Christine Matthews

EDU 5310
Classroom Management Plan
Preamble
A child's attitude towards their first few years of school will impact them throughout their
entire educational career. Students should feel safe in the classroom, feel like they belong and
have valued opinions, have fun with their teacher and peers, have control over what they are
learning, and be involved with freedom in the classroom. In order to accomplish these basic
needs, procedures and plans need to be put in place. This work, which is done before any
problem behavior ever arises, will have a powerful and lasting impact on students. It is critically
important to keep all of your students individual needs in mind. According to Wilson, when
students know we care about them as individuals they are much more likely to be cooperative
and engaged in school (2013). Problem behaviors are bound to show up in every classroom
despite having preventative procedures in place. When this happens, the way we react will
determine whether the behavior is deescalated or not. Charles says teachers should strive to keep
discipline and interventions positive, rather than using tactics that denigrate or embarrass
students (2011).
Preventive Techniques
Classroom Environment
Creating a positive environment starts with me and how I choose to interact with my
students. In my classroom I will use positive teacher language avoiding the seven deadly habits
entirely. By caring, listening, supporting, contributing, encouraging, trusting, and befriending my
students, school will become a safe and positive environment. I will not tolerate any behavior or

interactions that might make the classroom environment negative or unsafe.

Building Community
In order to be successful, students need to feel safe, important, and heard in the
classroom. To build a strong community in my class, I will start with my personal relationships
with the students. Getting to know the likes, dislikes and outside life of every student will help
create these positive relationships. In order to help students feel safe and valued in my classroom
I will use different community building activities, either in a lesson or as its own activity, each
day. These activities will give students a safe place to interact with each other and get to know
each other. Through my curriculum, I will instill the idea of acceptance and understanding of
different cultures, religions, and ethnicities.
Team Building
As part of building a stronger classroom community I will use team building activities in
my everyday lessons and as lessons of their own. Meetings will be a big part of my classroom
since they give students a safe place to share with their peers and me. Class meetings also give
students a chance to work out problems that may arise which gets them more involved in their
learning and classroom community. Doing fun brain break type activities like working as a
team to build something out of blocks or to create a tableaux will also be very apparent in my
everyday classroom routine.
Cooperative Learning
In my class, students will work together often throughout lessons and to complete
assignments. I will use activities such as jigsaws and numbered heads together, to give groups a
common goal and purpose that they have to work towards. Students will be arranged in groups of
five but I will use different strategies to mix groups up and get all students working together.

Discussions with groups and pairs will also be a big part of every lesson.
Engaging Curriculum
In my classroom I will create an engaging curriculum that is aligned with the Utah core
standards. I will have varying ways of introducing new concepts that include hands on activities,
class discussion, partner/group discussions, and keeping in mind the different types of learners
(visual, kinesthetic, etc). I will integrate social studies, science, and art, into my every day
lessons so that students have a well-rounded education that is interesting and engaging.
Class Jobs
Assigning classroom jobs is a great way to teach students responsibility and to also get
them involved in the classroom. In my class I will have 6-10 jobs, depending on the needs of my
classroom, which will rotate randomly at the end of each week. Students will be expected to
complete jobs on their own and will receive praise as a reinforcement.
Classroom Rules
Classroom rules will be created at the start of the school year with the help of my
students. I will be looking for broad rules that can cover many situations such as be safe, be
respectful, and be responsible. As part of the creation of these rules, students will role play
situations that might arise and how we will deal with them using our class rules. These rules will
be posted in the front of the classroom and referred back to often at the start of the year and when
needed after students are familiar with them.
Teaching Procedures
Procedures will be focused heavily on at the beginning of the school year. Procedures
will be set in place for using the bathroom, sharpening pencils, walking in the hallway, etc.
Students will know my expectations for every event throughout the day and will be reminded

often through praise and also by re-teaching.

Classroom Arrangement
My ideal classroom would have several key components to make it a functional learning
environment. I would like to have desks instead of tables for individual storage and ease of
arrangement. These desks will be arranged in groups of five which will be changed about once a
month. Students will all have easy view of the white board and overhead projector. I would also
like room for at least one U shaped table that I can use for small group instruction which will be
placed in the back corner of the room. In the other corner of the room will be a comfortable area
for rug sitting, a large enough area that I can have close proximity to all students on the rug, and
shelves for our class library. At the start of the school year all classroom displays will not be
filled. Students will be involved with what goes on the walls so they will be more likely to use
them as resources. My classroom will be very minimal with not very much on the walls, things
on shelves in totes, and no unnecessary furniture that can collect clutter.
Supportive Techniques
Guiding Techniques
I will never single a student out for negative behavior, unless it is an emergency. Instead,
I will first try to guide students on task by praising those on task, giving compliments to groups,
and drawing attention to students who are setting a good example. Praise, praise, praise, will be a
huge part of my classroom.
Proximity
As part of my classroom arrangement, I will be sure that my classroom has a good flow. I
will be able to walk through the classroom easily and have access to every students desk. During
rug time, students will sit in four rows or six students.

Body language
I will use my body language to help remind students when they need to be on task. If a
student is struggling with talking during my time, I will talk with them about it and come up with
a signal I can give them in order to help them remember.
Intervention techniques
One-on-one Conversations
One-on-one conversations will be used often in my class. Whenever a student is acting
out or being disruptive, my first response will be to talk to the child, explain to them why that
behavior is not acceptable in my class, and try to come up with a plan of action. I will also be
having individual meetings with students while we are learning a new concept to check
understanding, working on a project, and any time the student would like to talk. Each day I will
have a time sign-up for individual meetings, on a small whiteboard, which will be completed
during individual work time.
Academic/ Behavioral Consequences
Logical consequences, specific to the students and situation, will be used when other
efforts have been exhausted. Logical consequences include loss of recess, loss of activity, timeout, etc. If students are not working in class or not completing homework, they will work the first
five minutes of recess with me so I can be sure they are understanding the concept.
Contracts
Informal contracts will be made with any student who is struggling academically or with
behavior for more than two weeks in a row. Ideally, these contracts will be made with a parent
present and will involve ways they can support their children at home.
Procedures

Assignments/Student work
I will post a schedule of all assignments for the week on my class website for parents to
see. Most assignments, unless specifically specified, will be assigned throughout the week and
will be due on Friday. Students will have a small checklist to keep track of every assignment
which will be taped in the front of their homework folder at the start of each week. Parents will
need to sign off on the checklist before work is turned on Friday. If students have missing work
multiple weeks, I will contact parent and see if we can meet to come up with a plan of action.
Low scoring assignments/tests, high scoring assignments/tests, projects, and writing samples will
all go in students portfolios.
Rubrics
Rubrics will be given for all larger/ long term assignments or any project. For projects
students will self-evaluate using the rubric and we will then have individual meetings to discuss
their work. During these meetings I will give them feedback, fill out my own rubric, and place
their work in their portfolio.
Assessment
A big piece of assessment will be students portfolios. These portfolios will be broken up
into all of the major topics including reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and art.
Students will place tests, projects, and other important assignments, along with any rubrics, into
the appropriate section. Other assessments like end of unit or chapter tests will be given during
the start of class on Friday. I will constantly be using informal assessments to help inform my
instruction, keeping a constant feedback loop.
Transitions
Transition time will be minimized by having specific things students need to do each time

they come into the classroom. Examples of these would be a problem of the day, science journal
observations, quick writes, etc. I do not expect transitions to be silent but as soon as I give my
attention prompt, I expect students to be silent, have all needed materials ready, and be looking at
me.
Beginning/End of the Day Routine
At the beginning of the day students will come in, put their stuff away, and join me on the
rug. We will conduct a class meeting discussing what we have coming up during the day, giving
students a chance to share anything important, thoughts on homework assignments, and
concluding with a brain dance to help students get ready for the day. Students will move
immediately into silent journaling/ reading. At the end of the day students will write the nights
homework in their planner, as a class we will decided the most important events of the day which
will also go in their planner, check off homework folder with someone at their table to be sure
they have every paper they need and that it gets in their back pack, and sit on the rug for a novel
read aloud.
Daily Schedule
The daily schedule will be posted in the front of the classroom showing the subject and
time. I will stay as close the schedule as possible so students always know what to expect.
Procedures During the Day

Drinks: If there is a sink/drinking fountain in the classroom, students will be allowed to

get drinks when they are transitioning in from the outside and during individual work

time. If not, students will get drinks when

Bathroom: Students will use the bathroom during recess and lunch. They will receive one
bathroom pass a week that they can use for an emergency. If the bathroom is an issue
with a student we can figure out a plan involving their parents.

Lining up/hallway: Lining up needs to be done quickly and quietly. Students will be
expected to walk appropriately in the hallway keeping their hands to themselves and not

talking.
Sharpening Pencils: Students will be given 5 sharpened pencils that they will keep in a
pencil box. Every Wednesday and Friday, students will be given a short time to sharpen
all five pencils for the following days. Other than those times, students will not be

allowed to sharpen pencil during the day.

Collecting papers: Students will place papers in the center of their desks and the person
with the class job paper collector will gather them from each group and give them to

me.
Passing Out Papers: Students with the class job paper passer will get the papers from

me, count how many for each table, and set them in the center of each table.
Overhead Announcements: Students will be expected to turn off voices immediately and

stay silent for the whole announcement.

Early Work Completion: If students at any time during the day finish their work before

the rest of the class they may silently read at their desk.
Floor Time: Students may choose where they sit on the floor unless there is a problem.

Students will be expected to keep hands to themselves and to be silent.

Teacher Instruction: During teacher instruction students may not get up for any reason
other than an emergency. Students will be expected to show respect to me and anyone

else who is talking by participating and raising hand.

Group Work: Students will be expected to work together positively, keep noise levels

down, and stay on task.

Individual Work: students will be expected to work silently, raise hand for assistance.
Communication with Parents/Guardians

Classroom Web Page

My main source of communication with parents will be through my classroom web page.

On this page I will keep a calendar, announcements highlighting important events coming up in
our class, updates on projects we are working on, a list of homework assignments to be
completed that week, all of my contact information, and resources for my students and parents.
Although phone calls are more personal and easier to communicate information, I will use emails
as a way to involve all of my parents, not just the ones who might have struggling children.
Answering parents emails regularly will be part of my daily routine. I will encourage this
communication the first week of school by sending each parent a personal email about how there
students are adjusting to my class and something positive they did during the week.
Phone Calls
Phone calls wont be as frequent as emails but they will still play a big part in
communication with parents. Phone calls will be made whenever there is a problem with a
students behavior, something negative involving their child happens, a student comes to me with
any sort of complaint about bullying, a student has a sudden change in mood, or when a student
has done something exceptional. I will encourage my parents to call and talk to me whenever
they feel like something isnt right or they have a question. Phone calls home will be documented
in my students individual files with a short explanation as to what the phone call pertained and
any future actions that need to be taken.
Newsletters
As part of our writing curriculum, my class will compose a monthly newsletter. Students
will brainstorm different ideas for articles and will get in teams to research and write. The
newsletter will include information about our class, projects we are working on, and exciting
events around the school. The newsletter will also include a message from me, summarizing
things I have talked about on my website, for parents who do not have access to internet. Since

students will have an investment in the newsletter, it will be more likely to end up in the parents
hand.
SEP Conference Ideas
SEP conferences will be used as a time to talk positively about my students and show
parents what their children are capable of. I will come prepared to each meeting with the
following:

Summary of students progress

Students portfolio to show what they are excelling in and struggling with
A recent project they can take home with them
References

Charles, C. (2011). Building classroom discipline (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Colker, L. (2008). 12 charactersitics of effective early childhood teachrs. Young Children on the
Web, 1-6.
Wilson, M. (2013). Teasing, tattling, defiance and more... Northeast Foundation for Children.