Kristen Houlihan

11/6/2016
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What are my beliefs about classroom management?

The management system that most aligns with my person beliefs about classroom
management is Linda Alberts Cooperative Discipline. This management system is based on the
belief that students choose to act the way that they do (Charles, pg. 69). I personally believe that
every day we have choices to make about our behavior. Depending on our mood or outlying
circumstances we choose our behaviors every day. I think that students need to be aware of the
choices that they make on an everyday basis both inside and outside of the classroom. I also
believe that we make a choice as to how we let certain things affect us and our behaviors. I
believe that students need to be aware that even though they can sometimes not control the things
that happen to them, they can control their attitude and how they let these things affect them.
Another belief of the Cooperative Discipline model is that teachers best influence
students through encouragement, intervention, and collaboration (Charles, pg. 69). This is also
something that aligns with my beliefs about classroom management. I think that students behave
the best when they are constantly encouraged and acknowledged for the good behavior that they
do. It does not help a student to make appropriate choices if they are constantly being
reprimanded for their misdoings. I also think that collaboration is key in having a great
classroom environment. Students need to feel that they have had choices in how the classroom is
run. They should feel a part of the rule-making process. I believe that if students are made a part
of the rule-making process, they hold themselves accountable for their actions more. Working in
collaboration with the teacher lets the children know that this is their classroom and that they are
welcome and that their opinions are valid.

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The Cooperative Discipline model also talks about the importance of parental
involvement in the classroom environment. I also think that parental involvement is a major
factor in a childs behavior in the classroom. I believe that teachers and parents should be
partners in a childs education and a parent/teacher relationship can either make or break a
teachers relationship with a student. I think that parents should play a role in the rule-making
process, and that a teacher should encourage parents to adapt the classroom rules into their own
household. This will allow for students to have constant reinforcement of the rules and will have
parents and teachers on the same page when it comes to a behavior management system.
What does the learning environment look like?
I am currently interning in a Title 1 school located in Hillsborough county. The
classroom in which I am interning in is a fourth-grade math/science classroom. There are more
boys than girls in my internship classroom. All students in the class are around nine years old.
There are many students in the class that are ESE, and two of the students that are in the class are
visually impaired and are legally blind. The students are seated in groups throughout the
classroom. There are also two small group tables as well as a U-shaped table placed in the
classroom. These tables are where the Visually Impaired Specialist and the ESE Specialist pull
their small groups when lessons are being taught.
There are advantages and disadvantages to having the classroom set up in the way that it
is. Having an area where small groups can be pulled is a great way to plan for student learning.
There are many teachers that come into the classroom throughout the day, so having an area in
which these teachers can work with students is vital. Levin and Nolan states No matter what
basic seating arrangement is used, it should be flexible enough to accommodate and facilitate the

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various learning activities that occur in the classroom (pg 153). A disadvantage to having so
many small group tables is the lack of space that the classroom has. There is no common
meeting space in which all the students can gather. Having the students able to meet in a
common area is key for things like Morning Meeting, which never occurs in my internship
classroom.
Having the students arranged in groups also has advantages and disadvantages. One
great thing about having the students set up into groups is that they are set up in mixed-ability
groups. Levin and Nolan states seating arrangements in which higher- and lower- achieving
students are interspersed throughout the room can increase involvement and participation (pg
153). The students are grouped in a way that is beneficial to both their learning and their
behavior. Both ability grouping and behavior were considered when making the seating
arrangement. One disadvantage of having the students in groups is that there are not enough
girls in which to put the groups with mixed genders. In learning about age groups in my
Management class, I learned that students in my age range like to work with those of other
genders. Another disadvantage is that some students are not able to see the board quite as well
as before.
The students were not always in groups in my internship classroom. When I first came
into the class, the students were placed in a different seating arrangement. As can be seen
in my seating arrangement blog (http://khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/september-11th2016), the students were placed into an arrangement that looked like two capital Es.
After having this seating arrangement for a couple of weeks, my CT and I did not think
that this arrangement was best for student participation. After working with her and

Kristen Houlihan
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completing task 15, I was able to place the students a seating arrangement that better
benefits their learning.
What are the needs of my learners and the needs of the learning environment?
As previously stated, the students in my internship classroom, my students are all
behaviorally in the nine-year old-range. In completing the Birthday Cluster exercise in the
Clayton and Forton book, I was able to learn many things about my students based on their
developmental and behavioral ages (pg. 32). According to Clayton and Forton, students that are
the age of nine can be highly competitive (pg 32). This can be seen in my internship classroom.
Students are constantly wanting to race each other, or be the first person called with the correct
answer. To work with this aspect of the students behavioral age, my CT and I have a lot of
competitions in our classroom. One of the most memorable competitions that took place in our
classroom was when the students completed their marshmallow flyers for the LDC. The students
were so engaged and determined to complete and have the best marshmallow flyer.
Per Clayton and Forton, one of the classroom implications for students of the nine-yearold age range is to make most learning materials available through supply areas in the
classroom (pg 33). We have many supply areas located throughout the classroom. There is an
engineering station, which is full of plastic bottles, cardboard, and broken supplies that
students can explore and build new things. We also have a science supple area in which all of
our beakers, funnels, measuring cups, tape measures and things used to conduct science
experiments are located. We also have a math manipulatives supply area that the students have
free access to when they are completing their math assignments.

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In moving the students desks into groups, one can definitely see what Clayton and
Forton were talking about when they stated that nine-year-old students can work in groups but
with lots of arguing (pg 33). I have seen how the students in my classroom can benefit from
working in groups, but with students in this age range there can be some challenges. To combat
problems that may arise, there are islands located throughout the classroom. These are
individual desks located throughout the classroom that students can go to if working in a group
becomes too frustrating for them. This has been highly effective for the students in my
classroom that get distracted easily, or those who are still working on working collaboratively in
a group setting.
FEAP Evidence
2. The Learning Environment. To maintain a student-centered learning environment that
is safe, organized, equitable, flexible, inclusive, and collaborative, the effective educator
consistently:

a. Organizes, allocates, and manages the resources of time, space, and attention;
In many of my performance task blogs, I speak about managing the resources of time, space, and
attention. I speak about different attention getters that I use with the students. I also talk about
moving students so as to better use the space by the front door to better control the crowding.
Lastly, I speak about decreasing the amount of time it takes for things like lining up and getting
students refocused so that the amount of instructional time throughout the day increases.
Evidence:
khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/performance-task-6

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khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/performance-task-5
khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/performance-task-4
b. Manages individual and class behaviors through a well-planned management system;
In my Performance Task #4 blog, I speak about managing individual behaviors with the use of
nonverbal cues. These nonverbal cues were very effective in managing the behaviors of both
individual and groups of students.
Evidence: khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/performance-task-5
c. Conveys high expectations to all students:
Throughout my internship and the various lessons that I have done with the students, I always
make sure the students know what is expected of them. I love to state what is expected of my
students before I begin a lesson and before they partake in anything new.
Evidence: As can be seen in the picture in my blog, my CT states that I manage classroom
behaviors based on students' needs and convey my expectations for my students before the
lesson begins. http://khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/evidence-pictures
d. Respects students cultural linguistic and family background;
The students in my internship come from many different linguistic and family backgrounds. I
have one ELL student in my classroom, who speaks Spanish fluently at home. I like to use her
knowledge of Spanish words to help to teach the class. In my evidence you will see an example
of Morning Message, in which the first words are written in Spanish. This would be an example
of a time that I would call on my ELL student to tell the class what these words mean.
Evidence: http://khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/feaps-2016-final-2016

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e. Relate and integrate the subject matter with other disciplines and life experiences
Throughout whole group reading, my students use their "Readers Response Toolboxes". These
toolboxes have sticky notes in them that the students can use to mark the text. Two of these
sticky notes are "T-T" (Text to text connection) and "T-S" (Text to self connection). These
sticky notes allow for students to relate the content to their own life experiences or to other
things that we have done in the classroom. In the evidence you will see an example of a
student's readers response toolbox.
Evidence: http://khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/feaps-2016-final-2016
f. Models clear, acceptable oral and written communication skills;
Modeling writing is one of my favorite things to do with my students, whenever we go over
bellwork together, I do a couple of problems with them to make sure that they know how to do
the problem. Another things that models written skills is the morning message that I do with
them in the morning.
Evidence:
Here is an example of morning message, and my supervisor's notes on my Calendar Math lesson.
As you can see, she wrote that I reminded them orally about silent celebrations instead of calling
out that they got the answers correct. I also had them "show me with their fingers" the answer
instead of calling out.
http://khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/evidence-pictures
g. Maintains a climate of openness, inquiry, fairness and support
I like to give every student an opportunity to answer the question, even if they are struggling I do
not like to just simply move on to another student. My supervisor states in this blog

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<http://khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/calendar-math> that she liked the way I supported a student

who was struggling to answer. I also like to modify instruction based on individual needs, my
CT states in my coaching tool that I modify my lesson based on my student's needs.
Evidence: http://khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/evidence-pictures
h. Integrates current information and communication technologies
Since my internship classroom is lucky enough to have a Smartboard, I try to use it as much as
possible with my lessons. In my Supervisor observation she points out how I use the Smartboard
in the math lesson that I do.
Evidence: http://khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/midterm-feaps
i. Adapts the learning environment to accommodate the differing needs and diversity of
students; and
Throughout my internship, I have adjusted my instruction depending on the needs of my
students. My CT during her observation stated "Instruction is designed for students to achieve
mastery with the subject matter. The instruction is adapted for the higher level of the reading
group she has been working with." I try my best to differentiate my instruction the best that I
can when I do my lessons with the class.
Evidence: http://khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/midterm-feaps
j. Utilizes current and emerging assistive technologies that enable students to participate in
high-quality communication interactions and achieve their educational goals.
In my internship classroom, there are two students who are completely blind. These students
have and utilize many assistive technologies on an every day basis. In my Performance Task #5
blog, I speak about organizing all of the materials for these students so that they can participate

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in my Supervisor Observation #1 lesson.

Evidence: khoulihan3.weebly.com/blog/performance-task-6
Conclusion
I have found that the learning environment is an all-encompassing aspect that affects the
students inside of a classroom. A learning environment can be anything from the arrangement of
the desks, to the rules and consequences that are set up. I have also found that the ages of my
students can greatly affect the learning environment of a classroom. My facilitation of the
learning environment can have a great effect on student behaviors and classroom management in
general. I feel as though my personal beliefs somewhat align with what I facilitated inside my
internship classroom this semester. In my own classroom, I would work with the students to
come up with a list of rules and consequences for the students and I to hold each other
accountable to, this was not something that happened in my internship classroom this semester. I
think that if the students felt a part of the rule-making process, that some of the behavior
management issues would be resolved. I also believe that the students should feel comfortable to
share their ideas and opinions. One great way to have students become comfortable inside of the
classroom is participating in things like Morning Meeting. Morning Meeting does not occur in
my internship classroom, and I feel that a lot of the behavior and participation issues in the
classroom would be resolved if Morning Meeting were put into place in the classroom. In my
future classroom, I would make sure that Morning Meeting occurred in my classroom
environment. In completing many different tasks pertaining to classroom management, I feel
that I have helped to make a positive impact on the students inside of my internship classroom.

Kristen Houlihan
11/6/2016
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References
Charles, C. M. Linda Albert's 'Cooperative Discipline'. In Building classroom discipline. Boston.
Allyn and Bacon. 2002. Ch. 5. pp. 67-84.
Clayton, M. K, & Forton, M. B. (2001). Classroom spaces that work. Thunder Falls, MA:
Northeast Foundation, Inc.
Levin, J., & Nolan, J. F. (2014). Principles of classroom management: A professional decisionmaking model, (7th Ed.). Boston: Pearson.