My Classroom Management

Plan
By:
Melissa Callahan

My Ideal Job
Ideally, after graduation I would prefer to teach
somewhere similar to an elementary school I
went to. This would mean a small diverse school
in a close, tight knit community. After being in
the field placement I was in this semester, I
would really enjoy teaching a second grade
class. I think they are at the age of
independence. You can instill a great amount of
independence on them and receive a positive
outcome with a good amount of classroom
management skills

Physical Design
Elements of Steeles
Framework:
1) Social Contact
2) Pleasure
3) Shelter & Security

Social Contact
For the physical design of the classroom, I decided that I
would have students sit in groups. I think it is important that
the students can interact with each other throughout the day.
Personally for me, it is easier to monitor students who are in
groups then it is to monitor individual children. Part of
Steeles Framework explains one element as Social Contact.
A part of the Social Contact aspect is that students are
capable of interacting. I want my students to be interacting
throughout the day so they are receiving that social contact
they need. When students are placed in groups, I can easily
walk around to each group and interact with all the students.
If students were in individual desks in rows, I would have
more difficulty getting to every student. I think that
relationships in a classroom are one of the most important
aspects of being a class and by having students in groups, I
am creating a platform for those relationships to form.

Pleasure
A second part of Steeles Framework that
is incorporated into my classroom is the
pleasure aspect. I want to have a class pet
in my classroom. Not only does it create a
measure of responsibility for the students
in my class, but they really enjoy animals
in the room. If students are happy and they
feel safe, they are more likely to take risks
with their learning.

Shelter & Security

Lastly, I incorporated the Security
and Shelter portion of Steeles Framework.
I created a small space in the back of the
room with a rug and shelves filled with
library books for students to feel that they
can do their work or read interrupted. I
think that this small space creates privacy
for students as well. I want to incorporate
as many aspects of this framework as
possible so I can create a successful
classroom that students feel comfortable in
and want to learn in.

Rules
Some of the best practices for
developing classroom rules I would
incorporate into my classroom are :
1)
2)
3)
4)

Have 4-6 classroom rules

Write the rules using positive
language
Teach and demonstrate each
rule
Post the rules in a prominent
spot

Rules
On the first day of school in my class, I would like to establish a few rules that are easy for the students to
remember. It is important to think about how many rules you want and the kind of rules you want in place. Too many
rules are difficult for students to remember, but not enough rules can create chaos in the classroom. You should also
make sure that when creating your rules, they are positive. I want to create a classroom where students feel
comfortable so I want my rules to be positive, (e.g. instead of dont run, create the rule, we walk) and I want to have a
few rules that are umbrella terms and can cover more than just one specific action (e.g. the rule be respectful can
mean to listen when others are talking, dont touch things that arent yours, keep your hands and feet to yourself,
etc). By having a few of these, you can incorporate many meanings to your rules that are easy for your students to
remember. I want my rules to be student/teacher generated. Students need to feel that their opinions are important
and that they have a voice in the classroom. An important aspect of my classroom that I want to have in my
classroom starting the first day of school is positivity. I want that to be part of my rules. When I ask students for their
opinion, more likely than not they will tell me rules such as,Dont run Dont touch things that are not yours Dont
be mean, etc, but I feel that it is my job to show students that we should make rules such as Walk Be Respectful
and Be Kind because that creates the positivity in the room that I want for my students. I want to have no less than
four rules but no more than six. Each rule will be modeled for students to avoid any misunderstanding of what each
rule may mean. After each rule is modeled, I will hang the rules in an open spot in the room so that if they ever forget
any of the rules, they can always look up and see them.

Routines
There are three separate types of
routines used in classrooms:
1) Movement Routines
2) General Routines/Procedures
3) Lesson Running Routines

Movement Routines
Movement routines are routines that involve when
students are moving. For example, I plan on having
routines for students arriving to school in the
morning, using the bathroom, and sharpening pencils.
The purpose of most routines is to prevent chaos
from occurring in the classroom as you attempt to
teach your students during the day. These are the
routines I plan on using when I have my own
classroom.

1)

2)

3)

Arriving to School in the Morning: From the beginning of the

school year until the end, I want students to know that they
will always have something to do. If students have too much
free time, the chances of misbehavior occurring will
increase. That being said, when the students first arrive, I
will always say hello to them, then they will walk in and grab
some hand sanitizer. They will mark themselves as present
for attendance, put their belongings away, and finish any
work that may owe or that is incomplete.
Using the Bathroom: Bathroom breaks are a very common
part of the elementary school day. This can become very
disruptive if not dealt with correctly. That being said, I plan
on showing students the sign language sign for bathroom.
This allows the students to communicate they need to use
the restroom without causing a disruption to the rest of the
class.
Sharpening Pencils: Pencils are the only thing that
elementary school students typically write with. That being
said, pencil sharpening can become disruptive to the lesson
and can become a distraction to others. The routine I will
create for pencil sharpening is that I will have two jars on
each groups desks. One jar will be labeled Sharpened
Pencils and the other labeled Needs to Be Sharpened. By
having these jars I can prevent disruptive behavior from
students

General Routines/
Procedures
1)

2)

Routines that keep the class

running smoothly throughout
the day

The first of the General Routines and Procedures I would incorporate into my classroom is Attendance. I
want my students to always have something to do. Attendance in my classroom will be a way to make sure
that all my students have something to do. I will have a board and students must move their magnetic star to
the here column as a way to mark themselves as being present.
The second of the General Routines and Procedures I will have for students is to feed the class pet. One
student will have the job of feeding the class pet for two weeks at a time. When the two weeks is up, another
student will get the opportunity to be feed the pet. I will have the students feed the pet when they first come
in in the morning and before they leave in the afternoon to make sure that the pet is fed at least twice a day.

Some of the lesson running routines that will be

incorporated into my classroom are:
1)

2)

3)

Collecting, Recording and Returning Homework: I want to

create mailboxes for each student in my classroom. When
homework is completed, students will place their work in a
basket that I will look at every day and grade. When their
work is graded, I will record which students have completed
what assignments in a grading book. I will return the work
to each students mailbox after it is graded. This allows me
to give back all paperwork at once and not worry about
other students being concerned with others grades or
progress.
Distributing Materials: When we are doing projects that
need materials to be distributed, I will have two students
have Material Distributor jobs. When materials need to be
passed out, each of these students will grab material and
pass it out to each student to avoid the chaos of all students
getting up at once.
What to Do When An Assignment is Completed: There is
always something for students to do. When a student
finishes an assignment, they must first check over their
assignment to look for mistakes. After they check for
mistakes they will put their work in the basket for grading.
They will continue to do unfinished work. If they have
completed everything, students must read quietly until it is
time to move on to the next subject.

Lesson Running
Routines
These routines are created to
make sure that teaching can
take place and that students
can continue to learn

Developing Caring
Relationships
There are three ways to build
caring relationships among
students:
1) Showing students you care
2) Fostering a sense of
community
3) Foster relationships with
your students parents

Showing Students You Care About Them

There are many different ways to show students you care about them.
Three of the ones I feel are most important are be a realperson, not
just a teacher, to take a personal interest in each student, and to greet
students at the door. You can show students that you are a real person
by sharing with them some personal information about yourself such
as if you have siblings, your pets, your favorite animals, your favorite
color, anything that tells your students about you. Taking a personal
interest in each of your students could be something as simple as
complimenting a student's dress, talking to them about classes they are
taking or sports they are playing. Greeting students at the door is one
of the simplest ways to show them that you care about them. Each day I
want to learn to say good morning in a different language and each day
that they come in, I will tell them good morning in a new language.

Fostering a Sense of Community

I plan to foster a sense of community among
my students by doing Get to know you
activities, team building activities, and by
finding ways to incorporate the different
cultures throughout the classroom. These are
important aspects of the sense of community
because it build trust, respect, and
appreciation of diversity among my students.

Fostering Relationships With Parents

One point I try to remember when it comes to
parents is that their children are their stars. Each
student of mine is the pride and joy of their parents. I
believe that there are a few ways to foster
relationships with parents. Some of the ways are to
Invite parents to help with classroom activities, Utilize
positive notes, phone calls and emails, and to send
home progress notes. Parents play a crucial role in
the lives of our students so we want them to be as
involved as possible. If we invite parents into our
classroom, we are allowing the parents to see how we
are with their children throughout the day. They get
to see what the classroom looks like and what their
child is learning during the day. This allows parents to
build their trust with us.

Discipline
There are three types of misbehaviors that
cause discipline. They are minor misbehavior,
chronic misbehavior, and more serious
misbehavior.

Minor Misbehavior
Minor misbehavior is a behavior such as a
student talking to another student, a student
cleaning out their desk while you are talking,
daydreaming etc. It can cause a disruption,
but it is not a constant everyday problem. In
my classroom, minor misbehavior will be
addressed by proximity (walking closer to the
disruptive student), ignoring the child, Imessages, and looking at the student. Each of
these can draw a student back to the task at
hand without creating too much of a
distraction to other students.

More Serious Misbehavior

Dealing with more serious misbehavior is a part of
teaching you must be prepared for. It is important to
have the consequences planned ahead of time, to
make the punishment related to the behavior, and to
reestablish a positive relationship with the student.
More serious misbehaviors could include hitting
another child, cheating on your work, leaving the
room without telling the teacher, lying to a teacher,
etc. In my classroom, these misbehaviors will be
handled by giving the student a verbal warning
(unless child does something VERY serious such as hit
another child), if the behavior continues, I will send a
note home. The third consequence would be to call
the students parents, and lastly the student would be
sent down to the principals office.

Chronic Misbehavior
Chronic misbehavior with students is when a student
is constantly doing an inappropriate behavior. These
types of misbehaviors include constantly calling out,
constantly talking to other students, constantly
disrupting the teacher. These misbehaviors will be
dealt with in my classroom by getting together with
the student to figure out the problem, come up with
solutions to the problem, evaluate each solution, and
determine the best solution the child could try to
eliminate the misbehavior.