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As a teacher, I feel my responsibility is to teach my students academic content but also to help them develop responsibility and character. Students will learn and develop if they are in the right environment. This environment, which I strive to create, is one of organization, respect, and responsibility and can be formed if the teacher and students work together. To create our classroom environment, I will provide my students with developmentally appropriate instruction and expectations. Students will be given engaging instruction that fits their needs and allows each individual student to succeed at their own level. I will focus on each students process of learning rather than the end product and encourage learning from mistakes. My students will be expected to follow the rules and procedures and to be respectful of their self, others, and the school. Students will have consistency and be given choices in my classroom! They will learn how to self-regulate themselves and their time as they are given choices to make and work to accomplish. They will realize their choices affect and bring about either positive or negative consequences. Students will build relationships with me and with other students as we participate in team building activities and collaborations. These relationships will build a closer community where students are able to feel safe and take risks. As they take risks, they will be able to explore and learn. I love teaching and I want my students to succeed not only in the classroom but also in life. I plan to prepare them for life by helping them learn the content and develop skills and attributes necessary to succeed. But this can only be done if we have a strong community within our classroom and work together to follow rules and expectations.

Classroom Discipline improves significantly when students are helped to increase their personal level of responsibility, which occurs naturally when internal motivation is activated. -Marvin Marshall-

C. M. Charles stated in Building Classroom Discipline, For prevention, make sure students know what is expected of them and make sure to meet students needs.

Beginning of the Year

Classroom Set Up: o Setting up my classroom takes thought and time. Everything should be set up for a reason and only those things that are necessary should fill the walls, shelves, and counters. My classroom will be organized with an appropriate place for papers, pens, scrap paper, homework, extra pages, center work, center folders, crayons, markers, pencils, glue, scissors, highlighters, and all other materials needed for learning. Desks will be set up to encourage group work and collaboration. Individual seats will be assigned but will rotate often to promote positive behavior, limit negative behavior, and encourage team building. Introduction of Teacher/Students: o I will send out a letter to my students and their parent(s) to introduce myself before school starts and then will meet them on back-toschool night. o I will send out two surveys. One for the student to fill out with their parent(s) about themselves, their interests, their strengths, and things they would like to work on and improve. The other survey will be for the parents to fill out about their students to inform me of important information that will help me teach their child better. (These surveys are optional but I encourage them so I can have a reference to go to when I have a question about a student and/or their family.)

Teach Classroom Rules: o The two rules I have are: Be Respectful & Be Responsible. I feel most everything that needs to be addressed is covered by these two rules. These rules will be explicitly taught on the first day and each day throughout the year. They will be taught as situations come up and will be addressed individually and with the whole class. Teach Procedures: o Teaching procedures at the beginning of the year should be gradual and as they come up. As the first day of school progresses, procedures will be taught as I ask the students to complete them. Introducing Centers: o Students will learn centers similar to procedures. During the first week of school, students will be taught 3-5 centers and will learn one new center each day throughout the next month. This is done so the students can focus on one center at a time and so I can teach the center explicitly. Students will also remember the procedures of the center better if they are only taught a few at a time. Team Building: o Team building allows me and the students to build relationships to help us create a safe environment. Team building helps students learn to trust each other. It provides opportunities to share feelings, 1 opinions, and experiences. The following formula describes how team building relates to learning: Team Building = Safe Environment = Taking Risks = Learning
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I will have a team building experience each day at the beginning of the year and focus on building strong relationships to act as our foundation for the year. However, these experiences will continue over the course of the year but at a lower frequency such as 2-3 per week. Team building activities will take place at various times of the day.

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John Newstrom & Edward Scannell, The Big Book of Team Building Games Peggy McCandless

Think Time : o Students will understand and be able to give their peers think time. Think time is given when students are called upon to answer a question or when they are working through a problem in front of the class, with a group/partner, or on their own. I want my students to respect each other and allow them enough time to think. I also want my students to understand that they deserve think time and not everyone needs the same amount of time. Establish Rapport: o Building relationships with the students will help you understand what they need and will help the student feel important. As they feel valued, they will begin to respect you and therefore behave better. Internal Motivation: o I believe there is a level of external motivation that can help in the classroom but I want to help my students understand the internal rewards of good behavior, working hard, and learning. Greet Students: o Students should have a classroom where they feel valued and appreciated. I will greet each student every day as they come into the classroom to show them I care and also to develop a relationship. Proximity: o I will make sure to position myself and my students in places around the classroom that are beneficial to their learning. Proximity of the teacher and students can promote positive behavior and also avoid negative behaviors. Positive Attitude: o I will provide my students with a classroom that is built around a positive attitude and fun. I will show an example for my students of these attributes and also encourage them to do the same.

Margie Thomas

Physical Movement: o Throughout the day, I will provide opportunities for my students to get up and move so they can get their blood flowing and have energy to focus on learning. This can be during center work as the move from center to center, spontaneous exercises (jumping jacks, stretching, running in place, etc.), or even weekly yoga.

Classroom Jobs
Classroom jobs will change each week as we rotate through all of the students in the class. The teacher helper will rotate the student jobs on Friday at the end of the day so they are ready for Monday. I will explicitly teach the students when, how, and why to do these jobs. Students will be responsible to complete their job but if they forget the teacher helper will provide a friendly reminder. Line Leader: Classroom jobs provide o One student will lead the line when students with a role, a we transition from the classroom to responsibility and a feeling lunch, recess, library, computer, of importance within the art, P.E., music, assemblies, drills, classroom. etc. Teacher Helper: If done right, student jobs o One student will help the teacher can take away stress and with classroom needs such as daily jobs from the passing out papers, distributing teacher so he or she can materials, delivering messages to focus on the more the office, classroom jobs, etc. important things of Library Books: teaching. o Two students will use the book cart to return the library books back to the library on the day we go to library. Outdoor Equipment: o One student will check out the outdoor equipment to students at recess. They will write down the name of the student and the equipment they borrowed. When the students return from recess, this student will check off the students name when they return their equipment to the bin.

Pencil Sharpener: o One student will sharpen the pencils in the need to sharpen cup at the end of the day while I am passing out papers for students to take home. Lunch Helpers: o Depending on the school policy, two students will stay after lunch to help clean the tables and lunchroom. Table Captains: o One student from each color table will be responsible for passing out papers to their table, collecting papers, getting materials, etc. Smart Board Master: o One student will align the smart board each morning and open the daily self start file. Substitute: o One student will substitute for the any students who are not present for the day and assume their role.

Procedures
Coming into the Classroom: As Rick Smith so wonderfully o When the bell rings students explains, procedures are the will come into the school, put railroad tracks-content is the their belongings in their locker, train. He explains that enter the classroom, greet the procedures come before the teacher, set their homework on content so teachers need to their desk, put their homework put in the effort to teach each folder on the table shelf, sit at procedure before beginning their seat, and begin on the with the content. daily self start. Self Starts: o The self start will be located on the board and students will get out their binder (located on their table shelf) and begin the activity in the self start section of their binder. The self start activities will vary between subjects and content but the students will either already have the knowledge and skills to complete the activity or the self start will ask the students to explore a new concept and/or skill. Once the students are finished with the self start, they can either choose to go back and make it better or move on to writing in their journals.

Journals: o Students will write in their journals daily. The journal pages are located in the journal section of their binder. Students can either write freely or write about one of the four weekly prompts. Each week, I will provide students with four weekly prompts that they have the option of using but can only write about each prompt once and must write freely at least once per week. Students will know their individual expectations of journal writing according to their writing rubric located on the bottom of each journal page. Tardies: o Students who come into class late must first check in the office and bring me the note saying they have checked in. Once they have reached the classroom, they will put away their belongings, put the note on my desk, put away their homework folder, get out their homework, and begin on the self start. If they come in late after the self start, they will either begin on their journal or join us correcting homework or on the rug. Putting Away Binders: o Students will put away binders as soon as I notify them it is time to review the homework from the previous day. Table captains will collect each of the binders located at their table and place them back on the table shelf. Reviewing Homework: o Students will already have their homework on their desk and will get 4 out their correcting pen (various colors). I will remind students that making a mistake gives them an opportunity to learn and it does not matter if they get a question wrong as long as they learn from their mistake. As the class reviews each questions, students will make sure they have done each question correctly. If it is correct, they do not do anything. If they have made a mistake, they use their correcting pen to fix their answer to the correct answer.

Margie Thomas

Gathering Homework: o Table captains will gather the homework, make sure each page is facing the correct direction and place them in the homework basket. Transitioning to the Rug: o I will ask each table to meet me on the rug by calling their table color (green, yellow, blue, red, pink, orange, etc.) in order of those students who are showing me they are ready for the morning meeting. Students will stand up, push in their chairs, and walk politely to the rug area and sit down in rows. Students will be taught how long the row should be and when to make a new row. Morning Meeting: o The focus of the morning meeting is to reflect on the previous day, review what will be expected for the current day, and discuss any concerns/problems/questions the students may have. I will direct the morning meeting at the beginning of the year but will gradually give over the responsibility, little by little, to my students. A wonderful model of the type of morning meeting I want to conduct is found at https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/classroom-morning5 meeting . Transitional Music: o I will play several different transitional songs or short clips of music throughout the day to signal transitions to students. I have found this works much better than me raising my voice to get the students attention as they are working and it provides students with fun music during the day. This music will be easily located on my desktop so I can have access to it on my computer or smart board. Guided Reading Groups: o I will form guided reading groups according to each students individual reading level. Ideally, this can be accomplished better if the grade level team teachers work together to share the responsibility of the groups but if not it is possible in a single classroom. o When it is time for the first reading group, I will play their transitional music clip so they know it is time to meet me at my desk with their guided reading bags. Students will meet me at my desk and
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Teaching Channel, Madeline Noonan

immediately pull out a book of their choice for a familiar reread. Once everyone is ready, I will direct the 15 minutes session as we discuss and practice good reading skills. o When it is time for the next reading group, I will play their transitional music clip to signal for them to meet me at my desk. The same procedures will take place for all the reading groups. o When students hear their reading group music clip, they will immediately organize their work and leave it for when they finish reading group. If they are at their desks, they will organize all materials, put all papers in their center folder, leave their folder closed at their desk, and push in their chair. If they are at a center around the room, they will put back the materials so other students can visit the center, return materials back to their desk and center folder, leave their folder closed at their desk, and push in their chair. o The students may not disturb me during guided reading. If they need something, they must follow the Ask Three, Then Me rule explained below. However, if three peers do not know they must wait until in between reading groups to ask me. Center Work: o While I am directing guided reading groups, students will be completing their center work for the week. They will have been previous taught how to complete each center and the procedures for entering and leaving the centers. o Students receive a center checklist on the first day of the week to complete during the week. The checklist includes must do centers they must complete each day and other centers they can choose to do each day but must have them done by the end of the week. o In their center folder, students will have a completed side and a working on side. When they are finished with the center, they place the artifact from that center in the completed side. If they are still working on a center at the end of center time, they place the artifact in the working on side. o When center time is finished, I will play the clean up transitional song. This will signal the students to clean up and get ready for lunch. They will sit at their desk and wait until the whole class is ready to go.

Getting Student Attention: o I will use different attention getters depending on my group of students and what they respond to best. Using the same attention getter is boring, so I will use several different techniques to keep things interesting. I have a collection of attention getters but some of the ones I prefer to use are: Counting down from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Students have stopped what they are doing and are looking at me with their eyes and listening with their ears. This works when they are at their own desks, on the rug, or around the classroom. Hey, HeyYo, Yo I call out Hey, Hey and the students respond Yo, Yo. Students have stopped what they are doing and are looking at me with their eyes and listening with their ears. This works when they are working around the classroom or when they are collaborating and talking with their peers. Ring the Bell Ringing a bell is great when students are talking with their peers. It provides a quiet cue for students to stop talking and listen without the teacher having to raise her voice. Ask Three, Then Me: o If students have a question about their work or what they can do, they are taught to ask three other students before asking me. If they need to ask me, they must wait until an appropriate time. Absent Students: o For students who are absent, they will need to complete the work we did in class when they were absent. During the day, when I pass out work I will put one on their desk and then collect all the work at the end of the day and put it in their homework folder. If it is new content, they will complete the work the next day with the teacher and a small group.

Passing Out Papers: o When passing out papers, I will distribute the papers to each table captain and they will pass each person at their table (even if they are absent) one paper. If they are close enough, they do not need to get out of their seats but if they are far away they may. Paper Headings: o At the top of every paper, students will write their name and date. Cute reminder found on Pinterest: The first thing I do is always the same, I pick up my pencil and write my name. Sharpening Pencils: o Students may not use the pencil sharpener. If their pencil needs to be sharpened, they may place it in the needs to be sharpened bucket and use one of their back up pencils. Students have 2-3 pencils so they will always have a backup pencil. I will sharpen dull/broken pencils after school and have them ready to go for the next day. (I may assign a class job for someone to sharpen pencil but it depends if students can use the sharpener correctly.) o Students may pick up their sharpened pencils at the end of the day or the next morning before they begin their self start. Drinks: o Students will be able to get drinks freely during independent work time. They may not get a drink during whole class or small group instruction. To get a drink, students may quietly get up, push their chair in, walk to the drinking fountain, get a drink, then quietly walk back to their seats and begin working again. Bathroom: o Students are encouraged and reminded to use the restroom before school, during lunch or recess, and after school. They may not use the restroom often during the day unless there is medical reason. o Students may go to the bathroom during independent work time and breaks. Students must ask to leave the classroom and go to the restroom. If granted permission, they must move their personal magnet to the bathroom square on the white board by the door. When they return they must move their magnet back to the in class square.

o If students need to use the restroom during guided reading, they may come up to me and show me the hand signal we have decided means may I use the restroom. o I will watch for students to take advantage of going to the restroom to avoid work and will conference with them if there is a problem. Pull-Outs: o Students who are pulled out of the classroom will clean up and organize their desk when it is time to go to their other teacher. (The phone will ring when it is time for them to go.) o As they leave the room, they will move their magnet to the RTI or Speech square and move it back when they return to the classroom. Lining Up: o Students will either be called individually or by tables to line up at the door for exiting the classroom. When students are called, they will line up in a straight line with their hands/feet to themselves and voices low/off. Walking the Halls: o When my students leave the classroom, they will know to walk through the halls following three rules: voices off, hands/feet to yourself, and straight line.

According to Charles, supportive discipline exerts ongoing influence to help students willingly participate, follow the rules, do their work, remain on task, and treat each other civilly.
Establish Rapport: o Sometimes students act out because something is going in their lives and a need is not being met. By knowing your student and building a trusting relationship, you will be able to communicate with the student about their lives and the behavior. Conference with Student: o Often discussing a behavior with a student will allow the teacher to understand why the student is acting a specific way, what the teacher can do to help prevent it, and also encourage the student to behave more positively. Proximity: o The teacher can prevent many behaviors by being in proximity with their students. Standing or sitting close to a student who exhibits negative behaviors can often eliminate the behavior. This can be done by moving throughout the classroom during instruction/work time or seating them close to the teacher desk/front of the room. Timers: o Some students have a hard time managing their time and need a friendly reminder of how much time they have to complete an activity. Timers can provide this reminder for students but should only be used if it is appropriate for the child.

Internal Motivation: o Remind and encourage students of the right thing to do. Students have a conscious and most often know the right thing to do so encourage them to act upon their conscious. Re-teach Procedures/Rules: o This should occur throughout the school year. Teachers can use moments of negative behavior as a teaching moment for the whole class. Of course, they will want to do it generally and anonymously. Look at Myself: o When a student misbehaves, I will look at myself and determine what I could have done different with my instruction, classroom set up, or expectations that would have initiated a better behavior from this student.

Conference with Student o If the behavior continues, I will hold another conference and discuss why the behavior has not improved. We will then discuss whether a checklist/contract will help the student or what other measures we need to take. Personal Checklist/Contract: o I will provide students with a personal checklist for their behavior. This allows students to monitor their own behavior by marking if their behavior has been positive or negative during each section of the day. I will remind the student when to mark the checklist and then discuss the checklist at the end of the day or week. Parent Contact: o If the behavior does not improve, I will contact the students parents to help elicit support from them. This contact can provide me with insights that I may not know and also have the parents on board reminding the student to behave positively. Group Conference: o This conference is between me, the student, the parents, and the principal if necessary. We will discuss the behavior, what we have tried, what we can do next, and other necessary items.

Communication with parents allows the parents to feel included in their students education and builds a relationship between the parents and teacher. Notes Home: o Notes home will go inside the front pocket of the students homework folder. These notes can be general school reminders, classroom reminders, or personal notes about the student. Emails: o Emails are the quickest and easiest way for me to communicate with parents during the day. Emails will be sent to parents for reminders, questions, concerns, of especially praise. Classroom Blog: o I will create a classroom blog where parents can find a schedule of what their student is learning and examples of what they are doing at school. This blog will also post reminders, important dates, and contact information. SEP: o I will conference with each student before SEPs to have them help decide what we should discuss at the conference. This will give them more responsibility and allow them to take charge of their learning. o During SEPs I will focus on the childs strengths and positive behaviors before I address any concerns or areas of improvement.

Charles, C. (2014). Marvin Marshall on Fostering Responsible Behavior. In Building Classroom Discipline (pp. 160-182). Pearson Education, Inc. Charles, C. M. (2014). Building Classroom Discipline. Pearson Education, Inc. McCandless, P. (2013). Cohort Leader, University of Utah. (S. Wilson, Interviewer) Newstrom, J., & Scannell, E. (1998). The Big Book of Team Building Games. McGraw-Hill Companies. Smith, R. (2004). Conscious Classroom Management. Conscious Teaching Publications. Thomas, M. (2013). Site Educator, Escalante Elementary. (S. Wilson, Interviewer)