Destiny Ramos

EDUG 520
PRQ #8
EDUG 520
Imagine a classroom where students are out of their seats, speaking over others,
disruptive and not engaged in lessons. Imagine feeling to afraid to take risks in the
classroom and feeling like your voice was unimportant. Lining up for lunch seemed like a
scene out of a post apocalypse movie. Students do not respect their learning, teachers,
peers or their school. This was a result of lack of classroom management. This was my
first grade experience. At this time, school was not a place where I felt confident to take
risks; my ideas werent validated, my voice went unheard since students were speaking
over me and there were no established routines. When my future students go through my
class and think about me 10 years later, I want them to remember my classroom as an
inclusive, safe and effective learning. In establishing this classroom philosophy, I will
demonstrate TPE 11.2 which states, candidates establish a physically, socially and
emotionally safe classroom environment for students by developing and maintaining
clear expectations for academic and social behavior. I will create and maintain an
effective learning environment by providing clear expectations and rules, positively and
negatively reinforcing behavior and promoting positive relationships.
Students must be set up for success. I will provide clear expectations and rules in
order to create an effective learning environment. Classroom management begins before
the students even set foot in the classroom. I will make classroom management plan to
present clear expectations I have of my students. These expectations include routines,
procedures, attitudes and learning behaviors. Having order is essential in student learning
because it honors instructional time, engages students and makes content accessible. On
the website newmangement.com, Rick Morris (2014) provides many of his classroom
management strategies. One of Morris strategies I will use is utilizing music to represent
procedures. For example, in lower elementary levels students still need to be reminded to
put their name, date and number on their papers. Instead of announcing this expectation
every time I pass out a worksheet I can play a short notification sound such as the NBC

tune. Transitions and clean up will also be directed by music. In my classroom I will use
the Jeopardy timer tune for think-pair-shares and reflection time. I plan to use the Andy
Griffith song for clean up. In the last year of my undergrad semester, I volunteered in a
second grade class that also used musical transitions. This resonated with me because
some students would sing to the tune. A new student came in April and learned this
transition tune quickly because she heard some students singing now its time to clean
up, time to clean up, clean it all up now to the tune. These routine are effective and
interactive, but require explicit teaching. Additionally when needed, the procedure
expectations will need retaught. By clearly communicating routines, I will demonstrate
TPE 10.4 which asks candidates [to] establish procedures for routine tasks and manage
transitions to maximize instructional time.
After establishing rules it is important to fortify expected behavior. There are
several strategies that will maintain order in the classroom. In my future classroom I will
use operant conditioning to motivate my students and create autonomy. Skinners
operational behavior conditioning is learning by reinforcement. Reinforcement can be
giving a reward (positive reinforcement) or removing something (negative
reinforcement). Both are used to increase the probability of desired behaviors. Skinner
believes this strategy is more effective than punishment because punishment feeds into
the lowest ethical reasoning- avoidance driven by punishment. Although Skinner view
punishment as not effective; reinforcement meets gradual extinction -just as punishment
does-when reinforcement is no longer forthcoming (1953). Consequently, I must be
strategic when using reinforcement in the classroom. Therefore, I will enforce rules and
expectations through positive and negative reinforcement. For example, in my classroom
management plan, I will use teacher praise, achievement coupons and remove
distractions. To promote exemplary academic behavior I will give verbal praise such as
Johny, I appreciate that you are sitting up and working quietly on your math. I also think
whispering when helping your neighbor with a math problem was a good idea because
you are not distracting other students. I will also use achievement coupons that are
recognized throughout the school. These expectations are clear and will be recognized
outside of the classroom. Using a school wide policy will advocate consistent
reinforcement through all grade levels and shape students academic behavior. Two forms

of negative reinforcement I will use are removing distractions and privileges. Burden and
Byrd (2013) suggest mild responses to misbehavior so that the flow of a lesson is
uninterrupted. I will simply remove a distraction such as manipulatives, water bottles or
sharpeners. I will also remove privileges when appropriate. For example, if a student is
consistently not completing classwork and wondering the classroom, distracting others, I
will take away computer time or extracurricular activities. In my first grade classroom an
effective negative reinforcement is taking away read aloud time. In conclusion a
classroom with consistency makes for an effective learning environment
An equally important aspect of maintaining an affective learning environment is
creating a positive community. Burden and Byrd (2013) believe an effective learning
comes from teachers who are effective managers of the classroom environment, (pg.
224) which aligns with TPE 11.3, which states Candidates establish a sense of
community, and promote student effort and engagement. This is important because when
students play an active role in their learning, students feel safe, respected and valued
(pg. 224) which holds them accountable. Additionally encouraging a positive community
will benefit the life long learning philosophy because the skills can be applied in the 21st
century world. I will promote a positive community through student-teacher collaboration
and cooperative learning experiences. Although I will design a classroom management
plan prior to the start of the school year, I will ask students to help identify the classroom
expectations. This is essential because it respects that each class has unique needs and
interests as a whole, and one set of rules may be effective for one class but not another.
The first week of school will involve students centered classroom rules and hands-on
implementation. I will have students demonstrate what each expectation looks like. I will
also guide students to create a positive learning community through use of cooperative
activities. In the cooperative learning, students use 21st century skills such as
collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity. These all help students
become self-sufficient independent workers, while learning co-dependency. Other skills
such as contributing ideas, compromising and reflecting are also life long skills students
learn through the experience. Positive learning communities create a functional learning
environment.

Every teacher will develop his or her own management plan to develop the
most effective learning environment possible. I plan to clearly communicate expectations
and rules, positively and negatively reinforce behavior and promote positive
relationships. I will be flexible and modify my rules and strategies to best fulfill the
students needs. Students will leave my classroom feeling confident, valued and
encouraged to continue learning.

Bibliography
Burden, P.R., & Byrd, D.M. (2013). Methods for effective teaching: Meeting the needs
of all students (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2013). California teaching performance
expectations. Retrieved from http://www.ctc.ca.gov/educator-prep/TPAfiles/TPEs-Full-Version.pdf
Kohlberg, L. (1984). Moral stages and moralization: The cognitivedevelopmental approach. In The psychology of moral development: The
nature and validity of moral stages (Vol. II, pp. 170-205). San Francisco,
CA: Harper & Row, Publishers.
Morris, R. (n.d.). New Management. Retrieved April 26, 2016, from
http://www.newmanagement.com/
Skinner, B.F. (1971). Punishment. In Beyond freedom and dignity (pp. 6082). New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.