Celeste Caserta

ISM 380
September 5, 2018

Philosophy
I define classroom management as a personalized system that a teacher uses to
keep the classroom and students organized so that effective learning can occur. This
involves making sure the students are on task, all materials are prepared, the
environment is safe and organized, and much more. The purpose of classroom
management is to make the lessons and classroom environment in general run as
smoothly as possible so that maximum learning can take place. For example, in the
Jones Model, it states that 50% of instructional time is lost because students are off task
or otherwise disturbing others. The purpose of classroom management is to make sure
this doesn’t happen. Another purpose would be to clearly identify what the behavioral
and academic expectations are for the class. It is important to make sure that the
expectations are communicated with the students so that good and bad consequences
can be put in place and followed.
The classroom culture in my class will be strict but flexible. I will base my
culture off of the Glasser Choice Model in the aspects that the student should hold
responsibility, they must acknowledge their choices, and they can control their behavior.
I agree with these aspects of the model, but I do not agree with the aspect that,
teachers who truly care about their students accept no excuses for bad behavior. This is
where the flexible part of my classroom culture will come in. I think that students should
have consequences for their mistakes, but they should also be given the chance to
make a mistake and to not be scared of making mistakes in the classroom. Sometimes
there is a deeper issue when bad behavior occurs. I do not think it makes someone a
bad teacher if they take that into consideration. I want my classroom culture to be a
place where students know and follow the rules but they are also comfortable in the
classroom, and we can work together to get to the desired behavior of the students. My
classroom culture should also be smooth running. The students should be able to work
on their work without disruptions for behavior correction. I will watch all of the students
in the class, smoothly correct bad behavior subtly when they occur, keep the lesson on
task at all times, and keep the students busy. I agree that these are all aspects that are
important in the classroom, but I think once you are an experienced teacher you learn to
do all of these things at once. I think some of them mesh together and they don’t all
need to be separate steps as the Kounin model suggests.
With my current knowledge on child development, I know that children develop at
certain rates cognitively and kinetically. In this aspect, I would follow after the Curwin
and Mendler model. I think it’s important to provide instruction at levels that match
student ability and listen to what the students are thinking and feeling so that they feel
important and understood. It is a learning process for them, you can not punish students
for not being able to complete a task that they may not be developmentally ready for
yet. This is why I want my classroom to be flexible and have a general sense of
understanding.
I will encourage my students to be responsible in the aspect that they take
accountability for their actions. I will define and promote a general sense of respect
between the students and me so that we can interact in an appropriate manner. I will
highly encourage my students to always be honest about their actions, concerns,
problems, and anything else so that we can work through anything affecting them. I will
also encourage my students to be driven, they need to know the boundaries of when its
okay to goof off and when it’s time to get down to work in the classroom. This way we
can achieve the maximum amount of academic performance. As the teacher, I will
accept the role a role model for the students every day in the classroom, as according
to Ginott. I will also establish a relationship in the atmosphere of openness and trust
with the students like Gordon recommended. I will be firm in my expectations
behaviorally and academically with the students, but I will also have a sense of
understanding when needed. The student's role in the classroom will be to always follow
the class rules and expectations to the best of their ability. They should know the
difference between when it’s work time and play time. They should always be open and
honest with the teacher and never afraid to make mistakes and better themselves.
I believe a good classroom management system is important for all teachers to
have so that the students know what is expected of the behaviorally and academically
because all classroom cultures are different. Having a good classroom management
system will help me stay on task, get the most out of my instruction time academically,
and have systems put in place for the consequences when students misbehave or
display outstandingly good behaviors.

Synopsis

Now that I have this philosophy I am going to implement a classroom

management plan that is efficient, structured, respect based, and fair. It is going to be
efficient because students are going to know the rules for transition and behaviors so
that we can fit as much instructional time into the day as possible. There will be little to
no time wasted on getting students attention. It is going to be structured because I am
going to teach all of the classroom routines and procedures at the beginning of the year
and have students practice them until they become a habit. If the students need
reinforcing on the routines we will reteach them, start stating them daily again and have
their parents reinforce them by hopefully teaching some of the same rules at home as
well. Once routines are taught students will know what is expected of their behavior, in
the morning, at the end of the day, during a fire drill, when they turn in their paper, when
they line up at the door, and much more. Students will be held responsible for their
actions but also be given room to make mistakes and correct themselves. The
classroom management system will be respect based because I will put in maximum
effort to get to know the students and their families at the beginning of the year. We will
do get to know you activities, personalized projects, and I will ask them questions about
their lives every day. I will also make sure the students know me personally. I will make
it known to students that they can always confide in me and I am a person they can
always talk to about anything. I will respect the students and give them a voice in the
classroom and in turn they will be expected to respect me. I will also give the students
families an open door to the classroom and encourage that they participate in
classroom activities, class dojo, conferences, and more. I will let the student's families
know they also have a voice in the classroom dynamics. Lastly, it will be fair because
the students will always know that is expected of them at all times in the classroom. All
expectations will be taught at the beginning of the year and be retaught when needed.
There will be posters posted around the room to remind students and even individual
reminders of the rules attached to their desks. Students will have a say in their
classroom expectations, therefore it is fair to expect them to follow the rules we came
up with together. It will also be fair because I will use different instructional strategies
when teaching to always differentiate. This way all of the students are being taught with
different learning strategies to fit their needs.

Relationships

First I would establish a mutual feeling of trust between myself all of the students.
I will also be sure to let them know I genuinely care about them. It’s important to build
these relationships with your students because they are not going to respect me as a
teacher if they don’t feel respected themselves. Students are more susceptible to listen
to a teacher that they know genuinely cares about them. I would build these
relationships through different activities in the classroom like implementing get to know
you activities at the beginning of the school year. These activities could be a worksheet,
a drawing, a short poem, or a slideshow the students make about themselves. I will also
share information about myself so they feel like they really know me. Also, every day in
class I will be asking students personal questions about their life, weekend, family and
more to continue getting to know them. Another activity I will use is group lunches with
the teacher every week. I will also work hard to develop a relationship with the student's
families. I will do this by creating group chats, facebook pages, and websites, where we
can easily communicate. Families of the students will be invited to the classroom to help
with parties, projects, meetings and more to get involved with their student's education.
Families of the students will also be encouraged to reach out to me with any concerns,
and make sure they have all of my contact information. Another activity that will be used
to get to know my students is making sure they have a say in how their classroom
looks, is run, and the rules so they feel represented and like they have a voice.

Instructional Strategies

It’s important to me as a teacher that the instructional strategies I am using in

class will be ones that present content information in different ways, use differentiation,
and are interesting. It is so important that differentiation is used to hit all of the
student-specific ways of learning. The students need options for how they are receiving
the information and how they are demonstrating what they know. The only way students
get the best experience in the classroom is if they have an even balance of behavior
interventions and instructional strategies. If a student is having behavior problems in the
classroom it could be due to an instructional strategy that is being forced on the student
that doesn’t work for them at all. Some examples of instructional strategies I will be
using in my classroom are, chunk, breaking up long projects, remove writing, and talk
through ideas. First I will use chunk in my classroom because I think when students are
reading, especially when they are new readers, it is important for them to take breaks
and not push themselves too far. When a student's chunks they read small parts,
summarize to a partner, and then read more. I think this is a great way to break up the
reading sections so students don’t get bored of reading and start to wander off. It also
helps them because when talking to a partner, their partner might have caught
something that they missed while reading. Second I would use the strategy of breaking
up long projects. I would use this strategy because I know personally when I get a
whole project due at once I start to get extremely overwhelmed. Students will check out
and give up if they get frustrated with a part of the project. If the project is broken up into
smaller tasks, the students can complete a task analysis and complete the project small
parts at a time to experience success. This will also give the students an opportunity to
ask more questions along the way. A third instructional strategy I would use is to
remove writing. We often have students write a lot, for all of their different subjects, all
day long. I think that it is important to exchange the writing portion of an assignment
when possible to give those students who aren’t up to speed on writing a chance to
shine. For example, this could involve, having the students type, draw a picture, speak
orally, or create a skit. The last instructional strategy I will use is, talk through ideas. I
will use this because I think it is extremely important to take students ideas into
consideration. Having the students write their ideas down on paper to share with me or
the class later is one way I would implement this. Children are very competent and they
should know that their ideas are important to me as a teacher.

Procedures and Routines

It is important to set up procedures and routines in the classroom to keep the

days running smoothly and to fit in as much instructional time as possible each day.
These procedures and routines should be established and taught to the students the
first couple weeks of school. They will be reinforced throughout the school year as well.
If any of these routines seemed to be forgotten by the students later on in the year we
will reinforce them by completely reteaching the routine and going over it every day until
they remember it on their own again. Students can also receive positive reinforcements
if they are always following the classroom routines without being reminded.

The ​Lineup​ routine will be established at the beginning of the school year and
practiced every day until the students can complete all of the steps without being
reminded of them. If the students start to forget how to line up properly we will revisit the
routine taught. Here are two possible routines I would use in my classroom for lining up
at the door.
- Push in your chair
- Be quiet
- Eyes forward
- Hands at your side
- Walking feet
- Still
- Straight
- Silent
- Smiling

Students will be taught the routines for​ transitioning​ between lessons/activities in

the classroom. They will be taught to respond to these transitions by quietly cleaning up
what they are doing and listening to the teacher for what they are to do next. Some
examples of transitions I will use are. Transitioning between activities by using a call
and response (mac’n’cheese- everybody freeze, peanut butter- jelly time, class class-
teacher teacher…) to grab the students attention, then explain to them what’s
happening next. Establish ahead of time what the routine is for the day and then have a
timer go off when the students are to switch to the next lesson. Play music or stop
music when the students are supposed to stop what they are doing or move on to the
next instruction. Put my thumb up when I am ready to move on to the next lesson and
all of the students will put their thumbs up when they have finished and are ready to
move on.

The routine for the ​collection and distribution of papers​ will also be established at
the beginning of the school year with the students. There will be places labeled and
established with the students where they are to turn their completed papers too. I will
continue to reinforce it this routine by pointing to the tray when every I tell my students
to grab or turn in a paper throughout the year. I will also have students think of the
following aspects before turning in a paper to the completed tray…
- Is my name on it?
- Did I follow all directions?
- Did I double check everything?
This will be on a poster somewhere in the classroom to remind students if they forget. It
will also be established with the students at the beginning of the year that when a paper
is passed out to them, they always put their name on it and wait for instructions.
Students can take a turn having the job of paper distributor or collector and putting the
papers in the tray. These jobs will change weekly so each student gets a chance, these
students will also have the job of reinforcing their friends who forget there their papers
go.

A​ beginning of the day routine ​will be established with the students on the first
day of school, what will be expected of them when they arrive at school. The routine will
be practiced over and over again until it the students do it by habit. This will also be up
on the board the first few weeks of school for students to look at if they can’t remember
what to do next. This is an example of the beginning of the daily routine students will
need to learn.
- Hang up coat and bookbags hung up
- Any notes from parents should be given to teacher
- Turn in homework
- Students should look in absent folder if needed
- Folders turned in/ on students desk
- Find their spot on the circle/ sit at desk
- Start morning work
- Attendance is taken, hot cold/lunch
 An​ end of the day routine​ will be established with the students on the first day of
school, what will be expected of them when they are getting ready to leave school. The
routine will be practiced over and over again until it the students do it by habit. This will
also be up on the board the first few weeks of school for students to look at if they can’t
remember what to do next. This is an example of the end of the day routine the students
will learn.
- Clear your desk
- Throw away any trash
- Return anything borrowed
- Take home folder/ anything needed is in bookbag
- Put up chair
- Grab coat/ bookbag
- Line up quietly
- Wait to be dismissed

Classroom Expectations

As a future teacher part of my first week of school, I will establish a set of main
classroom rules with the students so that they feel like they have a say in the
classroom. We will collaboratively, as a class, go over these the rules together and see
if there are any rules the students want to change. This way they have a say in their
classroom management as well. Then whenever the students don’t follow the rules, it
will be brought to their attention that they broke their rule. I will have the students give
their ideas for rules but I will also guide them to make sure the necessary rules are
implemented. There will be some specific already established rules like the lineup, fire
drill, buses, and more. Students will know that there are different consequences that
come with not following the rules. Students will be talked to individually about the
consequences they will face. Students should take responsibility for their actions.
These are examples of classroom rules I would implement. I think that these are all
important aspects that the students should always follow in the classroom. Following
these rules will help keep the students safe, on task, and able to have fun.
★ Use kind words
★ Tell the truth
★ Raise our hand to speak
★ Keep our hands to ourselves
★ Work quietly when needed to
★ Share with others
★ Follow all directions
Reinforcements

Individual students- For individual students, I have many different ideas of

possible reinforcements to implement. These ideas will be for a first or second-grade
classroom since those are the grades I am aspiring to teach. One idea is each student
having their own little notepad and stamping on coins like in the video we watched in
class. I would give out a coin stamp if I see a student helping another, following
directions, or not talking when everyone else it. With these coins, the students can
purchase items such as candy, glitter pens, crazy erasers, sticker, posters, lunch with
the teacher, sit with a friend for the day and more. Another idea I have for an individual
reinforcement system for students is individual sticker charts attached to the student's
desks so they aren’t displayed to the class. Depending on how many stickers the
students earned over the course of a week the students will be able to pick out of a big,
medium, or small prize box. I will also be sure to individually praise all of my students
aloud for their good behavior before rewarding them a sticker or stamp. This way other
students can model this behavior I am praising in their fellow classmate and it also gives
the individual student an intangible type of reinforcement.
Whole class- The first idea I have for a whole class reinforcement system is the
marbles in the jar. Every time a student or the whole class is listening, working hard,
following directions, and more, I will take a marble out of the class jar and put it into the
surprise jar. This can also work as a whole class consequence system as well because
when the class or a particular student is not following directions, talking out,
misbehaving in the hallway, and more, a marble can be taken out of the surprise jar and
put back into the marble jar. Once all of the marbles are in the surprise jar the students
can choose what the surprise is. It could be a pizza party, donuts, movie party,
brownies, or anything they vote on. Another idea for a whole class reinforcement
system is spelling out a word on the board. My teacher did this when I was in second
grade and we were always working extra hard to gain another letter in our word. At the
beginning of the week the students will vote on something they want such as brownies,
movie, pizza, or ice cream and then they will have to spell that word on the board to
earn the prize. The class can earn a letter by being good for a substitute teacher, having
a really good work day, getting a compliment from another teacher, and more. The
students will also be reinforced by having constant verbal praise when they are
behaving well in the classroom. If the whole class is behaving well and staying on task
they might gain extra free time or computer time at random.
Consequences

In my future classroom if students violate the classroom rules we will have a

system of consequences in place. This list will be posted somewhere in the classroom
and the students will all have an individual copy hanging from their desks. The
classroom consequence poster will be gone over and reinforced at the beginning of the
school year. The students will have their individual copies of the consequence chart at
their desk so when they violate a class rule the teacher can point out to them what the
consequence is for breaking that rule on their list without embarrassing them in front of
the whole class. Below is an example of a serious misbehavior consequence chart for
the whole class.

Consequences Chart:  
Individual Reminder  

Class Reminder  

Modification 

Loss Of A Privilege  

Time Out  

Parent Contact  

Office Contact  

I chose to format my chart with these specific consequences because I based them off
of the 7 strategies for managing minor misbehavior. I changed the chart to make it
comply with the consequences for serious misbehaviors. I added the middle
consequence of “loss of a privilege” to the chart because hopefully, it will really affect
students by taking away a privilege that they have been looking forward to and stop the
chain of reactions from reaching the bottom of the consequences list. Below is two other
charts that I think would work very well in a classroom for minor misbehaviors.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/353673376972331369/?lp=true

I like this chart because it lists specific, common, misbehaviors that occur in students
and then it lists the specific punishment for each misbehavior. This way students know
exactly what the punishment is for the misbehavior before even performing it. I would
change the title to “think about it” because these are all small misbehaviors that
students can correct by thinking before they act.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/233342824425829473/?lp=true
I also like this chart a lot because students talking when they are not supposed to or
blurting out answers and not raising their hand is one of the most common misbehaviors
in the classroom. I think it would be beneficial to have an individual consequence
system for this somewhere in the classroom. This chart also goes along with the 7
strategies for managing minor misbehavior. The blurt box is also a great tool to use in
the classroom. I have seen it used where, when the students are speaking out they
have to put a red square in the blurt box which is bad and if they raise their hand they
put a green square in the blurt box. I have also seen it where students who blurt out a
lot in class have their own personal blurt box and when they are about to blurt out
something to the class they write it down and put it in the box to share with the teacher
later.

Communicating Expectations

At the beginning of the school year I will first send out a letter with some
information about myself so the parents get to know me, creating an initial bond with the
student's families. Then later on during the first week of school, I will send out a second
letter to the parents letting them know the reinforcement and discipline systems that will
be put in place in the classroom. This way they know how their child is being reinforced
for good behaviors and how they will be disciplined for unproductive behaviors. The
parents can also implement these rules at home if they choose, which would greatly
benefit the child. In this letter, there will also be a section describing the communication
system that is going to be put in place for the school year. The communication system I
will be using with my student's families is class dojo. I will explain to the parents what
this communication website is and how it works. I will encourage them to sign up for the
website to stay active in their students progress. I will also encourage the parents to
reach out to me with any further questions, comments, or concerns. Below is the
second letter I will be sending to the families of the students.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1H7EoHxua1GJXN1mdCgiBu9oaATWE8Mc_YEu
R7gVaWVc/edit

Record Keeping

It is important to me to have an organized record keeping system in place to

track my students positive and negative behaviors, and any other important information
on them. I will have an individual student record keeping system that is simple, private,
and interactive with the specific student. I am a very visually operated person so the
system that would work best for me is having a box with a file for each individual student
in it. In each students file will be all of their important personal information such as
health, interventions, and goals. At the beginning of each nine weeks, I will invite my
students one by one up to my desk, and together we will create a goal for them that
they are going to try to complete by the end of the nine weeks. Examples of goals
students could create are to be more organized, raise my hand instead of blurting out
answers, be nicer to my peers, or to not talk to my peers when I’m not supposed to.
These goals will then go into the student's file. Whenever I see a student doing
something doing something outstanding or something unproductive I will also write it on
a note card and put it in their file to look at later. At the end of every week throughout
the nine weeks, I will check over the student's goals to see if any of them have
completed their goals yet. At this time I will also look at any note cards that are in the
student's file and send home a note from my teacher. This will be a note to the students
family explaining something positive they have done recently in the classroom. I will put
a copy of the note in the student's file and make sure everyone gets a positive note
home at some point in the school year.

https://brownbagteacher.com/a-pbis-idea-positive-notes-home/