Kaitlyn Fischer

Classroom Management Plan

Context

My ideal teaching context is an elementary school classroom in a small to medium sized suburban community in Central New Jersey. My class size is around 20 students and the students come from many different backgrounds and cultures. 

Physical Design

My classroom is organized with each of Steele’s six functions of a classroom setting in mind. More specifically, I chose to emphasize the aspects of security and shelter and social contact in my classroom. First, security and shelter is very important for my classroom because it represents physical safety and psychological safety. In my classroom, I added elements of “softness” to ensure that my students and I feel safe, relaxed and comfortable. These elements include rugs in the morning meeting and library area, a fish tank for students to observe and take care of, bean bag chairs in the library center so that students can read and relax, and plants to symbolize the  nurturing and blooming environment of the classroom. In addition to areas of “softness,” my classroom also provides areas where students can be free from interference and have opportunities for privacy. I strategically placed the library, computer and listening centers in the same area because they are quiet activities where students are least likely to get distracted. The puzzle and games, sink and rest rooms are placed on the opposite side of the classroom because those tend to be noisier areas. In addition, students who wish to have more privacy and choose to gather their thoughts can go to the library area as a place to retreat from their peers.

Second, social interaction is very important when considering how to set up my classroom. I thought very hard about how much interaction I wanted students to have and how I was able to interact and help my students while they were working. I decided to have five tables with four students at each table. I value the idea of collaboration among students and I wanted to have students interact with their peers and share ideas, without having too many students at a table and worrying about noise levels. Since students will be sitting at tables, I do not expect them to be quiet at all times. When arranging the tables, I made sure that there was enough space between tables so that I was able to walk around, observe and assist students.         

Rules

When developing rules in my classroom, I will have a combination of teacher and student generated rules. I think it is important for both the teacher and students to establish rules because it helps build a stronger community within the classroom. This allows the students to understand that they have a role and say in the classroom and that we all are one large community that learns and grows together. This will make students feel more comfortable taking risks and sharing their ideas in the classroom if this community-based approach is established within the first few weeks of the school year. During the first day of school, after some community building activities, I will have students get into small groups and generate four potential rules that they feel are important for the classroom. During this group-time, I will walk around and talk to each group about what they have come up with. Then, the groups will share their rules with the class and we will create a large list of rules.

 After generating this list, we will discuss as a class about how to narrow down the list and decide what rules can be grouped together based on similarities. This will also allow students to practice their sorting and grouping skills as they decide what rules are similar. Once we narrow down the list, I will inform students that when I go home tonight I will create four rules based on the list that we came up with. This will allow me to change the wording of some of the rules and pick the best ones for the classroom. I like using this approach because students feel ownership that their rules are being used and the teacher also gets to have the final say. On the second day of school, I will bring in a large poster that neatly displays the four rules and put it in a prominent spot in the classroom. I will explicitly teach each rule to the class and we will practice and role-play each rule. During the rest of the week, I will continue to model and have students practice using these rules in the classroom. It is necessary to act out, explicitly teach and model each rule so that students understand the value and importance of the rules and how they pertain to the classroom.

Routines

1. Taking attendance- I will take attendance by utilizing the “lunch order” chart on the chalkboard. On one side of the chart, it will have the word “absent” and all the magnets with children’s names will be under it. When students come in during the beginning of the day, they will move their magnet to the opposite side of the chart that has various options for lunch (Hot lunch, Alternative Lunch, Sandwich, Brought from Home). Therefore, I will know who is here when students move their magnet and choose their lunch option. This is beneficial because I can take attendance and record lunch orders all on one chart.

2. Going to the restroom- When students have to go to the restroom, they can use the sign language gesture for bathroom so that I know where they are and they do not have to disturb the rest of the class. Since my classroom will probably have a bathroom inside of it, they will not need hall passes to go to the bathroom.
3. Entering the room at the beginning of the day- I will explicitly teach students how to enter the classroom during the first few weeks of school. I will continually practice with the students what to do when they arrive and I will remind them in the beginning what is expected of them. As time goes on, I will leave them more responsibility and not remind them of their morning duties. This includes hanging up their coat and backpack, putting their folder in the basket, putting any notes from home in the basket, handing in any homework, deciding their lunch order and starting the do-now.

4. Going to “specials”- On the morning message, I will tell students what special we have that day and what time it begins and ends. When it is time to leave for special, we will quietly line up at the door, follow proper hallway etiquette and walk down to special.

5. What to do when assignments have been completed- When students finish any assignments, they should place it in the basket marked “Completed.” I will show students where this basket is located and will remind them in the beginning of the year to put any finished work in that basket.

6. Talk between teacher and students during whole class lessons- When students want to say something during a whole class lesson they must raise their hand and wait to be called on. If there is a point during the lesson where I want students to call out answers I will explicitly let them know.

7. When the teacher is working with a small group- Students can talk quietly to others who are sitting at their table. However, they must use six-inch voices so that I am not disturbed while working with the small group.

8. When the teacher needs the group’s attention- To get the class’s attention I will ring a bell once and the class will immediately freeze from what they are doing. I will explicitly teach students how I will use of this quiet signal during the first week of school and we will practice how to respond when I ring the bell.

Relationships: Allow Students to Know the Teacher Cares:

The first strategy I will use to let my students know I care is to show that I am a real person. I will do this by sharing information about myself that is appropriate, such as my family, pets, hobbies or travels. Hopefully if I share some personal information about myself, students will find connections with my interests and they will be more open to sharing information about their life as well. This will allow us to come together as a community.

The second strategy I will use is to make my students feel welcome by smiling and greeting them when they first arrive in the morning. It is important to greet my students when they arrive so that I can say hello and ask them how they are doing. In addition, if a student in my class speaks another language I will address my greeting in their language. This will make students who come from a different language or have difficulty with English feel more comfortable and secure.

The third strategy I will use is being sensitive to student’s concerns. This means that I will think about classroom activities and events from the student’s point of view to ensure that school is pleasant for all students. I will be sensitive to student’s concerns by keeping grades private, discussing inappropriate behavior privately, and allowing input from students when necessary.

Foster a Sense of Community Among Students:

The first strategy I will use to create a sense of community in the classroom is providing opportunities for students to get to know each other. In my classroom I will have an “All-Star of the Week.” Each week a different student will get to share personal photos, bring in a favorite book and have a parent/family member come into class to read a story or do an activity with the class. This will allow students to get to know each other on a more intimate and personal level. In addition to “All Star of the Week,” the class will engage in community building games and activities so that students will feel comfortable and safe with their classmates.

      The second strategy I will use is to implement a morning meeting. During morning meeting, students will sit in a circle, greet each other by name, share news or an item from home, engage in a group activity and read the morning message aloud. Morning meeting allows students to come together as a group, trust and respect each other, feel a sense of belonging, and have fun.

The third strategy I will enforce is the use of cooperative learning groups. Cooperative learning groups allow students who may differ in achievement levels, culture, gender and race to work together as a group to solve a certain task. In formal cooperative learning groups, teachers assign students to groups and have them work together on a structured task. During informal cooperative learning groups, students work in temporary groups for a short period of time. In both cases, students are interacting and learning with different students in the class, which will create a strong sense of community.

Discipline

When dealing with misbehavior in the classroom, I will ensure to preserve the dignity of the student, use minimal disruption, consider the context of student’s actions, match the strategy to the misbehavior and choose culturally consistent strategies. More specifically, I will deal with minor, more serious and chronic misbehaviors differently. In regards to minor misbehaviors, I will use non-verbal techniques in the beginning, and if I need to I will use verbal techniques. Some non-verbal techniques I will use include giving students a look, making eye contact with the student, using a quiet signal and going near the area of the disruptive student so they will stop their behavior. Some verbal techniques I will use include using an I-message and using positive teacher language. I will use an I-message when I wish to address a whole-class problem with my students. I will start off my message by stating the behavior in a non judgmental way, state the effect of the problem, and then my feelings. This will allow me to address a whole-class problem in a non-blaming way, because I using myself in the scenario and not the children. Finally, I will use positive teacher language to tell my students what I want them to do, rather than what I do not want them to do. This will allow me to maintain the caring and welcoming environment that I created in the beginning of the year.

When dealing with more serious behavior, I will present students with a model of consequences. In this model there will be four steps. First is a warning, second is a logical consequence, third is a note sent home and fourth is going to the principal’s office. However, these steps do not necessarily have to go in order. If a student hits someone in the face, then they will go immediately to the office and not start off with a warning. The level of consequence all depends of the severity of the misbehavior.. It is important to make the consequence appropriate and logical so that the consequence results in a loss of privilege and relates to that misbehavior.

When dealing with chronic misbehavior, I will utilize a problem solving technique if there is a whole class problem. This involves defining the problem to the class, brainstorming possible solutions, evaluating the solutions, deciding which solution to try, determining how to implement the solution, and then evaluating the solution on its effectiveness. This is a good way to continue to build a classroom community because students are actively involved in problems that arise in the classroom. Since students were actively involved in creating the rules of the classroom, I think that it is only fair that they have a say in what the consequences are if they break those rules. If I have an individual student who is struggling with a chronic misbehavior, I will use the behavior modification technique of self-monitoring. In this technique, I will make the child more aware of how often he/she engages in an appropriate behavior. To do this, we will sit down together during a free period and identify the behavior that needs to be changed. Then, we will discuss what the appropriate behavior looks like, and how he/she can achieve that behavior. After, I will teach the student to observe and record his/her own behavior using a tracking system. This can be done using a graphing or a tallying sheet.