American Schools

I hope to teach the lower elementary grades, ideally kindergarten or First.In considering ways to develop responsibility among younger children, i think that the
following strategies would be a good place to begin. To develop responsibility in the area of classroom management, i would first of all let the students help to choose the rules for the classroom. This way, they would participate in a sense of ownership of the classroom and would also be more likely to follow rules that they thought through and established themselves rather than rules decided by the teacher alone. Next, I would lead them in deciding and agreeing upon logical consequences for breaking these rules. for example, If a child said something unkind to another child, they would have to write an apology note and only play with that person for the rest of the day. Responsibility in the area of instructional strategies could be more difficult among younger grades. The best way that I can think of to be affective on this area is to once again, have the students establish basic guidelines and consequences. For example, each child would be responsible for keeping their desk neat, for putting their work in the right place, etc. Since parents are such a big part of the homework process at this age, i would try to not punish the students if their parents did not do their homework with them. Of course, among older students, fourth or fifth grade and above, students can be held to greater responsibility for homework and other out-of-class assignments. I believe that the ideal early elementary school would be would have uniform standards and basic rules, but would allow each teacher great personal freedom in both the areas of instructional and management strategies. As a teacher, this would allow me to implement the strategies that I believe best serve the students in my classroom.