Jessie Worger

Education 462
Dana Barclay
11/24/2014
Creating a Productive and Positive Classroom
Looking good gang; Feeling good Lynn. Feeling good gang? Looking good
Lynn! This was how our director at summer camp greeted the staff and campers bright
and early every morning. Some might think of her as a hippy, but I will always
remember her as one of the most influential people I have encountered in my life.
Lynn has been the camp director for the Colorado Mountain Ranch for over 35
years and she loves every second of it. Even after a devastating fire, floods, and financial
troubles, Lynn has fought to keep her family-owned camp open for the kids of Boulder to
enjoy. She makes an effort to memorize as many childrens names she possibly can and
is constantly working to build relations with her staff. In this day and age, many familyowned summer camps have been closing down and being replaced by summer classes or
programs that help a child get ahead in school, but I believe that every child benefits
greatly from summer camp and can learn skills that are not currently be taught in the
classroom. Skills like solving your own problems when you and your bunk mate have a
fight, keeping a positive attitude even when you have to go to an activity you hated, and
creating friendships in a single week that are more memorable and meaningful than
friendships that were created for an entire year in a classroom.
As a future teacher, I will implement these life skills I learned from attending
summer camps as a child and as a counselor into my classroom. First, children need to
have an adult figure that models beneficial behaviors such as composure, and positivity.
Second, teachers need to use strategies such as holding students accountable and
restorative justice to guide students to solve their own problems. Finally, teachers need
to bring together all of these new components and skills to create a culture in their
classroom that is both productive and fun.
Have you ever seen on television shows when a teenager and a parent become
engaged in an out-of-control fight? The parent starts to raise their voice, then the
teenager starts to raise their voice and soon both are caught in a screaming contest that

usually ends up with the child locking themselves in their room or running away and the
problem is nowhere close to being fixed. Many times, teachers can also be trapped in a
constant struggle for control with their class and begin to lose their composure. Their
constant fights and blank threats (stop doing this or else) to their students escalate tension
in a classroom and create an environment that is unsafe and unproductive. Teachers need
to rise above their primitive feelings of wanting to yell or fight with students that are
being disruptive and instead activate their critical thinking skills to stay composed,
positive, and assertively take control of their classroom.
Dr. Becky A. Bailey explains in her book Conscious Discipline that the brain can
be thought of as having three levels. The lower levels are the brain stem and they are
responsible for survival issues and dealing with pain. The middle levels are the limbic
system and they deal with emotions and seeking pleasure. The higher levels are the
cortex and this is where critical thinking and higher level processes occur. When a
teacher or student becomes angry, initially the lower levels of the brain are activated and
a teacher may want to yell or fight with a student because they are afraid that they will
lose control of their classroom. Instead, teachers need to always remain calm and
composed and activate the higher levels of their brain to think rationally.
If a teacher is beginning to lose their patience with a student or a classroom, there
are some strategies to keep their composure. Bailey recommends teachers and students to
become a S.T.A.R. This means to Smile, Take a deep breath, And Relax. Another
technique to calm down a teacher or a stressed class is by using the ballooning or the
pretzel technique. Ballooning is a good technique to use before a test to relieve stress in a
classroom. The teacher and students put their own hands together and with each breath
the arms raise higher like they are blowing up a balloon and at the end they purse their
lips to allow air to escape. If a teacher is about to lose patience, a technique to gain
clarity is to use the pretzel. For the pretzel a teacher crosses their ankles/legs, crosses
their arms up by their chests, and touches their tongue to the roof of the mouth. This
exercise is supposed to release emotional stress and align your body and mind.
Another technique that Lynn told our staff to use at our camp was to eat a
snickers. This was when a flustered or stressed counselor asked another counselor to
take control for a few minutes or when a counselor set their kids up with something to

preoccupy them while the counselor took a quick break to gain their composure. I feel
that if a teacher thinks that they are about to lose their control or temper, they should have
the option to call a supporting staff member or preoccupy their kids with a video so that
they have a few minutes to breathe and activate the higher levels of the brain instead of
having a meltdown in front of their kids. Teaching can be stressful, and teachers need to
find ways to deal with that stress or frustration that is not harmful to the relationships
they have built and that sets a good example for their students.
By managing their emotions in a safe and rational way, teachers exemplify to
students how to interact with one another in stressful situations. If a teacher becomes
upset they need to solve problems through reasoning instead of allowing their emotions
to control their actions. Sometimes when frustrated, some teachers may tell their students
you better be quiet or else or I will send you to the office if you dont listen to me.
Using threats and fear to make students do what they want exemplifies to students that
they can use fear to control others. Instead, teachers must show students that there are
better and more pragmatic ways to solve problems than becoming angry and using fear.
While some parents may still yell at their children and use punishments to scare
their children into obeying their wishes, teachers must be a role model on how to manage
their emotions and think rationally to solve conflicts to make the classroom a safe and
productive place to be.
At summer camps, if something did not go my way or I forgot to follow a rule, I
couldnt run to my mommy and daddy to solve my problems. If I brought my favorite
teddy bear on a hike and lost it, I had to deal with the consequences of not having a teddy
bear and mommy wasnt there to buy me a new one. If I was running down a hill that my
counselor asked me to walk down, fell, and scratched my knee I had to deal with the
consequences. I had to solve my own problems and sometimes a counselor may have
helped me through the problem solving process.
In schools today, I have noticed parents or adults in charge resolve their
childrens conflicts for them by sending the guilty kid to the principals office, bringing
in their kids late homework, or simply making excuses for their kids. I feel that conflict
resolution and taking responsibility for their actions is a skill that students need to learn

in life. Restorative justice and holding students accountable for their actions are just two
ways to build these skills.
Edutopia defines restorative justice as a way to empower students to resolve
conflicts on their ownand the idea is to bring students together in peer-mediated small
groups to talk, ask questions, and air their grievances. Edutopia states that restorative
justice is a tool for conflict resolution that is growing in popularity among schools and in
a school Oakland California it has cut suspensions in half. Restorative justice is a great
tool to use in a school because it provides opportunities for wrongdoers to be held
accountable, it builds relationships, empowers the community to keep each other safe,
and it seeks to build pro-social skills (Quinn).
For restorative justice, teachers need to recognize wrongdoings and conflict in
their classrooms as teachable moments instead of immediately sending a student to the
principals office or suspending the student. Often, a wrongdoer does not understand the
harm they have caused so using restorative justice to problem-solve empowers both the
victim and the attacker. These are a few ways to implement restorative justice practices
in the school and in the classroom.
Circles or circle up is one way to practice restorative justice. Circles can either be
a class meeting once in a while where students check in and discuss any conflicts they
are facing, or circles can be formed to include a group of people that have a conflict.
Often an item such as a talking stick is used to signify who is taking their turn to discuss
their viewpoints without interruption. These circles help create opportunities for safe
and open communication, strengthen relationships and empower all parties involved
(Quinn).
Mediation and conferencing is another way to help students solve conflicts.
These meetings are usually led by a mediator and help students peacefully resolve
conflicts. Peer mediation is also very helpful and this is when a student is trained and
acts as a mediator for their peers. Both the peer mediator and the students in the conflict
benefit because they learn a new set of problem solving skills they can use later in life,
provides leadership opportunities, and is an alternative to suspension.
Peer juries are a third way to implement restorative justice. Students are trained a
jurors and hear cases of minor school offenses committed by another student. The jurors

offer guidance and support and outline actions needed by the wrongdoer to repair the
harm.
Along with restorative justice, teachers and parents need to hold their students
accountable for their actions and allow the student to face the consequences. Teachers
need to strictly enforce their rules and due dates for turning in assignments in order to
create a fair and strict classroom. If a student comes up to a teacher with a late
assignment, Dr. Bailey explains that a teacher can act with three different intents. The
first is the intent to punish which is meant to inspire guilt. For example, when Sally does
not have her homework the teacher may say something like you know better than this
or you need to be more responsible. The intent to save is meant to rescue a child and a
teacher may say something along the lines of it is ok, you can turn it in tomorrow or I
know you are a good student and just forgot. The third is the intent to teach and it is
meant to promote responsibility. This is the way that students will take responsibility for
their actions and understand the consequences. A teacher may say something like I only
accept work that is on time and I will be happy to look at the work you turn in on time
for the next assignment. Parents also could benefit from using the intent to promote
responsibility by not saving their child every time that child forgot their homework or
was late to school.
By giving students the skills to solve their own problems and take responsibility
for their actions, teachers are empowering their students to create opportunities to grow
and learn.
Faded friendship bracelets from summer camps are still sitting in a box on my
desk along with other important camp memorabilia. There is a culture of excitement,
friendship, and love that can only be found at a summer camp. As a teacher, I want to try
to replicate a little of that culture into my own classroom and there are a few strategies to
do this.
Doug Lemov in his book Teach Like a Champion states that people are
motivated by the positive far more than the negativethis fact should influence the way
you teach. I strongly believe in this quote and that teachers who encourage their
students and set them up to succeed are far more motivated than students that are given
low expectations. One technique Lemov suggests to create a positive culture is by

positive framing. Positive framing is when a teacher makes corrections consistently and
positively. Some rules to make positive framing possible are living in the now which is
when a teacher stops nagging at a student or class about what bad mistake they made and
instead gives them suggestions on how to improve for the future.
Another rule is to assume the best and not to automatically assume the actions of
students are to disobey the teacher. For example, instead of saying Some people like
Jake and Amy did not push their chairs in so we are going to be late teachers should
assume the best and say Whoops, pushing the chairs in seems to have slipped our mind
so lets try that again. This way of phrasing things assumes the best intentions of the
students and creates a positive classroom.
Creating a classroom that is challenging, full of games, songs, skits, and
friendship replicates a culture of a camp. Playing games and having relaxed competitions
in the class are one way to keep students engaged and creating relationships. These
competitions could be group against group, one class against another class, class against
the clock, or against an abstract standard (I want to see if you have what it takes!).
Lemov suggests using phrases like these to get classes excited to be learning: Lets see
if we can turn in the papers in under 10 seconds, Lets see which row has this
information down, or You guys did great, lets see if we can take it up a notch.
Playing games and having friendly competitions create a culture in the classroom that is
both fun and productive.
Other ways to create a high-achieving and engaged class is by using music,
movement humor and suspense. Acting things out, singing a song, and using big
movements is a great way for a teacher to help students remember important concepts or
vocabulary. I still remember the Spanish chants and songs my teacher taught me in high
school. Laughter can be very powerful in the classroom and it helps build a happy
environment. Teachers should try to incorporate funny comics or jokes related to their
lesson to help with memorization. When a class has a strong and productive routine,
surprises or suspense can be a fun way to shake things up. One way to do this is by
having a closed box and saying just wait, after this lesson we get to see what is in our
mystery box or giving everyone a sealed envelope to open later.

Summer camps have been an integral part of my childhood and adult life, and the
classes from school that I remember most fondly have been with teachers that have the
enthusiasm of camp counselors and classrooms that have a culture of fun and care. By
modeling positive behaviors such as composure, teaching students the skills they need to
solve problems, and creating a fun and understanding classroom, I feel that teachers can
engage their students in learning and create memorable relationships.