Small Strokes Big Oaks

I’m over at Teaching Tolerance today talking about my own classroom management practices:

When Teaching Tolerance hit my desk in the spring of last year, then, I was looking for something—anything—to help me get back on track. The information on the school-to-prison pipeline was exactly the catalyst I needed to begin to step back and question my classroom management policies: Was I doing everything I could to keep students in my classroom? Was I dealing with discipline in my room rather than involving authorities and putting kids in the system? Was I fostering an atmosphere of mutual respect and recognition for my students? Was I offering positive reinforcement rather than negative feedback?

I had to be honest with myself: The answer to all of these questions most of the time was no.

This was a rude awakening for me. I’ve always prided myself on being a good teacher. I love teaching and I want my students to succeed. I’m genuinely interested in my students’ lives, and I want my classroom to be a positive place for my students rather than a negative one. Most importantly, I want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem when it comes to issues of school push-out. Once I began reading about the school-to-prison pipeline, I realized I was becoming more a part of the problem.

Read the whole article here!

Featured Image Credit: knittymarie