Alex Watts

Oct 6, 2017
Classroom Management Plan
I am a strong believer in delivering discipline with dignity. I think that it’s important to

discipline, yet promote respect for others as well as the individual. I think that entitlement is a

significant problem within the current culture of youth, especially when it comes to practicing

and learning new skills.

With respect to disruptions in the class either at the beginning or in the middle of a

lesson, I am a strong believer in the social contract method. The social contract is designed to

promote human interaction in the classroom. I believe that it’s important to have a social contract

that includes shared decision making, the opportunity to change/modify, as well as the chance to

see situations in their natural complexity rather than to simplify them down to more manageable

levels. I would make sure to include features into my classroom contract such as classroom

values/principles, as well as specific rules that would be directly related to these

values/principles. For example, I value all students in my classroom having the right to feel safe

in my classroom. Therefore, a rule to go with that value would say t I would also encourage and

require students to input rules and consequences of their own. I believe that the more students are

involved in the process of developing these rules and consequences, the more they will feel that

they plan is a part of them, and them a part of the plan. If they are involved in the creation of this

plan, then they are more likely to follow the plan. I would include student input from the very

beginning of the development of the plan. This would mean having the students provide their

own classroom values, as well as rules for myself. Some teacher rules could include things such

as what is allowed to be drank/eaten inside the class during a lesson, as well as reasonable

expectations with respect to the returning of homework and being on time. This method would
give myself the opportunity to model the way that students should respond when they are caught

breaking a classroom rule.

In order to maintain order throughout disruptions that may occur within my class, I plan

on implementing various low-level interventions in order to keep students in my class engaged

throughout a lesson. I would also plan to change the method of presenting information at least

every 15 minutes, as it has been proven that middle school students only have an attention span

of 15 minutes per method of delivery. I would make sure to constantly switch between a

slideshow presentation and a worksheet, classroom group work, low level cognitive questions, or

even a video in order to keep students engaged. Constantly being prepared for disruptions/day

dreaming is something that I am prepared for. In order for all students to receive the most of their

education, it’s important that we create lesson plans that are engaging, as well as differentiated in

order to accommodate for all learning types.

Part 2

Motivation and Rewards

There are multiple ways to reward students inside of the classroom. Though through

research, we now know that praising student’s intelligence does not build their confidence or

motivation, and we also know that a student’s inherent intelligence is not a major cause of their

achievement in school. More importantly, the reward will vary depending on the age of your

classroom. For example, as an individual reward, I may let one of the students use my chair for

the class, or perhaps for a class reward I would allow students a ‘free seating arrangement’ where

they can sit wherever they would like to sit in the class, with whoever they would like to sit with,

so long as they are sitting at a desk with a chair, and none of the desks or chairs are moved.
Another group reward I could implement in my classroom could be a ‘homework-free weekend’.

These rewards would only be given in particular circumstances, as to not have my students

relying on the prospect or receiving a reward for working in class.

In order to put my reward system into place, there are some steps that must be fulfilled

beforehand. For example, setting class goals at the beginning of the year that are both achievable

and measureable. A simple classroom management strategy would be to raise your hand and

keep it raised in order to gain the attention of the students in your class. A simple class goal

could be to have all students stop talking within 20 seconds of the teacher raising their hand.

Another important aspect of setting up a rewards system is being clear as to why a reward is

being given. It’s important to be as up front about this as early as possible. Allowing students to

come up with their own rewards is another way to make sure that the rewards are something that

the students will actively work towards.

Management of Classroom Disruptions

Low level disruptions can have a high impact on the learning atmosphere within the

classroom. Therefore, it’s especially important to be consistent and have a plan in place to deal

with disruptions that may take place within your classroom. It’s important to remember that, in

many cases, the students who are difficult inside the classroom are the ones who have problems

of their own outside the classroom. Effective teachers think about how they can provide

necessary supports so that the student can learn skills to improve in the future. Since punishment

alone will rarely teach a child the skills necessary to act appropriately in the future, we need to

consider how to provide the correct type of support so that the behavior doesn’t continue.
 It’s important to understand that all behavior happens for a reason, and although children

may not be able to clearly express what they experience in their private lives, there is usually

some sort of payoff to be gained from negative behavior. Rarely does a student plot to make a

teacher’s life miserable or to cause chaos and disrupt the lesson, so try to avoid becoming

defensive about a child’s behavior. As educators we can learn a great deal from our most

challenging students.

Keeping these ideals in mind, here are three simple strategies that I plan to implement for

dealing with classroom disruptions; Avoiding questions, using ‘Start’ statements, and ‘Be brief,

be positive, be gone’. If in a conflict with a student, asking questions such as “Why aren’t you

working on your assignment?” often lead to the student responding in a negative way. Instead, I

will avoid focusing on the negative and instead provide student with positive replacement

behaviors. Start statements are another way for me to refrain from having negative connotation

in my voice. Some challenging students are given many different directives and commands

throughout the day, often times these commands will begin with the word stop: stop running,

stop talking, stop fooling around, stop texting, etc. In contrast, ‘Start’ statements are short,

positive reminders of expectations and serve as a clear directive with respect to what students

should begin doing. Finally, ‘Be brief, be positive, be gone’ involves redirecting disruptive

students keeping verbal interactions and directions to a minimum. Using positive words and

body language that inspires belief in that student and their ability to act appropriately, then be

gone. That is, literally leave the student alone and allow them to make an appropriate decision on

their own. Typically, hovering over a student will only cause more disruption and behavior. This

also limits your ability to have a presence in all areas of your class.
Consequences

Consequences are often framed or pictured as something only used after a rule has failed

or has been broken, though they are more accurately described as a part of the structure that

makes rules work. It’s important that the first day of class, students are aware of the rules and

expectations, as well as the consequences that will come with breaking the classroom rules.

Helping students realize the cause and effect relationship between their actions and the

consequences is one way that teachers can empower their students to help them develop self-

discipline. It is important that your students clearly understand what actions and statements are

both appropriate and inappropriate in your classroom, and that everyone understands what you as

the educator will do immediately if a student does or says something unacceptable. This will help

your students to make the correct behavioral choices not only inside your classroom, but

hopefully outside your classroom as well.

Consequences should be gradual, progressing form less severe to more severe as

misbehavior is repeated. This portrays the message that students have the potential to behave and

simply need to understand and choose to follow the expectation. When they repeat the

misbehavior, they choose the more severe consequences. Selected consequences should also be

natural and/or logical. Natural consequences follow from the event or situation, as students are

allowed to experience the outcome of their poor choices or behavior, highlighting the rationale of

the rule. Additionally, consequences must maintain the dignity of the student. These

consequences should be consistent from student to student, and the delivery of consequences

should always address the behavior in question, not the student and his or her behavioral history.

The consequences that I will implement in my classroom will be gradual, progressing from less

severe to more severe. First consequence would be a warning, followed by a short detention after
class or school, depending on the school’s detention policy. Following this, I would sit with the

student and create a written plan for behavior improvement. The next consequence would

involve establishing contact with the child’s parent/guardian. The final consequence would be

the most severe, which would involve being sent to the principal’s office. All misbehavior would

be recorded by the homeroom teacher, in an effort to keep track of each student’s distractions

throughout the term/year. I would also implement a pink-slip strategy for tardy homework, in an

attempt to keep track of the reasons that students aren’t completing their homework. This would

provide the teacher with more information around why students may not be completing

homework. Instead of giving the student a grade of zero, we can enter a P for Pinkslip, and allow

for re-submission of the homework, with an associated consequence.