Classroom Management Plan 1

Luisa Ruiz

California State University, Dominguez Hills

LBS 302

May 7, 2019
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Introduction

I completed my fieldwork at West Athens Elementary School in Los Angeles. I observed

Ms. Alcaraz as she completed her first year as a teacher. Observing Ms. Alcaraz managing her

classroom within a “restorative justice” cultured school was beneficial in understanding my

placement on the classroom management spectrum. She teaches an English Only (EO) second

grade classroom with majority of the classroom being boys. Only one student has been

“reclassified” from being an English Learner into English Only and only about three students

with an individualized education plan (IEP).

Student A

This student is one that has an IEP due to needing a hearing aid in one ear. Student A

knows most of the material being taught, is either at or above grade level in reading, writing, and

math. The behavior displayed in class is an issue that intervenes with being recognized positively

by the teacher. The behavior usually includes cussing and/or threating other students then lying

about when others tell an adult. Student A has physically hurt other students and has been spoken

to his parents about it which has somewhat changed some behaviors. Student A’s family had

recently had another baby, which I assume that has affected Student A and the want for

attention—hence the behavior change.

Student B

This student has reclassified from being an English Learner into an English Only

classroom. Student B shows potential in performing at grade level, but shows lack of motivation.

This student gets pulled out for about an hour at least three times a week for extra support in

speech. When I am there, student B usually likes to ask me questions or tells me they rather do

something else or simply go home. Sometimes, when I am grading, student B’s work surprises
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me by showing they actually know what they are learning despite the complaining and lack of

work turned in. I feel like with motivation or gearing lessons that will interest student B can

further engage them into learning more.

Classroom Management Spectrum

I have placed myself in between the reward-and-routine focus and engagement focus

within the spectrum. While observing during my fieldwork, I have noticed that my mentor

teacher is more discipline focus. I understand why she uses more discipline due to the culture

within the school, but it made me realize that I would want to stay more towards the engagement

side on spectrum. I would rather focus on the positive behaviors instead of the negatives and use

verbal and nonverbal feedback as well as praise and encouragement. According to Pinto (2013),

“Research shows rewards are better than punishment and routines create a positive, secure

classroom climate.” With engagement, the teacher should involve the students in what they want

to learn and include pop culture, their community, heritage, etc. into the classroom. Although full

engagement can be difficult, it can be possible to an extent. Engagement focus helps find the root

of issues and disengagement, contributes to democracy, and supports good teaching for all

students (Pinto, 2013)

Classroom Climate

In order for a classroom to feel like a community, I would implement a democracy-like

way to make decisions. This will also include all students, have each voice be heard, and come

up with a decision that is reasonable and fair. I believe having this type of classroom climate will

create a safe environment where students will feel free to say what they think and know they

won’t be judged. Also, this will help students be open minded to others’ ideas, beliefs,

viewpoints, etc. and see the similarities and differences they have amongst each other. This safe
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space I will create will also open an opportunity to build relationships between students and

myself in a way that I could know how to reach out to any student when necessary or provide

appropriate assistance/support in their learning when there is a struggle.

Expectations and Rules

The expectation and rules are important to address early on because it will determine the

classroom environment and how it runs. "It is more than just how they behave and how you, the

teacher, react. It is how the room is arranged, how the atmosphere makes them feel, how they are

seated, who they are seated next to, how the teacher greets them, when they start work, when

they end work...”(Bafile, 2017). Since I will be using democracy in my classroom, that will be

the way the expectations and rules will be established. In the beginning of the school year, I will

form a community circle and start building a bond amongst each other by asking them their

names, nicknames, where they are from, favorite food, etc. I will start the expectations/rules with

the PBIS model of “be safe, be respectful, be responsible.” Then, I will start to ask them what

they want as a rule that everyone in the classroom will follow. As the year progresses, we will

add other rules or expectations when a problem or concern arises. As I am writing the established

rules, I will also ask them what those actions look like so that there is no confusion, as well as, so

every student knows how to follow them.

One way that I will monitor that the classroom rules and expectations are being followed

will be by using strategy 17 described in Pinto (2013), which is a citizenship chart. The

citizenship chart is a concrete organizer for cumulative tracking of individual contributions to the

classroom environment. These behaviors will be monitored weekly and will be discussed at the

end of the week as a whole group to talk about the positives, negatives, improvements, and/or

needed adjustments.
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Routines and Procedures

Procedures help ensure desired behavior by showing students specific behaviors for

specific circumstances (Farr, 2010). One procedure that I will implement in my classroom is

using hand signals to ask a question or let me know what is needed from a student. My fieldwork

teacher use this in her classroom to have less distractions throughout the day for simple needs. I

will implement the signals in the beginning of the school year and will also put up pictures with

words that will remind students of the specific sign they need. For example, thumbs up by their

chest would let me know that they know the answer and is ready to share it out, or a number two

will be that they need a tissue (classroom observation, February 2019).

Another routine that I will have in place is displaying a “Do Now” every morning when

students come into class. This will help students start their day with the intention of working.

Students will expect a math problem or writing prompt every morning, therefore not wasting any

time explaining what they need to be doing. This will also permit time to take attendance, collect

homework, and/or pass out materials needed for the day.

Use of Time

I would use strategy #34 from Pinto (2013) – talking chips to use time effectively. Each

student will receive three “chips” to mediate student discussion and ensure that all students have

opportunities to participate. The chips will be collected as students respond. Using this strategy

will save time by students knowing they have many chances to participate in the classroom and

how to participate. I would also create clear transitions to ensure that time is not wasted on

poorly executed transitions. “When done right, procedures they are practice procedure that are

quick and seamless.” (Meador, 2017).

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Another strategy I will use is saving up time, which is strategy #23 in Pinto (2013). This

strategy gives students control over class time usage as a whole. This strategy also allows for

student to student encouragement and correction of actions and leads to determining the class

climate. This strategy works by starting with 3 minutes each day that students have the option to

“waste” or bank to use at a later time for something agreed upon. They will be motivated to save

their time by deciding as a class what they want to spend their time on each month. They will

also have to come up with backup plans in case they do not save up enough time for their desired

option.

Addressing the Needs of Diverse Learners

I will differentiate instruction by implementing small groups throughout the school day.

It is essential to provide differentiation in order to address the needs of diverse learners.

Grouping of the students will be based off of the specific needs, such as language, reading level,

auditory or visual learners, etc. I will address the needs of my English learners by providing them

with different levels of the same text the whole class will be reading. I will also adjust the rate of

speech and wait time and use nonlinguistic cues to provide support and comfort to them when

participating (Ferlazzo & Sypnieski, 2018). I would have to keep in mind that ELL’s are thinking

in two or more languages, therefore allowing extra time for them to gather their thoughts before

sharing out. Accommodations are individualized and flexible, based on the nature of the

disability and the academic environment (usf.edu, 2019). Some ways I can accommodate

students with a hearing impairment is allowing them preferred seating, providing notes,

captioning in videos, and talking to them one-on-one when needed.

Social and Emotional Development

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The number of children that are traumatized by abuse, neglect, poverty, and violence

have not changed for decades in the United States (Krasnoff, n.d.) “The primary goals are to

prevent re-injury or re-traumatization by acknowledging trauma and its triggers and to avoid

stigmatizing and punishing students.” Developing students’ social and emotional development

includes these skills and competencies: self-management, self-awareness, social awareness,

relationship skills, and responsible decision-making (Edutopia, 2013). Developing self-

management would be as simple as taking a minute to breathe deeply to gather themselves, or

just taking a break to control their emotions. They will build relationship skills by working in

groups, providing each other feedback, and encouraging to do better as a class. My students will

have opportunities to practice their responsible decision-making when we gather as a whole

group and make our classroom rules and expectations, as well as, during our weekly check ins

when adjustments can be made accordingly. Social- and self-awareness can be developed by

doing routine community circles as a class when we share our feelings, thoughts, ideas,

viewpoints with each other (Edutopia, 2013).

Peer Collaboration

Learning is a social activity where interaction with school content is not meant to simply

be between a textbook and a student (Wolpert-Gawron, 2017). Using strategy #30 called class

meetings will increase peer collaboration since I will implement them to happen weekly when

assessing their overall behavior according to the set of classroom expectations and rules. This

strategy connects to the democracy diamond (strategy #37) which I will also implement in my

classroom. Having these strategies will encourage students to interact with each other more often

as well as give each other feedback and allowing for different points of views to be seen.

Another way I will promote peer interaction in the classroom will be by using strategy #31which
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is individual HAT meetings. HAT is an acronym for “How are things?” and this routine will be a

great way for students to speak to each other about how they are feeling, what they will be doing,

or what they did, etc. Having this individual meetings will help build relationship with each other

since they will have personal conversations about the things that are important to them, and may

even find similarities between them.

Parent Communication and Involvement

The hardest, yet crucial aspect in helping students learn is having effective

communication between teachers and parents (Knutson, 2017). To make my classroom more

successful I will implement strategies to increase parent communication. One strategy I will use

is #27 in Pinto (2013), which is sunshine calls. These calls will help build a good relationship

with parents by not only calling them when there is a problem, but to give them positive

feedback once in a while. Another way I will keep parent involvement open is by using

technology for communication and outreach. There are many tools available to use to make this

possible, for example, messenger apps like Remind or ClassDojo, online portfolios like Seesaw,

or even using social media like twitter or Facebook (Knutson, 2017). I would also use

newsletters, which is strategy #28 in Pinto (2013), at least once a month to include those parents

who might not be great or comfortable with technology. I would include what we have done,

what we will do, resources, and pictures of students in the newsletters.

Conclusion

Overall my classroom management plan contains strategies that supports all students of

all diversities in their learning. My plan also includes expectations, rules, and procedures that

will promote engagement in their learning in the classroom by building relationships with peers,

bringing self- and social- awareness, inclusion of parents, and being trauma-informed. I believe
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that my classroom management spectrum, which is in between reward-and-routine focus and

engagement focus is well supported throughout my plan.

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References

Bafile, C. (2017). Classroom Rewards Reap Dividends for Teachers and Students. Retrieved

May 08, 2019, from https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr300.shtml

Farr. (2010). Maximizing the Efficiency and Structure of Your Classroom. 31-41.

Ferlazzo, L., & Sypnieski, K. H. (2018). Teaching English Language Learners. Retrieved May

08, 2019, from https://www.aft.org/ae/fall2018/ferlazzo_sypnieski

Knutson, J. (2017). Improving Your Parent-Outreach Strategy. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/article/improving-your-parent-outreach-strategy

Krasnoff, B. (n.d.). A Practitioner’s Guide to Educating Traumatized Children. Education

Northwest.

Meador, D. (2017). Strategies for Teachers to Maximize Student Learning Time. ThoughtCo.

Person. (2013). 5 Keys to Successful Social and Emotional Learning. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/video/5-keys-successful-social-and-emotional-learning

Pinto, L. E. (2013). From Discipline to Culturally Responsive Engagement. Thousand Oaks, CA:

Corwin

University of South Florida. (2019). Students with Disabilities Services. Retrieved May 08,

2019, from https://www.usf.edu/student-affairs/student-disabilities-

services/accommodations/hearing-impaired.aspx