Introduction

Philosophy Statements
Students
Learning
Teachers
Social interactions (grouping)
Educational Programs

Policy Statements
To facilitate learning I will guarantee
Leadership
Teacher Expectations
Motivate
Plan
Learning Environment
Instruction
Social Interactions
Assess
Classroom Code of Conduct / Rules
Proactive Management
Cope with Problems
Parents and Community
Professional Conduct

Procedure for Implementing Teacher Policies

(Organize by topics created in policy statements)

References
 Philosophy Statements
I believe ...
Students Children People:
have the right to be educated in a nonthreatening environment.
learn best knowing that punishment is available.
are individuals with unique characteristics, interests, abilities, and needs.
are pretty much the same and all need basically the same thing at the same time.
are constantly learning.
should have an equal opportunity to learn, based on their needs, interests, and
abilities.
are very different in ability and the better students should be given better
opportunities than the less able.
want to learn if they are in school.
do not want to learn and a good teacher will make them.
are not responsible for learning.
are responsible for learning.
will be enthusiastic about learning as the teacher is of teaching.
misbehave in school when they become defeated and discouraged and are unable to
find constructive solutions to their frustrations and disappointments.
misbehave because that is their nature and society has to civilize them.
should experience success in all aspects of school life.
do not act in a responsible manner.
have a desire to act in a responsible manner.
should be treated as individuals.
should all be treated the same to maintain consistency.
need to feel important.
need to experience a threatening atmosphere in school to better prepare them for
real life.
should never tell an adult he or she is wrong.
have a moral obligation to remain loyal to their parents no matter what the
circumstances.
have to earn their rights in school.
should have the right to decide what they learn and how they learn it.

Learning is enhanced:
when content is relative to students' lives.
when students have choices in selecting educational experiences.
when students are told what to do.
when students can relate the concepts to everyday life.
when activities are not related to the student's experiences so they can increase
their knowledge of the world.
with hands-on material.
with actual experience rather than vicarious experience.
when it is not confined to the classroom.
by staying in the classroom and not inviting anyone into the room.
when students write.
with the use of workbooks.
in an intellectually stimulating environment.
When students are actively involved through exploration, organization,
constructing, negotiating, translating, extending, reflecting, and assessing
ideas.
when teachers maintain high expectations.
when teachers show and tell students what to do and then check for understanding
with individual practice.
in an atmosphere where learning experience match individual differences.

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 2

in an atmosphere where people enjoy each other's company and their
accomplishments.
in an atmosphere where the teacher is the expert and no student challenges the
teacher's ideas.
in a risk free, relaxed environment.
by stopping student interaction.
in a classroom that is varied and interesting.
with creative experiences.
through using the same materials and instructional methods in each subject and its
activities.
a variety of teaching strategies, materials, and experiences.
when it is initiated concretely, before abstractly.
through proper modeling.
when students know why they are learning.

Teachers:
should maintain a persistant commitment to maintain student interest and
involvement in learning,
should believe that all students can learn.
should be capable of putting ideas into practice in a variety of ways.
should show caring, respect, and trust toward all students.
should operate through accepted procedures and protocol.
should admit their fallibility and acknowledge mistakes.
should demonstrate emotional and physical stamina and enthusiasm for teaching
and learning.
should value and be well organized.
should value effort and ability and help students develop self-efficacy.
should be committed to creating a caring community of learners.
should discipline with the ultimate goal of discipline as self-discipline and
independence.
should handle discipline in a low key manner.
should publicly humiliate a misbehaving student to make an example so others will
not model the inappropriate behavior.
should not allow students to interrupt their teaching or students to stop their
learning or the learning of other students.
primary role is a disciplinarian.
must maintain order at all costs.
primary role is as a facilitator of learning.
teach by modeling appropriate behaviors.
should meet students' needs.
should help students reach their potential.
need to be enthusiastic.
need to be objective when evaluating student behavior and academic performance.
should evaluate and grade student's work based on effort and academic
performance.
should evaluate and grade student's work based on effort.
need to plan learning experiences that create disequilibrium.
need to get students excited about learning.
should focus on student accomplishments and encourage and expect academic
excellence.
should make use of the community resources.
need to be confident and optimistic.
should use an eclectic approach.
should allow equality for all students.
should treat the gifted students better than other students since they will be the
leaders of the world.
should arrange the classroom to create a positive atmosphere.
should arrange the classroom primarily to control student behavior.

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 3

should arrange learning experiences to create a positive atmosphere.
should expect high academic standards for all students.
should expect academic standards relative to the individuals ability.
should provide a psychologically safe environment.
should respect each student as an individual.
should be effective classroom managers.
should create a learning experience so that students will succeed and failure is not
feared.
should provide challenging experiences.
are not students and therefore should not be expected to follow the same rules as
students.
are allowed to drink coffee or other beverages in the classroom when students can
not because they are teachers.
need to be well educated and intelligent.
should have an adequate knowledge of the subject knowledge.
do not have needs in the classroom to be met for them to be effective teachers.
need to have their needs met in the classroom for them to be effective teachers.
should cooperate with other professionals to benefit students.
should cooperate only with teachers who have the same philosophical beliefs as
you
must be intrinsically motivated to do their best.
continue professional growth by attending classes, workshops, inservices, seminars,
reading and discussing educational issues.

Grouping
students should not be grouped.
students by maturation level, skills level, and similar interests can provide effective
instruction.
processes must be taught.
groups should be temporary and changed frequently.
is important for students to learn effective social skills.
causes confusion and encourages off task behaviors.
promotes cooperation.
promotes verbal communication with the interchange of ideas.
builds positive interpersonal relationships .
promotes negative student behaviors.
promotes socialization with the curriculum content as the focus.
promotes learning of the content.
does not promote learning but is necessary to teach students how to get along with
others.

Educational programs:
should provide the best education possible.
should be designed so the teacher can give the students all the information
necessary and reduce student's opportunities for choice.
should strive for democratic classrooms.
should use an eclectic approach.
administrative policies should be clearly stated.
encourage parents to participate in their child’s' education.
should emphasize quality over quantity.
should emphasize quantity over quality.
should provide experiences to meet the needs of all students.
should provide experiences to meet the needs of the average student.
should provide experiences to meet the needs of special students.
should provide experiences so each student achieves their potential.
should include learning experience so that students will succeed and failure is not
feared.
should be motivational.

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 4

need not be motivational.
should emphasize critical thinking, problem solving, and self-discipline.
should foster continuous growth.

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 5

 Policies to Facilitate Learning:
I (or teacher’s name(s) ) will guarantee:
(work the following phrases into policy statements)

Leadership
I will be the boss
I will set the tasks for students to do
I will not compromise
I will tell the students specifically what to do so there is no misunderstanding
I will evaluate all student work
I will be assertive in demanding students do as they are told and not hesitating to use
consequences that include punishment and coercion.
I will use student input in making decisions of what is to be done and how it is to be done
I will communicate my expectations clearly and model how to complete tasks and solve
problems
I will teach students to evaluate their work for quality and help them to learn how to produce
high quality
I will provide students with the best tools in the best risk free caring community of learners that
we can create together.

Expectations
I will expect all student to participate in the class activities in a caring manner with a strong
effort to help themselves and fellow students to achieve their potential in areas of social,
emotional, and academic, growth.

Motivate
I will motivate students to be lifelong learners

Plan
I will plan
for students intellectual development of social skills, caring relationships, and desire to create a
democratic society
for students’ emotional involvement
with the involvement of parents, students, peers, and community members

Learning Environment
I will create a learning environment that is
without bias
has content that is meaningful to students
improves each students' self-esteem
that is democratic and humane
a caring community of learners where students develop emotional, social, and intellectual
abilities to become happy and competent adults

Instruction
I will use active teaching to help students construct usable knowledge
to improve each student’s emotional intelligence
to improve each student’s self-esteem
to encourage students cooperation
to create a positive learning atmosphere
to maximize opportunities for communication with speaking, writing, and visualization
to allow student manipulation of hands-on materials in a least restrictive environment
to provide class activities that are enjoyable, organized, and understandable
to insure appropriate amounts of time for instruction
to provide a positive risk free learning environment.

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 6

to create an environment suitable for inquiry
to implement the district's curriculum
to foster curiosity and enjoyment of learning
to promote cognitive development
for students to master skills
to allow all students to become independent life long learners
to maximize academic learning time

Social Interactions
I will
group students by ability
group students randomly
group students by self selection
encourage students to make democratic decisions
to facilitate learning, promote cooperation, and good social skills
to teach students social skills
to teach conflict resolution
to encourage students’ cooperation
to create caring students

Assess
I will assess students
so the assessment is consistent, sound, and fair for all students
so the data collected is appropriate for the decisions that will be made
to diagnose students' development and achievement before teaching
both formally and informally
formatively and summatively
for generalization of learning
student needs and learning difficulties
to improve instruction

Classroom Code of Conduct / Rules

I will create

Proactive Management
I will
be aware of what students are doing, intervene immediatly when there is a problem, and work to
correct it.

Cope with Problems

I will

Parents and the Community

I will
involve parents in their child's learning
inform community members of what the students and school are doing for each other

Professional Conduct
I will
cooperate with administration
work with other teachers for the benefit of students
persist in solving problems
keep current of research
arrive late and unprepared once in awhile
communicate with other professionals
continuously evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum in their classroom
publicly support and work together with the community

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 7

publicly support free and appropriate education for all students
publicly support an opportunity for all students to take part in all extra curricular
activities
publicly support social activities to meet the needs of all students
encourage parental participation
publicly support the school to stay the same and to maintain tradition
provide leadership in implementing the curriculum
evaluate curriculum on a continuing basis
supply necessary materials/equipment for instruction
insure appropriate amounts of time for instruction
encourage staff members to be professional
evaluate teacher effectiveness

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 8

 Procedure for Implementing Teacher Policies:
Leadership
(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Use matrix for leadership for ideas

Expected Outcomes

Maintain High Expectations

(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Always

Expected Outcomes

Motivate
(Put your policy statement here)
Motivate students by creating an environment for success by: providing developmentally
appropriate learning experiences, allowing modification of tasks, working with students
to understand what attributes affect their success (Kay Alderman), dignifying wrong
answers, giving students the right to pass, not allowing put-downs, provide for student
success and encourage them when they do not, provide help without lecturing or
moralizing, do not overwhelm students with too much information at one time,
emphasizing that science, as a process, is more important than the product, being
patient and tolerant of errors and use them as learning experiences as appropriate,
encouraging development of concepts and providing time for developing appropriate
behaviors, providing time for self regulating inquiry, providing help without an
overwhelming amount of verbalization and moralizing, keeping the environment free
from anxiety, keeping the number of concepts to a few powerful ones.

Expected Outcomes
Students will become enthusiastic about school because they will not feel threatened or
intimidated by other students and/or teachers.
Learning will be the responsibility of both students and teachers.
Students will express their ideas concerning what they want to learn and will work with
the teacher in deciding what topics should be brought into their learning.
Students will become more confident of their abilities and as they are successful which
will create a positive attitude toward school, themselves, and learning.
Students will feel less anxiety when experiencing novel experiences and be excited
about learning, willing to take risks in learning, actively explore and challenge
their and others thinking, and construct new information.
Students will have pride in their work as they participate in class activities and projects,
demonstrate a willingness to share their productions with peers, family, and
community members.
Students will know to attribute their success and failure to

Plan
(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Select developmentally appropriate powerful concepts from national, state, or district
standards, frameworks and curriculums, sequence those powerful concepts starting from

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 9

 a large picture of what students know. Collect activities for students based on students’
interests, real life opportunities, and integrated with different disciplines as possible.
Plan with students and allow them choices in what to study and in what activities to
participate. Plan how to begin student exploration with a question, task, problem, or
information originating from students’ plans. Plan different options on how to have
students explore to collect information with regards to the task, how students will share
ideas from their exploration, and how to discuss their understanding of their ideas with
regards to the concept, and generalize the concept to other ideas or activities.

Expected Outcomes

Learning Environment
(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Using strategies to encourage all students to participate, Popsicle sticks…
Using encouragement such as
Use questioning strategies such as wait time one and two, turning questions back to
students, calling on multiple students for the same questions, redirecting students’
questions to other students, probing to ensure that students conceptualized concepts and
can communicate their understanding and apply it in different explorations.
Strive to improve each students' self esteem by: display students' work, encourage students,
praise often, give specific praise privately and publicly for only special occasions, give
reward, don’t reward, develop rapport with all students, talk to all students individually
each day, find students' interests and use them to help students select leaning
experiences, wish each student a happy birthday, encourage success for each student,
don't allow put-downs, have a student of the week, have an activity to introduce
students and get to know each others interests, have an all about me board, use a
sociogram, use the learning cycle, do not repeat student's answers, use questioning
strategies
Strive for students to enjoy learning: meet the needs of the students, teach behaviors by:
describing, modeling, demonstrating, role playing, practice, and constant reviewing,
instruct, as appropriate, follow an inquiry cycle of: exploration, invention, and
expansion of the idea, instruct by using Hunter's seven elements, provide activities at
students' levels, give an appropriate amount of time to complete the activity, and
adequate teacher support to facilitate meaningful learning, instruct all concepts with
concrete activities followed with a semiconcrete activity and then, if appropriate, an
abstraction.
Create a positive learning atmosphere by: show excitement about learning, provide plenty of
wait time or halt time and listen to all answers equally, allow students to explore and
expand concepts on their own, display student work and demonstrate ideas, make sure
all students experience success, use student ideas for instruction and discussion, give
students choices in what and how to learn, teach social skills

Expected Outcomes

Instruction
(Put your policy statement here)

Procedure
Providing learning experiences, when possible, to allow students to apply concepts in
different situations and across different disciplines.
Providing purposes (objectives) for why students should be learning and how they can use
that knowledge.
Provide some kind of writing with almost every learning experience. Writing will be done
by individual students, groups of students, or the teacher with student input. Writing on

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 10

 the board, overhead, papers, student logs, worksheets, and journals. Writing will
include labeling pictures and diagrams, drawing pictures and diagrams, making graphs
and charts, research projects…
Model appropriate behavior by: being open to change, responding positively to students,
handling equipment/materials carefully, being prepared and organized, acting as a
scientist in seeking possible solutions by using the scientific method, using appropriate
questioning strategies to encourage reflective thinking, showing enthusiasm for the
subject matter, showing enthusiasm for teaching, treating students with respect,
accepting others views, giving appropriate encouragement and specific praise.
Provide a variety of learning experiences: hands-on activities, field trips, experiments,
cooperative learning, conflict resolution, social skills, research, audio visual material,
home involvement, outside resources, simulations, computer assisted instruction,
inviting groups/individuals into the classroom, outside resource people
Make content meaningful to students by: drawing from experiences, using interest survey,
involving daily experiences with lessons, exploring careers, relating topics to current
issues, using developmentally appropriate activities, expanding the concepts to their
daily lives, relating other information to the concept, allowing students to select
learning experiences, having students summarize what they learned in their words,
presenting concepts in hierarchical order
Create an environment suitable for inquiry learning by: allowing students time to develop
their own hypothesis, encouraging students to question why situations occur, having
students explore, experiment and invent concepts before reading any content related
material, giving students choices

Expected Outcomes

Social Interactions
(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Group so there are no permanent groups, groups are periodically created, modified, or
disbanded to meet new needs as they arise, groups vary in size depending on the group's
purpose, group membership is not fixed, but is varied according to needs and purposes.
Provide opportunities for social skills by having students work in groups as often as it is
effectively possible, teaching social skills using a teaching strategy of: mini lesson,
demonstration..., teaching conflict resolution, teaching social skills using a problem
solving heuristic, manage group contingencies through social behavior of group
members: demonstration of positive interpersonal behavior by all of its members such
as listening to each other, taking turns, responding appropriately to member
suggestions, model appropriate group social behavior for students
Encourage students cooperation by: use group activities and cooperative learning when
students desire, limit individual competition where one student wins, others lose, use
group competition, only use competition against a task, use competition against past
scores, against completion of the task, or quality of task

Expected Outcomes

Assess
(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Assess students' development of processes, concepts, perspectives of learning, and attitudes
for learning both formally and informally by using: a variety of creative teacher made
evaluations, use KWL (know, want to know and learned), use POE (predict, observe,
and explain), checking for understanding, problem solving activities, student designed
experiments, information from class participation, checklists to record progress, interest
surveys to assess student’s attitudes, task performance

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 11

 Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of curriculum by: collecting data from interest
surveys, checking for understanding during instruction, self evaluation, external
evaluation.

Expected Outcomes

Classroom Code of Conduct / Rules

(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Communicate class rules to students at the beginning of the year, post rules and
consequences, discuss them with students, notify parents, enforce them fairly and
consistently, and review them periodically.
Have students develop a code of conduct in a class meeting, post it, have students put
problems on a class agenda, schedule class meetings three times a week to deal with
problems, have students use conflict resolution to solve problems, use logical
consequences for major problems. Have students identify social skills and discuss
appropriate and inappropriate behaviors to proceduralize all essential social skills.

Expected Outcomes

Proactive Management
(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Maintain high expectations, motivate students, plan quality lessons, create a positive
learning environment, use quality instruction, increase social interactions with regards
to learning, assess, involve parents and community, and cope with problems. (see
information in theses categories)
Plan for student movement in class during transitions …
Be aware of what students are doing, intervene immediately when there is a problem, and
work to correct it.
Use positive and negative reinforcement to control students’ behavior.
accept students for what they are and let them know that you will care for them always.
Even if they do something wrong it will not decrease they caring feelings you have for
them. You may dislike their actions, but you will still care for them as an individual.
always accept students’ emotions and work to help them increase their emotional
intelligence.
accentuate the positive.
use encouragement and goal setting to help students achieve.
correct, praise, and work to solve problems with students privately.
provide experiences for students so they are successful. Believe in nothing succeeds like
success. Build on what students do well.
diagnose students needs and provide experiences that will meet their present needs and
provide further motivation.
avoid punishment, raising your voice. sarcasm, and labeling students.
keep calm, be consistent, patient, and remember it takes time to change and above all don’t
take things personally.
let students accept the responsibility for their actions and inactions.
be proactive and create a safe environment for all students.

Expected Outcomes

Cope with Problems

(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure

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 Seek democratic and humane solutions by having students develop rules in classroom
meetings, post them, have students decide what to do when violations occur, implement
logical consequences (Jane Nelson four r”s), have students discuss any problems and
review rules periodically.
Solve individual problems by having a discussion with students to identify the student’s
agenda, set goals, and learn skills needed to achieve mastery oriented behaviors.
When a problem arises students or the teacher call for a class meeting. Students discuss the
problem and decide if the class code of conduct has been violated. If there has been,
then they will conflict resolution to try to resolve the problem. If necessary they may
decide that logical consequences should be used. If so they will discuss the
consequences and decide if they are logical according to the four “R’s” for logical
consequences (Jane Nelson, 1991).
Confront students when they do something wrong and continue to press until they admit to
their wrong doing. If they do not cooperate use coercion and punishment when verbal
requests are not acted upon. Including ridicule, sarcasm, raising youir voice, and force.
If other students are around that is good because if they are aware of the consequences
it will cause them to not enage in the same behavior. Compare students behavior to
other students so they know where they stand. Use threats, even if they are unrealistc,
so students will know that you mean business.

Expected Outcomes
Students will think twice about what they do knowing that you will catch them and
punish them if they disobey the rules.
Students will work to learn what it is that you expect and meet your demands.
Students will learn to listen to and follow directions of authority figures.
Students will do what they are told when they are told to do it with out questioning.
Parents and Community
(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Communicate to parents about student’s work by: writing student progress reports, parent
teacher conferences, notes sent home, phone calls, articles in school newspaper, class
news paper, have students prepare and take home weekly work folders, open houses,
have family math nights, have family science nights, and expand daily work into home
activities. Inform parents with accurate and timely information. Include positive
information as often as possible and when providing negative information try to leave
parents with a sense of hope
Involve parents and community members in students’ learning by: inviting parents to come
to school and do something at least once this year, have a heritage unit and invite
parents and/or grandparents,

Expected Outcomes

Professional Conduct
(Put your policy statement here)
Procedure
Care for and handle material/equipment in a safe and responsible manner by: being aware of
publications and manuals that accompany equipment, inventory materials yearly, store
materials in a safe and responsible manner, teach students how to use materials, put
certain materials off limits for students.
Work with other teachers by: sharing available materials and ideas, seeking and giving
assistance,
Exhibit a willingness to try new activities or approaches, be open to change, tolerant of
other’s views, reserve judgement until you have thought through alternatives, if
something isn’t against your philosophy try it, collect information, and decide after a
fair trial.
keep current of research.

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Expected Outcomes

Created by Dr. Robert Sweetland Copyright 1998 14