Classroom Management Plan

Emily Cart

Philosophical Statement

My personal view of education is that it is to prepare youth to become functional adults.

It is the educators job to help students be prepared not only for the next grade, but the next

step in life. Teachers should work to find ways to make sure every student is learning and to

adjust techniques when needed to ensure the children are getting, and obtaining, the

information they need. This may involve a touching on a variety of learning styles within each

lesson through different activities. I also believe that there is a balance of lecture and classroom

activities that can encourage the best environment for learning. My students will be

encouraged to be imaginative and resourceful in solving problems (Ryan at. All, 291-292).

Students should be taught how to think rather than just what to think to maintain their

problem-solving skills outside the classroom and in their futures.

My classroom will be a safe space for students to learn these skills individually and in

teams. My goals are to provide my students with an environment where there is mutual

respect between students and the teacher as well as amongst the students and their peers, and

a safe place for discussion and the sharing of ideas. I hope to make all my students feel

important and included in my classroom.

Behavioral Management

It will be well known to my students that I expect good behavior from them and that I

know each of them is fully capable of meeting and even exceeding my expectations. Good

behavior, completing and turning in all the assignments in a unit will be rewarded with

incentives such as candy, extra credit, or a homework pass. Bad behaviors however will be

handled differently depending on the severity of the actions. For classroom disruption, each

student will be given three strikes before being written up. The student will be taken aside

after each strike to discuss what they have done wrong, why it was wrong, what they should

have been doing, and what they will do next time to avoid another warning. Hopefully this

encourages them to think of cause and effect of their actions and increases their self-

awareness. If I see the same student sampling good behaviors, especially after a warning, I will

praise them to establish that they are doing what I expected of them and that I appreciate it.

Rules, Routines, and Procedures

On the first day of class students will receive a syllabus for the class, this syllabus will

include the daily routines, procedures, and rules of the class. There will also be posters around

the room reminding them of these things. I will also give the students a worksheet where they

fill out personal expectations as well as class expectations discussed in class. This sheet will live

in a folder kept in the room That graded papers and tests are stored in. Throughout the year

the students can look back at these expectations and see if they are meeting them. I will keep

copies in a file at my desk to refer to myself.

 Our daily procedure will be to enter the classroom with all needed materials and take a

seat before the bell rings. Everyone should be sitting quietly and ready to go when the bell

rings. On the board up front will be the daily and weekly agenda. The daily agenda will list out

the activities being done in class in the order they will be done, whereas the weekly one gives

the overall topic of each day and any assignments due. There will be a daily bell ringer up on

the board to start the students thinking on our current topic. After the first five minutes the

class will go over the bell ringer question and prepare for the lecture and note taking. On most

days, there will be an activity or group work for students to do. During the last five minutes of

the period students will clean up their area and put the room back in order (if desks had to be

moved) before packing up. Lining up at the door is not allowed so they must all be sitting at

their desks to be dismissed.

Students will also be asked to adhere to rules regarding respect for one another and the

teacher. Bullying will not be tolerated in my room in any level of severity. Students will be

expected to turn in assignments on time and complete and to have a notebook and writing

utensil (or laptop for schools with Chromebooks) and any materials I give them advanced notice

to bring. If they do not comply, they will be given an appropriate action of discipline. It may be a

letter of apology to a peer for disrespect or point deduction from a grade or participation

points. Different schools have different methods of discipline for bullying and I will comply with

the standing procedures held by the place of my employment.

Classroom Environment

I want my classroom to be a safe and creative environment open to discussion and

learning. I have a preferred seating arrangement to encourage this goal. Dividing the class with

students facing one another across a wide middle aisle provides them with an ability to see

their peers as well as the board without too much moving around. This is a popular seating

arrangement I have seen in several high schools and middle schools in the last few years. Below

is an ideal set up of a classroom with 25 student desks.

This arrangement lends itself well to a quick pairing up of groups of 4-5 as well. Students will be

able to pick their own seats. If things become a problem I can move a student or assign a whole

class a seating chart. I believe that allowing them to sit where they want makes them more

comfortable in the classroom and provides an incentive to behave.

Instructional Strategies

I am personally a big fan of conveying information in the form of a lecture, especially for

social studies classes. However, I know that many of my students do not feel the same way. In

my classes I will also include different activities that cater to the multiple intelligences of my

students. I may include an intra curricular activity of art, music, or writing to bring a historic

setting to life and interest my musical, spatial, and linguistic students. I could also include

stations that get kinesthetic learners moving or logic games for my logical-mathematical

students. I may not be able to fit in activities for each group in one class period, but I will aim to

get each one covered at least once within a unit. Each activity will be set to reinforce what they

learned in the lecture.

Evaluation and Reflection

I hope to develop this plan as I gain more experience with students and test my

methods more in classroom settings. I will continue to study methods of classroom

management and discuss the topic with other teachers to broaden my abilities and resources.

This plan may even vary year to year or class to class depending on the overall personalities of

the students. I realize that with time comes experience and wisdom, and I have only just begun.

I do know that much of what I have planned has come from past personal experiences or field

experiences. I have seen many of the methods work before and I hope to be able to make use

of them within my own classroom. I am also wary of writing my own disciplinary actions,

especially for serious violation of school rules, due to the variety of possible ways a school

system typically deals with them. One school may send a student for detention for an action
another school would expel. I simply know that I will review the rules of the school I am

employed by before refining my own rules. I will also learn as I go about the kinds of rules

students need as I notice trends of misbehavior in my classes.

 Works cited

Cooper, James M., and Cheryl Mason Bolick. "Chapter 9: What Are the Philosophical

Foundations of American Education." Those Who Can, Teach. By Kevin Ryan. 14th ed.

Boston: Cengage Learning, 2014. 283-302. Print.