GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

‘Plan for Managing the Learning Environment

Name: __Nicholas Vetri_____

Student Grade level or Grade range (e.g. PK-5): _PK-K__
Subject Area: __ESL___

Classroom Culture and Climate

Reflection: A positive classroom climate means making a place where students feel safe to
make mistakes, safe to be themselves, known and respected by the teacher and classmates,
and where they feel they are part of a team working towards the common goal of success in
their lives.

Everyone should be familiar with each other, respectful and professional, and have a
common sense of purpose.

The teacher should facilitate this by doing a few things.

1. By being firm but cordial in managing student behavior.
2. By getting to know and forming a personal relationship with each student as much
as is possible.
3. By conducting team building activities where students can get to know each other
better and form relationships.
4. By planning activities that involve 21st century skills in the classroom such as PBL.
Activities that involve collaboration, creative and critical thinking, and
communication to work on real and relevant issues will foster a classroom
environment where everyone has a sense of belonging to a team.

Strategies for Positive Classroom Climate

● Taking time to create positive class norms together with students can create a safer
and more positive class climate. Creating positive, and broad norms like, “In this class
we will be good friends to each other.” can make class management into a positive
process, where students feel responsible for their interactions, instead of a legalistic,
negative process in which class management is a sort of patrolling by the teacher.
Having students collaborate in the process gives them a sense of ownership to these
rules. This point was based on information from this article.
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● Getting to know each student, including their name, schedule, and some little things
about them can let students know that you care and are connected with their learning
process, and that they matter to you as individuals. Giving “getting to know you”
worksheets at the start of the semester, and logging them into a spreadsheet that can
be updated and looked at throughout the year is a great way to get to know more
about each student. I found that method in this article.

● Learning the appropriate way to manage disruptions from students with learning
disorders and emotional problems. There are many times where negative behavior
and disruptions are a cry for attention, or an expression of suffering or discomfort. In
those situations the teacher needs to know first and foremost why the student is
acting out, and if it is due to a learning disorder or emotional problem. After that, the
teacher can find an appropriate solution to the disruption. This point was based on
information from this article.

● Learning how to acknowledge positive behavior and praise things that are going right,
as opposed to only pointing out things that are going wrong, can help the classroom
climate by showing students that you are paying attention and giving more or as much
attention to positive behavior as negative behavior. Starting this when students enter
the classroom, paired with chatting with students, can help set the tone for a good
lesson. I found this information in this video.

Strategies or Modifications for Virtual Learning Environment

Each of these strategies can and should be applied to online classes, with some modifications:

● The creation of class norms should be modified to include norms for online behavior
such as “In this class we turn our microphones on when we talk, and we turn them off
when we are done talking.”

● We should still take time to know our students as well as possible. In the online
environment this can be challenging. Some ways to do this is by greeting students
individually as they enter the class, taking time each class to see how students are
feeling that day, and knowing more about the environment in which the student is
taking the class.

● We should still learn why students are being disruptive, and take time to talk to them
after the online class to understand the reason, instead of embarrassing them in front
of other students during the online class before we understand why

● We should still praise what goes right in the class, and sometimes this can be as simple
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as praising students for turning on and off their microphones promptly, sitting quietly
without interrupting other students, and remembering to wear headphones to avoid
the echo sound.

Classroom Norms and Behavior Expectations

● We are good friends to each other

This norm covers a lot of behavior, like being kind to other students, sharing, listening when
others are talking, and it’s useful for setting the expectation of friendly learning and
cooperation.
● We take care of our classroom
I originally worded this one as “We leave our classroom the way we found it,” but then I took
Galina’s wording for this norm because I think it is broader, and gives students a sense of
ownership of the classroom, and it’s just a bit easier to understand for ELL kindergarten
students.
● We pay attention to safety
This one is pretty self-explanatory, but I am wondering if there is a better or simpler way to
word it...
● We are good listeners
For this one I originally wrote “We listen when others are speaking,” but I took Galina’s
wording again because I think it is simpler and more to the point. I think this is a point that
pre-k and kindergarten students need to be reminded of often to keep an effective class
climate for learning.

Strategies or Modifications for the Virtual Learning Environment

For ELL pre-K and Kindergarten students, I think it can be very difficult to teach effectively
online. I would add the following norms, and send them to parents before the class
and ask them to go over them with the students each week before our first class.
● We sit in our seats during class.
As a rule of thumb I think this can keep students focused, and avoid distractions. I
would also include one or two short wiggle or dance breaks in a 20-minute class to
help students release some nervous energy.
● We keep our cameras on during class.
This norm is important for keeping an eye on students during class, and making sure
everyone is following along.
● We turn our microphones on when we talk, and off after we are done talking.
This is also important to keep an effective learning environment with less distractions.
● We are ready when class starts.
Even though whether students come to class on time depends mostly on their
caretakers being ready, and setting up equipment, I think this is a good rule of thumb
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to have.
● We are patient with technology problems.
I would like to encourage everyone to be patient and forgiving with bad connections,
computer issues, and tech problems. Having an environment where some problems
are expected and tolerated will reduce stress for students and teachers, and make
more realistic expectations for online learning.

Clear Routines and Procedures

Situation Steps (and Modifications, if any)

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First Week of Classes: Teaching 3 ● 1. The teacher introduces the word

“attention grabbers” to get the
attention of the class when the class is
distracted. This is an important tactic
in class management for pre-k and
kindergarten students, and is much
more effective than yelling or being
overly-strict with students, but it must
be taught to students as a procedure
before there are any problems, or it
won’t be effective. I will go through
the procedure for teaching the
students the first attention grabber,
“Alligator Chomp.”
This attention grabber is like this:
When the students are chatting or
being distracted, the teacher stands
up dramatically and cups their hands
around their mouth, and calls out
“Alligatorrrrrr!” The students then clap
twice with their two arms
outstretched and straight like an
alligator mouth and say “chomp,
chomp!”
alligator to the class by taking out a
hand puppet of an alligator and
introducing it to the class as Mr.
Alligator.
● 2. To practice the word Alligator, Mr.
Alligator greets each student, and
each student must say “Hello, Mr.
Alligator” back.
● 3. To practice the word “chomp,”
each student will feed a small piece of
paper with a fish drawn on it to Mr.
Alligator and say “Here you are, Mr.
Alligator and he will say “chomp,
chomp!”
● 4. The teacher will then say, “Now
you are the Alligators!” and clap with
both straight outstretched arms and
say, “Chomp, chomp!” The teacher
will then give each piece of paper to
the students’ Alligator mouths, and
practice having them move their arms
and saying “chomp, chomp!”
● 5. The teacher will practice calling out
“Alligatorrrr!” and having the reply a
few times. Then later in the class the
teacher will suddenly call out
“Alligatorrr!” a few times and get
students used to this command.

Modifications: I think this activity is pretty

fun, silly, and engaging for the kids, so I don't
think there will be too many kids acting out,
but one way to limit bad behavior is for steps
2 and 3, Mr. Alligator will first inspect and pay
attention to the kids who are paying
attention, and he will ignore most bad
behaviors. The students will want to interact
with this interesting new character, so they
will compete to talk to him, and show off
their Alligator skills.
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Teaching students how to sit quietly on ● 1. Hang 4 pictures by the board in

the carpet for circle time.
Circle time will be used each class when
teaching students, and when doing
game-based learning in early-childhood
classes. So teaching students how to sit
quietly, in an assigned circle, and in a
position that will help them focus is very
important.
This will be taught in the beginning of the
year, and the teacher will remind the
students how to sit well throughout the
year.
front of the circle. These are the 4
pictures: 1. Two eyes with the caption
“eyes watching.” 2. A big ear with the
caption “ears listening.” 3. A boy
sitting cross-legged with his hands on
his lap with the caption “sit.” 4. Two
hands with arrows going down under
them with the caption “hands down.”
● 2. Place red circles in a semi-circle
where the students will sit, and tell
students “sit on the red circles.”
● 3. When the students are settled and
sitting in the right spots, the teacher
will sit in front of the semi-circle in
the position that students should be
sitting in. The teacher will say, “sit like
this.”
● 4. The teacher will stand up and
praise, and high-five the students who
are sitting well saying things like, “I
see Anne with eyes watching me.
Great job Anne!.” “I see Peter with his
hands down. Very good Peter!.” This
will encourage students to behave
well.

Modifications: During step 4 the teacher will

check to make sure students are following
directions well. If not, the teacher will praise
the students that are sitting well, and gently
correct those who aren’t. If there are any
students who act out or have a tantrum, the
teacher will pick the student up and put them
in the quiet corner for 5 minutes or so. The
feeling of being left out and wanting to play
with the other students should make the
student want to act better.

Teaching students how to line up. ● 1. The teacher places strips of strong
colored tape at about 1.5 foot
Like teaching students to sit in a circle, intervals where the students will
lining up may have already been taught to practice lining up.
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some groups of students, but not all
students will have it down well. Certainly
new students will need to be taught how
to line up in order to avoid wasting class
time throughout the year.
● 2. When the procedure is being
taught, students will be sitting in a
semi-circle for circle time. The teacher
sits in front of the students with
exaggeratedly straight posture and
hands at their side and says to the
students “Sit up straight and be
ready.” The teacher waits until almost
all the students do the same.
● 3. The teacher then gets to their feet
and jumps into an exaggerated,
bolt-straight posture in a fun way and
says, “Stand like a tree. Don’t move!”
The teacher waits until almost all the
students do the same.
● 4. Standing up very straight, the
teacher tells students that, “Trees
don’t wiggle. Trees don’t cut in line.”
This is to get students to stand in line
as neatly as possible.
● 5. The teacher has students line up in
front of the tape and praises what
students are doing right and gently
corrects some students.
● 6. The class practices walking slowly
around the room in a line. The
teacher praises what the students are
doing right and gently corrects
students again.

Modifications: During steps 3, 5, and 6 the

teacher will check to make sure students are
following directions well. If not, the teacher
will praise the students that are lining up
well, and gently correct those who aren’t. If
there are any students who act out or have a
tantrum, the teacher will pick the student up
and put them in the quiet corner for 5
minutes or so. The feeling of being left out
and wanting to play with the other students
should make the student want to act better.
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Routines for the Online Classroom:

The main procedures for the online classroom to teach would be for students to wear
earphones, keep your video on, turn your microphone on when speaking and off
when you’re done, and to sit quietly and pay attention when we are not taking an
exercise break.

Since the students will be ages 2-5 years old, parents will be sitting with them during
class. I think the best way to have students follow these procedures would be to
send a checklist to parents of how students should have class and contact them
personally and ask them to watch over their students during class in the correct way.

Transitions

Situation Steps

Class Entry to Sitting in Circle Time Transition
Note: I will be aPre-k to Kindergarten school
ESL teacher, and not a homeroom teacher. So
I will have groups of students come to my
class for ESL classes. So this transition will not
be the first thing students do after their
parents drop them at school.
● 1. The teacher demonstrates lining up
standing up straight outside the
classroom with their left hand pressed
against the wall.
● 2. The teacher has students line up
outside the classroom single file with
their left hands pressed against the
wall.
● 3. The teacher asks students, “Are
you ready?” And students reply, “Yes,
I’m ready.”
● 4. The teacher inspects which
students are standing straight with
their left hand against the wall and
praises the ones that are listening;
“Lily’s ready. That’s great Lily.” and
gently corrects the students who are
not.
● 5. When the students are mostly
settled and lined up, the teacher
squats by the door and gives each
student an individualized greeting and
a high-five, and asks them to find a
certain color circle place holder on the
circle-time rug. Ex. May, sit on a red
circle, please
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Transition for going from play time to
clean-up time at the end of the class periods.
Going from play time to clean up time can
make some students upset, so having a good
transition in place can save time and trouble
for the teacher.
● Note: the greetings must be done kind
of quickly so the students don’t get
distracted and roam around the room
before all the students sit for circle
time.
Modifications for students with
special needs:
In order to make all students feel safe
and comfortable, when lining up
before the start of class, the teacher
will not be too strict and try to focus
on praising what goes right instead of
wrong. When students don’t listen,
the teacher will gently correct them.
For students who have Austism, are
very shy, or are just having a bad day,
the teacher will greet them warmly
and individually, but if they don’t want
to make physical contact with the
teacher for a high-five or hug, that’s
okay. Likewise, if they don’t want to
say hello to the teacher, that's okay
too. This transition will be done
quickly so that students don’t lose
focus, don’t get upset, and don’t feel
too fidgety or anxious when lining up.
This transition was helped by this
article.
General Tips:
1. The teacher should make sure the
right place that each toy should go is
labeled with pictures and words. This
will save time and confusion when the
kids put things back.
2. The teacher should make sure
students don’t take out more things
than they can put away during play
time. This will save time when putting
things away.
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3. The teacher should make sure to

model putting things away before
taking out new toys.
4. Play time and clean up time should
happen at the same time every day as
part of a schedule. This will help
students to get used to it, and know
what is expected of them.

Transition:
1. When playtime is almost over, the
teacher should tell the students they
have 5 minutes left. This will help
them to get ready and finish what
they are doing without getting upset.
2. When the 5 minutes are up, the
teacher will ring a special bell for
clean up time, and ask “What time is
it?” The students will answer, “clean
up time.” This familiar sound and
question will help to create a sense of
routine, and the process will
eventually become automatic.
3. If any students are upset, the teacher
will go over to the student and ask in
Chinese, “do you want me to take a
picture so you can start where you left
off next time?” This will help to
comfort students who were really
absorbed in the gravely important
thing they were doing in play time.
4. The teacher will play the clean up
music and sing it together with the
students to further reinforce the
routine. It should be a short song
lasting about 1 minute.
5. The students will start cleaning up
and putting toys back. The teacher
will walk around and help confused
students, and praise the students who
are cleaning up well.
6. The teacher and the students will take
a moment to admire the good work
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Transitions for the Online Classroom:
Transition for starting the online class
This transition is meant to get students
ready for online class and into the right
mindset for learning, while making sure
their equipment is ready for class.
they did, and how nice and clean the
classroom is. The teacher will show
the students how pleased they are by
the students good work and
ownership of the classroom.
Modifications for students with
special needs:
For students with ADHD, the teacher
should be gentle and patient with
them if they get distracted by toys or
don’t clean up right away. The teacher
should, as always, praise what goes
right, and gently correct what goes
wrong. For students who feel
overwhelmed, or just upset, they can
sometimes be allowed to go to the
reading corner to self-regulate for a
few minutes during the transition.
This transition was helped by this
article.
1. Before online classes start for the
school year, the teacher will send a list
of behaviors and requirements for
online classes, and ask them to be
with the students when they have
class. This will help things go more
smoothly during class.
2. When the class starts, the teacher will
individually greet each student, and
give them a small complement. Ex. “I
love that big blue hat, Mary!”
3. While greeting, the teacher will make
sure each student is 1. Wearing
headphones 2. Dressed properly 3.
Has their video on. If they need to be
corrected the teacher will use hand
gestures and simple commands to
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help them. Ex. The teacher models

putting on headphones, and says,
“John, headphones, please.”
4. When everyone is ready with their
videos on, microphones off, and
headphones on, we will sing the the
“Hello Song,” together. We will do this
process every class and it will become
a routine that gets the kids settled
and ready for class.

Modifications for students with

special needs:
There is not much in this transition
that can be modified for students with
special needs, except that before
online classes begin, the teacher can
send an email to the parents of
students with special needs asking
that they accompany the students
during class, and saying that if they
need time to self-regulate, go to their
peace corner, or just time to be quiet,
that is completely acceptable.

Response to Traumatic Stress

Trauma Symptoms Response Strategies

Parental Incarceration -Destigmatize the classroom by working

incarcerated parents into lesson content.
-Disorganized behavior
-Anti-social behavior such as lying, stealing, -Incorporating activities that encourage
and cheating on tests reflection and emotional awareness like
-Truancy journal writing, and writing letters to the
-Delinquency incarcerated parent.
Depression
- Keeping the incarcerated parent up to date
on their child’s learning.
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Death of a Parent -Providing opportunities for the student to

-Withdrawal from personal relationships
including family and friends
-Anger and aggression
-Physical symptoms like headaches and
nausea
-Difficulty focusing
-Self-destructive or suicidal signs
share their story or memories of their parents
can help the student in the healing process.
-Providing younger students with activities to
support emotional awareness can help
students to self-regulate emotions.
-Practicing different emotions and strategies
for coping with them in class.

Medical Trauma -Developing an open and trusting relationship

with the student’s family.
-Sadness, anger, irritability
-Behavioral problems -Discussing with the student directly about
-Social isolation anxiety and depression symptoms they may
-Symptoms of depression be feeling.
-Sudden change in style of clothing
-After getting permission from the student’s
parents, consult relevant mental and physical
health professionals at the school for help.

-Create an environment where all students

feel safe and secure.

Management Technology

Technology Rationale and Use

Seesaw Seesaw is great for helping students upload work from tablets or computers
to one place for easy grading and review. It allows students to annotate
their work with text, voice recording, and to take videos of students
annotating their work. Parents can also see their children’s work, and
receive notifications on their devices. It can also allow teachers to sent
instructions in annotated videos. Best of all, the interface is simple and easy
to use for even very young students. So for all these reasons using Seesaw
can make the organization and management of a classroom much more
easy and efficient.

Class 123 Class 123 is a really good application for managing behavior in the
class. It has personal avatars and behavior points like class dojo, but it
also has many other cute bells and whistles for managing the class. It
has seating charts, noises and bells for bringing the class back to
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attention, a reward wall that counts the whole class’ behavior points
and sets a class reward, a random name picker, and a cute timer for
class activities. All of these are animated in a clear, cute,
attention-grabbing way. So I think this application could help a lot in
class management.

Technology for the Online Classroom:

Vocaroo Vocaroo is an audio recording website that students can use to

quickly and easily record audio for homework assignments. I would
like to use this as a way for my kindergarten students to do simple
homework assignments with their parents. I could send a list of
questions and vocabulary phrases to the parents to practice with the
students, and when they have practiced them they can use Vocaroo
to easily record the students and send me the link. This will be a good
way to help students memorize the content, and have parents keep
up with their child’s education.

Nearpod Nearpod is an application that makes interactive powerpoint

presentations (not technically powerpoint, but anyway…) that are
much more engaging for students. It has options for uploading
videos, exercises done on the powerpoint, animated games, quizes
and others. When used well this will make for a much more engaging
online lesson. It can be used for students of all ages, including
kindergarten, as shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2HsamxA3ZQ
But I think it would be best if parents showed students how to do it
for at least the first few weeks.

Family Communication

Tools for Regular
Communication: What tools will
you use to ensure that you
regularly communicate students’
progress, achievements, and
behaviors to families?
● First, all the tools for communicating with parents for
positions in China must not be blocked by the
government, and must be accessible without a VPN, so
many resources that work with Google, Youtube or
social networking are not viable. Also I find that in
China for parent-teacher communication, people
usually prefer to use instant messaging applications
like Wechat and QQ over sending emails.

● One resource that is a good as a central

communication platform is Dingtalk (钉钉). It can be
used to create a class group for announcements and
materials that parents can easily keep on top of, and it
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will send notifications directly to their phones. This is

also my application of choice for online classes in
China, because it’s easy to use and tends not to slow
students down who have slow internet connections.
So, it’s simpler to have the communication platform
and the online class platform in the same place.
Finally, it’s a good place for parent-teacher
communications because it’s a step away from your
Wechat. In China, giving out your Wechat account is
basically like giving someone your personal phone
number, and there are many people who will send you
messages after work and expect a prompt reply.
Having Dingtalk as a communication platform is a
subtle reminder that this is a professional
conversation. For all these reasons I would choose to
use Dingtalk as the central communication platform.

● Focus on the Positive: Focusing on the positive things

that happen in class can make parents want to have a
bigger role in the classroom. Sending messages
individually to parents on Dingtalk when students do
something right, telling them about improvements
made, or just when students are helpful or respectful,
can brighten a parent’s day. Sending notes for students
to take home which start with 2 things their child did
well and 1 thing their child needs to improve in is also
a nice way to communicate without alienating parents.
Source:
https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-
engagement/tools-tips/10-ideas-engaging-parents

● One of the best ways to build rapport with families,

and get them more involved in their child’s education
is to periodically call them. I think calling each parent
3-4 times a year to touch base with them can make a
huge difference in parent-teacher communication, and
help significantly in class management. For sure, issues
with students are best dealt with over the phone or in
person, but when nothing is going wrong, calling to
update parents and show what students do well is also
a very nice touch. From there, it’s possible to have a
relationship with parents as peers and collaborators,
and guide them towards making a more positive
impact on their child’s education. I think many parents
would be pleasantly surprised by this touch, and would
feel encouraged to get more active in helping their
child learn.
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● Source:
● One nice way to keep parents posted, and to show
● Another nice trick is to have each student bring in a
●
Reporting Requirements for
Suspected Child Abuse:
https://www.edutopia.org/article/phone-call-home-m
akes-all-difference
what is going on in class would be to make a class Tik
Tok (抖音) account, and post videos of the class 1-2
times a week. It is easy and fun for students for the
teacher to take 1 or 2 quick videos a week. The videos
can have students showing what they’ve learned that
week, showing off their reading skills, or showing
something they’ve made in class. Videos made in Tik
Tok can be quickly edited from your phone, and there
are a lot of cute and fun features. Also, Tik Tok is
ubiquitous in China. Everyone has it and everyone
knows how to use it, including the oldest members of
the family, so everyone will be able to quickly open up
videos of the class and enjoy.
disposable camera at the start of the school year. The
camera’s can be put in a special box, and the teacher
can put the student’s name tag sticker on each one.
During free moments, the teacher can take them out
and take pictures of the student and the class
throughout the year. By the winter vacation, the
cameras should be full of pictures of fun activities,
little adventures, and individual photos of each
student. They can then be returned to the student’s
family, who can choose whether or not to get them
developed. This is a really nice gesture that parents will
appreciate, and help with building a relationship
between the teacher and parents.
Source:
https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-
engagement/tools-tips/10-ideas-engaging-parents
Unfortunately, my school doesn’t have a clear policy
on this. I don’t think the culture is really there yet in
most schools in China. Having the school get involved
in something like this would cause a severe loss of
face, and almost certainly provoke a very hostile
reaction from parents. I don’t think most schools have
the resources or the motivation to deal with this
properly.
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Reflection:

This unit has given me a detailed overview of class management. Before I only had a
vague idea based on my experience in school, and preconceptions about school discipline.
One thing that has been challenging for me is that I am going to start teaching early
childhood education classes in the Fall, and I will be an ESL teacher and not a homeroom
teacher, which means I will only see each group of students for 20-40 minutes a day. So, I’m not
sure which techniques I will work well with my students, which procedures, transitions, and
norms they will be familiar with and which ones they will be taught, and also the dispositions
and abilities of the students I will be teaching. Because of this I haven’t yet been able to get
hands-on practice of these methods with my target age-level students.
One of the most important, overarching ideas I learned is that good behavior is primarily
the result of a well-planned and engaging class. I think for many people there is an idea that
well behaved students come from a strict teacher who can “handle” difficult students. But I
learned that having a class with the right pace, fun activities, and a good class climate due to
skillful teaching is more important for students to behave well.
Class climate is something that is intangible, but it still has to be actively cultivated.
Making clear, simple, and positively worded expectations about behavior are necessary to
making a class climate where students feel safe, happy, and hold a shared purpose. This kind of
structure is especially important for early childhood education students, because they are
learning how to be at school, and what behavior is acceptable. Taking time to get to know your
students, and to have students get to know each other is also important for building a sense of
community and warmth in the classroom.
Class expectations and rehearsed procedures and transitions will eventually become
habit and become norms. I learned that taking the time to carefully practice these from the
beginning of a school year is the difference between a well-oiled class environment, and one
where the teacher is always fighting an uphill battle to have students stay on track. I think
teaching expectations, procedures, and transitions thoroughly is the best way for a teacher to
have a class that they love to teach, and that they don’t get burned out in. The alternative is to
have a class where the teacher is always annoyed and exhausted, and where a lot of time is
wasted.
That was what I learned from doing video observations of other teachers' classes; just
how much better a class with well-practiced procedures, transitions, and expectations runs
than one without. It seemed to me that the classes where the teacher was struggling to control
the students hadn’t done well in enough in explaining and practicing those areas.
To be honest, I think that setting high expectations for students is something that most
teachers know before taking this course. I think that knowing your students’ abilities well, and
 GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

knowing which expectations push them but are not discouraging is a skill that needs to be felt
out over time. But I do agree that it is a good mindset to have with students.

This course also made me more aware of how much the parents of students want to be
involved in their children’s education. This may sound obvious to some people, but I am not a
parent and my parents didn’t take a very active role in my education, so this was something that
I hadn’t thought of. I learned that it’s best to use a convenient channel for general
communication, and find some other ways to keep parents updated about the class. I also
learned that it’s best to try to build some rapport with parents, and talk to them as
collaborators, as this can help students to perform better, and avoid problems.

Finally I learned about some applications that can help in class management,
communication with students and parents, and with differentiating activities in the class.
Teaching in China I would use Dingtalk as a general platform for online classes, group
notifications, and parental communication. It is easy to use and send notifications to all of the
parents’ and students’ devices. For homework assignments and projects I would use Seesaw
because using Seesaw is a great way to have all the homework in one place, and it also has
features for collaboration and annotation. These features let students work together, give each
other feedback, and allow the teacher to explain and correct students through narration. Both
Dingtalk and Seesaw let parents keep up to date with what their students are doing in class, and
facilitate communication. I would also use Nearpod for online classes. Nearpod makes it
possible to make interactive powerpoint presentations, which make online classes much more
engaging. Finally, I would consider using Class 123 to help with class management. It has avatars
and good behavior points which motivates students to behave well. It also has many other
features like loud strange noises for grabbing attention, animated activity timers, and a wheel
for choosing students names at random. All these things make class management just a little
smoother.