Toolkit Assignment

Mikel Hoffman EDU 491- Classroom Management October 31, 2013

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Table of Content
Classroom Maps......3-4 Informational Letter for Parents/Guardians....5-6 First Day of School Introductory Script..7-8 Icebreaker...9-10 First Day Activities....11 Rules..12 My Classroom Management Philosophy.....13-14 Responses to Appropriate and Inappropriate Behaviors..15-16 List of Procedures....17-19 Two Procedure Lesson Plans..20-22

My Introduction Create a WHO IS YOUR TEACHER bulletin board. o Include your: Name: Mrs. Hoffman Favorite color: Yellow and Orange Favorite animal: Moose Where you are from: Centerville, Montana Raises: on a farm Family: 2 sisters, a brother Married: Mr. Hoffman

Fun Fact: I love cows! Goal for the Year: teach new topics and a fun way! Interests: outdoors, hunting, fishing, cooking!

o Add photos, clipart and other things that represent your interests. After your students find their seats, direct them to the bulletin board. Discuss what the bulletin board is, and start by introducing yourself, Hi, I am Mrs. Hoffman, and I will be your 2nd grade teacher for the year!. Ask them if they can see any clues to what your: Favorite color: Yellow and Orange Favorite animal: Moose Where you are from: Centerville, Montana Raises: on a farm Family: 2 sisters, a brother

Married: Mr. Hoffman

Fun Fact: I love cows! Goal for the Year: teach new topics and a fun way! Interests: outdoors, hunting, fishing, cooking!

After discovering all the fun facts about Mrs. Hoffman, allow the students time to ask questions, as you answer them the best you can!

Finally end with telling the students, I am really looking forward to our year together, and getting to know all of you. We have a lot of fun learning ahead of us, and I am very excited to get started!

Icebreaker: People Bingo

My students will walk around the room, talk to each other, and find names of people who fit the characteristics for 5 minutes. o They will write down the name of the person that fits the description.

After they have had time to walk around, they will return to their seats. o Signal for returning the desks will be when I clap my hands 3 times and say, class class.

After they are at their desks I will go around asking people the tell me the person they put for each square.

After completing this I will have the students create their own mini WHO ARE YOU bulletin boards. o After they are completed, they will hang them from the front of their desks so they continue to learn more about each other. o They will also have the opportunity to share their boards if wanting to.

To avoid the kickball effect I took out the aspect of winning and receiving a price. I feel as if I would have kept that in there students would have not really listened and learned about their other classmates, but rather rushed through it to be the winner.

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First Day Activities 1. Welcome students to the 2nd grade (or whatever grade you are teaching) at the door, and once they are seated. Introduce myself and what is appropriate to call me. 2. Help them to put their belongings where they need to go, and find their assigned seats. 3. Show students where the bathrooms are, and what the procedure is for using the bathroom. 4. Play People Bing to allow students to get to know each other, and for me to start to get to know my students.

5. Have each student introduce themselves to the class, and say one fun thing they did this summer, and one thing they are looking forward to doing this school year. 6. Create, go over, and demonstrate rules that will be enforced all year. 7. Create, model, and practice the procedures that are expected of the students to follow. 8. Pass out all text books that will be used throughout the rest of the year, and show and talk about where personal and school belongings go. 9. Discuss the class schedule and what the days will be structured like with the students, also sending this and a welcome letter home to parents. 10. Have students free write about their summer vacation, first day of school, or what they are looking forward to learning this year.

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Rules: 1. Follow Directions 2. Be Positive 3. Be Respectful 4. Listen Carefully 5. Do Your Best Work

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My Classroom Management Philosophy My classroom management philosophy is somewhere between instructor-centered and democratic. I feel that students should have a say in how their classroom is run, and how day-today tasks are designed, but then there are somethings that I feel need to be done a certain way to insure the students are always safe within the classroom. When it comes to setting rules I feel it is important to get student input on what the rules should be. I hope to base the rules off of one that everyone in the class can agree on. When it comes to procedures though, I have a very specific way I like things done. This does not mean that I am not flexible or open minded with some procedure, but with certain procedures I feel they need to be done in a specific manner. I do you feel that when it comes to the classroom set up (desks arrangement), I am willing to be flexible and try out several different arrangements to see what works best for the students and for me as an instructor. I like the idea of changing up the arrangement every month or two, and getting the students input after each arrangement to see how it is working, or if it wasnt working. Overall, I feel that it is important to be flexible and keep the needs of students in mind when dealing with classroom management. When it comes to classroom management tools, I find myself using and like a mixture of instructor-centered and democratic tools. I really like using positive reinforcement to help strengthen appropriate behavior. I have also found extinction to be a very valuable tool with certain behaviors and children. On the more democratic side, I like the idea of using I message to address inappropriate behaviors. It allows the student to see how their actions are affecting the instructor, and allows them to recognize it, and change what they are doing. I also like allowing students to be part of deciding what to do when a behavior continues to occur. These options could consist of journaling, to-do checklists, goal checklists, record keeping, and motivational
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phrases. This will allow students to become more involved in their actions, and responsible for those behaviors.

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Responses to Appropriate and Inappropriate Behaviors Appropriate Behavior: Sally is working silently on her reading assignment, and when she is done she quietly turns her assignment into the appropriate bin, and returns to her desk to silently read. 1) Thank you, Sally, for quietly reading at your desk! I really like how you followed my instructions so great! This may not be done in front of the whole class (to avoid spotlighting), but maybe oneon-one with Sally or with a note. 2) Give Sally quick thumbs up to let her know she is doing a great job. 3) Reward sally with a token (whole class reward system) for following directions. 4) Sally, thank you so much for being quiet, and following directions so well, you may put your book away and choose an education activity at the computer if you would like! This may not be done in front of the whole class (to avoid spotlighting), but maybe oneon-one with Sally or with a note. 5) Sally, thank you so much for following direction and reading quietly, if you would like, you can go to the beanbags in the reading center and read! This may not be done in front of the whole class (to avoid spotlighting), but maybe oneon-one with Sally or with a note.

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Inappropriate Behavior: The students are asked to quietly line up for lunch, and Johnny cannot seem to keep his hand to himself, and continues to talk. 1) I would first use extinction to see if Johnny would self-correct his behavior once he doesnt get a reaction from me or other students. 2) Please remember that when we are lining up, it is important to be quiet and keep our hands to ourselves. 3) Johnny, you can either stand in line appropriately with your hand to yourself, or go sit back in your desk. 4) Have Jonny check his to-do checklist to make sure he is appropriately lining up. Having Jonny keep track and be responsible for his behavior will allow him to become more responsible, and monitor his own behaviors. This checklist can be small and incorporate sticks so he can monitor where he is at on the list. 5) Johnny, please go and pull a card, and line up quietly, keeping your hands to yourself.

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Procedures: 1. Answering Questions: a. Please sit properly and quietly with your hand raised, and wait to be called on to answer a question. b. When I am trying to get the whole class attention I will use Class, Class, with a response from students of Yes, Yes, I will keep this interesting by using different voices when I say it, and having students respond back in the same voice. 2. Lining Up: a. Stand up quietly and push in your chair. Walk to the door and stand in a straight line quietly with hands to your side. Always face forward and be careful to watch where you are going. 3. When/How to use Restrooms: a. Please use the restroom before and during recess to avoid losing instructional time. If you need to use the restroom during instructional time, please quietly find the bathroom pass, and dont play in the restroom. Return to the classroom within two minutes, hang the bathroom pass back up, and quietly find your seat. b. 2 students (one boy and one girl) can be in the restroom at a time. 4. When/ How to sharpen pencils: a. Please place all unsharpened pencils in the UNSHARPENED jar, and quietly grab a pencil from the SHARPENED jar, and return to your desk. 5. Entering the Room/ Beginning of Day:

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a. Enter quietly while keeping hands to yourself. Remove and properly store (in cubbies) coats, hats, and other outdoor items before placing your homework in the appropriate bin. Find your seat and start your journals silently. 6. End of Day: a. Please quietly fill out your assignment books and gather all needed materials to take home. Quietly clean off your desk, and put materials in your backpack. Stack your chair, and quietly line up at the door. 7. Participating in Small Groups: a. Only bring needed materials to small groups, and silently find a place at the station you have been assigned. Listen carefully to instructions, stay on topic, raise your hand to speak if someone else is speaking, and treat everyone with respect. 8. Obtaining Help With Assignments: a. Quietly ask your neighbor to help you if needed. Raise your hand to get help from the teacher, and wait quietly for assistance.

9. Fire Drill: a. Stop whatever you are doing promptly, stand up and quickly walk towards to door, without running or pushing. Do not cover your ears, do not leave your class or grab anything from your desk or cubbies. Follow your teacher outside, and meet in the designated spot we have reviewed. Wait patiently, quietly, and calmly in line outside until we are permitted to return to class. 10. Being a classroom helper; learning a classroom job

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a. If you get a job on Monday (check the chart that will be posted on bulletin board), see the person who did the job last week during silent reading time, ask him or her for the job description card, and have him or her help you on the first day. For the rest of the week, it is your responsibility to remember to do your job.

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Two Procedure Lesson Plans

1. Procedure = Lining up in a single file line: Tell: Students when we line up to go to a special, recesses, emergency drills or any other place, we will need to be in a straight, quiet single file line. What does it mean to be in a straight line? (pause and allow kids to think and answers this question) A straight lines means you are right behind the person in front of you, looking forward and standing with your hands by your side. We also need to do this quietly so that we do not disrupt other classes. Every time you all line up quietly as a class you can earn a marble that will go towards a classroom party. Once we have earned 20 we will talk about what kind of classroom party we want to have! Make sure you are being a good role model for your classmates and other students and line up like this every time. Model: Who would like to come up to the front of the room and help me demonstrate how to line up (have the students line up the wrong way the second time and ask the why this is not the right way to line up. Open it up for discussion so the kids can tell me why it is wrong so I can watch for understanding of this concept.). Practice: After modeling have all the students practice this by lining up according to their birthdays, pretending like we are leaving for recess or lining up for music.

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Review: We will review this every time we line up for the rest of the year. If it is not done right I will excuse them back to their desks and explain what they need to do differently when they line up.

Reinforce: Every time they line up correctly they can earn a marble for a class party.

2. Procedure = Answering Questions Tell: Students when you want to answer a question please make sure you are sitting properly and quietly with your hand raised, and wait to be called on to answer a question. What does it mean when I say sitting properly? (pause and allow kids to think and answers this question). Sitting properly means being seated in your chair and looking. We also need to do this quietly so that we do not disrupt our classmates and allow others time to come up and think of an answer. Every time we go a whole day without anyone calling out an answer to a question the class will earn a marble that will go towards a classroom party. Once we have earned 20 we will talk about what kind of classroom party we want to have! Make sure you are being a good role model for your classmates and other students and raise your hand to answer a question. Model: Who would like to come up to the front of the room and help me demonstrate how to answer a question (have the students call out answers the second time and ask them why this is not the right way to answer a question. Open it up for discussion so the kids can tell me why it is wrong
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so I can watch for understanding of this concept.) I will also continue to model this throughout the year by raising my hand or asking them to raise their hands to ask question. Practice: After modeling have all the students practice this by asking a few question, and having them answer them. Continue to practice this throughout the entire day (school year). Review: We will review this every time a question is asked (from both teachers and other students, unless we are in open discussion) for the rest of the year. If it is not done right I will as that all questions are written down, and then model appropriate ways to answer a question and why its important to do so (allow others to formulate/ come up with their own answers). I will also help them review by modeling what I am asking them to do when they want to ask a questions (demonstrate raising hand and ask them to raise hand). Reinforce: Every time the class goes an entire day without calling out an answer they can earn a marble for a class party.

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