Running Head: CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN

Classroom Organization and Management Plan

Alexabelle Paulino

June 4, 2017

SPD 614 Exceptionalities

Instructor: Unoma Comer

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Abstract

Classroom and behavior management is one of the most important parts of running an

effective classroom. Before the school year starts, teachers must plan how they will introduce

rules and procedures, as well as specific behaviors that they plan to teach. Teachers must also be

prepared with reinforcements, consequences, and intervention strategies that they will use to

manage student behavior. Aside from academic learning, students must also be taught life skills

such motivation, social skills, self-regulating techniques, and cultural awareness and tolerance.

In this paper, I will describe how I will specifically address these seven components in my

special education classroom. I will be applying what I have learned in my readings, videos, and

instructional modules to draft up different strategies to use in my classroom.

Keywords: Classroom Management, Behavior Management, Rules and Procedures, Intervention,

Engagement, Motivation, Social Skills, Culturally Responsive Classrooms

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Introduction

Before we start our careers as teachers, we may have an idea of what we want our

classroom to look like and how we want to interact with our students. Some of us may even have

experience working in classrooms and working with students. However, without planning and

the consideration of classroom and behavioral management, the visions may be just that. I will

discuss the rules and procedures I plan to have, behaviors I would like to teach, and my intended

consequences as well as intervention strategies I hope to manage misbehavior. In addition to that,

I will explain the different strategies that I plan to have concerning the engagement and

motivation, social skills, and cultural diversity of my students.

Rules and Procedures

1. Rules

I have learned a lot about how I will need to draft my rules, and how I will need to

present them to my students. Before school starts, I will definitely want to have this list of rules

handy so that I may have ideas when I ask my students to help me create the classroom rules. I

wish to support the students independence and autonomy by allowing students a decision-

making role in terms of classroom management issues (Bloom, 2009, p. 31). By having my

students create the rules with me, I hope to promote a learner-centered classroom which will

hopefully will them to abide by the rules they helped make. The following is the base list of rules

that I plan to have in my future classroom:

1. Listening Bodies I will listen to the teacher

2. Helping Hands I will use my hands for helping and keep them to myself

3. Walking Feet I will walk in school to be safe

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4. Quiet Mouth I will use a soft voice

5. Caring Hearts I will use kind words

Another thing that is important is having clear, concise, and measureable rules so that

there is no confusion as to what my expectations are for the classroom. In addition, our IRIS

module on creating a comprehensive behavior plan, they stated that rules should be stated

in positive terms rather than negative terms (IRIS Center, 2012). I believe that this is an

essential part of promoting a positive learning environment, and shows the students how they are

expected to behave as opposed to how they shouldnt.

When I begin creating these rules with my students at the beginning of the year, I will

also be very sure to explain each rule very thoroughly. After explaining, I will model what

following the rules looks like, and ask my students to help model them as well. For example, to

model Listening Bodies, I will keep quiet for several seconds, explain that I am being quiet

and using my ears to listen to directions, and then ask my students to do the same. After my

students mimic my actions, I will be sure to give a lot of enthusiastic praise to reinforce their

behaviors. I also plan to encourage my students to follow my rules primarily through praise and

reinforcement. However, if absolutely necessary, I will respond to rule-breaking with set

consequences. A great point that Lori Jackman pointed out how useful it was to post the rules so

that she could touch and point to that poster to remind them of what theyre doing right [or]

what it is that they should start to do so that they can get back on track (IRIS Center, 2012).

2. Procedures

In addition to rules, I will want to have a plan of certain procedures that I expect my

students to learn and follow throughout the year. Working in special education classrooms, I
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know that many of my procedures will be centered around the transitions that my students will

experience throughout the day. I believe that misbehaviors are more likely to occur during

sloppy transitions either because they were distracted, or arent sure what they are supposed to

do next. By creating clear procedures on how to transition throughout the day, I hope that the

class will run more smoothly, and that the time is dedicated more to learning than redirecting.

Just like my rules, I will want to make sure that they are explained and understood beginning on

the first day of school. I will elaborate on the following procedures that I will implement in my

classroom:

1. Checking Daily Schedules

2. Transitions During Centers

3. Leaving the Room

4. End-of-the-Day Routine

The daily schedules that I will have posted on the wall will be checked at the beginning

of the day so that they will know what to expect for the day. Schedules will also be visited

between every transition. After an activity is finishedsuch as breakfast, centers, or recessthe

students will walk over to their schedules, rip off the Velcro icon, and transfer it to the All

Done envelope at the bottom of their schedule. Then, students will see what is next on the

schedule and will transition accordingly.

For center transitions, I will explain to my students how long centers will be as well as

how many times we will rotate for the duration of the centers. I would also show my students

what the sound of the timer sounds like, and explain that when they hear that sound, it is time to

rotate. My students will clean up their area, and the transition to the next table where they will

begin the next activity.

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If on their schedule, they see that it is time to leave the room, I will show them how they

should line up at the door. I will have a duct tape line on the floor with visual indicators that

show where they should put their feet in order to allow personal space for each other. Students

will be taught to line up calmly and quietly with their bodies facing forward. Once they are quiet,

I will ask the class where we are going, they will respond with what they saw on their schedules,

and I will open the door for the class to leave.

At the end of the day, after praising them for their good work or telling them what we

couldve done better, I will have them walk their chairs to a designate are where they will need

to stack them. Then they will go to their cubbies to retrieve returned work and notes to their

parents. After lining up, they will go outside, but their papers in their backpack, and line up on

the line outside to show me they are ready to go home.

Just like the rules, it is important that I explain my expectations for these procedures very

clearly, have my students rehearse the procedures, and reinforce the students for following the

procedures correctly (Wong). By making sure that my students understand these procedures

completely, I hope to decrease the probability of misbehavior od the classroom. The

reinforcements and consequences that I give out will relate directly to my students ability to

follow the rules and procedures of the classroom.

Specific Behaviors to Teach

I believe that in addition to giving the students the knowledge, we must also focus on

building the student to be a well-rounded individual. I have learned that the Circle of Courage

effectively defines the basic human needs that the students learn through the interactions
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between their teachers and peers. These four central values that I would like to center my

teachings around include belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity.

To promote belonging, I would like to have a time for community circle where the

student is able to tell us anything that they would like to share to the class. This includes

something that happened, how their feeling, what they would like to do today, etc. Students will

be allowed to comment positively, and I will also comment to show interest in my students and

provide encouragement. An important thing that I would want to teach during this time is how

we show respect for our peers by responding with positive and nice words, and keeping quiet

while someone is sharing. By having community circle, we can allow ourselves and our students

to get to know each student as a unique individual, to value students experiences, and to

nurture their dignity (Bloom, 2009, p. 131).

To promote mastery, I would make sure that my students are always listening during

lessons, following the rules and procedures, and doing their best work. Praise will be given very

often so that the students have the confidence to want to learn. I would want to work with the

students to set realistic goals, see what they do well in, and find what they could improve in. I

will also elaborate more on how to motivate my students in a later section.

To promote independence, I would love to incorporate a job system where my students

have rotating jobs every day. For example, I could have one student be in charge of reporting our

weather, one student be the line leader for the day, and one student erase the boards at the end of

the day. According to our text, in order to provide an orderly classroom community, each

learner must share in the responsibility of maintaining the room (Bloom, 2009, p. 149). My

students will be taught to complete their jobs and chores as they are assigned to them.
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To promote generosity, I would definitely promote kind interactions between my students

as well as students from other classrooms. For example, I would love to see what students got

along with my students and invite them to the classroom for fun activities or to help my students

with work. My students will be taught to help their classmates as well as thank others for their

help. This will promote caring between the students and will make sure to communicate acts of

generosity. I will refer to my Helping Hands and Caring Hearts rules in order to teach

generosity in the classroom, and explain how we always need to help others and use kind words.

Consequences and Reinforcements

In my elementary school classroom, I hope to focus mostly on positive reinforcements

that are given for good behaviors. The way that I hope to implement this is through a token

economy board. I would like to have plastic dimes in the classroom that are given to student who

complete their work during centers or exhibit exemplary behavior. I will have Dime Charts

where different rewards are given at the 50-cent mark and the dollar mark. At 5 dimes, the

student will receive a 3-minute break to use play with sensory toys, use the sensory swing, play

with iPads, etc. At 10 dimes, they will receive a 5-minute break as well as a class dollar. At the

end of each week, students will trade the dollars that they earned throughout the week for

goodies that I will have available to them. I would also love to try a group reinforcement system

in which my students can work towards watching a movie at the end of the week. I would have 5

boxes on the board to represent each day, and depending on how I thought the class did, I would

give a star. I would use this system as a reminder to my students by saying Remember if we

want to watch a movie on Friday, we need to remember to follow the rules and do our best
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work. If by the end of the week, my class earned a star for each day, I would make sure to

clearly praise them on a good week, and follow through with my reward.

When using consequences to respond to undesired behavior, I definitely want to shy

away from punitive techniques since they can actually increase negative behavior and provoke

noncompliance, aggression, and/or escape and avoidance (Bloom, 2009, p. 201). However, I

know that sometimes it will have to be done so I would definitely come up with a hierarchy of

negative consequences that will range from least-intrusive to most-intrusive. For example, for the

first act of misbehavior that I encounter, I would start with nonverbal cues such as moving closer

to the student, or eye-contact to stop the behavior. If I wasnt noticed then, then I would give a

general class reminder. For example, if a student was talking during a lesson, I would respond by

saying Remember class, we need to keep quiet and use our listening ears so we can learn. If

the behavior continues, I would then make an individual reminder, making sure that I keep my

voice soft, but firm.

After the third repetition of the same misbehavior, I would then modify the environment

depending on the misbehavior. For example, if a student was constantly talking to another

student even after a few reminders, I would then move the student to prevent the behavior from

continuing. If at that point the student continues to misbehave, I would then resort to a negative

consequence such as losing 5-minutes from a desired activity such as free-time or computer-

time. A positive consequence that I would give would be writing an apology letter to the teacher

explaining what they did wrong. The most intrusive consequence that I would give would be

parental contact at the end of the day to explain what happened. I do not believe that the students

I will be working with will benefit or learn their lesson from being sent to the office, so I do not

believe that will be part of my negative consequence hierarchy. The most important thing is that
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I communicate with the child after giving consequences to make sure he or she is clear on why

they received it. I would want to talk to them to see if we can come up with a solution or

compromise to counter the misbehavior. I believe that working with the student and giving them

choices on how we should handle the misbehavior creates a better response. I would also make it

a point to tell the student at the end of the day that tomorrow is a new day and they can make the

choice to start fresh and have a better day.

I do plan on working with moderate-severe disabilities meaning that I may come across

extreme behaviors that could be dangerous for other students such as throwing objects, or

showing acts of aggression. In this case, I would want to remove the student from the class, or

vice versa, so that he or she may calm down. In this case, I would have a crisis plan ready where

I might keep the student inside while the rest of the class goes outside to play. The plan would

also specify who will be called for assistance if needed, and that once the crisis is done the

students will return to the room and parents will be notified.

Intervention Strategies

In the case of reoccurring misbehaviors, I will want to have intervention strategies

planned and ready to implement. When considering intervention strategies that I will use to

address out-of-control behaviors, I first want to consider how I can prevent these behaviors in the

first place. I would consider the acting out cycle and remember the steps in which I may be able

to interrupt the cycle before it gets out of hand: triggers, agitation, and acceleration (IRIS Center,

2005). The first step is being able to recognize what these stages look like in my childmeaning

that I will need to take the time to get to know each of my students and what triggers them into

their own acting out cycle. I will do this in my classroom by observing using ABC analysis
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charts to figure out what the antecedent was for their behavior was, this figuring out their

triggers.

From my experience in the classroom, I believe that the student misbehavior is most

often triggered by negative interaction with a teacher, a change in routine, and confusing or

overwhelming work. I will do my best to keep up positive interactions with my students by

keeping calm when talking to them, and making sure to reasonable when a firm voice is needed.

In regards to a change of routine, I will want to make sure that an out-of-the-ordinary event is

reflected on my students daily schedules, and clearly explained to them before the event. For

example, if there is to be an assembly with the school, I will want to make sure that I explain that

there will be an assembly while referring to their daily schedules and clearly expressing what my

expectations are, and what modifications we can have to make the change easier for some

students. Lastly, I will want to remember to assess my students accordingly in regard to their

academic so that I may have a clear understanding of the kind of work they are able to do, as

well as their preferred learning styles. By doing this, I will be able to recognize whether a student

is having a hard time with a certain assignment, and what we can do to make it more doable.

Understanding students triggers are important to decreasing the probability of misbehaviors

occurring in the first place.

When misbehaviors do occur, I would first want to take data on the behaviors in several

ways. First off, I would approach the behavior by considering a functional behavioral assessment

in order to understand the reasons for a students behavior and then to use this information to

design an intervention (IRIS Center, 2009). I would do this by observing the child, conducting

an ABC analysis, and figure out how the students responds to certain consequences. For

example, if I notice that a student is often calling out in class while students are laughing at his
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comments and I am addressing to him, he might be attention-seeking. Then, after finding out the

function of his behavior, I would change the way I respond to his comments, as well as use

differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO) to reinforce him when he makes an

acceptable comment during class. When I use intervention strategies such as differential

reinforcement, I will make sure that they are consistent to my reinforcement plan of the token

economy board and much praise is given to the child. I would also make sure that I do not

reinforce the problem behavior and ignore the student when he is making rude comments during

class. I have to remember that the occurrence of the misbehavior might increase in attempt to

gain attention, but should still be ignored.

Student Engagement and Motivational Strategies

I plan to promote student engagement and motivation in many ways including

incorporating students interest into my lessons, offering choices to my students, and tracking my

students progress regularly.

Firstly, I would want to make the time to get to know my students interests so that I may

be able to incorporate them into my lessons to increase their engagement. The way I would do

this is by actively listening to my students during the community circle time, and having

meaningful conversations with them during down time. Another fun way I could do this is by

having a center dedicated to journal entries in which my students are to answer question such as

What is your favorite cartoon character? or What is your favorite animal? Not only does this

help me gain insight to my students interest, I am able to provide writing practice for my

students.
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Secondly, I would regularly make sure that choices are offered to my students. I know

that often times, students can exhibit moments of non-compliance because the work is too hard

or confusing. In this case, I might provide accommodations or modifications for the student and

offer them a choice between two assignments that ultimately have the same learning objectives,

but are presented in different teaching styles. For example, for a math center, I might have a

student choose between doing calculator practice, or doing an interactive lesson on the iPad.

According to the expectance-value theory, by allowing the student to have a choice in the

learning, we provide them motivation through the learners belief in his or her ability to achieve

a task and its perceived value (Bloom, 2009, p.178).

Lastly, I would definitely want to track and discuss my students progress with them. By

communicating to the student that they are doing well in a subject, or showing them that I

appreciate the hard work they have been doing, I will provide a positive learning environment

that promotes the students desire to learn. This supports the goal theory which states that

learners will more likely repeat academic responses that result in positive consequences

(Bloom, 2009, p.178). If I see that they are not doing as well as I hope, I will want to talk to the

student to discuss way that they might think will help them do better and use that information to

help create goals that they can work towards. I base this strategy from the goal theory that states

that students with a learning goal tend to have higher motivation (Bloom 2009, p. 179). By

helping the students figure out their own goals, the expectations are clear and their confidence is

boosted. I will keep in mind that creating goals with my students can be tough for some cases,

and I this strategy might prove to be ineffective with lower-functioning students.

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Social skills and self-regulating strategies

1. Social Skills

Working as an instructional aide in an autism classroom for the past 2 years, I have been

completely aware of the importance of teaching social skills to my students. With this

experience, I will make sure that I continuously teach my students appropriate social skills

through modeling, incorporating it into lessons, and social stories.

I believe that the most important way to teach social skills is by showing them directly

what correct greetings and interactions look like, while at the same time explaining and

reinforcing the behavior. For example, if I notice a student talking to someone with their back

turned, I would then say Remember we turn our faces and look at friends when we are talking

to them, while modeling with my own body, and then using physical prompts if necessary. Then

I will praise them for correcting their behavior. I will also make sure to occasionally come out

for recess to observe the interactions between my students and the general education students on

the playground. Often times, there might be time where my student may want to play with

another student, but might just stand there without saying anything or get too deep into another

persons personal. At this point, I would approach the other student and say Hi, my name is Ms.

Paulino, whats your name? and encourage my student to also introduce themselves in an

appropriate manner.

I would also like to incorporate social skills into my lessons. One example that I observed

during my observations might be using the morning circle time to take attendance by

approaching each student with a handshake and having them shake my hand and Good morning

Ms. Paulino, I am here today. Like I mentioned above, it is important that I praise good

interactions, and clearly explain my expectations during the activity by saying Remember, when
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we shake someones hand, we look at part of their face and speak clearly so they can here.

Another way that I might incorporate social skills into my lessons is by having reverse inclusion

where general education students can come into the class during fun activity times such as board

game centers or cooking class. Having students come in during game time, I can encourage and

teach appropriate turn-taking skills as well as good sportsmanship through friendly competition.

During cooking class, I might help in conversation-making through discussion about whether

they liked the recipe. I believe that reverse-inclusion is a great way to encourage good

relationships between special education and general educations students.

Lastly, I would definitely incorporate the use of social stories, a behavioral intervention

[used] to improve childrens social skills through combination of visual and verbal cues

(Ohara, 2010). The great thing about social stories is that is gives students a clearer and relatable

understanding of how to respond in certain situations by simplifying and illustrating them.

Another important thing that I may have to consider is the different social incompetence that my

students may have: social avoidance, social indifference, and social awkwardness. Each of these

usually correlate with the functionality of my student. By evaluating which my student has, I will

be able to find an appropriate social story that can teach them conversation skills, sportsmanship,

joining-in behavior, etc.

2. Self-Regulating Behaviors

In order to teach self-regulating behaviors, I would make sure to have a reminder chart for

students who often have a hard time. For example, I might have a student who gets aggressive

when he is frustrated. On his reminder chart, I might have the flowing reminders for when he is

feeling frustrated: I can count to 10, I can take deep breaths, and I can ask for a break. It is

important that if I am allowing breaks for when a student is frustrated that I limit the number of
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times this can occur in a day. For example, I may have 3 boxes on his chart where the student

puts a check in the box each time he needs to have a break. These reminder charts may also have

illustrations to make them easier to understand.

Another self-regulating technique that I learned from watching a video from the Teaching

Channel was allowing students to rate how they believed they behaved and performed during

center time, or group work time. In the video, Mr. Berger has his kindergarten student color in

which ever face they thing represents their behavior, with a happy face being good behavior, a

straight-line face being okay behavior, and a sad face being that the student could have done

better (Teaching Channel, 2011).

Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Strategies

I believe that being in such a diverse community and world, it is very important to

celebrate diversity and encourage tolerance. I really like to emphasize the idea of cultural

diversity in my classroom. One way that I would do this is by having a section in my library that

was dedicated to having culturally diverse books. During story time, I would read one of these

books and then try to have a discussion with my students to see what they learned about the

culture and what they thought was cool as well as how it may different from their own culture.

Another great way that I would love to celebrate the diversity in my classroom is by

having an About my Culture poster to be made by each of my students with the help of their

parents or myself. I might have an example poster that I made that has my own Filipino-

American culture. Items that might be included on the poster might be a picture of my flags and

my countries, favorite foods, cultural clothing, and certain phrases that students can learn like

Hello or I Love you. I would then love to have these posters on the wall to make sure that
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my students feel proud of their culture and are aware of the many cultures that could be present

in the classroom.

Lastly, I would make sure that I approach my class with the understanding that my

students will come from different cultures and may exhibit certain behaviors that I might find

inappropriate. For example, in a video about culturally responsive instruction (Azziz, 2011),

mentioned that black students may exhibit back-channeling, vocal responses during a story to let

the speaker know that they are listening. If you are not aware of what back-channeling is, one

might think of it as a deliberate act of disruption and respond with a negative consequence. I will

try to take the time to learn more about different cultures so that I can be more aware of how to

approach and respond to my students.

Summary and Reflection

I was able to cover many different components of how I would like to set up my own

Special Education classroom. Like I said before, creating plans for the school year is one of the

most important parts to having a successful classroom. By being prepared with rules and

procedures that I will introduce to my students and how I will respond using reinforcements and

consequences, I will be able to give clear expectations to my students and decrease the likelihood

of misbehavior in my classroom. I will also be prepared with intervention strategies that I will

most likely have to use when working in my special education class. On top of this, I will have

certain strategies that will allow me to work on my student as a whole human being including

motivation, social skills, self-regulation, and cultural responsive instruction.

I am really thankful to have done this assignment because it really made me think of the

specific ways that I will run and set-up my classroom. It is one thing to read about strategies and
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theories in my readings, but it is a whole other thing to be able to apply this to my classroom. I

have been able to use what I have learned in this class, and apply them to my actions in the

classroom that I currently work in. I hope that by having these plans that I will be able to be an

efficient and effective teach to my future students.

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References

Azzi, R. (2011). What is Culturally Responsive Instruction? Virtuoso Education Consulting,

LLC.

Bloom, L. (2009). Classroom Management: Creating Positive Outcomes for All Students. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

The IRIS Center for Training Enhancements. (2012). Classroom management (Part 2): Developing

your own comprehensive behavior management plan. Retrieved on [May 10, 2017] from

http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/beh2/

The IRIS Center. (2005). Addressing disruptive and noncompliant behaviors (part 1):

Understanding the acting-out cycle. Retrieved on [May 24, 2017] from

https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/bi1/

The IRIS Center. (2005). Addressing disruptive and noncompliant behaviors (part 2): Behavioral

interventions. Retrieved on [May 24, 2017] from

https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/bi2/

Ohara, M. (2010). Using Social Stories to Teach Social Skills: A Professionals Guide.

Retrieved on [June 3, 2017] from http://www.sbbh.pitt.edu/

Teaching Channel (Producer). (2012). Classroom Management During Centers [Video file].

Retrieved on [June 1, 2017] from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/classroom-

management-during-centers

Wong, H. W. (n.d). The well-managed-classroom. Retrieved on [May 10, 2017] from

http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_sc/gen/HSTPR034.PDF