I believe as a Christian that every person is made in the image of God, just as God

proclaims. Living by this means treating each and every student in a Christian manner,
regardless of their race, ethnicity, or culture, even if this includes a naughty child who is
always acting up, or giving you and the other students a hard time. Being a Christian
teacher means loving each student equally, having no favorites, giving your full ability to
teach to students, and explicitly engaging the students so they can reach their full learning
potential. In order to do this I must begin with a leadership and management plan. My
plan will focus on the preschool and primary level of education because I am an Early
Childhood Education major. This education level is what I know best and eventually
want to teach.
Relationships are an important part of the educational system. It is important to
have good relationships with your students, co-workers, and students parents.
Relationships are intertwined with leadership because in order to have a good relationship
there must be someone setting a good example personal example. For me, this means
using my Christian beliefs to be the leader that God would want me to be. For parents
and co-workers, I will focus on their opinions while trying to relate to them,
acknowledging their questions, and exploring and providing them with my own insightful
thoughts on the matter at hand. As for my students, I want to help them grow to the best
possible learner they can be. For me this means using a Reggio-Emilia classroom layout,
environment, and teaching strategies. Reggio-Emilia focuses on the students and aims to
teach them how to use symbolic languages in the students everyday life, for example,
painting, sculpting, or drama (What Is, 2015). This type of teaching approach follows
the principles of respect, responsibility, and community through exploration and

discovery in a supportive and enriching environment based on the interests of the

children through a self-guided curriculum (What Is, 2015).
Just as relationships are important for managing and having good leadership in the
classroom, as a teacher it will also be important to foster and support my students
learning. According to Harry Wong, effective teachers possess the three following
qualities, (1) Have positive expectations for student success, (2) Is an extremely good
classroom manager, (3) Knows how to design lessons for student mastery (Wong 2009,
10). First and foremost, as a teacher it is important that my students feel safe and secure.
I believe my warm-heart, caring, kind, and lovable personality will help the students feel
a sense of security and safety in my classroom. Secondly, I also believe it is just
important for my students to feel that they are in a healthy environment. I believe that
my Reggio-Emilia classroom centered environment will reach these three priorities for
my classroom. I believe students also feel secure when there is consistency provided
within a classroom. I will provide consistency from the start of the first week of school.
Our classroom practices and procedures will always be predictable and consistent (Wong
2009, 83). In order to do this, I will, teach, rehearse and reinforce, when teaching a
procedure (Wong 2009, 197).
God created every being in his image, and since this is true, each of my students
have been made in his image and it will be my job to teach them in a way that will help
them learn and perform their best. I will teach as Jesus did to his disciples. By supplying
my students with a Reggio Emilia classroom setting, this means my students will be able
to, construct their own learning and come to understand themselves and their place in

the world through their interactions with others (What is, 2015). The classroom
setting will be looked upon as the students third teacher (What is, 2015).
My classroom will provide an atmosphere that is arranged for productive work as
this is a Reggio-Emilia approach and will have a positive climate. Being an effective
teacher I will make sure that everyday the room is ready, the work is ready, and I am
ready to lead students in their word (Wong 2009, 89). According to The First Days of
School, an effective teacher thinks, reflects, and implements (Wong, 2009, 301). Not
only will I portray these effective ways through modeling and explaining. My
expectations from students but I will also accept the fact that I, as a teacher, will always
be learning and growing as well. As one of my professors once said, great teachers are
the ones who keep learning and accept that they do not know everything. I love the
quote from Albert Camus, Life is not a destination. Life is a journey. As long as you
continue the journey, you will always be a success (Wong 2009, 68).
Being the teacher in my classroom and going off of having a Reggio-Emilia based
classroom, I will not have a discipline plan. Wong states so brilliantly in his text,
effective teachers MANAGE their classrooms. Ineffective teachers DISCIPLINE their
classrooms (Wong 2009, 82). Where discipline is used in most classrooms, it is used as
a form of punishment for some type of misbehavior and then having a rewards system for
good behavior. In my classroom I do not want my students to view themselves as the
best, good, poor, or the worst student. Each student is made in the image of God and I
want that to shine in my classroom by leaving out discipline and reward systems.
Instead, I will address poor behavior through problem-solving with the student or
students involved. If it is situations that can help others grow by learning, then I can

address the poor situation with the whole class and have a discussion with all my students
about the behavior. As for acknowledging good behavior, I will use words to
demonstrate to my students that I do notice and observe the good and bad behaviors. For
example, if there is a student who followed the tasks at hand and was working quietly
like I asked, then I could say something along the lines of, I love the way Emilie is
working quietly on her work Having a Reggio-Emilia classroom, we will be doing
lots of hands-on, experiential learning, which requires students focus and alertness. In
order to have my students fully aware of their environment and task, I will have student
jobs that keep students in charge of something in particular to make sure everything is
running smoothly.
In conclusion, by having a Reggio-Emilia classroom environment, as a teacher I
will guide my students to learn through the means of their environment, guide them to
construct their own understandings about their interests in life, and they will grow
through their interactions with others. Further, by not having a strict set of rewards and
discipline my students can grow through their own problem solving abilities, which I will
help guide them through.

CLASSROOM DESIGN for PRESCHOOL

(Reggio-Emilia inspired)

POLICY STATEMENTS and PROCEDURES

1. COVENANT (relationships) MANAGEMENT
1.1. Teacher will administer to administrative routines (Woolfolk 2013, 477).
1.1.1.Taking Attendance.

1.2. Student is expected to administer to their morning routines

1.2.1.Bringing their red alert folders communication between parents and teacher.
1.2.2.Moving their bananas with names to let teacher know they are present today.
1.2.3.Take care of their jobs if needed taken care of during the morning.
1.2.3.1.
Calendar person.
1.2.3.2.
Weatherman/woman.
1.2.3.3.
Watering plants.
1.2.3.4.
Storing personal items.
1.2.4.Begin working with table toppers.
1.2.4.1.
Making patterns with cubes.
1.3. Teacher will keep lessons running smoothly and efficiently (Woolfolk 2013, 477).
1.3.1.Transitioning from one lesson to the next.
1.3.2.Having activities at hand.
1.3.3.Collecting of assignments or homework.
2. CONTENT (teaching and learning) MANAGEMENT
2.1. Teacher will have the classroom ready (Wong 2009, 89).
2.1.1.Cleaned and organized.
2.2. Teacher will have the work prepared before school begins (Wong 2009, 89).
2.2.1.This might mean staying after or coming before school hours.
2.2.2.All activities will be ready with correct equipment needed.
2.3. Student is expected to come to school with any work that was brought home.
2.3.1.Activity that was not completed in class the day before.
2.3.2.Bringing back books borrowed from the classroom.
2.3.3.Bring back homework assignments.
2.4. Teacher will have herself ready (Wong 2009, 89).
2.4.1.Well rested.
2.4.2.Dressed to impress.
2.5. Students are expected to be considerate of each others learning abilities.
2.5.1.Making fun of one another will not be allowed.
3. CONDUCT (behavior) MANAGEMENT
3.1. Teacher will not discipline or use a rewards system
3.2. Students are expected to problem solve like detectives when teacher addresses a
situation.
3.3. Teacher will respect her students and their belongings.
3.4. Students are expected to respect themselves, teacher, classmates, and their belongings.
3.5. Students are expected to never allow bullying, teasing, cursing, punching, kicking, etc.
and must address teacher if she does not catch this.
3.6. Students are expected to treat classroom materials, manipulatives, and equipment, etc.
like it is their own, with tender, love, and care.
3.6.1.Classroom iPads, computer, toys, and bins, etc.
3.7. Teacher will love, care, and be kind to her students and treat them as if they were her
own children.

CITATIONS
Wong, Harry K., and Rosemary T. Wong. The First Days of School. Mountain View, CA: Harry
K. Wong Publications, Inc., 2009. 11-301. Print.
Woolfolk, Anna. Educational Psychology. Twelfth ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education, Inc., 2013. 476-77. Print.
What is the Reggio Emilia Approach? | An Everyday Story. (n.d.). Retrieved December 4, 2015,
from http://www.aneverydaystory.com/beginners-guide-to-reggio-emilia/main-principles/