Classroom Management Plan

Kate Mitton and Jacqui Serra

Methods of Instruction
Section 5
Commented [JES1]: NCTE 2.3 demonstrate reflective
practice, professional involvement, collaboration.

As a team we needed to work on this together. It shows
that I am capable of working with other people rather than
just doing things on my own. We needed to come up a co-
teaching plan to use with students.
Mitton, Serra 1

I. Description of Our Students
Our school currently has 1200 enrolled students in grades 9 through 12 and 60 full-time teachers.
The average student to teacher ratio is 20 students for every 1 teacher. The schools ethnic
demographics includes 90% white, 5% black, 3% Asian, and 2% Latino. Approximately 20% of
students in the school are eligible for free or reduces lunch. There are 14 students in the school
with IEPs.

Our average classroom size is 24 students. In all of our 10
th
grade English classes throughout the
day we have 96 students. 51 of those students are female and 45 are male. Ages of our students
range from 15-16. Our English classes focus on helping students develop independent reading
skills to analyze literature, communication skills to write with a clear focus and organization, and
research skills.

In our class specifically, we have 20 students 12 students are boys and 8 students are girls. We
have 5 students that have IEPs that we need to follow. We have 2 students with a physical
disability, 2 with vision impairments, and 1 student with a learning disability. In our classroom
we use Universal Design for Learning so that students are receiving the same work and then
students dont feel about of place when they get assignments.

II. Classroom Layout
























Our classroom setup pairs students up into groups of two. Seating students in pairs allows them
to easily collaborate for group projects and daily think/pair/shares. Students can also easily





















Teachers Desk
Filing
Cabinet
Whiteboard
Bookshelf
Bulletin
Boards
Door
Trash Can
Mitton, Serra 2

arrange themselves into groups of four for assignments that require larger groups. This setup
also allows for easy transportation in the classroom. Wide aisles allow us to maneuver through
groups when they work together so we can speak with each student. Students desks are faced
towards the whiteboard in the back of the room so that the door is behind them. Keeping the
door behind students backs keeps them focused by eliminating distractions in the hallway. On
the right side of the classroom are two bulletin boards. One board is used to post clear student
expectations so that students can always be aware of what is expected of them. The other board
is used to post student work. Seeing their work posted on the wall will help students feel pride in
their school work. The left side of the classroom has a bookshelf that is equipped with additional
resources that students can borrow. Students can use these resources during free time in the
classroom or check them out for outside use. The teachers desk is placed in the back of the
classroom so that we can monitor students during tests without distracting them. The trash can is
also kept at the back of the classroom so that students can access it without having to walk in
front of the class and distract other students.

When assigning students seats, we pair together students that we will believe work well together.
Students with physical disabilities are given seats near the door so they have easy access to their
seats. Students with vision impairments are seated in the front so they can easily see the
whiteboard. Students with problem behavior are given aisle seats so that we can quickly walk to
their desk if any troubling behavior arises.

III. Classroom Behavior Expectations

During Silent
Reading

During Group
Activities
Before/After Class
Be Respectful

-Raise your hand
before speaking

-Let others finish
talking before you
talk
- Wait until the
teacher dismisses you
to pack up your
belongings
Be Ready

-Have your book with
you at all times

-Have all appropriate
materials needed for
group activity
-Be in your seat
before the bell rings

Be Responsible

-Stay focused on the
assigned readings
- Keep in task during
reading
- Only have your book
out on your desk and
not other work
-Do your fair share of
group work
- Keep noise level to a
minimum; Inside
voices
-Have all materials
ready before class
starts and return
materials when class
ends

At the beginning of the year (first day or two) we will go over the expectations that we will be
looking for during class time. They will be expected to learn and follow the expectations so the
classroom can flow smoothly. The classroom expectations will be posted on a bulletin board in
the classroom so students can see them throughout the year and be able to reference them
whenever needed. If at any time students are not following the rules, we will take time to go
Mitton, Serra 3

over the classroom expectations again. When we see students displaying these behaviors they
will randomly get a sticker to put in their notebook, at the end of the year the person with the
most stickers gets a gift certificate to the mall. This long term goal will make students want to
follow these expectations in the hopes of getting stickers and hopefully a bigger prize at the end
of the year. We will need to demonstrate with the students the expectations that we will want
throughout the school year. This is to ensure that all students understand expectations that they
will need to follow. This is only a classroom expectation and they may need to follow other
expectations in other classes, so this is why they will be posted so they can always be reminded
of what the expectations are for each individual class.



IV. Establishing Rapport
Rapport is the process of building a relationship with your students. We highly value rapport as
a way to accumulate respect with our students. If our students feel like we care about them on a
personal level, they are more likely to do well in the classroom. Building rapport helps students
to trust us as their teachers. Students that we build rapport with are more likely to believe that
our assignments have a purpose beneficial to their education rather than being busy work.

We use two tools to help establish rapport with our students. The first tool is Staying Close.
Staying Close involves having a casual conversation with a student in a one-on-one scenario.
During this conversation we stay in close proximity to the student, ask open-ended questions to
the student, and use appropriate facial and body language. The goal of Staying Close is to have a
conversation that focuses on the student and not us. This helps the student feel like we care
about them as a person.

The second tool we use to establish rapport is Giving Positive Consequences. This tool
requires rewarding students who have demonstrated appropriate behavior that align with our
classroom expectations. In order for this tool to be effective, we must reward a behavior
immediately. This tool builds rapport by showing students that we notice when they are
following our classroom expectations.

It is important that we use these tools to establish rapport from the very start of the school year.
Building rapport can greatly help students who are at-risk for chronic problem behavior. If we
build a connection with our students from the beginning of the school year, they will quickly
realize that we care about them as young adults and not just as students. Establishing rapport is
essential to creating mutual respect between us and the student.

V. Structure of the Learning Process
At the beginning of every class students will have individual work to do that will be posted on
the board as a PDN (Please Do Now). One question will be work that will review material
from the previous day to ensure that students understand the material that was already taught to
them. The second question will be a question that will introduce the new material so we can see
what students already know about the new material. This will be individual work and students
will not be able to talk during this time. We will be monitoring students to ensure that students
arent copying from each other. PDNs will tell us what will need to be re-taught to the class and
Commented [JES2]: NCTE 2.2 foster familiarity with
students own/others cultures

Building rapport is all about trusting your students and
having them trust you back in return. Learning about their
culture will give me something to talk to them about on a
personal level and not just a student-teacher talk that
students are used to.
Mitton, Serra 4

what we can information we can quickly move over. Along with these questions students will
also have time for independent reading as well. Whenever students finish an assignment early
they will have a book taken from the bookshelf or one brought from home and will read it. This
will eliminate hectic transitions between work. At the end of class students will have 10 minutes
of silent reading so they can work on their reading skills. Students must quietly read throughout
this time.

Group work will be used every day, which is why the students are seated in pairs. We will use
think/pair/share almost every day in class so students who are shy can share their work with
others without sharing with the entire class. This will help students with communication skills
and being more comfortable with sharing their work with peers. Students will often be asked to
go in groups of four to share their work so students sometimes have a bigger audience to share
their work and to bounce ideas of one another.

Active learning activities are some other things will be regularly used in our classroom as well.
After every piece of reading student there will be a 5 minute free-write that will be in their
journals. These free-writes allow students to write about anything in the reading and will be
graded by completeness. These free-writes allow students to work on their writing skills without
the pressures of a graded paper. It also allows students to think about what they have just read.
At the beginning of every lesson students will also be asked to participate in a background
knowledge probe where students are asked simple questions about the upcoming lesson. This
could be a written or oral question and it tells us what the students know already and will tell us
what needs to be taught extensively and what we only need to touch base on with the students.

Students will be asked to do many projects throughout the semester that will enhance the
students knowledge about that topic at hand because they will need to analyze it on their own
and go more in depth then we did in class. Each class will then need to present their finding to
their class (about a 5-10 minute presentation). This will enhance the students skills of
researching and finding what is important about certain topics. It will teach students good
listening skills because questions on the test will be coming from these short presentations as
well.

VI. Responding to Inappropriate Behavior
There are two different types of inappropriate behavior, they are junk behavior and problem
behavior. Junk behaviors are behaviors are things that tend to be annoying to teachers when they
are teaching, such as a student tapping their pencil off their desk. Whereas a problem behavior is
something that is disruptive to the students or other students learning and to the class in general
or it can be a behavior that is harmful to the student or others in the classroom.

If the student is displaying a junk behavior we will use Tool 3. With this tool we will praise and
recognize the positive behavior of a student next to the child displaying the problem behavior,
when the junk behavior ceases, the student will get the positive consequence as well. An
example of this would be if a student isnt reading during silent reading for the last ten minutes
of class and the student is doing homework for another class, we will give a student next to them
a positive consequence, such as verbal praise and thanking the student for right getting started on
their silent reading. One the junk behavior ceases and the student realizes that they should be
Mitton, Serra 5

silent reading and they get back on task, that student will then get a positive consequence for
getting back to the work that has been assigned to them.

When a problem behavior arises in the classroom we want to stop it as soon as we can so it
doesnt disrupt the class and hinder their learning, we also dont want someone to get hurt from
this problem behavior that can arise in the classroom. For example, if a student finished their
work early and they start throwing pencils up at the ceiling, we will approach the student and tell
them to stop throwing pencils at the ceiling and to start reading from their book of choice. If the
student then proceeds to get out of their seat and starts throwing books off the bookcase, we will
tell the student to get back to your seat and start your reading. After they listen to the
instructions that they have been given, positive reinforcement will be given to them for following
the instructions that have been given to them.

Behavior contracts are something that students will get when their behavior is constantly
hindering their learning and the learning of others. These contracts can also be used if a student
is exhibiting behavior that is out of the ordinary for them and is hurting their learning.

Quincy has been having problems with staying in his seat during class time. He often is getting
out of his seat to sharpen his pencil when it isnt needed, walk around and distract other students
while we are in the middle of independent work, and getting out of his seat to take a lap around
the classroom. He also has a problem with calling out answers in the middle of class and talking
to others while we are in the middle of a lesson. This behavior wasnt present at the beginning of
the school year and it has been getting worse as time has been passing. These disruptions happen
at least twice during all of his classes and they are beginning to disrupt other students so they
cant get their work done.





















Mitton, Serra 6

Behavior Contract

Student Name Relevant Staff Name(s) Todays Date
Quincy Kate Mitton & Jacqui Serra Nov. 3
rd
2013

Target Behavior (Behavioral Expectation(s))
Be Responsible: -Stay on task during class time
-Raise your hand before leaving your seat
-Raise your hand to be called upon before talking

Date Collection Procedure
For each class a student will get a + if he met expectations throughout the time of class. If the
student has not met the expectation that student will get a -.

Reinforcement Procedure (What and How Often)
Each teacher will be giving out the + and - within the time period that they have Quincy.
Quincy has 7 different teachers throughout the day, if Quincy gets at least 21 + throughout the
week he will be able to go to the gym for silent reading time so he can burn off energy that he
has. If Quincy gets 28 or more + Quincy can get gym time and his choice of a homework pass
or get to choose a prize from the prize box.

What Students Must Do To Earn Reinforcement
To earn the above mentioned reinforcement, Quincy must:
Be Responsible: -Stay on task during class time
-Raise your hand before leaving your seat
-Raise your hand to be called upon before talking


Consequences for Failure to Meet Behavioral Expectations
If Quincy does not reach his goal of at least 21 + he will not be able to get gym time in instead
of reading time that week.

Bonus for Exceptional Behavioral Performance
If Quincy receives a + every day for the week he will receive gym time, a homework pass, and
a prize from the prize box. If expectations are being met every day for 3 weeks the behavior
contract will be revised to meet his needs.

Signatures of All Relevant People








Commented [JES3]: NCTE 2.1 create inclusive
environment.

This Management plan was all about learning how to
include students in the classroom who have behavior
problems. This shows that as a teacher I know who to work
with students who need to be included in the classroom and
know ways to have them included in the classroom. It also
shows that all students will be held to the same standard.
Mitton, Serra 7

Data Collection Chart for Behavior Contract

Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Total
Period 1 /5
Period 2 /5
Period 3 /5
Period 4 /5
Period 5 /5
Period 6 /5
Period 7 /5
Total /7 /7 /7 /7 /7 /35


+ = Meets expectation
- = Does not meet expectation




























Mitton, Serra 8

VII. Self-Monitoring of Distribution of Reinforcement and Corrective Feedback
The 4 to 1 ratio is when teachers give 4 positive reinforcements for every 1 redirection given to a
student. This will be done within every class period individually by each teacher. The 4 to 1
ratio is important because then students will be more encouraged to learn because they arent
only being redirected, they are getting praise for the good things that they are doing. In our
classroom we want to make sure that we observe and acknowledge the good behavior that is
being done by each and every student.

Not every student will need to be redirected as often which means that not every student will
need the same amount of positive reinforcement. Quincy, our student that has trouble staying in
his seat and raising his hand before answering a question, will receive a sticker that will be
placed in his journal every time he has done a good behavior since he needs to be redirected
more often, these stickers will tell Quincy when he is doing a behavior that is a good behavior.
Since he will know exactly when he is doing these good behaviors, it will decrease the amount of
problem and junk behaviors that he causes in the classroom.

Since we, as teachers will need to monitor when we are giving positive and negative
reinforcement we will use the note card method. On the short side of the note card we will rip
when there is a negative reinforcement toward a student. Then on the opposite side of the note
card we will rip every time the student gets a positive reinforcement to tell us if a student is
receiving enough positive reinforcement for every negative reinforcement that they are showing
in the classroom. If a student is not receiving the amount of positive reinforcement that they
should be, we will make sure that we will pay closer attention to the reinforcement that we are
giving them.






















Mitton, Serra 9

Self-Monitoring Data Collection Sheet

Names

Positive Negative Ratio
Adam

4:1 Good
Beth

5:2 Bad
Ben

7:2 Good
Courtney

5:1 Good
Daryl

10:1 Good
Francesca

6:1 Good
Jack

6:1 Good
Julia

2:1 Bad
Kyle

6:1 Good
Linda

5:1 Good
Lionel

5:1 Good
Matilda

4:1 Good
Matthew

7:2 Good
Nick

5:2 Bad
Paul

3:1 Bad
Quincy

6:1 Good
Rhiannon

5:1 Good
Sara

5:1 Good
Steven

4:1 Good
Walter

4:1 Good


Mitton, Serra 10

VIII. Screening for Students who Require a Contract/FBA via RTI

We will screen our students for behavioral issues that require a contract or FBA through a
Response to Intervention approach. RTI will begin with Tier 1, which we will use for all
students. In Tier 1, we will teach all students our classroom expectations and enforce those
expectations throughout the year. When students exhibit appropriate behavior that reflects our
expectations, we will reinforce those behaviors. Tier 1 will be used as a preventative
intervention to teach our students the expectations we have. We will use this tier to identify
students that we believe will require additional behavioral support. These students will move
into Tier 2. In Tier 2, we will monitor the behavior of our students to help determine appropriate
intervention methods that can be used. The interventions that we implement in Tier 2 must be
research-based and based on the needs of the students. Interventions for students in this stage
will vary based on the student and can include programs like mentoring or counseling. Students
that are still struggling will move on to Tier 3. In this stage we will create a Functional
Behavioral Assessment for the student that will require an in-depth analysis of the students
behavior. We will record how students in this tier respond to previous interventions.

Frequent problem behavior in students will make it necessary to use Tool 4 much more often
because Tool 4 is used to respond to junk behavior. As a result, this will make achieving the 4:1
ratio much more difficult. To counteract the frequent use of Tool 4 to address problem behavior,
we will also need to use Tool 2 more often to reward positive behavior. If we do not use 4 Tool
2s for every Tool 4, then our students with problem behavior will think we are only focusing on
their junk behavior. We want our students to believe we see the good in them, so it is important
to reward those good behaviors. Additionally, rewarding those good behaviors more often will
show those students what behaviors we expect from them.