Classroom Virtues
1. Patience
Be patient with your peers and your teacher. Speeding through life will only deprive you and the people around you of what could have been experienced or discovered.
2. Integrity
Be honest. Cheating and lying will only hurt you in the long run.
3. Respect
Respect the answers, opinions, and beliefs of those around you. Our individuality is what keeps the world interesting.
4. Dignity
Others cannot respect you unless you respect yourself. Hold yourself in a proud way, and everything will fall into place. Stay on top of deadlines and materials covered. Effort is key to success. You cannot succeed unless you believe you can.
5. Courage
It's okay to be different- as long as you are being YOU! Stand up for your peers and yourself, and it will pay off in the long run.
1. Patience
Be patient with your peers and your teacher. Speeding through life will only deprive you and the people around you of what could have been experienced or discovered.
2. Integrity
Be honest. Cheating and lying will only hurt you in the long run.
3. Respect
Respect the answers, opinions, and beliefs of those around you. Our individuality is what keeps the world interesting.
4. Dignity
Others cannot respect you unless you respect yourself. Hold yourself in a proud way, and everything will fall into place. Stay on top of deadlines and materials covered. Effort is key to success. You cannot succeed unless you believe you can.
5. Courage
It's okay to be different- as long as you are being YOU! Stand up for your peers and yourself, and it will pay off in the long run.
The "Nitty-Gritty"
- Eating is permissible as long as the individual and I have discussed it prior to class. Drinking water, on the other hand, is always allowed. Stay hydrated!
- Phone usage will be at a minimum. Phone calls and text messages are allowed only when communication with a family member, close friend is absolutely necessary. If you need to use your phone, talk to me. It's okay if you don't want to disclose personal information, but give me a heads up and the arrangement will be made.
"Rules" sound so formal and often have a negative connotation. In our classroom, we have virtues that we aim to live up to every day. A "virtue" is a behavior that achieves utmost moral and ethical standards and is something I expect from all members of our classroom community. It is important to have these virtues set in place in order to foster a safe and comfortable learning environment for all staff members and students. Without these virtues, our classroom may be disorderly and unorganized, which is definitely not conducive to academic success.
I chose to pick virtues for our classroom so I could avoid the redundant "do not" and "no..." list. Achieving these virtues achieves the same behaviors as those horrible lists, but in a more welcoming way. I will share these virtues with all of the students on the first or second day of school. I plan to make a lesson out of it to ensure full understanding, as I got the idea from the Scholastic article, "Creating Classroom Rules Together". I plan to post just the five virtues on the board, and the students will get into groups to come up with what they mean and an example. We will reconvene as a class to truly understand what each virtue asks from all of us. I will ask the students for examples of how these virtues will be broken, and we will collectively come up with an appropriate consequence (with my discretion).
As this is a social studies classroom, I will ask the students to explain to me how these virtues are achieved in society, and why it is important in the outside world to aim to achieve them. *Brownie points to whoever can give me a historical example of the virtues and how they were broken!* The more we can apply the meaning of these virtues into real-world examples, the more the students will understand them and respect them as something to achieve on a daily basis. Students will take these virtues in as their own as we discuss them more, and this will foster an understanding classroom environment. I will be open to any questions about the virtues.
I included the "Nitty-Gritty" at the bottom just because eating and phones are topics most commonly covered by school rules. As long as it will not hurt my career with administration, I plan to have no issue with eating in the classroom. It is completely understandable that students have little time before school, have a late lunch, or have practice after school. Food fuels! You can't learn or exercise on an empty stomach. I just want to know ahead of time to make proper arrangements and make sure the food isn't absolutely distracting to the class. In terms of water, students always need to stay hydrated. This is something I have no problem with at all. Finally, texting. This is the biggest classroom concern of mine. As students and I will discuss, texting in the classroom goes against many of the virtues. That being said, sometimes emergencies happen or students are having a bad day and they simply have to speak to their mom. This is understandable, I've been there. As long as the student informs me at the start of class that they need to use their phone, I will be lenient. If privacy is an issue, they can just tell me that something is going on and it's important for them to stay in contact with a family member or friend. I am not going to get in the way of any crisis or emergency. Every student has the right to be informed, cared for, and a good family member.
I chose to pick virtues for our classroom so I could avoid the redundant "do not" and "no..." list. Achieving these virtues achieves the same behaviors as those horrible lists, but in a more welcoming way. I will share these virtues with all of the students on the first or second day of school. I plan to make a lesson out of it to ensure full understanding, as I got the idea from the Scholastic article, "Creating Classroom Rules Together". I plan to post just the five virtues on the board, and the students will get into groups to come up with what they mean and an example. We will reconvene as a class to truly understand what each virtue asks from all of us. I will ask the students for examples of how these virtues will be broken, and we will collectively come up with an appropriate consequence (with my discretion).
As this is a social studies classroom, I will ask the students to explain to me how these virtues are achieved in society, and why it is important in the outside world to aim to achieve them. *Brownie points to whoever can give me a historical example of the virtues and how they were broken!* The more we can apply the meaning of these virtues into real-world examples, the more the students will understand them and respect them as something to achieve on a daily basis. Students will take these virtues in as their own as we discuss them more, and this will foster an understanding classroom environment. I will be open to any questions about the virtues.
I included the "Nitty-Gritty" at the bottom just because eating and phones are topics most commonly covered by school rules. As long as it will not hurt my career with administration, I plan to have no issue with eating in the classroom. It is completely understandable that students have little time before school, have a late lunch, or have practice after school. Food fuels! You can't learn or exercise on an empty stomach. I just want to know ahead of time to make proper arrangements and make sure the food isn't absolutely distracting to the class. In terms of water, students always need to stay hydrated. This is something I have no problem with at all. Finally, texting. This is the biggest classroom concern of mine. As students and I will discuss, texting in the classroom goes against many of the virtues. That being said, sometimes emergencies happen or students are having a bad day and they simply have to speak to their mom. This is understandable, I've been there. As long as the student informs me at the start of class that they need to use their phone, I will be lenient. If privacy is an issue, they can just tell me that something is going on and it's important for them to stay in contact with a family member or friend. I am not going to get in the way of any crisis or emergency. Every student has the right to be informed, cared for, and a good family member.