Kelsey, Petah

EDUG 520
April 23, 2015
PRQ 8
Have a Plan

Picture this; you walk into a classroom, and a paper ball flying through the air hits
you in the face. Students are yelling so loudly that you cannot think; the students are
sitting on the desks while the teacher is trying to regain control of the class. By not
having set rules and expectations, a class can be out of control and lead to a very
stressful year. Instead, when children are given guidelines on what is to be expected of
them, they tend to do better. I can create and maintain an effective environment for
learning through: setting expectations through a mission statement in my classroom
management plan, by giving positive and negative consequences; and delegating
responsibilities and roles for the students.
Setting up the students with expectations will be a way to maintain classroom
management. Burden and Byrd (2013) state, Classroom management involves teacher
actions to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction,
active engagement in learning, and self-motivation (p. 224) When I start teaching, I
need to have all of my expectations set and displayed for the students. One thing I plan
on doing is coming up with a classroom mission statement; we will come up with the
vision as a class and all students will sign it. As needed, I will review the mission
statement and reiterate the rules. TPE 5. 2 states, Candidates ensure the active and
equitable participation of all students. Having the students assist me in writing the
mission statement will have them involved and be able to participate in the standards

by which we wish to run the classroom. Taking the extra time in the beginning of the
year to set the expectations will limit the amount behavior issues that may arise within
the year.
Everyday is different and dealing with positive and negative behavior is just part
of the job; it is how I respond is what matters. Way to go! Good job! instead of saying,
You get a detention is the way I intend to . I know that there will be problems and
behavior issues that I will have to deal with, but setting them up with prior rules and
consequences will make it easier to follow through. As long as I stay consistent and
follow through in my actions, I will have less punishments to deal with. Skinner (1971)
states that punishment is designed to remove awkward, dangerous, or otherwise
unwanted behavior from a repertoire on the assumption that a person who has been
punished is less likely to behave in the same ways again (p. 61). The purpose of giving
punishment is to maintain order in the classroom, not to just punish the students. If a
student is constantly blurting out in class as I am teaching, I can look their direction to
try and visually deter them. If it happens a second or third time, I could ask them to
kindly stop., Any repeated times after that, I can charge them tickets or even assign
them the task of helping clean up the room. I will have, of course, set this up with all of
students in the first few weeks of class so no one is feeling that this is an unexpected
response from me. If the student's' behavior is good however, I will reward them with
praise, stickers, stamps, and tickets. I believe if I model good behavior and classroom
respect, then I will earn it in return
Having the students in a leadership role will not only help me run the classroom
more effectively, but it will also shape my future students. John C. Maxwell stated, A

leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. If I have a
classroom with leadership roles, then the students will be the ones that lead our
classroom to run smoothly. For instance, every morning I have a student that is in
charge of collecting all the homework from all of the students and then informs me of
who did or did not turn their homework in. This would assist me as I could get the rest of
the class started on the warm-up and then be able to deal with the homework. Wagner
(2004) wrote, Many students lack the social skills necessary to relate positively to
peers and to do well academically (p. 3). Having students in leadership roles is not only
important to me to run the classroom, this also assists the students to be more
responsible and increase social skills. By building these skills this will assist my
students to a better future.
Having a mission statement, giving positive and negative behavioral
consequences, and providing my students with responsibilities will set my future
students and I up for a successful year. The Iris Center (2015) suggests six key
principles which help with comprehensive behavioral management they are Invest time
at the front end, teach well with quality instruction, focus on positive behaviors, provide
supports, be educative, not vindictive, and be persistent and consistent (p. 4). This is
something for me to follow and remember as I am setting up and planning my school
year. I cannot wait.

References

Burden, P.R., & Byrd, D.M. (2013). Methods for effective teaching (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/TPA-files/TPEs-FullVersion.pdf

IRIS Center. (n.d.) Perspectives and resources. Retrieved from:

http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/beh1/cresource/q2/p04/#content

Skinner, B.F. (1971). Punishment. In Beyond freedom and dignity (pp. 60-82). New
York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Wagner, K. J. (2004)

[SM1]these

consequences (write it out)