Saint Francis University

Carly Gromel
 Philosophy of Classroom Management

Behavioral Expectations

Creating Positive Relationships

Motivation and Engagement
Minimizing Disruptive Behavior
Classroom Organization
Classroom Procedures

Pre-School Check off

Introduction letters (2) to students

Classroom Motto

Classroom Arrangement

Classroom Rules

Hierarchy of Consequences

Motivational Strategies

Management Procedures and Routines

Individual Monitoring

Instructional Planning

Student Diversity
I believe that every student learns
differently. Therefore, it is important to
differentiate instruction and teach to the
students needs. Even if you have to teach
the same lesson multiple times a day, it
should always be different because every
class of students varies.
By focusing on the students abilities and
needs, it will eliminate times where they are unfocused because of boredom or
confusion. It promotes on task and engaged behaviors, which is a necessity for
classroom management.
In addition, my philosophy on managing a classroom relies a great deal on
establishing positive relationships early on with each student. Simply greeting
students at the door, saying hello, and asking them how they are doing really shows
that you care about them and are there to help them. I believe it is important to
serve as not only a role model and authority figure to the students, but a friend as
well. Sometimes, they need that more than anything else.
I truly believe that if students respect you and have
a good relationship with you as their teacher, they
will be willing to work harder in order to impress
you. This being said, I think it is imperative to
challenge the students. I completely understand that
students may be confused at times, but I want to
instill the mentality that they need to try their best at
all times!
Lastly, when it comes to managing a classroom, I think it is important to
teach the rules and procedures early on and remind students of them
frequently. Simply stating the rules and procedures once and forgetting
about them is not acceptable. The students should know what is expected
of them every day and should be held to responsible for their actions!
 Creating Positive Relationships

Relationships with students are a key factor in managing a

classroom. It is very important to establish a positive relationship
with every student. This can be done by simply greeting the
students at the door, calling them by name, and asking how they are
doing. Showing the students you are interested and care will help
them become more comfortable, which is key for an optimal
learning environment.
Students can tell when teachers truly support, so it is
imperative to create positive relationships with them. This will
allow for an environment full of respect and rapport. Therefore, it is
essential to know the following:
- Teaching is a matter of relationships among individuals, which should be grounded in
rapport and mutual respect (between the teacher and the students and among the students).
- The environment is created by the way teachers interact with students.
- In a respectful environment, ALL students feel valued and safe.
- Characteristics include: friendliness, openness, or humor
- Teachers may show caring by being stern, NOT by sarcasm, favoritism, or put downs.
- Appropriate ways of showing respect and rapport can be verbal and nonverbal.

To ensure this environment is created, the following actions should be used:

- Establish a cooperative, responsible classroom by developing positive teacher-student

relationships
- Promote students self-esteem
- Build group cohesiveness
- Help students assume responsibility for their behavior (enforce the rules)
- Maintain student attention and involvement
- Reinforce desired behaviors
- Motivate students to learn
- Includes students when making decisions about instructional tasks, feedback and evaluation,
and academic and behavioral expectations
- Have an understanding of diverse learners
 Motivation and Engagement

Motivating and engaging students go hand in hand. In

order for students to be motivated to learn, they must be
engaged in the learning. Therefore, it is important to keep
students engaged so that they stay motivated to try their
best! Motivating students is very important because if
they are not motivated to learn, they may not retain
information, may lack participation, may not turn in work,
may fall behind, and may even become disruptive. If this
happens, not much effective learning will take place. Due
to this, it is imperative to keep the students engaged and motivated to learn.
A few things to remember about motivation include:
- A pleasant feeling about the class leads to higher motivation.
- Use students interests to help motivate them.
- The use of intrinsic and extrinsic rewards can be used to show the relationship
between the task and the reward, which increases motivation.
- Teach student effort. Explain success comes with effort, which leads to a sense of
accomplishment.
- Hold students accountable and have high expectations. Keep a moderate amount of
tension.
- Give students feedback in a timely manner.

Although it may seem difficult, there are many tools and resources that can be used to motivate
and engage students. Some to use include
- Encourage students; use praise; recognize their hard work.
- Get students involved by assigning classroom jobs. This will
teach them responsibility and ownership.
- Offer incentives and rewards. Make it a competition
between classes by using a chart to keep track of great work,
participation, and behavior.
- Be creative and change the structure of the class. Change up the learning environment,
from the arrangement to the format of the lessons. Relaxed Fridays.
- Connect information to real life.
- Have high expectations for the students. Challenge them.
- Be EXCITED. Its contagious!
 Minimizing Disruptive Behaviors

Students are not going to be on their best behavior at all times. It is not reasonable to expect
this, so teachers need to have knowledge and tools to prevent and minimize disruptive
behaviors. Some ways to obtain the students attention and acknowledge the misbehavior
include:
- Minimize down time- always have another task prepared
- Name dropping
- Proximity
- Body language (crossed arms, The Face)
- Tapping the front of the students desk
- Planned ignoring
- Be quiet
- Turn off the lights
- Ask the student:
What are you doing?
What should you be doing?
Whats the rule?

Hopefully, disruptive behaviors will be minimized by using the techniques above, but if
prolonged misbehavior occurs, it is important to know what to do.
*The following chart is helpful when dealing with chronic misbehavior.
 Classroom Organization

A classroom should always be organized in a way so

that students know where all the supplies are. This
being said, the teacher should keep the classroom
organized so that it does not become a cluttered
mess throughout the course of the school year.
Therefore, there should be plenty of storage bins
and trays to keep supplies and students work
organized. It also would be very helpful to have
things labeled so no time is wasted looking for the
designed materials. It is inevitable that
disorganization and messes can occur, but it is important to stay on top of it and
handle it early on. Everything has its own place, and it should stay there!

Classroom Arrangement is also important to promote organization. The way desks,

boards, tables, and other things are set up around the room can make or break a
classroom. It is important that the teacher has a clear view of all of the desks and
that they are placed in way where the students can easily view the board. In
addition, it is important to strategically place materials like extra pencils, erasers,
and pencil sharpeners. They should be located in a place so that if a student were to
need it, they would not distract other students during class time. The way the room
is arranged can definitely affect how the classroom is managed. If thought about
strategically, many distractions can be eliminated and on task behaviors will
increase.
 Classroom Procedures

Arrival- Upon arrival, students will immediately go to their

lockers put their belongings away and bring the materials they
need for the beginning of the day into homeroom. While
walking into homeroom, the students will sign in and complete
the lunch count task. The students will know that they are
expected to go to breakfast, sit quietly working, or read before
announcements come on. (If the students go to breakfast they
will lay the representative pass on their desk)

Transitioning between classes- Since the students will be switching classes, a procedure needs
to be implemented to ensure it goes smoothly. Two minutes prior to the time the students
switch, the teacher will give a verbal warning to finish the task and start to pack up. The
students will be expected to sit quietly until the teacher allows them to line up by the door.

Lining Up- Once students are given the directive, they will
form two lines. A male and female line will be formed in a
designated area by the door. Once all of the students are
quiet and in the line, they will be dismissed before the
following class comes in. They are expected to walk quietly
in the two lines and wait in the hallway until the previous
class is dismissed. This will prevent unnecessary congestion in the classrooms and hallways.

Before and After Lunch- Students will know before coming into class to have all of their
belongings with them for lunch. They will then sit quietly until it is time to line up and walk to
lunch. The line leaders will start the lines when directed and the rest of the students will fill in
behind. The teacher will turn the lights off until all of the students are quiet and then lead them
to lunch, requiring the students to walk quietly in the two lines. The students will be picked up
from lunch and walk back and wait in the room until dismissed for the next class.

End of the day/ dismissal- The students will come into the classroom, have a seat, and wait for
their section to be called before going to their locker and collecting all of their belongings. Once
they have all of their things, they will sit quietly until they are dismissed according to bus
schedule.
 1. Treat others as you want to be treated.
~RESPECT~

2. Bring all materials to class.

(pencil and eraser, math book and journal, planner)

3. Before speaking, raise your hand and wait to be

called on.

4. Keep your hands, feet, and belongings to

yourself.
 Severe Consequences
If the behavior(s) of concern continue to
occur, the student will be referred to the
office, a meeting will be held (including
the student, parents, teacher, guidance
counselor, and administration), and a
behavior plan may be constructed and
Parent/student/teacher/guidance implemented.
/aministration conference
Moderate/Severe Consequences
Office referral Moderate/Severe Consequences can
be used when behaviors continually
occur and prior consequences do not
Parent Contact
work. When this occurs, individual
meetings will be held with the teacher
Individual Conference and student, a behavior contract will
be constructed, and a parent will be
contacted.
Loss of recess
Moderate Consequences
Second Individual Reminder Moderate consequences can be used
when behaviors of concern reoccur
more than once. Redirecting students,
Individual Reminder
individualizing reminders, switching
seats, choice making, and loss of recess
can be used to enforce expected
Class Reminder
behaviors.

Mild Consequence
Mild consequences can be used
daily to ensure students are
behaving as expected. Proximity,
body language, name dropping,
praising appropriate behavior
and whole class reminders can be
used to prevent and correct
behaviors.
It is clear that students do not always want to learn, so it is important to use a variety of
strategies to motivate them to work hard and try their best!
Some key strategies include:
1. Praise- Saying positive words to a student can
make a huge difference. Stating that they are doing a
good job, or working hard may motivate them to
keep working. This is also a way to motivate others
to work hard as well. If they see you are praising a
student for doing the right things, they may follow
along.
2. Expectations/ZPD- Having high and manageable expectations is also important to
motivate the students. The students need to be challenged to the right degree. The material
should not be too easy or difficult. This will require the students to stay engaged and motivated
to work hard.
3. Chart- Using a chart with stickers for each day can be used
to show students when they are doing well. For example, each
day a class is prepared and working hard, they will get a star.
This motivates students to learn and work hard because other
students are holding them accountable as well.
4. Rewards- Giving students incentives is always a way to
motivate them. However, it is important to get to know your students to find out preferences
(i.e. homework passes, candy, stickers, etc.)
5. Relaxed Fridays- Students tend to work harder if they know a break is coming. Therefore,
telling students if they work hard Monday-Thursday, they will
get a bit of a break on Friday. They can choose to use comfy
seats, play games related to the topics, and will have no
homework.
6. Excitement- Energy is contagious, so it is important for
the teacher to have excitement about learning to spread to the
students.
The same procedures will be used for the following listed above
Arrival
Transitioning
Lining Up
Lunch
End of Day/Dismissal

Hall Pass Procedures- If the students need to leave the

classroom for any reason during class, they will be required to
sign out and take the designated pass.
Restroom Procedure- Students will be given various breaks
throughout the day to use the restroom. This will hopefully
reduce disruptions in class. However, if it is an emergency, the
students will sign out, and take the provided pass.
Nurse Visits- When students go to the nurse, they will be
required to sign out (unless it is an emergency) and take the
paper the teacher fills out with them to give to the nurse. Upon
their return, the student will give paper back to the teacher.
Fire Drills/ Emergencies- All of the students will be notified that in case of
a drill or emergency, they are expected to immediately stop what they are
doing, line up and follow the teacher out the door according to the school
directives. The last student will close the door.

Classroom Jobs
Jobs will be assigned to various students weekly/monthly. This will be done
to keep students involved and take some of the workload off of the teacher.
 Individual Monitoring of Progress

Managing student progress is essential when it comes managing a classroom. It is

imperative to manage the progress of the whole group to help determine instruction, activities,
pace, etc. The progress of the students as a whole has a big influence on how the class is run. It
is clear that it is extremely important to monitor the progress of the whole group; however, it is
equally important to monitor the progress of individual students, especially when it comes to
special education. Some ways to help individually monitor the progress of students include the
following:

Individual folders: Keeping folders for individual students helps keep track of their individual
progress. Storing data, progress sheets, and other helpful materials in each students folder can
help keep you organized and updated on each student.

Aims Web: Using Aims Web to progress

monitor is extremely helpful. Using software
to help you keep track of individual student
progress makes it easy to look up students
scores and track their progress in various
subjects.

Progress Sheets: Keeping track of

individuals progress can be simplified by
using sheets. The sheets can be arranged by
individual subject or students. This allows for
a simple way to keep track of how all students
are doing in a particular subject or how each
student is doing altogether.

Behavior Logs: Student behavior also plays a big role in management. The students need to be
well-behaved and on task in order for instruction to occur. Therefore, if there is a student with a
behavior problem, it would be beneficial to use a behavior log to keep track of their behaviors
when necessary. It would also be a good idea to involve the student in their own behavior
tracking.