The ideal classroom should be a safe haven where students can feel 
secure to express their opinions, ideas, and beliefs. I believe a positive
classroom environment is essential in getting students to achieve their 
highest potential.  Like Nel Noddings, I feel caring is essential to human 
interaction.  When students are aware that their teacher truly cares for 
them they will feel accepted and are more able to express themselves 
naturally and with confidence.  In order to establish a setting most 
conducive with learning, teachers must create a warm caring atmosphere for 
their students.  I believe students come to school eager to learn and as a 
teacher I must show that I care while providing a comfortable and structured 
learning environment in order to attain the goals of any curriculum and 
achieve success in the classroom.  
	Like Brophy�s research has indicated, to achieve a student�s highest 
potential, effective teachers place strong emphasis on expectations, mastery 
of content, and allocating the most available time for activities that 
reinforce material and accomplish mastery.  I feel encouraging teacher-
student discourse, providing rewards and incentives for positive behavior 
and spending more time on active learning are essential to the process. A 
teacher should not stand behind a desk or podium, he or she should move 
around class interacting with each student and if possible, incorporating 
them into their lessons or examples.     
   Forming a positive relationship with parents is paramount to creating a 
successful classroom environment as well. By keeping parents up to date on 
their child�s progress they will become more involved in allowing learning 
to flourish outside of the classroom. Parents should not be called only if 
there is a discipline problem�they should be made aware of positive 
contributions their child has made to class.  
	  I also believe that no two students can be instructed in the exact 
same way- everyone has a unique set of strengths, and the teacher must 
become familiar with each student�s distinct personality and talents and 
must work to create interdisciplinary lessons to meet each child�s 
requirements.  It is fundamental to take into account multiple intelligences 
when creating lesson plans so that all the students� individual talents are 
utilized.  I also believe students often benefit from working with their 
peers.  A student who cannot solve a problem independently may be able to 
find a solution with a slight amount of help from a classmate.  I believe 
students have a lot to learn from one another so it is important to include 
many cooperative learning activities in the classroom.  Debates, both large 
and small group work and other interactive activities should be 
incorporated. In order for children to learn to work well with others, it is 
important to develop the skills of observation, experimentation, 
cooperation, and discussion of ideas with each other early on.  
	To maintain the attention of his or her class a teacher needs to show 
the importance of what they are learning.  Many times students ask, �Why 
study Social Studies?�  In order to successfully answer this question I 
believe a teacher must show how the instruction they are receiving is 
relevant to their lives. To achieve this I tie what happened in the past to 
present day events as often as possible.  Teachers must also present 
information in an interesting manner and create exciting projects so 
students will remain enthusiastic about learning.  I incorporate a variety 
of materials, music, videos and movement in the classroom.  A desire to 
learn, a love for working with children of all kinds of backgrounds and 
creativity are major components that create a successful teacher.