Classroom Management Plan
I don't really know how to do this without re-writing out a lot of my plan from the summer and then also writing out my revisions to it, but here goes.
I still agree with my definitions and big ideas ... essentially, the idea of classroom management is to create a safe, learning-centered environment by consistently enforcing specific expectations designed to promote said environment.
Rules:
My rules from my summer presentation were the same as from summer school:
#1 Stay in your seat
#2 Raise your hand
#3 Respect your teacher, your classmates, and yourself
Before school started I added #4 Act Responsibly and #5 Participate
These five rules are still posted in my classroom.
#3 and #4 have worked well for me as blanket statements. Yes, you have to come prepared. Read our 4th rule. Yes, you are responsible for getting your own make-up work. It's part of being responsible. I make them read the rule about being respectful usually at least once a week when I think they're not acting respectful (to me, their peers, etc), and they seem to get the idea at least.
#5 is a stupid rule for me because I don't enforce it.
#1 and #2 I'm glad to have but I don't enforce consistently. When we are having a good discussion and students are participating I let them call out answers, but if they start calling out on top of each other we read rule #3 and then go back to raising our hands. I suppose I shouldn't post rules that I don't always enforce, but regardless I plan to have "raise your hand" again next year because 1) I want that there to back me up when I DO want them to do it and 2) I enforced it STRICTLY for the first few weeks of class, and that is definitely the kind of classroom climate I want. In the position I'm in (young, new, white, small, female) I'm more than willing to sacrifice a little open discussion for control. Especially in the beginning.
Consequences are pretty basic:
warning (verbal), copying consequence, detention, referral
I've stuck with this except in cases when students tell me they won't do the copying anyway. then we generally skip to detention. My clever idea of calling it a copying consequence instead of a writing assignment backfired because I call it a writing assignment by accident sometimes, but oh well. It's copying from a dictionary, not a "writing assignment," so hopefully they notice the difference. This is also what I have them do in detention (which is what they get if they don't do a writing assignment. If they don't come to detention they get an office referral which results in saturday detention, if they don't show up for that they get suspended, and so on ...)
Rewards:
Posted systm is Verbal Praise, A-Wall, Student of the Week, and Tickets
Basically, I suck at this game. Too much ELSE to do, and I know it's important but I just don't make it important enough some days.
I'm good with tickets (sometimes) which can now actually buy you things, I cut corners for candy and have begun to remember to do this at the end of every week, and I give candy to students who are working when most of the class isn't, but I have yet to muster up the energy to award a single "student of the week" OR post excellent assignments, both of which are part of my POSTED rewards system. I have marble jars which are getting close to being full, and I plan to bring food/have a mini-party when they are full. I've brought cookies to two classes for doing exceptionally well on tests, which they like but might or might not improve performance. This is definitely a work in progress, but I know that they like it when I give them things and acknowledge that they're doing a good job, so I'm just going to keep on doing a sort of shoddy job of it until I get around to doing it better.
I think I'm also lacking in the presentation. I definitely learned in summer school that stuff is as big of a deal as YOU make it to students, and I have yet to discover how to add marbles to a jar with effective flourish, but they still get the idea and get kind of excited about it.
Overview:
I guess the entire point of MY CM plan is to put the students in an environment where they want to participate and they know that I want them to participate, and they're not afraid of making mistakes. On some level, this is working.
I do a lot of things wrong, but almost every evaluation I've gotten has highlighted the "comfortable" or "accepting" or "encouraging" classroom environment, and that's one of the most important things to me. So at least mabey I'm doing a few things right in the midst of my mistakes and, as always ... I'm learning.
I still agree with my definitions and big ideas ... essentially, the idea of classroom management is to create a safe, learning-centered environment by consistently enforcing specific expectations designed to promote said environment.
Rules:
My rules from my summer presentation were the same as from summer school:
#1 Stay in your seat
#2 Raise your hand
#3 Respect your teacher, your classmates, and yourself
Before school started I added #4 Act Responsibly and #5 Participate
These five rules are still posted in my classroom.
#3 and #4 have worked well for me as blanket statements. Yes, you have to come prepared. Read our 4th rule. Yes, you are responsible for getting your own make-up work. It's part of being responsible. I make them read the rule about being respectful usually at least once a week when I think they're not acting respectful (to me, their peers, etc), and they seem to get the idea at least.
#5 is a stupid rule for me because I don't enforce it.
#1 and #2 I'm glad to have but I don't enforce consistently. When we are having a good discussion and students are participating I let them call out answers, but if they start calling out on top of each other we read rule #3 and then go back to raising our hands. I suppose I shouldn't post rules that I don't always enforce, but regardless I plan to have "raise your hand" again next year because 1) I want that there to back me up when I DO want them to do it and 2) I enforced it STRICTLY for the first few weeks of class, and that is definitely the kind of classroom climate I want. In the position I'm in (young, new, white, small, female) I'm more than willing to sacrifice a little open discussion for control. Especially in the beginning.
Consequences are pretty basic:
warning (verbal), copying consequence, detention, referral
I've stuck with this except in cases when students tell me they won't do the copying anyway. then we generally skip to detention. My clever idea of calling it a copying consequence instead of a writing assignment backfired because I call it a writing assignment by accident sometimes, but oh well. It's copying from a dictionary, not a "writing assignment," so hopefully they notice the difference. This is also what I have them do in detention (which is what they get if they don't do a writing assignment. If they don't come to detention they get an office referral which results in saturday detention, if they don't show up for that they get suspended, and so on ...)
Rewards:
Posted systm is Verbal Praise, A-Wall, Student of the Week, and Tickets
Basically, I suck at this game. Too much ELSE to do, and I know it's important but I just don't make it important enough some days.
I'm good with tickets (sometimes) which can now actually buy you things, I cut corners for candy and have begun to remember to do this at the end of every week, and I give candy to students who are working when most of the class isn't, but I have yet to muster up the energy to award a single "student of the week" OR post excellent assignments, both of which are part of my POSTED rewards system. I have marble jars which are getting close to being full, and I plan to bring food/have a mini-party when they are full. I've brought cookies to two classes for doing exceptionally well on tests, which they like but might or might not improve performance. This is definitely a work in progress, but I know that they like it when I give them things and acknowledge that they're doing a good job, so I'm just going to keep on doing a sort of shoddy job of it until I get around to doing it better.
I think I'm also lacking in the presentation. I definitely learned in summer school that stuff is as big of a deal as YOU make it to students, and I have yet to discover how to add marbles to a jar with effective flourish, but they still get the idea and get kind of excited about it.
Overview:
I guess the entire point of MY CM plan is to put the students in an environment where they want to participate and they know that I want them to participate, and they're not afraid of making mistakes. On some level, this is working.
I do a lot of things wrong, but almost every evaluation I've gotten has highlighted the "comfortable" or "accepting" or "encouraging" classroom environment, and that's one of the most important things to me. So at least mabey I'm doing a few things right in the midst of my mistakes and, as always ... I'm learning.
posted by Miss Marshwater at 9:21 AM
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