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My Classroom Management

PlanMandi Nelson

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PLAN

Abstract

I believe that building trusting relationships, grouping students purposefully, keeping

students on task, creating rules and procedures, encouraging students to take responsibility of

their learning, and staying consistent with students are some of the most important classroom

management strategies. My goal is to create a safe, engaging learning environment where my

students will feel welcome and cared about.

Classroom Management Plan

Building Trusting Relationships

Fay and Funk (1995) explained that the key to successful teaching is creating a positive

relationship with students (pg. 20). To build trusting relationships with my students, I will use

Wong’s (2014) strategy of welcoming students and greeting them at the door when they enter my

room. It is also a great way to show students that I really care about them and it provides an

opportunity for me to connect with my students (pg. 53).

I am also going to take interest in my students’ personal lives to help foster trusting

relationships. I will take time to listen to them so I can get to know them better. My practicum

one teacher, Mrs. Perrin, has many strategies she uses to build trusting relationships with her

students, but one of my favorite strategies she uses occurs every Monday morning (or the first

day the students return back to school from a break) during morning meeting. She asks her

students to share two things about their weekend so that all of the students are given a fair

opportunity to share what they did over the weekend. If the students do not want to share

anything, they simply say “no news.” By incorporating this strategy into my classroom, I will be

able to get to know my students’ interests better and I will have the opportunity to learn what is

happening in their lives outside of school.

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Another way I am going to build trusting relationships with my students is by having

them write dialogue journals. Mrs. Perrin also showed me this strategy. With dialogue journals,

students are exposed to writing friendly letters addressed to their teacher. They have the

opportunity to ask their teacher questions about his/her personal life. And then, the students

answer the questions their teacher writes back to them in their next letter. This is something I

will incorporate into my classroom because it is a great way for students to practice their writing

and communication skills, but the students will also have the opportunity to form a meaningful

relationship with me.

Group Work

I believe it is important to form relationships with my students, but I also believe that it is

important for my students to form relationships with their peers. This will help create a

community within our classroom and it will help teach students how to work with each other.

While my students are working in groups, I will use a variety of grouping strategies and I will

group them purposefully to encourage a productive learning environment.

I will incorporate a variety of large direct instruction, small direct and indirect

instruction, and independent work for my students. To be efficient during group discussions, I

will have students pair up with their elbow partner. Then I will pose a question and allow my

students to turn to their partners and discuss the content (turn and talks). And finally, I will ask

for volunteers or draw popsicle sticks to ask my students to share the ideas they were discussing

with their partner.

Everette compiled a list of many different grouping strategies on Scholastic’s website and

there are many unique ideas that I am going to incorporate into my future classroom. Sometimes

I may draw popsicle sticks with my students’ names on them, distribute cards that have rhyming

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words and the students would have to find their partner by finding who has a word that rhymes

with theirs, or number students off. Other times I may distribute cards that have music notes on

them and the students would find who has their pair, hand out popsicle sticks that have different

groups of coins on them and the students would have to find who has the same amount of money

that they do (could also do states and capitols), pass out cards and have students find their partner

who will have the same number/picture on their card, group by pods, or have students choose

popsicle sticks that are colored on the bottom of them and then they would find the student who

has the same color as them. I could also pass out pipe cleaners and have students find who has

the same length pipe cleaner as them, distribute papers that have clocks and digital times on them

and have the students find whoever has matching times with theirs, or I could have students draw

a tile from a bag that has an equal number of capital and lower case letters (the students would

then have to find who has their match (Everette, 2014, pg. 1).

With certain assignments I may group based off academic level. Some assignments

would work best if students who are at similar academic levels are paired together. Other times I

may pair students together who are at different academic levels so the student who understands

the content well can practice teaching the content (which will help him apply his knowledge) and

the student who is at a lower level can learn from the student who is teaching. When grouping, I

will always take into account the objectives of the activity so I can group my students

purposefully.

Regardless of how I group, I am going to incorporate group work because Wong (2014)

explained that group work promotes practical experiences that will help students with their

communication skills, it will incorporate teamwork, and it will also prepare them for their future

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employments (pg. 180). Learning how to communicate and work well with others are skills that

are critical for students to learn because they are skills we use every day in the 21st century.

Keeping Students on Task

When students are working in groups, sometimes they have a hard time staying on task.

In my classroom, I will incorporate a variety of strategies to help my students stay on task while

they are working in groups and when they are working independently.

I will also use attention getters to help transition from one activity to the next and to help

keep my students focused. I will use nonverbal and verbal cues, teacher-student sayings (see

appendix three), clapping, a wind chime, and a variety of other attention getters (see appendix

one for a full list) in my future classroom.

Wong (2014) also explained the importance of transitions and he explained that

transitions help connect one activity to the next (pg. 146). I will incorporate brain breaks and

movement breaks into some of our transitions (GoNoodle, yoga, quick STEM challenges, etc.) to

give students opportunities to move around so they can refocus for the next activity and release

some energy. I will choose students, who are actively paying attention and listening to directions,

to choose the type of brain/movement break the class will do. If it is a student’s birthday (or if

their birthday was on the weekend) then I will let them choose the type of break they would like

to do.

To utilize all of our classroom time and help keep all of my students on task, I will create

a list of alternative activities my students can do if they finish their assignment/activity earlier

than the rest of the class. I will create the list based on the grade level, but some of the activities

may include: finishing other assignments, doing their ‘classroom job’, quietly reading, working

on writing, or choosing a free time activity from the designated area that the activities will stay.

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Wong (2014) explained that creating a list of activities for students to work on will help promote

an effective classroom because students will not be wondering what they should do. He also

explained that the list will help avoid the “I’m done, now what?” question (pg. 154).

Rules and Procedures

Keeping students on task is an important part of creating an efficient learning

environment, but Wong (2014) also stated, “Effective teachers produce results from a classroom

that is predictable, reliable, and consistent.” (pg. 11). Rules and procedures in my classroom will

help me develop these three characteristics because the rules and procedures create reliable

guidelines and expectations for the class. Therefore, the students know what to expect and they

know I am going to stay consistent with the rules and procedures our class creates.

Marzano and Pickering (2003) explained that allowing students to help create the rules

and procedures (and allowing them to negotiate them) promotes student ownership of the rules

and procedures. They also stated that the rules and procedures should be viewed as a contract

(pg. 16-17). Therefore, I am going to base our creation of our class rules and procedures off of

the procedures I have created in appendix one, but we will go through and negotiate them as a

class. I will take advise from the students and the procedures will be negotiable as long as the

final procedure/rule promotes safety and fairness for all students. After we create them, I will

also have them sign them at the bottom of the page to encourage my students to take ownership

of them and I will hang them in our classroom as a visual reminder.

Student Responsibility

To encourage ownership of the classroom, I will also have classroom jobs for my

students. This will help the students take responsibility for their learning environment. Wong

(2014) explained that it will help instill a sense of pride in their hard work, responsibility,

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teamwork, and discipline (pg. 13). I will create a poster similar to the one on appendix five, and I

will hang it in our classroom. Then students will be able to check what their job is whenever they

wish. I will change their jobs every week so that my students receive a fair chance to be able to

help with all of the jobs. Our class will have a paper passer, paper collector, morning meeting

leader, lunch monitor, pencil manager, librarians (keep book shelves organized), electrician, tech

assistant (will make sure computers are plugged in every night), calendar helper, door holder,

messenger (delivers things to other classrooms), postal worker (puts things in the students’ mail

boxes), and scrap monitor (make sure the floor is clean). These student jobs will teach students

how to be accountable and responsible for their learning enviornment.

I am also going to teach my students to take responsibility of their actions and behaviors

when a behavioral problem arises. Borich (2014) stated that encouraging students to reflect on

their actions and allowing them to choose how they want to improve their own behavior helps

meet students’ individual needs (pg. 105). Borich (2014) also explained that all students learn in

different ways. All students have the potential to learn, but they all have individual needs too

(pg. 95). Some students may learn best by giving themselves time to cool down and collect

themselves before reflecting upon their behaviors. Others may learn better by reflecting about

their actions immediately after it happened so they remember all of the details. Therefore, I am

going to give my students choices so they can choose a strategy that will be successful for them.

Fay and Funk (1995) explained some Love and Logic language for when it comes to

giving students choices. I believe that providing choices for students is very important because it

allows the students to take responsibility for their learning and behaviors. When I give choices I

will deliver the choices using Love and Logic techniques such as: “You’re welcome to ____ or

___”, “Feel free to ___ or ___”, “Would you rather ___ or ___”, and “What would be better for

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you ___ or ___?” These statements will create shared control between my students and me which

will help my students take control or their learning (pg. 33).

To foster student responsibility, I am also going to allow students the choice of where

they want to sit. I received this idea from Mrs. Perrin and I saw that it was very successful in her

classroom. Therefore, I would like to try it in mine too! So, I will arrange the students’ desks in

pods or in a big horseshoe, to encourage collaboration (if resources are available, I will

incorporate flexible seating options like standing tables, cushions on the floor, etc. too). Then as

the students come into our classroom in the morning, they will be able to choose their “smart

seat” where they would like to sit. I will explain the importance of choosing a desk by peers who

will not distract them, but I really like this strategy because it teaches students to make

responsible choices.

Consistency

I will stay consistent with encouraging my students to take responsibility for their

learning and I will also stay consistent when it comes to our classroom routine. Wong (2014)

explained that consistency helps create a fearless classroom because students find comfort in

routines (pg. 11). I will explain to my students that I will try and keep a consistent routine for our

class, but I will also explain that sometimes flexibility is important because things (like school

assemblies, holiday activities, etc.) come up and we have to be flexible with our schedule. To

help keep our routine predictable, I will post the daily schedule on the board so my students will

be able to keep track of what we are doing for the day.

To keep our mornings consistent, I am going to post a ‘morning to-do list’ (see appendix

two) so my students know what to do when they arrive to school. After my students have

prepared themselves for the day, I will have my students start their day off by completing bell

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work. I will post the bell work assignment in the same place every day and I will ensure that it is

posted before the students start entering my classroom. Then, the students can enter my

classroom, put their things away, prepare for the day, and start working right away. The bell

work will help promote efficiency in my classroom and Wong (2014) explained that bell work is

a great way to review information, have students reflect on a current event, practice their

handwriting, silent read, etc. (pg. 70-71).

I will also hang a checklist for students to reference when they are preparing for the end

of the school day. Posting a checklist will help create routine, students will know what is

expected of them, and it will help decrease the amount of questions the students will ask about

what they are supposed to do.

Conclusion

In my classroom I am going to guide my students and teach them how to take

responsibility for their learning and their behaviors. I am going to provide my students with a

wide variety of classroom management strategies and I am going to create a routine to provide

my students with consistency. Together, my students and I, will create rules and procedures so

our classroom will have guidelines that encourage a safe and efficient learning environment that

promotes on task behavior. And most importantly, I am going to build trusting relationships with

my students so I will better understand what their needs are, and how I can best meet their needs.

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References

Borich, G. (2014). Effective Teaching Methods: Research-based practice. Pearson: Upper Saddle

River, NJ.

Everette, M. (2014). 50 Fun Ways to Group Learners. Scholastic.com. Retrieved December 9,

2015, from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2014/09/50-fun-ways-

group-learners.

Fay, J. & Funk, D. (1995). Teaching with Love & Logic: Taking control of the classroom. Love &

Logic Press Inc: Golden, CO.

Marzano, R. J. & Pickering, D. J. (2003). Classroom Management that Works: Research –based

strategies for every teacher. ASCD Press: Alexandria, VA.

Wong, H. and Wong. R. (2014). The Classroom Management Book. Harry W. Wong Publications,

Inc: Mountain View, CA.

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http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2014/09/50-fun-ways-group-learners

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2014/09/50-fun-ways-group-learners


Classroom Management Philosophy Statement

I believe that building relationships with students is the key to successful classroom

management. To build positive relationships with my students, I will treat them all fair, I will

show empathy, I will be respectful, and I will make adaptations and modifications to help them

be successful. Building trusting relationships with my students will help me understand more

about their personal lives, which will in return help me learn how to meet my students’

individual needs.

These trusting relationships will also show my students that I care about them and that

they are welcome in my classroom. I want all of my students to feel welcome and safe in our

classroom environment. Therefore, I will create rules and procedures, with my students. Our

rules and procedures will be based on a value approach so that we have set rules, but the

punishments will be individualized based on intensity of the situation.

I am also going to provide my students with choices. I will incorporate choices (within

limits) to help students take accountability for their misbehaviors, and I will also incorporate

choices into our instructional time. I will provide choices because I understand that all of my

students learn differently and all of my students have different interests and needs.

I am going to provide a variety of instructional strategies and learning opportunities for

my students to help keep them engaged and on task. To keep my students engaged, I am also

going to incorporate smooth transitions to keep a continual flow.

Overall, I am going to work on creating an engaging and safe learning environment

where my students will will have a say in how our classroom is run. I will also build relationships

so my students know they are cared about, and so I can meet their individual needs.

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First Day of School Plan

Created based off of Wong’s (2014) elementary plan (pg. 287).

Students will be introduced to morning meeting.

They will play the ‘guess who game’. Students write three interesting facts about

themselves on a piece of paper and they do NOT write their name on it. The teacher

then collects the papers, numbers them randomly, and hangs them around the room.

The students then walk around the room and try and predict who wrote each paper.

Procedures for lining up, backpacks, where to store their stuff, attendance, bell work,

where they sit and where their mailboxes are, bathroom passes, free time, class jobs,

and the writer’s notebook process will be explained.

o We will explain and practice how to properly go through these procedures.

Go over first day packet.

Set up Google Drives for the students if they do not already have them. If they do have

them, then introduce them to their class’s Google + page.

Students will play “teacher trivia”.

Explain the classroom layout to the students. I will show them where they can turn their

completed work, unfinished work, and forms in. I will show them the ‘student center’,

which will be an area that has a stapler, three-hole punch, tape, extra pencils, extra

markers/crayons/colored pencils, and extra paper that the students can use.

Students will be introduced to their writer’s notebook and they will create a short

narrative story about something they did over their summer break.

Students will then play a review game to review the procedures they learned that

morning.

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Appendix 1

Classroom Procedures

Entering the Classroom- Unpack your backpack and put your belongings away.- Hand in homework, notes, or forms in their corresponding trays.- Choose what you will be having for lunch.- Make sure you have at least two sharp pencils.- Start working on the bell work!

*This procedure will be posted in our classroom so that students can refer to it (see appendix two).

Taking Attendance and Lunch Count- All of the students will move their name from the

attendance category to either hot lunch or cold lunch right when they get to school (see picture on the right).

- I will create different sections for hot lunch if there is more than one option for the students. For example, if the cafeteria is serving hot dogs or deli ham sandwiches, I will place both of these categories under hot lunch so the students can decide which one they want.

- I will be able to see who is not at school by looking to see whose name is still under the attendance section.

Attention Getters- I will give clues such as nonverbal signals (putting a finger to my lips)

or by using proximity (moving closer to those who are talking). If I have warned the class two or more times, I will ask specific students to be quiet.

o I will wait until I have warned the class/students at least two times, because I do not want to verbally call out students if I do not have to. I do not want to embarrass them, but if I have warned them two or more times then I will politely ask them to be quiet.

- I will clap my hands and then the students will repeat the rhythm I clapped.

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- I have visual poster of what how many fingers the students will raise if they have a question, need to go to the bathroom, or need a tissue. I will hang these in the front of my classroom so my students can reference them whenever they need.

- I will use the “if you hear me ____(example: put your hands on your shoulders, snap twice, show me your best dance move).

- I will use a wind chime in my classroom to signal students that it is time to start cleaning up and transitioning into our next activity.

- I will raise my hand and silently wait to signify the ‘give me five’ strategy (see the poster I will hang in my room on appendix four).

- I will state what I want the students to be doing in a certain amount of time. Then I will count down.

- I will also use a variety of teacher-student sayings (see appendix 3).

Heading Papers- At the top of students papers they will put their first and last names in

the top right corner. - Then, they will put the date underneath.- I will also hang an example of this for the first couple weeks of school.

Unfinished Class Assignments- I will have a tray where students can keep their unfinished work. - Then the students will be much less likely to lose or misplace the work

they are still working on.- Students will be responsible for putting their homework in the tray and

for remembering to work on it when they have free time.

Dismissing the Class at the End of the Day- Wait for teacher to say it is time to start getting ready for the end of

the day.- Clean off your work space.- Gather your homework, books, or any material that needs to go home.

Leave this material on the top of your desk.- Make sure you have done your job.- When you are done, sit quietly in your desk.- Then I will dismiss pods/groups of students to go get their backpacks

and belongings from their locker.- Students will pack their backpack and put on their coats/winter gear if

needed.

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- Then students can line up when I okay that their work space is clean and that they look prepared.

*This procedure will be posted in our classroom so that students can refer to it (see appendix two).

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Appendix 2

To Do List Before Morning Meeting Starts

1. Unpack your backpack and put your belongings away.2. Hand in homework, notes, or forms in their corresponding trays.3. Choose what you will be having for lunch.4. Make sure you have at least two sharp pencils.5. Start working on the bell work!

To Do List at the End of the Day1. Wait for teacher to say it is time to start getting ready for the end of

the day.2. Clean off your work space.3. Gather your homework, books, or any material that needs

to go home. Leave this material on the top of your desk.4. Make sure you have done your job.5. When you are done, sit quietly in your desk.6. Then I will dismiss pods/groups of students to go get their

backpacks and belongings from their locker.7. Students will pack their backpack and put on their

coats/winter gear if needed.8. Then students can line up when I okay that their work space is clean

and that they look prepared.

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Appendix 3

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Appendix 4

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Teacher says... Students say…

1, 2, 3, eyes on me 1, 2, eyes on you

Chicka, chicka… Boom, Boom!

Mac and cheese… Everybody freeze!

Everybody rock… Everybody roll!

If we don’t all row… Then we don’t all go.

Ready set, You bet!

Holy moly… Guacamole!

To infinity… And beyond!

Flat tire… Shhhhhh!

Zip it, lock it… Put it in your pocket.Na na naa na, na na naa

na…Hey hey hey, goodbye!


Appendix 5

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