FROM BROOKE:

My third grade class at Swift Creek Elementary School is filled with several different personality types. A few students are shy and reserved, some are talkative and excited, and others are intellectual and expressive. When you combine all the personality types, it would seem as though the group may be hard to handle. However, this is not the case. The students are very well behaved. The students seem to have a lot of respect for my SBTE, Mrs. Buckhalter. She has really connected with the students to ensure that they treat her with the same respect that they would wish to be treated. It is important for the teacher to make this connection with her students so that everyone is on the same level and understands the importance of respecting their teacher and their classmates.
In most elementary classrooms there will be a few students with behavior issues. It is not every day that the students act like angels. A few days during my observation I noticed some of the students did have certain behavior problems. They are minor behavior problems such as, talking out of turn or not doing their work or playing with toys in their desk. Mrs. Burkhalter handles these behavior problems by a colored card system. All of the students start with green then after their first warning they turn to yellow, then purple then red. Red is the worst because the student is sent to the principal’s office for misbehavior. This system works really well in the classroom and usually the students learn their lesson after the first warning. This goes to show that the class has a pretty good understanding of what is expected of them.
The schools motto is everyone will learn and succeed. The school also has the code of conduct known as “Roar.” R is respect, O is on the path to success, A is act responsibly and R is remember self-control. The students really adhere to this code of conduct and understand what is expected of them at 
all times. In the hallways, other teachers monitor the students to make sure they are roaring at all times and if they notice particular students roaring then they will be rewarded. I think Mrs. Burkhalters class does a great job roaring in the hallways.
Another way Mrs. Burkhalter keeps her students in order is the job chart. The job chart has several pockets, each labeled with a different job. The jobs include line leader, door holder, mail person, phone/door greeter, lunchroom helpers, librarians, and messengers. The jobs change weekly so everyone gets an opportunity. The students look forward to their job each week. The students do not argue over who is going to hold the door or turn out the lights because they know their assigned job.
I noticed a few other ways Mrs. Burkhalter keeps a good classroom community. She has the students pick up scrap pieces of paper off the floor and on the tables to put in the recycling bin. She also has the students keep their desk area clean. It is a great thing because she teaches her students the importance of recycling and keeping a clean environment. Mrs. Burkhalter does a superb job at keeping up a clean classroom with well behaved students.