fractions, allow free reading as a reward for good behavior) which I hope to apply in my classroom (73-76). In summary, their recommendations focus on rewards and preparing ahead of time the different potential approaches to the numerous situations that may arise that would require general or direct attention. Preparation is key and there's no such thing as too much preparation (Johnson, 2015). An example of this would be thinking ahead of time about what I might do if, for example, a student continued to talk to other students in the class, thinking about an appropriate response that fits the situation and the student, and being consistent about using the response. However, one discipline approach I would avoid, as mentioned by other educators, is the punishment model, especially for behaviors that are natural for students at any age such as talking in class or needing occasional distractions. My placement teacher has demonstrated multiple examples of how to handle such situations since the students in her class often engage in side conversations. However, this has also taught me the importance of picking the battles that are worth trying to “discipline” students for and determining whether the disruption or the action is worth focusing on. In all, there are a lot of aspects of developing and maintaining a productive classroom, but the first step is to plan ahead of time what one would do in different situations so that one’s responses are thoughtful and respectful of the student rather than immediate responses in the moment.