My goal as an educator is to always have a classroom that students feel safe, comfortable, and welcome in. The art room can sometimes be hectic with students working with tools, making messes, chatting, students walking around to get supplies, and much more. I think of the art room as controlled chaos. While there might be a lot going on, there are things that must be controlled by me as a responsible educator. Students must always be and feel safe. This means using tools and materials in a safe, responsible manner, and treating all staff and students with courtesy and respect. I have a zero-tolerance policy for any sort of bullying or hate speech in my classroom.

     Every teacher will run into varying levels of unwanted behavior in a classroom. Students make mistakes, I make mistakes and that's just human nature. I believe that every student that comes into my classroom has a fresh start every day. If I make a mistake I don’t want my students to hold it against me forever and I won't do that to them either. Each class, unless the behavior is a direct threat to safety, a student will get two warnings, and if the behavior continues we have a talk in the hallway, if the behavior continues after that, the student may be sent to the office. Every day when a student comes in they get a clean slate and a chance to have an amazing class. I also believe that acknowledging and praising wanted behavior can limit unwanted  behavior in classrooms. I walk around the class and engage with every student everyday. During these times I tell them the progress I’ve seen, that I'm excited to see what they do next, and complement behaviors that I would like to see in my classroom. For example; If I saw one student helping another who was struggling I would let them know how beneficial it is for students to help each other and communicate during the art process and I have learned so much from my peers in school.

    I was a student who could easily get distracted or overstimulated with noise. Students are encouraged to talk with each other, make relationships, and share about their art and process. But the art room should not be so loud that other classes can hear it or students are uncomfortable with the noise level. In my classroom I plan on communicating how noises can affect others and why it's important to stay at a reasonable volume level. As a teacher, I’ve found myself raising my voice to get students attention in a loud classroom at work. I don’t want to yell unless there is an emergency. I would like to have some sort of calming sound that is played where students know it's time to quiet down. This sound could be played if I need to remind the class that they can keep talking but it needs to be a lower volume or if I need the class to pause so I can give directions.