Ashley Vierig EDU 6310 Classroom Management Plan First and foremost, every effective classroom needs solid

procedures that are rehearsed and reinforced from the first day of school. Many of my ideas for my classroom management procedures stem from the work of Harry Wong. His theory is that discipline frameworks are not needed when good procedures have been set in place. While I do agree that effective classroom procedures curtail negative behaviors in the classroom, I do feel that some type of behavior management plan is still necessary as there are often students who do not comply with classroom rules and procedures. In order for the classroom to remain structured and consistent, teachers must have a course of action for negative classroom behaviors. Good classroom procedures are an extremely important component to a successful classroom but certainly not in place of some type of behavior or discipline system. For this, I really like the Assertive Discipline Model as proposed by Lee and Marlene Cantor. I like that this model includes both positive consequences for when students comply, but negative consequences in an unpleasant hierarchy for when students do not comply. I would use the colored card system with pink, purple, green, yellow, orange, and red. As I mentioned in my parent letter, I would like to have a system where students receive tickets for good behavior throughout the day and then I have a drawing at the end of each day for a fruit snack. This shows students that positive behavior has almost instant rewards. Friday would be a big ticket prize day as there would be the most tickets in the jar on Fridays. If a students name is drawn who is on orange or red, that student will not receive their prize for the day. In addition, if a student is on orange, that will

Ashley Vierig EDU 6310 result in loss of recess to discuss the negative behavior, practice the correct behavior, and brainstorm what we can do in the future. If a student reaches red, that will require communication with parents either via phone or a note home. Also, if students get 5 consecutive days on green (or above), they will receive a treasure (students can select a prize from a box of treasures). There will also be classroom rewards. If any student has to change their color, it is a point for the teacher. If no one changes their color, it is a point for the students. If the students have more points than the teacher at the end of the week, the class gets a popcorn party. I think this system allows for positive consequences, negative consequences, individual consequences, and class-wide consequences. As previously mentioned, a classroom must begin with solid procedures set in place in order to decrease the frequency of utilizing the discipline system. My first procedure is for entering the classroom. This came from the lecture I heard given by Harry Wong at the UEA conference. He talked a lot about creating a positive learning environment. As a start to building positive relationships in the classroom, my plan is to stand at the door and greet each student as they walk through the door. I say, Good morning, Johnny and he replies, Good morning, Ms. Vierig. Once this procedure has been established, I will assign a different student each day to be the door greeter and greet all the incoming students. I would also like to have a home to school board, so after students have been greeted, they move their person from home to school. After greeting students at the door, there will be a daily agenda posted, daily objectives, and bell work or a self-starter. While students are working

Ashley Vierig EDU 6310 independently, Id like to use this time to conference with each student individually. This means collecting past homework or notes from home and asking each student how I can help them succeed or what they need from me. I would also like to have some type of self-starter on the desk when they come in from recess. In order to keep my procedures running smoothly, I would like to dedicate a bulletin board in the classroom just for classroom procedures (what to do when finished with work, what to do if you need help, etc.) Those are two main issues in our classroom that could be solved with procedures. For what to do when finished, I would like to have a pocket chart with cards that have educational activities listed for students to choose. Some activities might include math games, silent reading, puzzles, art center, etc. This would prevent students from wandering around the room and frequently disturbing me while I am helping other students. When students need help with an assignment, they just yell out teacher over and over. I think it would really help if students had a card on their desk that is green on one side and red on the other. When a student needs help, raising a hand or approaching the teacher is unnecessary. All the student needs to do is change their card to the red side labeled help. Then, when I have finished helping a student I can look around the room for who needs to be helped. Another issue we have with procedures is leaving the classroom. At this time of day, students typically get their backpacks and coats and everybody lines up to go home. It is always really noisy and chaotic. I would like to implement some type of exit ticket that students need to complete before going home. This will keep them quietly working at their seats before the bell rings. I would also like to have time to

Ashley Vierig EDU 6310 thank students and tell them to have a nice day before everyone bolts out the door, and independent working time would give me that opportunity. I would also like to assign pods to line up one at a time, based upon who is working the quietest. Then, students can move their person back from school to home on the home to school board. Some of the last procedures I would like to implement are a procedure for classroom helpers and a procedure for transitions. My students often come in from recess and immediately need drinks and bathroom breaks when I am ready to start instruction. I witnessed another first grade teacher who had a procedure with her students that they needed to use the restroom and get drinks during recess and were not allowed to go during instructional time. It would be nice to have a procedure like that set in place so we dont waste so much time at the drinking fountain after recess. Also, it seems like there is chaos when all the students stand at the drinking fountain together, so I would either like to send one pod up at a time, or else provide plastic water bottles on the desk with each students name. It would also help keep our classroom clean and organized if we had a helper chart. We need a student to be the line leader, the back of the line, the door holder, the clean up patrol, a paper passer, homework passer, person to bring the lunch basket to and from the lunchroom, and someone to take the roll down to the office in the morning. This will help all students to feel an important part of the classroom while helping things run smoothly. Another way to help maximize success of students is to have the desks arranged in a way that is conducive to learning. While I like students to interact in

Ashley Vierig EDU 6310 the classroom, I dont feel that having the desks facing each other during instructional time is effective. I also dont like students being in compromising positions, such as facing with their backs towards the board. In another lecture I attended during UEA with speaker Pat Rusk, her philosophy was that you should ask yourself, Could I sit here all day? She also said to make sure that when students need to get up to access materials, they are not passing more than 1-2 people in order to avoid behavior issues. Desks should be placed to illicit freedom of movement, so my plan for managing desk placement is to have the desks in a U shape facing the board, with pods of 5 desks with a space in between. This will allow me to have tables without having students in positions where they cant see the board and have frequent opportunities to talk during instructional time. I also plan to implement a seating chart for the rug so I can help eliminate behavior problems there as well. In addition, I agree with Harry Wongs belief that teachers need to have positive expectations of students in the classroom. He suggests having a poster in the classroom that says: I know you are all smart and I never want to hear different. I cant means Im not trying. You can do anything if you try. No matter what, I believe in you. As weve discussed in our classroom management class, building positive relationships is one of the most important aspects of being a classroom teacher. When Harry Wong read this message during his lecture, it brought tears to my eyes.

Ashley Vierig EDU 6310 I think it is so powerful and meaningful, and one of the first steps to building positive relationships with students. Another thing I would like to implement to help build positive relationships and help foster better communication with parents is to keep up a classroom website. Ive taken a lot of fun pictures of activities we are doing in the classroom, and I would love to have a website where parents can see the homework and stay involved with what is going on in the classroom. We had lots of parents at SEPs asking if there was a website, and I think it would be really great. I would even like to start a blog page on the website where parents can post comments/questions/suggestions. I know some parents are also confused about what the homework is, so this would be a good place for me to post homework for the week and help parents understand what they can do to help their child with the assignment. Another positive relationship building idea is to start having a star student of the week. Students can create a poster of things that are all about me to share with the class. In a third grade classroom that did this, I saw the teacher had the students guess different facts about the star student. It was really fun and the kids really enjoyed it. In a book by Vern Jones titled Practical Classroom Management, classroom rules need to be listed in the form of positive statements, reviewed every 3 weeks, have 6 or fewer rules, and include student input in developing the rules. I will review/rehearse them often so students know them by heart and are committed to following the rules. Students also need to understand the reason for the rule and

Ashley Vierig EDU 6310 have constant practice until the rule/procedure is performed correctly. This book is amazing and also provides a list of 20 ways to teach rules and routines. Many fun games/discussion ideas are mentioned that will sincerely help me in being consistent.