Classroom Management Plan

Sarah Lyons

I believe that the best way to manage a classroom is by building a relationship based on
mutual trust and respect between the teacher and students. Only when students feel certain
that their concerns will be heard and their needs will be met can they begin to reciprocate the
compassion and understanding that their teachers have offered to them. When a teacher has
his/her students backs, the students will have the teachers back as well. If you can create an
environment where the students feel trusted and encouraged to think for themselves and act
on their own instincts, they will begin to take more responsibility for their own actions, and
aspire to be strong thinkers and confident actors within the environment. A student who is
encouraged and instructed on how to be their best self and to build to their fullest potential will
instinctively begin to self-monitor and weed out those behaviours that cause them conflict in
their social settings.
One way to promote independence in students is to offer them a degree of choice
within the school structure. Rather than enforcing a series of rules which seem arbitrary and
imposing to these budding personalities, I plan to work together with the students to develop a
short list of rules that we all agree on rules for the students, and rules for the teacher.
Students will also be given a choice in what assignments they complete, and even what
questions they fill out on a test. Because different student work and learn differently, providing
a menu of different types of questions from which each student can select the questions they

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will complete will better ensure that each student gets to express his or her knowledge in the
way that is optimal for him or her.
Students who misbehave and act out do so because they are bored, frustrated,
confused, or because they do not feel that their positive efforts are being validated. Teachers
can prevent misconduct by ensuring that students are engaged in the material - by delivering
captivating, relevant, and interesting material in a way that is accessible and fun for their
audience. I intend to pepper my school days with opportunities for each child to express his or
her own personal strengths, whether artistically, academically, or physically, so that no child
feels suffocated by the uniformity of traditional academic rigor. Creativity is a major focus in
todays job market with many people creating their own jobs based on the skills and interests
that they bring to the table so as much as any other skill, creativity needs to be instilled in
future adults from a very young age. In a society so focused on innovative and invention, every
student should be encouraged to discover what artistic sparks live inside them.
I believe that off-task behaviours can be minimized by providing structure and guidance
throughout the school day. Children have more questions than they have answers, and so crave
guidance and instruction from adults who have the wisdom of life experience. If you explicitly
explain to a child how and why they are expected to perform a task or respond to a situation,
such as lining up at the end of the day (quietly, in a straight line to avoid disrupting other
classes, and for a better flow of traffic through the halls), they can internalize why it is in
everyones best interest for them to complete the task that particular way, and will try their

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best to maintain that positive behaviour especially if the positive behaviour is reinforced and
encouraged.
A teachers main goal is not to provide students with as much knowledge as is possible
in the time that is allotted, but to create life-long learners who are self-motivated to seek out
and absorb as much information as possible for the benefit of their own personal growth and
development. Only when students come to understand the value and importance of education
in their own lives will they be inclined to sit attentively and take in the information that you
make available to them. I believe that the first step in creating an attentive, well behaved class
is instilling in students a passion for learning if only by exuding, yourself, a personal charge
towards knowledge and personal growth. I personally have a deep seated passion for learning,
and I believe that that is a value that I will pass on to my students through my shear enthusiasm
and eagerness to learn.