Principles of Classroom Cohesion

Classroom Cohesion Planner Template

Our Mission:

The mission of ARISE High School is to empower ourselves with the skills, knowledge and agency to become highly educated, humanizing, critically conscious, intellectual and reflective leaders in our community.

Principles of Classroom Cohesion:

Classroom cohesion is what helps ensure that learning can happen, and allows us to build towards our mission and vision. As the teacher, you are responsible for making sure your classroom is a safe place where all students are supported and where learning is the focus.

Organization & Structure / Setting and Maintaining Expectations / Community Building
Ø  Be prepared and organized EVERY day
Ø  Design your days with a basic routine and structure that still allows for creativity
Ø  Explicitly teach and practice routines
Ø  Limit variables (seating arrangements, how students enter/exit, using protocols etc.)
Ø  Clearly organize your board with Agenda, Learning Targets, and Homework every day / Ø  Make your expectations visible (students should not guess what you want)
Ø  Use behavioral prevention strategies (community agreements, protocols, language of success)
Ø  Be clear about acceptable voice levels
Ø  Be consistent
Ø  Practice low profile discipline…think “P.E.P.” Proximity (get close), Eye Contact (have ‘the look’), Privacy (avoid public embarrassment) / Ø  Build the community (students should know each other and you)
Ø  Teach them how to sustain community (what does it look like to support and care for each other)
Ø  Build independence (make sure you are not the only holder of everything in the classroom)
Ø  Teach and practice how to solve problems
Ø  Become an expert at taking advantage of the ‘teaching and mentoring moments’

Core Values:

RESPECT: Respect Self, Others, Your Words, Space

PERSEVERE: Persevere through uncertainty, challenge, & struggle

BUILD: Build discipline, knowledge, self-esteem, agency, & community

LEAD: Lead with integrity, courage and through action

Core Value / What does this look like, sound like, and feel like in your classroom? / What routines, structures, and practices reinforce your expectations?
Respect
Persevere
Build
Lead

Classroom Routines: Classrooms run smoothly when the teacher has planned for all the major routines, and can teach those routines to the students.

Routine / My Plan
OPENING: How students enter, what they do when they enter
CLOSING: How class ends each day, how students leave
COLLECTING WORK: When, where, and how student work (homework and classwork) will be collected
ACTIVE LISTENING: How the teacher signals for attention, what listening looks like, when listening should occur
PARTICIPATION/ACCOUNTABLE TALK: How students ask questions, talk with each other, and are called on
GETTING MAKE-UP WORK: How and when students will get missing materials, make up assignments, or get extra help

Calendar: Figure out how you will teach your expectations and routines (your goals), and plan when to teach and reinforce them.

Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday / Friday
Aug 19
Goal:
Activity: / Aug 20
Goal:
Activity: / Aug 21
Goal:
Activity: / Aug 22
Goal:
Activity: / Aug 23
Goal:
Activity:
Aug 26
Goal:
Activity: / Aug 27
Goal:
Activity: / Aug 28
Goal:
Activity: / Aug 29
Goal:
Activity: / Aug 30
Goal:
Activity: