Classroom Management Model for Grade 4 Ashlie Carr Behavior management in school is crucial to have optimal learning.

No matter how hard a teacher tries to create good lessons or do fun activities, without a good classroom management system, his/her efforts will be in vain. Management in a classroom effects the climate and learning environment. If a student is distracted by peer misbehavior, the teacher is not in control of the students, or the students individually are distracted by their own behavior, the focus will not be on learning the material. As a future teacher, I feel it is crucial to establish and be consistent with an effective classroom management plan. It would be easy if the only aspect of classroom management was dealing with the students. Unfortunately, this is not the case. When establishing a system, one must consider the roles the students, families and teacher will have. From my personal experience and practicums, I have determined that elementary aged students dont wake up and getting ready for school every morning thinkingIm so glad today is a school day! I value my educ ation so much I just cant wait to get there! In fact, most kids would rather be home playing! I feel the role of the student is to come to school with a positive mindset. I am well aware there are those students who come to school with a terrible attitude, but in an ideal situation, I expect my students to come into my classroom thinkingI am here for my own good and no matter how much I wish I was somewhere else, I will just have to make the best of it! Obviously, this is a high expectation, but I feel that the least a student can do is just come with a positive outlook on the day. Outside of the realm of the classroom, there are the parents/families. As I went through school, I dont think my mom ever attended one single parent/teacher conference. My

mom thought as long as my grades were good, she didnt need to talk to the teacher! I come from an area where the majority of the population makes sure their child is in school, but doesnt think school is the only priority in life. In my opinion, I dont think families/parents should have to constantly be coming in to my classroom to talk about their childs day. The role I expect the parents of my students to have is just to make sure their child is in school! If I have an issue with individual students, I will contact them and I will expect them to handle it appropriately, but unless I have really big concerns, I dont feel it necessary to be pestering parents. If they want to be involved and active in their childs education, that is totally fine, but I wont expect that from any parent. With this in mind, my role as a teacher will have a lot of responsibility. I will teach my students all the information they need to know to excel on their SOLs and also beyond the test. As a teacher, my responsibility will be to create a positive and safe environment and to be in control of my classroom. Since I dont expect parents to be highly involved if they dont see it necessary, I will have to make sure the parents feel confident their child will be taken care of and learning what they need to know. In order to do my job properly, the role of my school will be to provide me with a classroom and the supplies I may need. I dont expect anything fancy or a whole lot, but if I feel my students are not getting their needs met in my physical classroom, I will expect the school to make accommodations. I would hope the school would be supportive of their teachers and back them up in any way necessary. Basically, I feel the school is to be there for whatever the teacher needs (within reason), the teacher is responsible for their own classroom, the parents are to make sure their student attends school and should be supportive of their child, and the student should just come and put a smile on whether they like it or not!

In my role as a teacher, I will bring experience into the classroom. I have been working in daycares since I was 15, I have been a preschool teacher for a couple years, I have been in charge of an elementary age summer camp, and I am a Sunday school teacher. When I have my own real teaching job, it wont be the first time I have planned a lesson and stood in front of a classroom of students. I have been raised in a large family with my own biological siblings as well as foster children. This experience, I feel, has made me a better teacher. I know what it is like to have to interact and get along with kids. Being the oldest, I have had to take responsibility for them alongside my parents. I think teachers should know what it is like to have to be responsible for a group of children before trying to manage their own classroom. That is one area I feel I am ready for. Throughout my time in classrooms, I have dealt with many different ethnic and special needs children. At a Harrisonburg city school I had a practicum where there were a lot of Hispanic and ELL students in my class. I worked one on one with them every time I went and I feel more prepared to help students with language barriers as a result. I also have been working as a nanny for a lady from Pakistan. Being in her home and interacting with her family has made me realize how much different her culture is from mine. I have learned to be accepting and open about whatever I might experience. My personality is also something I can bring to the classroom. I am extroverted and enthusiastic. This may be my own personal bias, but I feel like I am a fun and energetic person! These characteristics make a class interesting and engaging. I really dont have any preferences on how I want my classroom to be as far as the students go. If I get a classroom full of children who share my ethnicity and they are all high level students, I will be happy with it and plan accordingly. If I have a range of many ethnicities and a mix of high and low ability levels, I will be happy and plan accordingly as well. I

like the challenge of not knowing what kind of students I may be in charge of. Behavior wise, it would be nice if I had a classroom full of well-behaved children, but thats not always the case. I feel like a perfectly good behaving class can be boring. I sometimes like having those students who misbehave, but learn from their bad behavior through classroom experiences. Rules in my classroom arent going to be a huge focus. I have always hated when teachers have a list of rules and if you break one, no matter the circumstance, you are in trouble. I like when a classroom is focused on the learning and interaction more than making sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to and not breaking rules. The main rule in my classroom will bewhen the teacher asks you to do something, you do it. I could care less if the kids talk in class without raising their hand or dont walk in a straight line. But, if I ask the students to listen up or do something, I expect them to do it. If we are out on a field trip and we are getting too loud, when I say quiet, they need to be quiet. I dont want to be a demanding teacher who is on a power trip like Barbara Colorosos description of the brickwall teacher, but I would like to be a backbone teacher. I want to emphasize democracy, advocate creative, constructive, and responsible activity, and have simple and clearly defined rules (Gnan, 2013). In order to do this in my classroom, there will have to be a second rule though. That is to treat others with respect. Every student needs to treat their peers like they would want to be treated. These two rules will be explained to the students at the beginning of the year. Punishment for breaking one of these two rules will be appropriate for the misbehavior. For example, if a student pushes another student when in line, they broke the rule of treating others with respect. Therefore, they need to be disciplined. The student will have to go to the back of the line and then talk to the other student and the teacher at an appropriate time and

resolve the issue. This approach is similar to Judy Mullets Restorative Discipline. I like making the student see how they affected another student and how a classroom cannot run smoothly unless we all treat each other with respect. To prevent misbehavior, I will do my best to always have fun and engaging lessons. In my opinion, if the students are misbehaving, they are most likely bored and trying to find something else to do. So, my main prevention method will be to create fun and interesting lesson plans. But, I also like Curwin and Medlers approach to prevention. The say there are 7 things that a teacher can do to prevent discipline problems (Layman, 2013): 1. Know and express yourself clearly 2. Know your students 3. Make your classroom a motivating place 4. Teach responsibility and caring 5. Establish effective rules and consequences 6. Keep yourself current 7. Deal with stressful conflict These seven points sum up what I want to do in my own classroom to keep the classroom running smoothly. To promote good behavior, I would like to have classroom jobs. This helps teach responsibility, but it could also be a way of consequence if there is no other appropriate way of dealing with a situation. If a student misbehaves, there job for that week

will be given to someone else for the day. So, I feel like with a little more thought and actually trying it in the classroom, I might use that for promoting good behavior and responsibility, and a way of consequence if needed. I dont believe in a reward system. My opinion is that students shouldnt be rewarded for things they should be doing. I think a reward is appropriate for things above and beyond, but giving prizes is not something I advocate. So, I think the job approach might be a good way of maintaining a positive classroom environment. The students are taking responsibility for their own learning and classroom with their job and they also typically enjoy it and look forward to having certain tasks. This is an idea that I have not tried in a classroom yet, so it is something I will try and see how it goes. Ultimately, I want my classroom to be an inviting, safe, fun and learning environment. I personally believe that the reason why the majority of people dont like school is because teachers dont make learning seem interesting or important. Children need to be taught information and why the need to know it. For example, if I were teaching about the holocaust in history, I would explain to the students why it is important to know these thingswe dont want history to repeat itself! I feel it is my responsibility to maintain a positive classroom environment and manage my classroom properly so the students are focused on the true reason for school.learning.

References
Gnan, J. (March, 2013). Barbara Coloroso: Inner Discipline, poster presented in EDUC 370, Bridgewater College. Layman, J,. Thomas, R. (March, 2013). Curwin & Medler: Discipline with Dignity, poster presented in EDUC 370, Bridgewater College.