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Procedures for Starting, Transitioning, and Ending Class

As students enter the classroom, they are to deposit their cell phones/PDAs in their

personal technology cubbies in the back of the room. This will immediately set the expectation to

not be distracted by personal devices. Additionally, it allows for attendance taking at a glance, as

empty cubbies can be seen and student’s attendance verified. Any homework will be collected at

this time as well (further explained in Section Two).

The classroom will have two hall passes hanging by the door with a sign out sheet.

Students will be expected to sign out and sign in hall passes with their name, date, and time

period they were outside the classroom. The teacher respects the student’s privacy and believes

them mature enough to not abuse the lenient hall pass policy. If a student needs to leave the

class, they can leave the class with no preamble or permission; just sign the log. Students will

still be expected to make up any in-class work missed, or collect from their peers any notes they

failed to take. Students that abuse this liberal policy will lose the privilege and have their time

out of class closely monitored, with the potential for administrative intervention.

The teacher will use a mixture of classroom question techniques during discussions and

lectures. For shout out questions, any student can answer without raising a hand. For specifically

targeted questions, an individual student will be singled out and the question answered only by

that individual. Other students will raise their hands if the called upon student cannot answer the

question, and only answer when called on by the teacher. For class discussions, the teacher will

dismiss the students into their prearranged discussion groups with a prompted question. Students

will discuss within their group and keep the volume to a dull roar. When the teacher calls for

attention, students will cease conversations and return their focus to the instructor.
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Desks will be set up in pods of 2x2 sections, with students expected to work as small

collaborative teams of 2 or 4. In addition to prompted classroom discussions, this idea of

collaboration will also be promoted by having two or three “Bell Questions” written on the

board. These questions will be directly related to the topic at hand, or a review of past lessons

that scaffolds the students into the current lesson. Students are to copy the questions down in a

notebook and then work in their discussion groups on finding the answers. If students are not

able to find the answers, they will be expected to find them as a small bit of homework;

markedly easier once they have their technology back outside the classroom. Students will be

informed at the start of the year (and periodically as well) that at the end of every month, twenty

of these questions will be selected at random to be placed into a Bell Question Quiz. This will

ensure that students complete their work and find the answers, as all questions will come directly

from their notes. Students will be given 5-ish minutes to complete this activity, before going into

the lesson for the day. Different lesson activities have different procedures.

For lectures and PowerPoints, students will be expected to take Cornell Notes of the

presentation. Week one of the class will be devoted to teaching this method of note taking, and it

will be promoted throughout the year. Evidence shows a positive relationship to synthesizing and

applying information that notes are being taken on, in addition to higher test scores overall. 1

Lectures will be broken up with in class discussions on major themes and Q/A sessions between

teacher and students.

For videos, depending on the subject, students will be expected to take notes or observe

and synthesize for later discussion. Students are to be quiet and watch the film. Students that are

not paying attention will be frequent targets for call out questions during/after the video. The

1. Keil Jacobs, 2008. A Comparison of Two Note Taking Methods in a Secondary English
Classroom. Retrieved from: https://soar.wichita.edu/bitstream/handle/10057/1388/grasp-
2008-56.pdf
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social pressure from not knowing the material will promote more active attention through peer

shaming.

For in class assessments, students will be expected to remain quiet and complete the quiz

or test. Students that fail to do this will be docked points, with frequent flyers receiving a zero,

and removed from class. After completion, students will be allowed to work on other classwork,

study, or read a book, while remaining quiet.

In-class work will be allowed to be collaborative, as discussions and other top level

Bloom’s Hierarchy learning methods utilize peer groupings, as long as students remain on task.

Students that cannot will be reprimanded, have points docked, or be removed from class,

depending on the severity and frequency of infractions.

Any remaining time in class will be filled with the CNN10 video series; age appropriate

major current news stories presented within 10 minutes. Current events are important for

teenagers as they help them understand the world around them, shape their perspectives on life,

and allows them to start developing their own opinions on issues. Students will be allowed to

pack up as long as they are not too loud or disruptive. When the dismissal bell rings, students

will collect their phones and technology and exit the classroom.

Procedures for Managing Student Work

As students enter the classroom, after depositing their technology, each block will have a

specific “Turn-In” basket for papers to be left in and collected later at the teacher’s convenience.

Any in-class paperwork will also be left in this basket by students at the end of the day. This

procedure eliminates the need to waste limited class time on the manual collection of student
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work. Additionally, this will give students a small taste of the responsibility expected of them

later in their academic career; allowing the teacher to set the base scaffold for this expectation.

Larger projects will be collected/presented after Bell Questions. Due dates for large scale

projects will be scheduled to coincide with continuing lessons, allowing for the projects to be

tied into the lesson plan for that day.

Late and absent work will be placed by students into a general “Late Turn-In” basket,

separated from the other block specific turn-ins. This highlights that the work is being turned in

outside of normal procedures and the students are accepting responsibility for it. Students that

attempt to place late/absent work in their normal block basket will lose 10% of the total points in

addition to any late work penalties already accrued (further discussed in Sections Three and

Four).

Procedures for Student Absences

All classroom material will be available on my teacher website (PowerPoints, lecture

notes, assignments, etc.). Additionally, the instructor will be available during lunch and prep

hour to go over anything not included online. Students will be allowed to turn in missing

assignments due to excused absences without Late Work penalties, but only equal to the number

of days absent.

Procedures for Late Work

Late work that has not been given a formal extension will be given a three day grace

period before receiving a zero, with each day losing a letter grade (10%) worth of points.

Extensions are available for extenuating circumstances that will be evaluated on a case by case
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basis. Sometimes life comes at us in strange ways, and being inflexible on this can harm a

student’s desire and overall work ethic.

Assessments that are missed must be made up within 48 hours from their return to school.

The student will be allowed to take their assessment before school, during lunch, during the

teacher’s prep period, or after school; these options being discussed and agreed upon with the

instructor. Failure to complete the assessment within this grace period will result in a zero score.

Procedures for Grading

Student grades will be broken up into five major categories and weighted according to the

(tentative) percentages: Unit Tests (25%), Homework (15%), In-Class Assignments (15%),

Quizzes (20%), and Project-Based Learning Projects (25%). All major projects and assignments

will have expectations/rubrics given to students so they are aware of the instructor’s

expectations. If the school has a web based grading system, grades will be posted online for

students and parents to access at their leisure. If the school does not have an online web portal,

monthly grading summaries will be sent home with students for parent signatures. These will

include an itemized and dated list of all assignments/assessments turned in or missing to date,

with the corresponding grade and any comments or notes from the teacher attached.

Any assessment or assignment that receives less than a 70% of total points will require

students to take home their copy of the assignment/assessment and bring it back signed by a

parent by the end of the week. This serves to promote the idea of a teaching team, which includes

the parents as well as the student and teacher. Additionally this will serve as a way for parents to

see where their student is struggling and help intervene at home.

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Plan for Communicating with Parents

In addition to the techniques described above, the instructor will send out bi-weekly

emails to parents who wish to be informed of the goings on in the classroom. An abridged

version of the procedures of the classroom and expectations of the students will be sent home

during the first week, and returned the following Monday with a parent signature. Included in

this will be the school email address of the teacher and an optional section for parents to fill out

with their own contact information and a short checklist of reasons they would want to be

contacted (outside of aforementioned examples), such as a student missing class, behavioral

issues, dress code violations, any assignment receiving less than expected grade, etc.

Specific Rules for the Classroom

The following rules are distilled versions of all the major points outlined for student

classroom behavior in the Sonoran Trails Middle School’s Student Handbook, pages 25-29. 2

1. Be respectful of, and be kind to one another.

2. Listen to and follow the instructions from your teacher.

3. Do not steal or damage any property that is not your own.

4. Be present and on time.

5. Keep the classroom clean.

Specific Consequences for Broken Rules

Consequences for the breaking of rules start with teacher led mediation and conclude with

administrative intervention. All consequences are pursuant to the Sonoran Trails Middle

School’s Student Handbook, pages 30-32.3

2. CCUSD, 2019. Student Handbook: Grades K-12 2019-2020. Retrieved from:

https://www.ccusd93.org/cms/lib/AZ02204140/Centricity/Domain/33/CCUSD_Student_
Handbook_20192020.pdf
3. Ibid.
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1. Students that are disrespectful to another student or teacher will be given a public

warning. If a student repeatedly disrespects others, they will be asked to leave the class

and go to administration. If parents have chosen to be contacted by the teacher, they will

be notified of the first infraction and any notification on the removal from class will be

handled by administration.

2. Students that do not follow directions will be publically warned that their behavior is not

acceptable for the classroom and directed to follow the teacher’s instruction. Repeated

infractions will result in a meeting with the teacher during lunch or after school to further

discuss the reason behind their behavior. Student’s parents will be notified at this point.

Continued disregard for instruction will result in being removed from class.

3. If a student has been found to be stealing or damaging property that does not belong to

them, they will be immediately ejected from class and escorted to administration by the

Resource Officer.

4. After five tardy appearances, students will receive a ten point deduction in the

“Assessment” category (Quizzes + Unit Tests), with each future tardy receiving a two

point deduction. This total will reset with the new semester. Administration will also be

notified of each instance of truancy. Additionally, students that are not on time will not

be given any extra time to complete classwork.

5. Students that leave garbage, draw on desks, or are otherwise found to be leaving the area

messier than it was when they sat down, will spend their lunch hour cleaning the

classroom until the end of the period or to the teacher’s satisfaction. Repeated infractions

will result in a conference with the instructor, parents, and administration.

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Specific Laws and Policies

A.R.S. 15-3414 allows for, and outlines, the creation and enforcement of policies and procedures

for the governance of schools.

A.R.S. 15-8035 dictates truancy expectations for students under the age of sixteen.

A.R.S. 13-29116 defines the violations, classifications, and definitions of interference/disruption

of an educational institution.

A.R.S. 15-1547 outlines the school safety program; includes the Resource Officer

jurisdiction/guidelines.

A.R.S. 15-8418 notes the responsibilities of students and consequences they could face for

violations.

AZSBA R7-2-8089 details the specifics on 6-12 student in/eligibility for extracurricular

activities.

AZSBA R7-2-40110 discusses the qualifications, procedures, standards, and definitions of Special

Education in public schools pursuant to the Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997.

How Rules/Procedures Reflect Personal Philosophy

My personal philosophy hinges on the following key idea: that the role of an educator to

prepare their student for the time beyond their school years and, as such, it is just as important

4. A.R.S. § 15-341. Retrieved from: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/15/00341.htm

5. A.R.S. § 15-803. Retrieved from: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/15/00803.htm
6. A.R.S. § 15-2911. Retrieved from: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/13/02911.htm
7. A.R.S. § 15-154. Retrieved from: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/15/00154.htm
8. A.R.S. § 15-841. Retrieved from: https://www.azleg.gov/ars/15/00841.htm
9. AZSBA § R7-2-808. Retrieved from:
http://policy.azsba.org/asba/DocViewer.jsp?docid=108&z2collection=title7
10. AZSBA § R7-2-401. Retrieved from:
https://policy.azsba.org/asba/DocViewer.jsp?docid=27&z2collection=title7
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for a student to learn how to learn in addition to whatever the information being taught actually

is. The student, teacher, and parent are part of an education team with each part being integral to

the overall function. The student’s responsibility is to understand that their future success hinges

on both the knowledge being passed down and their ability to follow the rules and procedures of

the classroom. Many of my classroom procedures outline the need for students to begin

accepting a bit of personal responsibility; a key aspect to successfully function in modern

society. Of course, because the students are still not adults, they aren’t expected to be able to

swim in the deep end of the pool just yet. However, students have graduated from the kiddy pool

of elementary school where it is very difficult to drown yourself, to the shallow end of the big

pool where some more personal responsibility and higher expectations are being levied onto

them.

Continuing the metaphor, we don’t strand these students out in the pool on their own, it is

up to parents and educators to help them learn to swim so that they have the foundation of skills

to eventually make it to the deep end by themselves. At this point, parents know their children

best, which is why I give the option for parents to be as involved or removed from their child’s

direct education as they would prefer, major violations notwithstanding, while still keeping them

informed of their overall development as much as possible. This also serves to allow parents the

ability to continue the expectations of, and lessons learned in, the classroom at home and create a

continuous culture of learning. So while it is my role as the teacher to provide the foundation of

education and the basics of social/public procedures/expectations, parents have the role and

responsibility to show the practicality and everyday use of the knowledge gained, so that

students can begin integrating into society and applying the knowledge learned to their everyday

lives.