The Classroom Environment: Chaos at it's finest.

First off, I must mention that I chose management because I don't feel comfortable with it. Continuously, I feel like an old hag when at school because I expect them to listen, to be responsible, and care for their classmates as well as the items in the classroom. Maybe I expect too much in expecting them to care...?

However, as I read the section on the classroom environment, I couldn't help but constantly compare it to my classroom. Does my classroom sound at all like this model? How do I actually treat my students? Do I convey my expectations to my students? For me, I feel most comfortable managing class procedures. Sherri, my kindergarten para-educator, and I spent the first month of school in "boot camp" mode (we joke). We set the bar high and refused to lower it.... but I'm comfortable with that because now 32 days into the school year, we no longer are working on carpet or hallway procedures and we can switch literacy and math centers in two point five seconds flat. It helped to set the tone for the rest of the year- one in which we expect the students to work hard, persevere, and do their personal best. Does it always work? No. However, in the words of Sherri, "They're first graders in training. They need to know how to be responsible for their learning and their actions and if we don't teach them, who will?"
Personally, I feel as if I need to zero in on creating an environment of respect and rapport, but more in the area of creating learning community. I know that I care about my students and their lives in and out of school, however, how do I get the students to care about each other in this way? How do I get my students to treat each other with respect? Many of you may say modeling, modeling, and more modeling because all skills are learned (p. 65, Danielson). However, how can we attempt to say that a learned behavior is not okay if the behavior is something that they are witnessing as okay at home? (For example, this week in one of my literacy centers one little boy looks at me and says "Miss Kennett, this learning center is a piece of f****** s***. When can I move to the next one?" And when I called Mom she acted like it was no big deal and asked me "Well, what in the h*** should I do about it?").