Student-Centered Classroom Management System



Student-Centered Classroom Management System

Ashley Hough

Texas Woman’s University

Teaching is an art form, and like all art, it is good to have a plan before you begin. For a teacher, this means knowing your beliefs, having a grasp of educational standards, and developing a classroom management system that you are comfortable with using. The latter being the hardest to develop and the most likely to change with more years of experience. That does not discount the importance of knowing personal beliefs or the standards a teacher is expected to follow. Actually, those are part of the foundation of developing a classroom management system that works for each individual teacher.

Philosophy of Classroom Management

I believe that all students have the potential to learn. It is my goal, as a teacher, to help students to learn to the best of their individual abilities. It is my job to provide students with an environment where they can excel and be challenged. It is up to me to embrace my students’ strengths and weaknesses, and provide them with the tools to overcome their weaknesses. I believe a teacher should be a mentor and a role model for all of her students. A classroom should be well managed with concise rules that promote diversity and learning. I must stay consistent with the rules and consequences of the classroom. On the other hand, I must be flexible and quick thinking when things do not go as planned. I am committed to creating a positive, student-centered environment that allows students to flourish and grow. I am only one part of the larger school community that impacts lives and prepares students for the future that lays ahead of them.

Ethical Standards

As an educator, I need to act in an ethical and professional manner. It is my job to protect my students and their personal information. Keeping their personal information confidential is the easier of these two tasks. I intend not to discuss information pertaining to students unless it is required by the law or is being used for professional purpose. This means not discussing students outside of school or with other colleagues that do not need to know information about my students. I believe grades and other assessments need to be between the student and myself, unless there is reason for concern, such as a learning disability. In addition, I do not need to share information students tell me in confidence with the class or anyone else. The exception being a situation, like suspected abuse, that I am required to report. Protecting my students’ actual beings can be a bit more challenging. For this reason, it is important to know the laws and code of ethics that govern what I can and cannot do in the classroom. Armed with this knowledge, I believe the first step to exercising due diligence over students is to create a positive classroom environment that embraces diversity. This creates a safe place for students to learn about others and academics. Additionally, it makes it less likely that students will experience intentional embarrassment or disparagement. From my experience, those types of behaviors often stem from ignorance and insecurities, and an open classroom is able to address and incorporate differences early on, avoiding these behaviors. The next step in protecting students is to have a plan of action set to handle big and small negative situations, like bulling, disruptive behavior, and any action that may cause removal from the classroom. For this step to be successful, the teacher must be aware of school procedures and establish clear, concise classroom rules early on in the year. Ethically and professionally, it is a teacher’s job to advocate for, protect and teach her students. My plan is to do just that.

Teacher Responsibilities

The teacher is responsible for creating a positive, safe classroom environment. This includes creating a physical environment that is conducive to learning and promotes diversity. It is important for the teacher to arrange the room in a way that makes it easy for her to monitor students and move from one activity to another. It is the teachers responsibility to be a positive role model for her students, including being on time, showing up for the day and maintaining control of personal actions. It is the teacher’s responsibility to engage students and share responsibility with them. For example, the teacher can have students help decide the rules of the classroom. This gives them a chance to have input in the classroom policies. When doing this, it is important for the teacher to be aware of school policies and guide students to develop rules that do not contradict school rules. Another example is having students lead weekly class meetings to discuss classroom issues. Additionally, teachers need to support their students by actively listening and advocating for their students. This makes it important for teachers to develop relationships with parents and the community. It is essential for teachers to regularly communicate with parents about their children. A way to do this is a behavior folder with a place for parent/teacher communications that is sent home daily. Ultimately, a teacher is responsible for the overall management of her classrooms and needs to an action plan before stepping into the classroom.

At the beginning of the year, the teacher works with students to decide classroom rules and procedures. When students misbehave, they should have a chance to correct their behavior with a warning before a consequence is handed out by the teacher. The teacher must determine a discipline plan for her classroom and keep in mind what type of misbehaving may occur in the classroom. For some students, the teacher may need to create a long term action plan to handle behavior.

Student Responsibilities

All students are responsible for their own actions and decisions. They must be willing to accept the repercussions of their actions or decisions. In other words, if a student chooses to act up in class or decides not to do their homework, they must be prepared to possibly lose a privilege or have to do an extra task. To avoid consequences, students should respect the teacher, other students, classroom procedures, and themselves. When students are respectful, they are able to get more accomplished and are able to work together to solve problems. An example of working together is the use of class meetings. Class meetings are designed to happen every week to discuss issues with in the classroom and build the classroom community. According to Wolfgang (2009), these meetings can help students to learn life skills and learn to work their problems out in a constructive manner.

Incentives

Positive reinforcement is essential to classroom management. This can be accomplished with words of encouragement, physical rewards, personalized notes, allowing students to have input in decisions, and displaying excellent student work. It is important for teachers to give students words of encouragement, not just praise good work or behavior. For example, “I can see you are trying harder with your writing.” This gives specifics of what students are doing that is good. Additionally, students love personalized encouragement. A teacher can write a personalized note to a student, giving them positive encouragement. Another way to encourage good student work is a star wall, or a place to hang excellent student work. It is important to remember that all students should have a chance to be on the wall, and the same student should not always make it to the wall. A classroom or school token system is a great incentive for students to behave and participate in class. A token system allows students to collect tokens and trade them in for a reward. The reward could be bring a stuffed animal to school, eat lunch with a friend, or wear your house slippers to class. This will work well as long as the reward does not distract from class. Another great way to encourage students to participate in class is to give students input in the decision making process. For example, the teacher can give students multiple options for an assignment and let them choose what assignment they want to complete.

Interventions

Students are likely to cause minor disruptions; teachers should handle these by giving students “the look,” using proximity, or whispering directions to the student. With all of those techniques, the teacher should give a student time to self-correct the behavior before trying another approach. For example, a student is swinging his foot and kicking the desk in front of him; the teacher should first give the student “the look” and allow the student to correct the behavior. If this does not work, the teacher may be required to get near the student and whisper, “Please stop kicking your feet, it is disrupting the flow of the lesson.” If this does not correct the behavior the teacher may need to give the student a consequence. Occasionally, student behavior will escalate, and the teacher will need to use a different type of intervention. This may include getting to the root of a problem. This requires the teacher to question and listen to students to uncover the real reason for their behavior. For example, a student constantly becomes disruptive during group work. Listening to the student, the teacher uncovers that the student is being bullied by another student in the group. The teacher is now able to address the root problem, and discipline the student doing the bulling. Sometimes, behaviors take care of themselves (a student leaning back in his chair and falls over), and other times, the teacher needs to assign a consequence that matches the behavior. Another name for this idea is natural consequences. For example, if a student does not complete an assignment, they must attend study hall to finish. Occasionally, teachers may need to contact parents about a problem with their child or sit down with the student and their parents to devise a personalized plan to overcome the student’s issues. This is helpful for students who are acting out continuously in class or frequently stay for study hall.

Referral Guidelines

Generally, all issues should be handled in the classroom to avoid undermining the teacher’s authority. If for some reason, the issue is too big to handle in the classroom the teacher should use a previously made office referral form. The form should have a place to explain the reason for sending the student to the office and steps taken prior to sending the student to the office. The teacher should call the office and let them know the student is coming and send a second, responsible student with the completed referral form.

Conclusion

Teaching is a balance of educating and managing a room full of students, some have a variety of abilities and needs. A solid classroom management plan will cut down on the time spent handling disruptions and provide more time for teaching, which is the ultimate goal of all teachers. It is important for teachers to know themselves and develop a plan that will work for them, not a plan that they will struggle to follow. For me the above plan is what I am comfortable with and look forward to using in my own classroom.

References

Wolfgang, C. H., (2009). Solving discipline and classroom management problems: Methods and models for today’s teachers. Hoboken, New Jersy: Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Part II

Classroom Layout

I plan to teach elementary school; so, I designed my classroom to reflect an inclusive classroom. My desk would be in the back right corner with shelves and cabinets to store and organize my files and supplies. Additionally, it would allow me to easily meet one on one with students. Students’ desks are in pods of four, but could be as big as five, facing towards the whiteboard and projector screen. This allows easy access to group work and gives all students the ability to see the board and screen.

I have incorporated several learning zones that promote different types of learning, discovery, and critical thinking. The area at the front right corner is dedicated to reading and writing. I will have grade level appropriate books, arranged by subject or level, that cover a wide variety of topics and issues in bookcases and baskets. I plan to create an inviting space with a rug, lamp, and comfy chairs that students can curl up with a book and read, or I can use as a place to read to the class. The writing area will have the class computers. In addition, I plan to have information on the walls that will aid students in being better writers, including reminders about writing style, parts of speech and transition words. In the back left corner I have a built in math/science center, made of two tables and some shelves. I would fill with learning aids, study techniques, and items for self-exploration. In addition to reading, writing, math and science stations, I plan to create an area located at the back of the room dedicated to guided instruction by using a u-shaped table and several chairs (In my diagram, I used a round table).

I have included a place near the door to store backpacks, coats, extra books and other personal items. I plan to have trash cans and pencil sharpeners in at least two places in the room. In addition to furniture, I want to hang a map of the US and the world, a calendar, birthdays, classroom rules, relevant class information and student work on the walls. All rooms are a little different in size, shape and ability to move furniture, but ideally, my classroom would resemble the following images.

[pic]

Rules/Procedures

Use of Room Areas: Learning Centers

• You should only be in learning centers during allotted class time.

• There should only be as many students as chairs in each area.

• Everyone using the area should participate during clean up.

• You should respect, care for and share the items in the learning centers.

• Any time new items are added to the learning center I will demonstrate what the items purpose is.

Beginning of the School Day/Starting Class: ‘Warm-ups,’ Beginning of Class Work

• The journal topic or activity of the day will be written on the board.

• You should begin working immediately after putting away supplies.

• Write or work until the timer goes off.

• If you need help, use the word wall, vocabulary lists or, as a last resort you may ask me.

Student Work/Assignment: Where to Turn In

• I will keep several, labeled baskets near the front of the room for completed work.

• Upon entering the room, you should turn any homework into the homework basket.

• For class assignments, you should place them in the assignment basket as you leave the room.

• For tests, you should turn your test into the test basket upon completion.

• Late work and resubmissions should be turned into the late basket.

Feedback: Specific Methods

• I will assign a number grade or a check for all submitted work.

• Any time you receive a failing grade, I will attach a sticky note with a resubmit date and identify the area that needs to be corrected; it is up to you to make corrections and turn in the work by the new due date.

• For projects and writing assignments, I will provide written feedback through notes, a rubric or a combination of the two.

• I will meet with students individually once a month for ten minutes to discuss where they are doing well and what they need extra work in. This information will then be sent home to parents.

Grading Systems: Returning Work to Students

• I will keep a file with each student’s name at the back of the room.

• I will place graded work in the file daily.

• At the beginning of each day, you should check your file for any graded work.

• You should look through your graded work and then place it in your take home folder.

Other Procedures: Student Helpers

• I will display a board about student jobs in the classroom.

• At the beginning of the year, students will decorate cut out people to represent themselves.

• We will use the cut-outs to remind the class who has what job.

• The class helpers will rotate every two weeks throughout the year.

• If you are not doing your job, you will receive a warning.

• If there is a second occurrence, your job goes to another student.

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