Proactive Classroom Management Plan
Philosophy
My classroom will be a safe and pleasant environment where student participation will be encouraged. I will build a rapport with students and create a trusting relationship, where students know that I care about them and that I am consistent. Classroom management is critical to the development of such an environment and a relationship. I will need to be prepared to address long term and daily management issues. I believe that one of the most important aspects of management is teacher preparation and reflection. I need to be aware of my student needs and interests and reflect continually on their achievements and contentment. I will need to be adaptable and change what isn’t working. My responsibility is not only to understand my learners and to prepare effective academic long range plans but also to prepare for successful daily instruction. Students must be engaged and prepared to participate; most importantly they must understand what is expected of them. Teachers need to not only be enthusiastic and engaging, they need to have a clear picture of the concepts that they are directing students towards and effective strategies for them to arrive at those strategies. My classroom will be fun and students will enjoy many privileges once their work is completed.
Students in my classroom will understand that their decisions impact their lives and the lives of those around them. Students need to learn to be responsible citizens and to make good decisions. Development of classroom rules and logical consequences will be student centered at the beginning of the year. These rules will be focused around concepts of self-respect and respect of others, positive attitude and class participation. I will strive to understand the forces influencing student behaviour and address student needs with programs to develop personal skills. I will help students to develop important life skills including problem solving, conflict resolution, teamwork, goal setting and self control.
The physical aspects of my classroom will be ever-changing as the year progresses. Students will be curious to explore the different displays related to all subject areas and will be motivated by positive reinforcement and displays of their own work on the walls. I will utilize a variety of seating plans and arrangements to address the needs of the students and the requirements of the tasks we are completing.
Implementation
In order to create a safe environment in my classroom I will work towards creating a sense of community and a trusting relationship between students and myself. This will be achieved using cooperative learning strategies, self esteem and positive reinforcement exercises, group discussions, team competitions and by providing class incentives using a positive interdependence (i.e. popcorn Fridays, pizza parties, etc. where everyone or no one is rewarded with the same reward). This will further be developed through student input into classroom rules and daily activities. As the classroom teacher I will demonstrate self control and I will follow an intervention hierarchy for dealing with daily discipline issues; beginning initially with non-verbal cues and working towards verbal cues and logical consequences if difficulties increase. I will understand my students to the best of my ability by initially reviewing OSRs, talking to other educators and by having students complete interest surveys. I will maintain awareness of their needs and interests, through communication with parents and by having students periodically complete course evaluations. I will reflect daily on student contentment and achievement and the success of the classroom environment.
I will be prepared to engage my students everyday through thorough preparation of the material, effective team teaching and by using a diversity of teaching/learning strategies (i.e. cooperative, indirect, etc.). I will practice authentic assessment so that learners of all intelligences feel that they are demonstrating their abilities to their fullest potential. My expectations of the students both academically and in terms of their participation and behaviour will be clear and will be stated in a positive manner. I will post a daily outline of activities and will keep them informed a month in advance of where the class is heading, so that they can be prepared. Students will have an opportunity to participate in directing their learning. They will be expected to use an agenda system which parents must sign daily; this will help students to remain organized and will help parents to remain informed. As previously mentioned, my classroom will be equipped with an incentive system, whereby students earn rewards for appropriate behaviour, completing tasks and maximum participation. Incentives will be directed both towards individuals and the class as a whole. Students will enjoy their time in my classroom through use of this system in addition to a variety of thematic days, field trips, games, kinetic activities and through the use of a diversity of resources.
Students will come to understand how their decisions impact themselves and others through numerous opportunities to make decisions in class (assessment, projects, units, etc.). I will also utilize a “self-check” system, whereby students are given a warning for behaviours the class predetermines as unacceptable. The student will have to mark the warning off of a list posted in the classroom (using student code names to maintain confidentiality). After a number of warnings a logical consequence will be assigned (i.e. small essay, classroom chores, detention, etc.). Having the students mark off the warning themselves offers them an opportunity to self correct their behaviour and refocus on the task. In a similar manner I will use antiseptic bouncing to offer aggressive students the opportunity to briefly withdraw from the classroom to self correct their behaviour.
My students will participate in a variety of programs to meet their needs and to help them develop excellent personal skills. These programs will include role playing, goal setting exercises, problem solving and conflict resolution seminars and games, group work and group evaluation (sharing circles), group discussions and frequent self assessment of these skills. In addition to offering these programs I will model many of these skills to the best of my abilities on a daily basis.
My students will be greeted everyday with a smile and some friendly words. My classroom will feature a student “Wall of fame” where students can feature their most recent accomplishments. Students will be encouraged to contribute material to decorate the classroom walls including posters, uplifting quotations and thoughts, etc. Music will frequently be played during student work periods and student contributions will be accepted for this as well. I will pre-determine the seating arrangement in the classroom and I will frequently change its shape and orientation based on student needs and task requirements.
Proactive Management Plan / ISupport
The fundamental notions of this plan are based on several concepts. Developing a community of learners or a safe learning environment is presented as a primary emphasis of all effective educators. They stress the importance of peers to student development. Other important characteristics of an effective educator as presented by Levin and Nolan that are utilised in this plan include: the importance of effective lesson design, the importance of communicating positive expectations, the importance of student interests, needs and success and addressing multiple intelligences with a diversity of teaching/learning strategies (based on Howard Gardner’s theories). These concepts are also supported by the work of Bandura who believed that “When feelings of self efficacy are high, individuals are much more likely to exert effort toward task completion…” (Levin Nolan). All of these characteristics are thus essential to securing student motivation, classroom management and therefore teacher success.
In observing a diversity of classrooms I have reviewed and attempted to analyze the four main teacher power bases. In implementing this plan I hope to rely primarily on referent and on reward/coercive power bases. I hope to establish a referent power base by being actively involved in students’ lives inside and outside of the classroom. I will try to communicate my concern for their well being and practice positive reinforcement. It is however, impossible to predict if this power base will or can be developed in a particular classroom. I will also therefore heavily rely on a reward/coercive power base, as I have described. I have observed many such systems in a majority of the classrooms I have been in, and found them to be quite effective. In managing misbehaviour outside of the reward/coercive system I will rely on the intervention hierarchy as provided. This hierarchy suggests approaching students using non-verbal techniques initially, then gradually moving to verbal cues and finally to logical consequences if the misbehaviour continues. It considers effective use of classroom time, reducing power struggles and maintaining student attention and respect while achieving the desired intervention.
Finally, with respect to the various theories of classroom management, this plan draws heavily on a collaborative management approach (Levin Nolan). This approach is reliant on the belief that both the teacher and the student are responsible for controlling student behaviour. This connection is evident in my plan, through my initiation of student skill development programs and my student “self-check” system.
Proactive Management Plan / I