Classroom Management Plan - Ideal Class and age range: Yr 2, ages 7-8 year

olds
Outline your philosophy to learning, teaching and assessment:
My core belief of what constitutes effective learning, teaching and assessment is
creating and maintaining an emotionally safe and inclusive learning environment.
The key strategy to achieving this can broadly be seen as social inclusive. To
effectively achieve social inclusion, I will employ two key approaches which will
together facilitate a positive environment and strong social bonds which are
conducive to learning.
Firstly, through positive role modelling and leadership, I will set the expectation of
how social interactions will be conducted throughout the school year both inside and
outside my classroom. As Fielding (in Harris, 2010) has noted, the environmentis
the silent curriculum (Kivunja, 2015, p. 47). This aspect of my philosophy is ongoing
however the key to its success is to set the expectations from the beginning. I
appreciate that my role as teacher extends beyond the curriculum and a positive
environment can be manufactured by employing the right tools such as creating a
clutter-free and clearly delineated work space, learning the names, interests and
social connections of my students, encouraging the students to get to know each
other and to be consistently organised and prepare the students for what to expect
for the day, and week ahead of lessons.
This approach is appropriate for my intended Yr 2 class as they are young enough to
thrive in a set routine, but mature enough to contribute independently which will
make for interesting, engaging and team-oriented learning.
Outline the learning context:
The characteristics of my intended teaching context and my learners is as follows: I
will be teaching a mixed group of 20 male and female students of varying intellectual
capabilities who will be from a range of culturally distinct backgrounds including a
newly arrived African immigrant, a pair of Korean twins who speak English as a
second language and a low-IQ Australian student. This is a current class in a
suburban West Australian public school at the outskirts of the main metropolitan
area, set on a gentle hill overlooking the Indian Ocean. It is a small semi-rural
school, and I have the only Yr 2 class where the mainstream Australian curriculum is
taught, and the families have strong community bonds.
Provide a diagram of the classroom layout:
(Attached separately)
Rationale for classroom layout:
I have kept my desk near the mat and ICT near the front of the room. I have a little
table near my desk in case I need to isolate anyone and watch them closely, be it for
disruptive behavior or a student that needs a separate space to work. Desks are in
small groups of four for collaborative learning and I have the independent study/PC's

and reading corner at the back of the room behind the desks because I don't want
the early finishing students to distract those still working. I have a clothes stand at
my desk for my umbrellas, jackets and bags, this along with general storage aligns
with my general ethos on having a place for everything for a calm atmosphere. There
is one empty spare desk at the back as well, and this is for anyone who loses points
for negative behaviour and is not permitted to sit with their group as punishment. The
kidney desk at the front may be used for any student who is leading a class
discussion such as their news item, and who is a bit shy and it can be used for group
work where I/group leader can attend multiple students around the one desk.
Outline your classroom management prevention strategies:
Building Positive Relationships: Following on from my philosophy, I believe that it
is human nature to want to belong. I intend to effect positive relationships by building
positive climate and culture in the classroom. This will begin with me, as an effective
teacher is one who leads by example. One expectation I will have is that there will be
movement, and that students will have to work with people who arent their friends in
order to build rapport and networking skills with their peers. I will do this by seating
people in specific groupings where skills and personalities are mixed as well as in
informally mixing up groups during the day for group work. Another strategy is to hold
class meetings where the class can contribute and listen to each other to promote
inclusivity and for building mutually respectful relationships (Kivunja, 2015, p.58).
Creating and maintaining emotional safety: To me, respect underpins emotional
safety and my primary method of teaching this to a Yr 2 class is by explaining and
demonstrating what constitutes respect. This will involve explicit instruction of
listening techniques and explaining that that means nodding, and being quiet when
others speak, as well as expecting that at this age they will get excited and speak out
of turn, so it will be a matter of reminding them of the attentive listening, displaying
respect, and practicing patience while waiting for their turn to contribute. I also want
my class to be happy, and will do this by winning over which put simply is by
showing an interest in them as people inside and outside the classroom (Bennett,
1994, p.63).
Establishing boundaries, routines and rules: I believe that teaching from the
head, and not being emotionally caught up is key to preventing negative behaviours.
And to establish the expectation I would have a clear set of class rules numbering no
more than 5. I would use a similar visual chart such as used by Becky Saunders in
Week 2s slides, with a picture of the eyes, ears, mouth, hands, pretzel as the basis
for this to indicate for this age group attentive listening, using raised hands before
calling out and sitting properly/attentively at mat time. For this age I would not
consult with the class but have this chart ready at the start of the year, explain what
each rule meant, and have it clearly displayed around the room and use it as a visual
reminder by pointing to it when a rule is not being adhered to in order to establish the
rules of the class.
Any systems of rewards and/or punishments: I like the idea of a star chart where
the class knows that keeping to the rules will gain them stars as rewards. This
method is transparent and visible to the whole class which also works to advance the
ripple effect where positive behavior results in visible rewards and encourages

other students to strive for the same rewards (Bennett, 1994, p.63). My main
punishment is behavioral, with the intention being to decrease undesirable
behaviours. I will advise them that undesirable behaviours will have consequences
and will include for example, removing the use of iPads, or time out in an older
grades classroom.
Outline your classroom management response strategies:
Low key responses: These responses tie in with classroom environment and
having relationships with students and are generally an integrated grouping of a
number of responses into the one management technique. If I work on getting to
know my students personalities I will be more in tune with their misbehaviors and
recognise that for example, they might be sick or having other temporary problems
outside of my lesson if they are exhibiting disruptive behaviors. Low key responses
such as a look, proximity, a cough for example make sense when the behavior is
mildly irritating/disruptive and the point of it is to acknowledge these actions as not
appropriate and to regain the students attention without disrupting the class. In terms
of the Theory of Bumps, I will move to verbal strategies (Bump 3 & 4) such as briefly
stopping the lesson, naming the person, and letting them know their behavior is
making it difficult to teach (Bennett, 1994, p.196).
Establishing and implementing consequences: Good communication and setting
expectations is key for me as a teacher. The primary goal for me to be effective is to
be consistent and follow through. This means clearly establishing expected
behaviors as well as what I will bring to the class what the students can expect
from me. In terms of responses, this means I will work to keep a cool head and
manage the behavior, rather than the child in a way that is consistent with the preestablished rules of behaviors. Therefore, to implement a consequence (on the
series of Bumps scale ranging from informal through to more formal) my solution is
to do it, and not feel defeated and simply not address a behavioral issue.
Managing defiance: I want my class to feel secure, and respected however my
natural instinct in managing defiance is to use my personality. With this in mind, I
dont tend to anger easily and using humour will be my natural fall back. I do
recognise that this will work best in low key responses, so when it comes to power
struggles, I will also fall to a natural personality trait which is empathy. I believe that
most students are good students, so I will work with them to try to uncover what the
underlying issues may be in causing their defiant behaviour. In this sense I will be
employing what Bennett terms as artful nuance which similar to previous examples
I have used such as separating the student from the problem, and managing the
behaviour by identifying why it is disruptive rather than by laying blame on the
personality and simply getting cross (Bennett, 1994, p.212).
De-escalation strategies: By initiating winning over strategies such as using
names, greeting, asking about interest (Bennett, 1994, p 214-15) I intend to minimise
disruptive issues however it is vital to have a store of strategies to de-escalate dayto-day behaviors. The key takeaway for me is that the Bumps dont have to be used
sequentially. If a student is being disruptive continuously I will de-escalate the
behavior, based on previously employed low key responses, by moving directly to a

3 or 4 response rather than working up from a Bump 1. And again this comes from
knowing the students and maintaining consistency.
Outline any relevant policies:
The guidelines for teachers at Christ Church Grammar succinctly reflect my values
as a teacher, which is to enable excellence in students through the facilitation to:
encourage creativity and foster collaboration and peer learning. They use
teaching strategies that are flexible and accommodating and that cater for
different ability levels. Our teachers encourage student-centred learning and
have high expectations of their boys.
https://www.ccgs.wa.edu.au/about-us/mission-and-values/the-christ-church-studentparent-and-teacher
References:
Bennett, B., & Smilanich, P. (1994). Classroom management: A thinking & caring
approach. Toronto, Ontario: Bookation.
Kivunja, C. (2015). Teaching, learning & assessment: Steps towards creative
practice. South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press.