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Personal Classroom Management Plan Tasha Kunzelman November 29th 2012

Table of Contents Introduction..................................................................................................................................3-4 Personal Classroom Management Beliefs.......................................................................................5 Comprehensive Discipline Plan..................................................................................................6-16 Preventative Discipline.....................................................................................................6-7 Corrective Discipline........................................................................................................8-9 Procedures and Routines..............................................................................................10-11 Rules.............................................................................................................................12-13 Examples......................................................................................................................14-16 Developing Relationships with Parents....................................................................................17-18 Dealing with Diversity...................................................................................................................19 Conclusion................................................................................................................................20-21

Introduction Effective classroom management is an essential part of teaching. The teacher needs to have complete control of the classroom to ensure that students reach their full learning potential. Behavioural issues are becoming a bigger and bigger problem in schools. In exchange, teachers jobs are becoming harder to do. Teachers are no longer solely educators but they are expected to act as crowd control, discipliners, and even baby sitters as well. Classroom management is also used to keep schools and classrooms safe. Children need to feel non-threatened and able to speak freely when they are in school. Several decades ago, classroom management consisted of the strap or other methods of physical punishment. In todays day and age this is no longer acceptable. Thousands of new management techniques and methods have surfaced. Teachers are bombarded with advice when it comes to dealing with unruly students. With all of this new material, teachers often feel confused and overwhelmed. Teachers however, need to understand that these modules can be used flexibly. They can pull bits and pieces from anywhere they chose in order to create an individualized classroom management plan that works best for them. My classroom management plan is geared towards grade three to grade five students. This plan operates in a classroom setting. The plan will begin by outlining my personal beliefs regarding classroom management. It will then outline my full comprehensive discipline plan in terms of preventative discipline, corrective discipline, procedures and routines, rules, and finally some examples of how I would carry out my plan in possible scenarios. I will then describe how I plan on developing relationships with parents. Finally, I will discuss how I will deal with diversity in my classroom.

In order to create my classroom management plan, I pulled ideas and concepts from class lectures and from the textbook Classroom Discipline and Management by Clifford H. Edwards. The models that my plan relies most heavily upon; are Teacher Effectiveness Training, Reality Therapy, and Logical Consequences. The key component of my classroom management plan is relationships. I believe that in order to effectively manage a classroom, the teacher must have strong, positive relationships with his/her students.

Beliefs I believe that an effective classroom management plan must embody the following concepts: Strong student-teacher and parent-teacher relationships Material rewards are not an effective way to regulate behaviour Behavior is the response of the individual to the environment, it often times has a purpose Pointing out the motivators for misbehaviour may cause children to make excuses for their behaviour Students rebel more often when teachers control their behaviour too extremely All humans have intrinsic motivation however; they are also affected by extrinsic motivators Students are inherently good and know the difference between right and wrong Reinforcing good behaviours through praise will increase their frequency Ignoring misbehaviour is not an effective way of minimizing it Teacher must model the behaviours they want their students to exhibit

Comprehensive Discipline Plan 1. Preventative Discipline As I stated earlier, I believe that a key factor in good classroom management is having strong student-teacher relationships. These relationships must be built around mutual trust and respect. It is important that teachers model the traits and attributes that they want their students to exhibit. This is important not only in the school setting but in teachers personal lives as well. Students need to view their teachers as positive role models. A great way to build strong relationships with students is by listening to them. Students need to feel as if their teachers value what they have to say. Students are able to tell whether a teacher is truly listening and whether what they say is genuine or not, so teachers need to be very careful of their tones, expressions, and comments. It is also important for teachers to take an interest in their students outside of the classroom. This can be done simply by asking them questions about what they like to do on weekends, celebrating birthdays, or remembering interesting facts and information about them. I believe that having great relationships with students is the best form of preventative discipline I also believe that behavioral problems can be prevented by establishing clear rules and expectations. Students need to know exactly what is expected of them. Despite the fact that they have been taught rules and expectations by other teachers every year, it is extremely important to teach students YOUR rules and expectations. Students know that every teacher is different and unless they know exactly what is deemed acceptable and what is not, they will test the limits. At the beginning of every year, teachers must spend time going over their rules with the new class. In addition, I believe it is also helpful to post these rules on the wall where all students can view them at any time. This way teachers can easily direct students to the chart when they feel an

issue is about to arise. If the class seems to be having trouble following the rules, it is important to review and re-teach them. This can be done several times throughout the year. I believe that it is essential to make sure that discipline is consistent. The same punishments need to be administered for the same offenses to ALL children. For example, if talking in class is punishable at some times but at other times some students may get away with it, students are not going to respect the rule. Students need to be treated equally. This not only forces all students to comply with all rules at all times but it also plays in to student teacher relationships. Students cannot feel as if their teachers are favoring another student over them. Students need to know the consequences for their actions in advance therefore consequences should be determined and reviewed when the rules and expectations are. After explaining to the students what the consequences for certain actions will be, it is absolutely vital to follow through. Showing students that you will do exactly what you say you will, helps to build a sense of trust. Other preventative discipline ideas: Lead management rather than boss management A stimulating classroom with appropriate spaces for different activities A seating arrangement that maximizes teacher mobility Parental involvement Praising good behaviours

2. Corrective Discipline The first stage of my corrective discipline plan is to help the students self correct their misbehaviour. I believe this can be done effectively by having students talk through the situations to arrive at their own decisions regarding their behaviour. For this stage of my plan I use concepts from William Glassers Choice Therapy. I will first question students in order to have them recognize for themselves their exact misbehaviour. I will then prompt them to think of a full range of consequences that may have arisen from that particular behaviour. After that I will question the students to make sure they do not want these consequences to occur. Finally, I will ask the child if they feel that behaviour was appropriate. In both of these instances the children will likely answer no. If they do not we will further discuss implications of their behaviour and I may resort to the punishment phase. After this discussion, I will ask the student to create a plan to change their misbehaviour. I will help the students to carry out their plan by checking in on them regularly and providing the necessary tools and support. If a student violates one of the class rules I believe that consistent punishment must be enforced. Consistent talking in class or lateness will result in the students name being written on the board with one tally beside it. If the behaviour continues I will add more tallies. The tallies indicate how many minutes that child must stay in at recess. This time at recess may be used as work period to replace that which they wasted in class. It is important that all consequences for misbehaviour must be logical and that they must be linked to the particular behaviour. If these things become chronic problems and are taking too much time out of my teaching to address; I will resort to the next stage of my plan. In these cases students will be required to write a letter home to their parents. The letter will describe the inappropriate behaviour that the student exhibited and why the behaviour was inappropriate. The letter will then explain what the

student plans on doing to change this behaviour. I believe that involving the parents in these situations can be very helpful. Because the letter is written by the students themselves, parents will be less defensive. Rather than accusing the teacher of picking on their child, parents will be more willing to understand, as the child has admitted to it themselves in writing. When students let the parents know what is going on and how they plan on correcting it, parents will be more able to help and monitor their behaviour.

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3. Procedures and Routines Having consistent classroom procedures and routines is another important part in maintaining good classroom management. I believe that the same basic format should be followed every day and that schedules, jobs, etc. should be posted somewhere were all students can see them at any time. It is important to keep the students busy and to ensure that they always know what they are supposed to be doing. I believe that this in and of itself will eliminate a great majority of disciplinary problems. In my classroom, I will spend the first few days of every year outlining the morning and afternoon routines for students. As soon as children come in to the classroom in the morning, they will be expected to take their books, homework, and agendas out of their backpacks. They will then hang up their coats and backpacks and bring their agendas to me to be checked. After having their agendas checked, they will return and sign out books and hand in their homework to the appropriate homework tubs. Students will then have a seat and participate in bell work until the first buzzer goes. Bell work will consist of fun morning riddles, worksheets, or journal entries. All students will be expected to participate. Students will be very aware of their afternoon routines as well. It is important to have children know exactly what they are supposed to be doing in order to prevent chaos and confusion. From my experience, the classrooms with the most behavioural problems are always lacking in structure and organization. In all of my classes, I will make To Do lists for the students. I will make a list on the whiteboard or chalkboard starting with the activity we are working on in class, I will then list some follow up work that they make work on when they finish the activity. After this I will list catch-up work that the students may still need to complete and finally some free-time activities. Students will know that they must complete the list in order, when they have completed one task

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they must move onto the next. Misbehaviour often occurs when students are not sure what they are supposed to be working on. There are often times students who quickly finish their assignments and then begin distracting the other students. I believe having To Do lists will eliminate many of these problems. To Do lists will also work to free up my time as a teacher as well. Rather than continuously having students come to me because they forgot what they were supposed to be working on, they were out of the classroom and missed instructions, were not listening at the time, or have finished and need to know what to do next, I can simply refer them to the list. This will allow me to focus more time on actually teaching.

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4. Rules Classroom rules are very important, especially at this age level. I believe that students do not need to have a lot of in-depth rules but that they do need to have a basic guideline to follow. Rules need to be posted somewhere in the classroom so that they are easily accessible at all times. Students should be able to refer to the chart if a teacher asks them to do so. As soon as I see a disruption arising I will ask the students involved to take a minute to silently read over the class rules and make sure that their behaviour is in compliance. I believe that students should actively participate in constructing the classroom rule list. This is beneficial for a number of reasons. As I outline earlier in my beliefs section, I believe that students who are controlled too strictly may purposely rebel. When students help to develop the rules themselves, they feel as if they have more of a direct say in their discipline. This alleviates the emphasis on teacher control. Students are much more likely to comply with rules that they created themselves. They are more likely to view the rules as being just or fair. Here is an example of a rule list that the class may come up with: 1. Be respectful when others are talking 2. Be respectful of other peoples property 3. Be respectful of other people 4. Keep your hands and feet to yourself at all times In early to middle year classrooms, tattling often times becomes a problem. If this problem arises in my classroom, I will discuss with students the difference between telling and tattling. I will be sure to explain that there are situations when they definitely should come talk to me however, many times this is unnecessary. The students and I will create a chart together. The chart will explain the difference between telling and tattling and may look something like this:

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Telling
Is the person crying? Is there blood involved or is the person seriously hurt? Is somebody in danger of getting hurt or could something get wrecked? Could somebodys feelings be seriously hurt?

Tattling
Does the situation involve you? Has a teacher already been told about this?

Am I trying to get someone in trouble?

Will telling make the situation worse?

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5. Examples A student continuously fails to hand in their homework: First off, I will have a policy in place that indicates when a child does not hand in their homework they must stay in at recess to complete it. If this occurs several times in a row however, I will take the following steps. My first step in addressing this issue would be to find out the reason for the problem. Maybe they are failing to hand in homework because they are not receiving appropriate help and encouragement at home. This particular behaviour may not have a purpose; rather it may be the result of another behaviour. I would pull the child aside after class or at recess and discuss the problem with them. I might say something like, Do you know why I have pulled you aside? or Why do you think you have had to stay in at recess so much lately? The child will likely indicate that they have not been handing in their homework. Together we will look at possible consequences for this behaviour. These may include, having to stay in every recess, falling behind the other students, not learning the course material and possibly not passing that grade, or possibly if they continue this behaviour in their adult lives-getting fired from a job. I will ask the student if they want these consequences to occur and if they think that this behaviour is appropriate. Then I will help them to make a plan to correct the behavior. In order to do this I will question them about why they are unable to complete the homework at home. If it is because they do not understand, I will arrange for them to meet with me either before or after school so I can help them with it. If it is simply lack of motivation I will help them to devise a schedule. Perhaps, they will arrange to set aside one hour of time immediately after they get home from school to do homework. I may possibly notify the students parents depending on the severity of the situation, to enlist their help in having the student stick to their plan.

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A student belches the song during OCanada: In this situation I would give the student a stern look and possibly move towards them. I would not say anything at this time, because I would still want to model what it looks like to respectfully sing OCanada. After the song, I would pull the child aside to talk about the behaviour. I would have them identify their misbehaviour and then ask them why they think it is inappropriate. I might discuss respect with the child. I would then immediately move onto applying logical consequences. This may involve either having the student to do a class presentation on respect or having them demonstrate to the class how to sing OCanada in a respectful manner. I would make it very clear that I did not want to see this behavior again and if so I would have the student write a letter to their parents.

Two students get into a fight on the playground: I would immediately bring the students into the classroom. I would then direct them to the rule chart and ask them if they thought that they had violated any of the class rules. The students would likely point out that they had not been respectful to others. I would then pull each child away separately to briefly discuss the issue. They would indicate the exact misbehaviour and brainstorm a list of possible consequences for fighting. This may involve being sent to the principle, seriously getting hurt, seriously hurting someone else, or damaging property. We would then devise a plan to prevent fighting in the future. We might decide something like; chose other friends to play with, walk away when you get angry, tell a teacher if something upsets you, or take a deep breath and talk about the problem. I would then have the students write a letter home to their parents about their behaviour, possible consequences, and what they

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plan on doing to prevent the behaviour in the future. Depending on the severity of the issue, they may lose their recess privileges for a time.

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Developing Relationships with Parents I believe that having strong relationships with parents is also critical to effective classroom management. Lee Canter, in his Assertive Discipline model, indicates that teachers need to contact parents before the school year even begins in order to construct strong, ongoing relationships with them. During this initial contact, teachers should explain to parents their expectations for student behaviour. After school begins, Canter believes that teachers should contact parents once again; this time to provide a more in depth overview of classroom rules and consequences. I agree with Canter that enlisting strong parent support, and ensuring that parents are completely aware of what is going on in the classroom is very important. When an issue in the classroom does arise, parents should immediately be made aware of this. For example, ongoing lateness, failure to hand in homework, or fighting on the playground are all things that I would discuss with parents. Talking to a parent about something that their child has done wrong is a very tricky and delicate area. I will be very cautious how I approach the subject. I believe that it is important to start these conversations by first sharing with them, something positive about their child. This can be something like, Jimmy did a great job on his math assignment today, or I was so proud of Megan when I saw her stick up for a child that was being made fun of. In some cases it may be very difficult to find something positive to say about a child however this step is essential and should not be skipped! The next stage is to approach the issue. I might start this by asking the parent if they had noticed anything different about their child lately. If an issue is continuously occurring at school, chances are that the parents are experiencing the same or similar issues at home. Parents are by nature very defensive when it comes to their children and so immediately telling the parent that the child is doing something wrong will cause them to view you as the bad guy. It is important to

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make sure that parents feel as if you and they are a team working together in the best interest of the student. By getting the parent to initiate a conversation regarding the issue, they will be much more likely to understand where the teacher is coming from and more willing to offer their help to solve the problem. Lastly, I will be sure to thank the parent for their help. Parents should be contacted not only about negative things but about positive ones as well. I believe that this is just as important if not more so than communicating about issues. Parents are used to only receiving phone calls and emails from the school when their children do something wrong or are struggling in school. Most parents dread these correspondences and come to view any sort of parent-teacher communication as negative. I will make it my goal to contact each parent at least once every couple months about something positive that their child did. These may involve academic success, an instance when they demonstrated leadership, or good cooperation. This is important for parents of all students but I think that it is even more important for parents of students who are prone to misbehaviour and failure. I believe that a positive comment can go so much further than a negative comment. Often times the cause of childrens misbehaviour is something that occurred at home whether it be parental pressure or stress from continuously getting into trouble. By informing parents of their childs success, the parents will reinforce this positive behaviour at home. The students will return to school and have a much more productive day because of it. Ensuring parental involvement in their childs school is essential. I will greatly encourage parents to attend parent-teacher conferences. If a teacher is unable to come to parent-teacher conferences, I may phone home to see if they would like to arrange to meet on an alternate date. Parents know their children better than anyone else, it is therefore important to enlist their continued support and advice in managing students.

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Dealing with Diversity Diversity plays a prominent role in classroom management. It is therefore essential for teachers to create a plan to help them deal with this diversity. Todays classrooms are becoming more and more diverse in terms of culture, wealth, learning needs, sexuality, and religion. It is important to teach students to be accepting of differences amongst their classmates All students need to feel accepted and safe in their classroom environment. Teaching students about diversity can involve class discussions, rules regarding respect, teacher modeling, or group activities. By reducing negative feelings associated with diversity and teaching students to be more accepting of others, many disciplinary problems can be eliminated. In classrooms that are quite multicultural, I would take time to learn about the cultures of the students in my classroom. During holidays, I would incorporate their cultures tradition into classroom decorations, activities, and discussions. I believe that it is important to set special time aside for the sole purpose of learning how to be accepting of others. I would probably do class activities and games that helped students learn more about one another. They could also practice how to make others feel more welcome. In terms of learning diversities, I will make sure to get to know and understand the different ways that the students in my class learn. I would then utilize this by making lesson plans more oriented towards the different learners. I might incorporate more images or videos for visual learners. I might use hands on practices and experiments to appeal to and aid kinesthetic learners. It is also important to create clear standards for behaviour. I will have a no-tolerance policy for bullying in my classroom.

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Conclusion In summary, my classroom management plan takes a very balanced approach. It is not a teacher centred or a student centred model however it takes into consideration the important roles of both. Teachers need to maintain control of the classroom however, exercising too much control may cause the students to purposefully rebel. Students should be able to actively participate in their own discipline. They can do this by helping to create class rules, taking initiative in discussions surrounding their behaviours, and devising plans to correct their own problems. It is important that the teacher still take responsibility for managing and directing these things. Relationships are the most important part of this plan. Teachers need to build strong bonds with their students and their students parents through communication and trust. Teachers must model the behaviours they want their students to exhibit. This will subconsciously cause children to use the behaviours and will build better relationships with their students. These relationships themselves will eliminate many disciplinary problems. Behaviour is always motivated by a desire to fulfill needs. Teachers should be aware of what needs the student is trying to meet by acting in a particular way however, they should not point this out to students. Showing students that their behaviour is only a response to a need may cause the student to believe that the behaviour is therefore acceptable and they may use this as an excuse for their behaviour. Rewarding children with material things may undermine their intrinsic motivation however rewarding them through praise and encouragement will not. All students possess intrinsic motivation to some extent. They are all inherently good. Teachers should never ignore misbehaviour. Despite the fact that misbehaviour may be an attempt to receive attention, students must be shown that the misbehaviour is unacceptable

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and that it has an immediate consequence. Students must always be treated fairly and with respect. Consequences need to be consistent and obvious. This plan encompasses all my beliefs regarding student behaviour and effective classroom management. I will be implementing this plan in my classroom as soon as I receive my fist job placement. I believe that by following this plan consistently and thoroughly, I will be able to eliminate many disciplinary problems. Those problems that cannot be eliminated, I will be able to deal with in a very efficient and effective manner. The plan will help me to eliminate much time associated with discipline so that I can focus on the most important task which is student learning.