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Classroom Structure, Documentation, and Communication Plan

Noah A. Shepherd

Old Dominion University

TLED360

Dr. Jori Beck

22 November 2023
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Introduction

In 2014, the hit Discovery Channel show starring Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman

“Mythbusters” aired an episode crucial to understanding human sociology. The episode featured

a study to discover if people preferred boarding an airplane at free will or in an orderly fashion,

and the subjects would be surveyed on their experiences at the end of the simulated boarding

process. After each simulation and survey ended, Adam and Jamie showed footage and survey

data results the passengers preferred boarding the plane in a controlled, orderly fashion over the

disorganized chaos that unfolded during the free-will boarding simulation. How does a quirky

show on the Discovery Channel that aired almost a decade ago relate to structure in the

classroom? Despite many students being stereotypically viewed as “mobile capsules of

unadulterated energy” with limbs, a vast majority of students desperately require structure in

their classrooms. This should be no surprise since we as adults tend to get “fussy” when our

routines are broken (Hyneman & Savage, 2014). Marzano and colleagues (2003) suggest

students need structure and predictability to build upon their previous knowledge. The

procedures and means of communication I implement in my classroom to maintain structured

learning for the students’ benefit while still balancing classroom management that does not

convey me as an aggressive, authoritarian figure to my students.

Artifact 1: Structure of Establishing Class-Led Classroom Norms

Education professionals have pushed heavily for a “student-centered” classroom structure

in recent years. Freire’s (2000) ideal classroom structure revolved around a student-centered

classroom because he believed this structure “shifts the focus away from a ‘banking’ concept of

education, where the teacher is the sole bearer of knowledge” (Milner et al., 2018). My

philosophy of an ideal classroom structure shares some similarities with Freire’s philosophy.
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Although I want to decide how to run my classroom, I refuse to create a disciplinary structure

that excludes the advice and input of my students. As a history teacher, I believe I am

responsible for teaching my students a lesson on having a say in how they wish to be treated. No

matter the authority figure, every student (and every human being, as a matter of fact) should

have a say in how they are to be governed. To create a classroom structure that values the

opinions of my students, I will assign my students the task of creating expectations for myself

BEFORE we create expectations for the students.

As instructed by Wynita Harmon (2017), the inspiration and creator of this activity, the

expectations my students and I create for one another must involve discourse between myself

and my students. I feel strongly about letting my students speak first and creating expectations

for how I speak to or treat them because these gestures display my true concern for my students’

well-being. Additionally, I foresee this activity developing an understanding between my

students and me where I genuinely care about their needs first because I view them as people

first and students second. Despite my students’ status as “children”, they have needs to be met.

On the subject of classroom management, I intend this activity with my students to

develop a secondary understanding between themselves and me where I know most of them

would rather be anywhere else than a classroom; however, I plan on making their experience as

satisfactory as possible. According to Marzano and colleagues (2003), this activity will avoid

creating a classroom dynamic where reciprocated respect between the students and the instructor

is lacking critically. My philosophy on education is heavily focused on gaining mutual respect

with my students, so they can approach me when they need a respectable figure to facilitate or

accelerate their thinking when they reach a “roadblock”. Concerning classroom management,
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emphasis on the value of my students’ opinions will hopefully assist dramatically with

maintaining classroom structure compared to if I failed to prepare completely.

https://theartofeducation.edu/2017/08/3-benefits-creating-classroom-expectations-students/

Artifact 2: Encouraging Mutual Respect, Collaboration, and Creativity

Following a classwide discussion on what the classroom norms should be, I will organize

my students into small groups of no more than 4 students. Once the students are settled in their

groups, I will have them discuss for approximately 15 to 20 minutes to decide with their group

members which classroom norm they believe is the most important and choose a spokesperson to

share the thoughts of the other group members. Next, every spokesperson will share the group’s

ideas after the 15 to 20 minutes of discussion is over. Finally, I will have the groups create any

visual aid that helps the class remember the classroom norm that is most important to each

group. The challenge students will have to overcome is creating a visual representation of a

classroom norm, either physical or electronic, in 45 minutes or less. Whether a group is full of

creative minds, or vice versa, I plan on using this activity to encourage students to establish early

connections with their classmates. Likewise, I also plan on this activity to encourage students to

be creative in a class that is “historically” (great history education pun) a class where there is

little to no presence of creativity (Bloom & Briggs, 2019). I have no preference for what type of

product the students come up with; I only care for the quality of the product they collectively

agree to create.

Copyright-free template from Canva (2024)

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Artifact 3: Building Trust by Maintaining Student-Teacher Confidentiality

As a child or young person, saying how you feel can be incredibly difficult for some

students. In some extreme cases, factors extrinsic to the classroom can cause a student to lose

their ability to communicate verbally. On the bright side, some of these students have an easier

time communicating through writing, or other non-verbal means of communication. To better

serve the needs of these students, and all of my students, I will create a box with index cards for

students to write down anything they wish to communicate to me anonymously. All of this

requires the students to understand they can trust me to keep my word to maintain

confidentiality; however, I see this as a positive move to show that I am more than just a teacher

of history to my students. I aim to teach my students to reach out for help and accept help when

needed. I plan to set up an electronic version of this procedure by supplementing the “box of

anonymity”. The electronic version would consist of an application similar to “Google Forms”

where students can choose to remain anonymous or not. I do not plan on or wish to have an

allotted time for students to communicate whatever they may need. However, I plan on only

having the physical box open for communication when I can have a watchful eye, and I am

displaying highly professional levels of “withitness”. This is to ensure the confidentiality of the

box is not broken, but the electronic version will always be open for entries from my students.

Mental Health Check-In Google Form Example Artifact - NOAH SHEPHERD

Artifact 4: Documenting Rule Violations

Since one of the classroom norms are bound to be broken by a student eventually, a

procedure must be implemented within my classroom for when a student violates the rules we

have agreed to follow as a class. Based on how I want my classroom to function, I feel including

an artifact for this section is unnecessary because I feel like handling the situation with the
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student one-on-one is the most effective way in solving the issue without needing to “discipline”

the student. Whatever issue the student was going through likely caused this hypothetical

student to lash out and violate a classroom rule. Only on the chance a student continues to

violate the rules after one-on-one discussion will I reach out to a student’s guardian by email,

and calling home as a last resort. Since I plan on teaching history to older high school students, I

want to teach my students to resolve issues independently. By only involving parents as a last

resort is important because I am actually exemplifying my encouragement of resolving issues

“like adults”. In turn, I hope this develops more independence in my students as they approach

closer to entering the “adult world”.

Artifact 5: Communication with Parents and Guardians

Communication between parents and guardians is pivotal in any student’s academic

success. Whether I am communicating about the behavior, grades, or upcoming extracurricular

activities, the importance of any level of communication between parents avoids creating

“material or extrinsic” limitations for a student. In extreme cases, Milner and colleagues (2019)

suggest these limitations contribute to the “cradle-to-prison” pipeline (p. 37). However, the most

common occurrence that ensues following a lack of communication is dissatisfied or upset

parents. To keep a channel of communication between parents and guardians, weekly

newsletters are helpful tools in maintaining this communication. Web 2.0 applications like
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Smore provide plenty of newsletter templates to customize for my own needs. The artifact I

have included below showcases how Newsletters can also be incredibly helpful in showing what

I am teaching the students. Most important of all, Newsletters promote communication and

transparency between teachers and parents.

Weekly Newsletter Example Artifact - NOAH SHEPHERD

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References

Hyneman, J. & Savage, A. (2014). Mythbusters: plane boarding. Discovery Channel, 12 (15).

https://go.discovery.com/

Marzano, R. J., Marzano, J. S., & Pickering, D. J. (2003). Classroom management that works:

researched-based strategies for every teacher. ASCD.

Milner, R. M., Cunningham, H. B., Delale-O’Connor, L., & Kestenberg, E. G. (2019). These kids

are out of control: why we must reimagine ‘classroom management’ for equity. Corwin.