1. What kind of people do you want your students to be?
Homeroom Management
What kind of people
do you want your students to be?
Today, I’d like to talk about my homeroom management.
What kind of people do you want your students to be?
　Here in America, teachers just concentrate on teaching their subjects, but in Japan, our job is not only teaching English, but also helping them be good adults who can live well in a society.
I think it’s the most difficult part, but it’s also the most meaningful and rewarding part of our job.
　That’s one of the reasons why I became a JHS teacher.

2. At the end of JHS, students have to think and decide what they want to do. And after graduating, they are treated as almost adults. That means if they do illegal things, they will get punishment from their schools or companies.
So it’s important for us to help students choose their path and lead them to their better life as adults.

3. “an adult”? What is the definition of
So what is the definition of adults? What do you think?
Now please discuss the definition of an adult. (2mins)

4. The person who can be nice to others!
An adult is…
The person who can be nice to others!
The person
who can take responsibility!
In my opinion, an adult is the person who can be nice to others. Even if the person can make a lot of money, the person’s EQ is low, the person is said “otonagenai” or “childish”. So I think it’s very important part as an adult.
It’s also important for us to take responsibility as an adult.
So, when I open my homeroom class, I give 2 keywords to my students.

5. 優 kind / nice 憂sadness 人 ＝ ＋ Be nice to the people around you!
dipression 人
person ＝ ＋
Be nice to the people around you!
Respect each other!
Do your job in the class
The first keyword is this kanji. This kanji consists of “person” and “sadness or depression.” So “kind and nice” means to be able to understand someone’s sadness or depression. And this also means superior and excellent. So that means the person who is able to be nice to others is excellent.
So I say, be nice to the people around you, friends, parents, teachers, people in your area and so on.
Being nice has 2 other meanings at least.
“Respect each other” this is also a part of kindness. JHS students will have time when they feel like they are better and look down on someone. But I think it’s one of our ugly parts.
Everyone has a good point. I want my students to be adults who can find it and respect it.
“Do your jobs in the class” this is also connected to kindness. Every student has 1 or 2 jobs in the class, for example, a student is in charge of English or math, wiping tables before school lunch, checking homework, bringing newsletters before short homeroom and so on. If the students forget their jobs, there will be someone who has difficulties and gets sad. It doesn’t mean they are nice.
Being nice has many meanings, and I think this is very important as a person.

6. 自立 (independence) - 考えて (think) - 判断して (decide) - 行動して (act)
- やり遂げる (accomplish)
Second keyword is “independence.” “Independence” means “think” “decide””act” and “accomplish” by themselves.
Students have to decide what they want to do or which high school they want to go to by themselves. Self decision is very important.
So I say to my students making a mistake thoughtfully is OK because they can learn from the mistake, but making a mistake without thinking is not good because they’ll often repeat it.
So, when my students makes mistakes, I usually don’t scold or nag. I just ask the students if they thought before doing that, and how they feel or what they think about the mistake now.

7. Program committee I’m going to tell you a practical example.
We talked about how to decide the seats before. When I decide new seats, I want to let my students think and decide by themselves. In my city, many teachers use the program committee system. Class leaders who were chosen at the beginning of the semester are the members of the committee.
( head leader, sub-leaders, sub sub leaders…)
They will discuss anything about their class, for example, the problems they have, suggestion for the chorus contest practice, seats, and take leadership.
In May, my the students told me that they wanted to change their seats, so I let the class leader discuss how to decide. Then my students decided to pick numbers just for fun. They thought they were OK to sit with whoever and wherever.
However the seats didn’t work very well. Some students started talking with their best friends who sit close. Then, in June, my students said they wanted to decide their seats with the program committee system. They thought that they needed to think about the relationship between the classmates in order to have a good atmosphere to study and work comfortably.
They thought, decided, acted and thought again by themselves.

8. This is a picture of the members discussing about the new seats and some other students joining it before lunch time.
In this system, each leader is in charge of a group of 4 or 5. They try to take care of them. Leaders have responsibilities for their classmates, and other students have to follow their instructions because they chose the leaders. I think this system is also good to improve leadership ability.

9. Thank you for listening.
I think, this year, my two key words are working well with my students. They’re trying to be nice to each other and trying to think and act by themselves, it maybe because I had to come to the US. They act by themselves whoever their homeroom teacher is.
It’s sad but it is the true worth!!
I used to like being with my students but now I’m trying to be a few steps back to let them think and act by themselves. If they don’t need me, I feel a bit lonely, but it means they are growing and actually they need such ability to open the new chapter after graduating JHS.
Being nice and independence are the important words in my homeroom management. If we have time, I’d like to listen to your homeroom management, too.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you for listening.