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**Standard 5** ** Teachers know how to manage a classroom. ** The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation. Evidence 1: media type="file" key="5_8_2010 10_40 AM.mp3" width="240" height="20"Podcast (On CD)

Rationale 1: The podcast was created as a morning message for my first grade students. Routines are absolutely instrumental in creating a manageable classroom, and a great deal of time is spent teaching students the routines. This podcast is a recording of my voice outlining the procedures of the morning for students.

The rationale behind creating this podcast was that some of my students were still struggling with the routines, while others picked them up immediately. After reflecting upon this situation, I decided that I did not want to continue to teach the routines to the entire class, as some of the students already understood them. Instead, I opted to create a podcast as a guide for the students who still needed assistance. The message was played while students were entering the classroom. Those students who did not need assistance simply ignored the message, while those who required the reminder listened to the steps and followed them accordingly. As a result, students did a much better job of independently following the morning routines.

KSD 5.K.4 The teacher understands the principles of effective classroom management and can use a range of strategies to promote routines and positive relationships, cooperation, and purposeful learning in the classroom. The importance of routines in my first grade classroom is immense. It creates a working and learning environment that is calm and focused, with minimal distractions to student learning. The traditional method of teaching my routines did not work for everyone due to the population of students in my room. Therefore, I utilized an alternative method for teaching and reinforcing the routines for those students who needed extra practice. 5.S.4 The teacher maximizes the amount of class time spent in learning by creating expectations and processes for communication and behavior along with a physical setting conducive to classroom goals. The procedures in place within my classroom are vital to establishing a productive learning environment. Once in place, the routines allow for very little time to be wasted on transitions and more time to be spent on learning. These procedures are communicated in many ways—including the podcast which served as a beneficial reminder for my students. 5.D.1 The teacher takes responsibility for establishing a positive climate in the classroom and participates in maintaining such a climate in the school as a whole. As a first grade teacher, I have always felt that procedures were integral to creating a productive classroom environment. I spend a great deal of time at the beginning of the year teaching these routines, providing time for practice, and reflecting upon their use. When I found that some of my students continued to struggle with some of the routines, I utilized a podcast as a reminder for those students, which proved to be incredibly successful.