Classroom Management Plan

Classroom Management Plan

“We decide what kind of world we want twenty years from now and we model it under the close scrutiny of tomorrow’s impressionable leaders” (Wormeli, 2003, p. 14).

Introduction

I understand the process of creating a comprehensive classroom management plan is an evolving one, shifting and refining throughout my career as a teacher, educator, and advocate of children.  My classroom experiences consist of teaching at two middle schools in Douglasville, Georgia: Chestnut Log Middle School and Chapel Hill Middle School.  To be expected, these schools are not monolithic in nature and their ideologies are much different, although separated by a few miles.  Both schools have showcased points I wish to implement in the classroom and others which I plan to eschew.  My father always professed, “Learning what you don’t want to do is important as learning what to do.”  I take those words with me every day.

For this plan I will focus on the “best practices” of what I have learned at Chapel Hill Middle School under the tutelage of my mentor teacher, Galen Droke, and from my time spent in the M.A.T. program at Georgia State University.  Here are several highlights listed below:

• Set classroom expectations on the first day and be sure the students are 100% certain of the respective roles of teacher and student.
• Create a safe environment for all students.  They are going through much change –physically, emotional, and sometimes, geographically- and students need to know they are safe from “dangers seen and unseen” in a school setting.
• Know students’ names.  It is simple but very effective and powerful with students of any age.
• Discipline is more than an office referral; it involves correcting the “little things” –tucking in shirts, talking out of turn, and chewing gum- before they turn into bigger issues.
• Time management is essential!  Pacing the day and the unit are critical for smooth delivery and timely transition between topics and content areas.
• Do what you say you are going to do.  This involves everything from finding an answer to a question to administering rewards/consequences for a student’s actions.
• Keep the kids in the classroom for instruction time.  Sending students who are off-task to the office may contribute to their goal of being away from class and undermine your authority in the process.
• Be considerate, be available, and be approachable to students.  How will effective learning and understanding be facilitated otherwise?
• Use humor in the classroom.  I tell the students that I am “corny” and they have come to expect campy, but tasteful jokes and a somewhat comical vantage point that makes content relevant to them.

Student-Teacher Involvement

“The most effective classes are those where the students are self-disciplined, self-motivated, and self-responsible learners” (Wong & Wong, 1998, p. 12).

Authors Vern and Louise Jones (2010) in their book, Comprehensive Classroom Management: Creating Commitments of Support and Solving Problems, refer to the three contracts between children and adults as espoused by David Elkind: “(1) responsibility-freedom, (2) achievement-support, and (3) loyalty-commitment” (p. 36).  Developing a rapport with students is essential to classroom management.  Students have to know that you care about them and witnessing students’ enthusiasm and readiness to learn is vital for a symbiotic motivation to occur throughout the year.  These three contracts can be condensed by stating that teachers and students need to respect the time and effort of each other in the classroom.  Teachers and students are similar to a coach wanting to win the championship.  It requires great coaching and equal buy-in and effort from the players as well.

Responsibility-Freedom Contract

This contract allows for teachers to monitor the development of the student in terms of how they comprehended and exhibited what they have learned.  The goal is not to give the students the answer but to help scaffold them towards it.  Creating, in Lev Vygotsky’s terms, a Zone of Proximal Development where the student is expected to make their best effort and the teacher is in the classroom to provide assistance.  Giving students enough of a push and pleasantly not answering their question with the exact answer when students expect you to give it to them is the desired balance.  As Jones and Jones (2010) states, “Violation of the responsibility-freedom contract occurs when adults fail to reward responsibility with freedom” (p. 39).  Students must venture out of the nest and discover the world of learning on their own with teachers acting as guides.

Achievement-Support Contract

Providing age-appropriate materials to support the students undergirds this contract.  These students are in middle school and they do not need to be insulted by using references that appear childish to them nor be intimidated by items that are clearly above their grasp.  Technology is an important component because it allows students to access computers, smart phones, and other devices they already use for recreation in an educational context for learning new content.  The teacher’s role is to provide the outlets for those students who may not have access to this technology.  We let our students down –and potentially insult their home environment- by assuming they have a computer or Internet access.  Incorporating computer lab days and Promethean Board activities can lessen the feelings of inadequacy some students may be encountering.  Violation of this contract, according to Jones and Jones (2010), occurs when “adults do not provide adequate support for students’ achievement” (p. 39).  As teachers, we need to be available to our students and provide materials they may not otherwise have access to away from school.

Loyalty-Commitment Contract

This contract may be the most difficult to measure because middle school students can appear apathetic or indifferent due to physiological changes and their personal struggles with self-esteem, self-awareness, and their position in their peer group.  Finding ways to make learning enjoyable requires patience and accepting honest student feedback.  If students are not responding to lectures and excessive note taking, alter the course.  Quite frankly, I do not know of a time at any grade level where I enjoyed this style of classroom instruction.  One reason I chose teaching as a profession was to take my passion for social studies, reading, and language arts and make the classroom interactive and fun.  The stuffy, rigid classrooms of yesteryear need to remain there.  Teachers must stay the course and keep trying new tactics to make learning interactive and relevant to students.  If we are truthful with ourselves, we know when a lesson plan really propels the students or puts them to sleep.  It is not our job to punish the students for not respecting our time and energy when it could have been better spent constructing a lesson plan where the student and teacher mutually enjoyed the experience.

A Day in Mr. Moss’s Classroom

“Your very first priority when the class starts is to get the students to work” (Wong & Wong, 1998, p. 121).

Introduction

Students will be greeted at the door by name.  Using the pronoun “you” or calling towards them with “hey” is nowhere near as impactful.  The warm-up activity will be on the Promethean Board (referred to as the “Board” from hereafter) in the form of a definition to write down relating to the content of student for the day.  As students pile into the classroom at varying times before the bell rings, they are expected to take their seats and begin work.  The seating chart has been constructed to accommodate learners who may have trouble seeing the Board as well as those students who easily become off-task with certain peers.  This is a trial-and-error process as the school year unfolds and apt to change at any moment.  If students become of-task in class, they know they may be asked to move or exchange seats with another student.  This move may or may not be permanent.  Roaming around the classroom socializing with their peers is unacceptable.  Once you enter the classroom, it is time to take your seat and “get busy” –I phrase I use often to refocus the youth- with the instructions on the Board.

Students know they are supposed to come to class prepared with the appropriate supplies.  I will have a sign-out sheet for materials to alleviate any inconvenience and distraction this may cause at the beginning of class.  Now is the time to ask for materials, not 10-15 minutes after class has started.  The agenda for the day is mapped out so they know what to expect from class for that specific period.  Now is the time to blow your nose and use the bathroom, if necessary.  I stress the importance of using the restroom before class begins during class transitions.  However, I am sensitive to students who must use the restroom during class because I had a second grade teacher that did not let me use the bathroom in class.  Shortly after her refusal, I vomited on the floor.  Nature calls and not always at a convenient time.  Simply putting one’s hand up is all that is required.

Content Facilitation

This timeframe constitutes the largest portion of the class.  This may involve me giving a brief lecture from a PowerPoint, having students work on an in-class assignment, doing a gallery walk (interactive learning) in the hallway, and/or going to the computer lab.  I try to make the classroom as enjoyable as possible, although I do realize that lectures and taking notes is a necessary part of school.  Keeping this in mind, I make the greatest attempt to keep this to a minimum.

Students enjoy working together with a partner, but I am conscious of making sure that both students are contributing to the work.  I am on the move and mobile in the classroom making sure students are working and talking about material relevant to the assignment.  Students are gently redirected to get back on-task if necessary.  If the talking becomes a problem, I remind them that they may to work individually instead.  Most of the students respond to this prompt and resume their work.  If certain students remain off-task, I do not single them out, but I tell the entire class to get their agendas out.  They know this is when Mr. Moss is done with simple redirection and consequences may be incurred if certain behaviors –talking or getting up without permission- continue.  Also, I will have an “agreed upon sound,” as Jones and Jones (2010) suggest, to help guide the class back on task if too many students are distracted or off-task (p. 293). Silent lunches may be given out to those perpetuators of off-task behavior.  I make all attempts to be the facilitator of consequences.  I understand by passing the problem along to the assistant principal that I undermine my authority.  In addition, it is important for the other students to see that I am not reluctant or fearful in administering consequences.  Equally essential, I will explain to the student why I gave a certain consequence after class and my I-message with state that “I need you to be on your A-game tomorrow and that I expect your usual model of appropriate behavior in class.”

End of Class

I appreciate instruction that is begins before the bell and concludes at my prompting.  Students will work on assignments until the last few minutes of class.  This time allows for me to do a brief Q&A with them and determine what aspects of the material were unfamiliar to them.  I will cover these areas at the beginning of class tomorrow or a student who has exhibited a certain degree of mastery will come forward to explain the challenging concepts to the class.  Effective use of this conclusion period is asking students what they enjoyed –or did not enjoy- from class and I am able to refine my instruction for subsequent classes that same day or in the days to come.   This time allows for students to sign-in materials and provide an overall debriefing moment for them to transition smoothly to the next period.

Conclusion

“ACTIVE supervision promotes academic achievement and prevents discipline problems” (Morris, 2013).

These words derive from Dr. Jolene Morris, the principal of Chapel Hill Middle School, and the statement is very poignant.  We need to be vigilant and on-task with our students at all times.  We need to be moving around the classroom to gauge students’ progress and monitor any potential issues that may be bubbling just beneath the surface.  Supervision is paramount in any teacher’s classroom management plan.  We have all seen the movies where a disenchanted teacher is idly sitting behind his/her desk while the students run amok.  It may appear like a gross exaggeration of the truth, but this scenario has been mocked in too many feature films to not have some basis in fact.  I know that I need to expect the most from my students because they expect the best from me.  It is my job to deliver and exceed their expectations if they are to reciprocate and do their absolute best.

References

Jones, V. F., & Jones, L. S. (2001). Comprehensive classroom management: creating communities of support and solving problems / Vernon F. Jones with Louise S. Jones. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, c2001.

Morris, J. (2013). “Classroom management and student discipline: keys to successful classroom experiences.”

Wong, H. K., & Wong, R. T. (1998). The first days of school: how to be an effective teacher / Harry K. Wong, Rosemary T. Wong. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, c1998.

Wormeli, R. (2003). Day one & beyond: practical matters for new middle-level teachers / Rick Wormeli. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers c2003.