MY CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PLAN
Wong and Wong (1998) state that "classroom management refers to all of the things that a teacher does to organize students, space, time, and materials so that instruction in content and student learning can take place." While this can involve many aspects of teaching, I believe that it can be broken down into five important tasks: creating a supportive environment for mathematical discourse, helping students set up clear class expectations, staying organized with materials and procedures, making positive teacher-student relationships, and keeping the lines of communication open with parents. While being a good teacher involves many things, you must have good classroom management skills. Otherwise, it does not matter how much you have to offer your students.
Classroom Climate
I believe that it is important to create a safe and supportive learning environment, so that the classroom can be a community for mathematical discourse. It should be a place where the validity of ideas are proven with students' mathematical reasoning and argument, rather than because the teacher or the book "said so". It is a place where all students contribute to the learning of the class. They are not afraid to voice their opinions or share their problem solving strategies, because they do not worry about being wrong. They do not see being incorrect as a negative, but instead view sharing their ideas as a positive. Such an environment would be made up of students who applaud their classmates' successes, instead of pointing out their failures.
I believe that there are a variety of benefits to the creation of this mathematical community. Students take an active role in their own and their classmates' learning, and become an integral part of the class. When students feel as though they are allowed to make these contributions to the class and that the lines of communication are open, they are much more motivated to achieve at high levels (Wentzel, 1997).
These mathematical communities lead to the sharing and discussion of student ideas, which I believe all students benefit from. The class is able to hear the strategies of a classmate, from his/her own viewpoint and in words that they can relate to. The students sharing their ideas are verbalizing their thought processes, clarifying their ideas for themselves and for others (Hiebert, Carpenter et al., 1997). This social interaction engages students in critical thinking and the processing of ideas that results in deeper understanding (Warrington, 1997). They will then learn from and develop an appreciation for the knowledge of others, as well as themselves.
I believe that creating this environment will take a lot of groundwork in the beginning. The student expectations must be made very clear, and must be followed by the students, as I will discuss later.
It is also important that I establish my role as a facilitator in the classroom. This means that I am not the person filling their heads with information, nor am I the final arbiter of knowledge in class discussions. My role is to facilitate student discussions by giving everyone a chance to speak, ensuring that they follow the class expectations, and asking questions to help clarify points. This way, students will discover the ideas through their discussions.
Finally, I believe that it is important to model the positive behaviors myself. If I expect my class to respect students' shared ideas, I must show that I do too. By listening to what students say, always finding something positive to take out of their ideas, and giving them a chance to express those ideas completely, I hope that the rest of the class will follow my lead.
Class Expectations
My first step in classroom management is creating an atmosphere that encourages and teaches positive behavior. I believe that the development of such a climate will result in a minimization of discipline problems. I also believe that providing interesting lessons will help, since many students misbehave because of poorly organized or uninteresting activities (Jones & Jones, 1998). No matter how much preparation I do, however, I know that there will still be instances of misbehavior. My plan then is to create a system that teaches students to behave in socially acceptable ways.
Implementation. I do not like the term "rule". It has a negative connotation that implies a one-sided enforcement of behavior. Rules also have a tendency to focus on things that the students cannot do. Instead, I prefer to use "class expectations". This term has a more positive connotation, and focuses on actions that the students should do.
Students are more likely to follow those expectations if they are involved in the development of them (Jones & Jones, 1998), so I will have my classes create them. This promotes student ownership of the rules and more responsibility for their behavior (Emmer, Evertson, & Worsham, 2000). I would begin by leading a discussion on why it is important to have expectations and even why I choose not to call them rules. Then I would describe the non-negotiable policies. These are mainly the school-wide rules, but they also include a few of my own such as those regarding late work and tardies. Next, I would let students get into groups, write up some potential expectations, and present them to the class in detail. Finally, they would vote on the ones that they would like implemented.
After the decisions have been made, I believe that it is important to post each set of expectations somewhere in the class. Visibility of the expectations at all times is an important part of implementation, as can then be easily referred to. Also, a copy of the rules will be made for every student and parent.
Reinforcement. Reinforcement of the class expectations will focus more on developing appropriate behaviors, than punishing the misbehaviors. I agree with Jones and Jones (1998), in that teachers should view inappropriate student behavior as less an attitude problem and more a skill issue. This involves having students construct problem solving methods to deal with misbehavior rather than punishing them, which is much more in line with my approach to teaching math as well.
Because I believe that anyone can make a mistake, a nonverbal warning will follow the first instance of a minor disruption or misbehavior. It is surprising to see how many times a student will immediately correct his/her behavior with just a glance from a teacher. Simply moving to the misbehaving student's area of the class also lets him/her know that you are aware of the situation. If the student does not get the message or continues to misbehave, he/she will receive a verbal warning. This warning will involve letting the student know what expectation he/she is not following and that it is not appropriate. I will do it quickly and in a one-on-one situation if possible, as I do not believe it is appropriate to embarrass the student in front of the class.
The next instance of misbehavior will result in the student having to fill out a problem solving form (examples are included). I will simply hand the form to the student to complete. The form will list the class expectations at the top, along with several questions for the student to answer regarding the violation of the expectation. The questions will help the student become aware of his/her misbehavior by asking what he/she did wrong, what expectation was not followed and why it caused a problem in class. The form will then start the student thinking about developing a plan to follow the expectations. Students are required to complete the form on their own time, then meet with me to discuss the responses. This allows us the chance to talk about the problem and attempt to come up with a solution together, incorporating the ideas that the student generated. The meeting will also be held on the student's time - before school, after school, or during lunch.
If a behavioral problem exists after that step, it is then time to contact the student's parents. I would inform them of the problem and the attempt made to solve it. We would then work together with the student to develop another plan for solving the problem. I would prefer that this be done at the school with the student and parents present, however this may not be possible if both parents work. In this case, a phone conversation will have to suffice.
Reflection. Before shifting all of the blame on the student for not following a classroom expectation, I believe that it is very important to reflect on the situation first. I believe that it is important to think about what factor the classroom environment (such as the arrangement of the room, my instructional methods, or the curriculum) had on the misbehavior. I would then try to modify my classroom to minimize the negative effect as much as possible.
Organization
I believe that it is very important for a teacher to be organized, because it makes the class run much more efficiently. Having to look for something during class wastes time that should be spent teaching. When students see this "down time", the class can quickly develop a management problem. It is obvious to students when a teacher is disorganized, and I have found that students appreciate teachers who are organized and prepared each day.
One way I like to stay organized is by keeping an up-to-date assignment sheet posted on a wall in the room at all times. This allows students to copy down any assignments that they missed, and also allows students who were absent to easily find out the assignment. I also like to have a file of all the handouts and worksheets available to students near the posted assignment sheet. I keep them organized by the date they were issued, and the file tabs labeled with the name of the paper specifically. This makes my life a lot easier, because I know where all of the extra handouts are, and can locate them easily. This also helps my students, because they can access these files if they ever need an additional copy of something.
To make attendance taking as efficient as possible, I created a seating chart for taking attendance. These sheets, which I have included, are just typical seating charts but with two rows of boxes drawn atop each seat. Each of these boxes represents one school day. This makes taking attendance easy, as I can simply scan the room for empty seats, then make a mark in the corresponding box. At the end of the day, I simply transfer the information into the attendance book.
Positive Relationships
Eccles et al. (1993) found that middle school classrooms tend to have less positive teacher-student relationships compared to their elementary school counterparts. Studies have shown that when students feel supported and valued by their teacher they are more willing to engage in class (Wentzel, 1997) and there is an increase in academic achievement (Jones & Jones, 1998). I believe that it is therefore very important to create a positive teacher-student relationship with all of my students.
One way I plan on establishing these relationships is by showing them that I am truly interested in them as people, not just as students. This includes talking to them in nonacademic settings, as well as talking about nonacademic topics. I have found that one of the best ways to do this is by participating in after school activities. During my student teaching, I helped with the sixth grade homework center. It was a place where students could come once a week to do homework after school. I helped students with any difficulties that they encountered, as well as chatted with them about other topics. Because it was a very relaxed atmosphere and kids felt much more comfortable there, I made several connections with students that I may not have otherwise made. As a result, I found that the students were much more comfortable with me in my class and more involved in the activities.
Other things I do to help establish positive relationships with students: learn student names as quickly as I can and use them, say hi to them in the hall ways, notice new hair styles or hair cuts, allow students to share their ideas completely, listen to them when they need someone to talk to, and give positive feedback whenever possible. I have found that all of these have huge positive impacts on students, because they show that I care.
Parent Communication
Contacting parents was the one aspect of teaching that I feared the most. The teachers' lounge is filled with stories about disgruntled parents who do not understand the school system, but demand that their child receive special privileges. However, I have discovered that a majority of parents are fair and logical people who simply want the best for their child. Since this is exactly what I want too, I believe it is in everyone's best interest for me to gain parental support in the learning process.
With five periods of thirty students each, it is impossible to meet with every parent on a regular basis. Therefore, I will provide them with a newsletter about what is happening in the class every month. These will contain the math topics that will be covered during that time, ways that they can help support their child's understanding of those topics, interesting projects that will be worked on, and any other news pertaining to the class. Because I believe that it is important that parents are familiar with my instructional goals, methods, and procedures, I would include this information in the first newsletter as well.
Conclusion
Middle school is a traumatic and often confusing time in an adolescent's life. In order to meet their academic and personal needs, students must feel that school is a safe environment (Jones & Jones, 1998). That is why it is very important that a classroom management plan be successfully created and implemented. By creating this positive and safe environment, I believe that students will be free to learn and succeed without fear.
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