What I have established is that I have a different pedagogical approach for junior and senior students.
I respect (most of) senior students' choices about learning, whereas I expect junior students to complete the tasks I assign them generally in the time I allocate. I expect all students to take responsibility for accessing me when they need additional help (eg. with homework tasks they have had difficulty with.).
I strongly believe that there are no bad students- though poor teachers exist in abundance. I believe that if I am disrespectful to a person (irrespective of age or perceived social position) then I cannot realistically expect that they will view me with a respect conducive to learning. I believe (and have experienced one young lady proving my point) that the nicest of people have bad days, foul days, rude days, and downright disgusting days- I try to not take these days to heart and instead show kindness, nurturing and understanding.
I believe that discipline needs to be consistent and fair whilst taking into consideration the individual student's needs. A challenging task indeed.
I have found that BOLD gestures can work well for my small stature, and I have found that some days boldness achieves little more than feeding a negative atmosphere. Sometimes it is best to pick ones battles, so to speak. I turned an obnoxious classroom which had me about to lose my mind, into a classroom straining to hear my every word by whispering to the handful of on-task-students that the following content would be on their exam in two weeks time. I proceeded to speak in the lowest voice I could manage for the remainder of the lesson.
I would like to develop the practice of running a flipped classroom where students access a "lecture" type instruction at home to develop knowledge. In this way students can pause, replay and fast forward the content, hopefully ensuring better comprehension. Salman Khan explains the concept here. With the knowledge and comprehension somewhat dealt with, class time can be used to attain the higher order thinking processes. Students have access to, and can be guided by, me when they're attempting to apply, analyse, synthesise and evaluate the concept.
I expect students to respect each other and allow for one speaker at a time, however I do not believe that a quiet class is an prerequisite of a learning class.
I believe that students who are engaged in an activity will actively seek learning.
I will whenever possible have an entire list of exercises or questions relevant to the lesson displayed for the whole class to see. This is to be a scaffolded list, ranging from very simple questions through to very high level extension questions. This list is numbered so that students can (with my guidance) determine their individual expected level of work. The list is not intended as a list of hurdles- students may start where their own ability dictates. Ideally the list would be colour coded for difficulty level, however I do not like the concept of Green, Orange and Red- Red almost always means stop.
My classroom will be as comfortable as possible, shoes may be removed (observing OHS), there will be "positive" decor whenever it is in my control and I endeavour to have a relationship with my students which allows them to discuss any barriers to learning that they may feel exist, day to day or longer term.
While being flexible and approachable and having a level of patience I was previously unaware of, I have clearly defined and articulated boundaries. Students will show respect first and foremost for themselves through their language, dress and conduct. Students will respect the property of others including that of the school. Being the best one can be is an aspect of respecting one's self. Consequences (often defined by the institution) are the alternative.
Well said. My mentor once pointed the voice out to me too. She said look after your voice and remember they can hear (and want to hear) a whisper.
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