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Emily Williams

EDU 402 Classroom Management

Dr. Wilcox

28 September 2017

Ron Clark Reflection

Throughout this first half of the semester I have gained a great deal of insight by reading

The End of Molasses Classes, watching The Ron Clark Story, and visiting the Ron Clark

Academy. Reading the book is one thing, but being able to experience a majority of it first hand

was another experience. Through the movie, I was able to get a glimpse of what the early stages

of Ron Clark’s career were like. I could see the struggle he went through when he went to

Harlem and tried to gain the attention of a class that made a bet on how long he would last.

Watching him work with the students through school, home visits, and tutoring sessions was

hopeful and encouraging. He believed in those kids while using their strengths and talents to help

them become better students and people.

Seeing Ron Clark teaching a class first hand was wonderful and fascinating yet

intimidating. He seems so strict and honestly kind of mean. I understand that he is showing these

new fifth graders how classes are like at the Ron Clark Academy, considering these students

came from a public school nowhere close to the academic rigor and expectations of RCA.

One thing I intend to implement in my future classroom would be to show my students

that I care about them and that I believe in them. This is such a huge thing because kids have a

desire and need to know that their teacher cares for them and believes that they can accomplish

tasks and goals. At RCA, the students are shown how much the teachers care. Teachers attend

sporting events, have home visits, travel, and spend time with their students. I plan to provide a
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positive classroom for my students and to attend events that they will be at or participating in. In

The End of Molasses Classes, Ron talks about eating lunch with a small group of students from

class. That is another way to be intentional with relationships with students and showing them

you care by taking a small timeframe out of your day to have genuine conversations outside of

classroom discussions and topics.

For a personal example, in my placement classroom I was helping students with their

writing workbook. One student was on a page called “My Story” which contained four bubbles

with space for a picture and a line to write the word of what you drew. I helped him with the first

two then asked him to do the other two. He looked unsure if he could do it without help. I

thought back to how Ron Clark believed in all his students and made it known. I let him know

that he could do it and when he finished to raise his hand and I would return to see what he had

done. When he was finished, he showed me the picture of the sun and spider and his attempt to

write the words. His u was upside down in sun and he didn’t write the r in spider, but he tried so

hard, and I was proud of his work because they just learned the letter s and words that begin with

s a week or two ago. I told him that I was proud of him and then his eyes lit up and he asked me

about what I said then gave me a huge hug. Before reading and experiencing all this, I would

have just helped him instead of letting him know that I believed in him. It’s acting upon what I

have learned that showed me how much of an impact it can have on a student.

One thing I think would be effective in the class I am observing would be a chant to

refocus and gain the attention of the students. The class I am observing are kindergarteners. They

have a lot of energy! From what I have seen, my host teacher struggles some with getting all the

children to direct their focus and be quiet. I think that this should be implemented from the very

beginning so that she would have control and the students would know what to do. I observed
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her yesterday doing a quiet song that goes to the tune of wheels on the bus but it’s a soft tone and

shh to quiet them and how they should sit with their hands in their lap and feet crossed. That did

work, but it also took more time out of the class lesson than a quick “Sharkbait ohh ahah” or

something similar.

Trying to decide what the biggest thing of value from this overall experience for me is

difficult. There are so many great take-aways from this entire experience. I suppose the two

biggest ones would be exuding energy every day and also the fake it till you make it mentality.

Both go hand in hand. Students, teachers, faculty, and parents feed off each other’s energy.

Being at the Ron Clark Academy was magnetic and overwhelming. I have not been in a school

where everyone has that much energy! But after overcoming the shock, I was excited and

energetic because of the energy everyone exuded. The fact that the teachers did not have desks

and did not sit down when teaching is a great tool to have. I could feel the passion and

determination to engage the students. The students showed their attentiveness by tracking the

teachers and responding to questions, solving problems, and standing up to address their

classmates and teachers.

This overall experience has been one-of-a-kind and I could not be more grateful for it. It

was wonderful to see a school with high expectations and rigor as well as student and parent

involvement. I plan to read Ron Clarks other books and implement so many tools in my future

classroom as well as the school, as well as spread the excitement and energy to bring others to

being a better educator.