Cultivating My Classroom Community

My goal is to design and utilize a management plan that enables me to

develop a healthy, positive community of learners in my classroom. I must
establish a safe, open, and respectful classroom environment, where I can
encourage my students to challenge themselves, take academic risks, support one
another, and learn from their mistakes. To foster a sense of community, I will
embrace each students uniqueness, modeling the values of acceptance, inclusion,
and cooperation in my classroom. Growing together, each student feels
comfortable and confident as they exercise their right to be heard, pose questions,
conduct experiments, reflect on their experiences, and develop their own opinions
and conclusions about their discoveries. Using a structured classroom
management and discipline plan, I will promote student-centered learning,
supporting and guiding my students as they learn about themselves, each other,
and they world they live in.
In order to create an environment that is most conducive to learning, I will
use my management plan to empower students, establish relationships, and
actively engage my students in the process of learning, thus nurturing a sense of
responsibility, community, and enthusiasm for learning in my classroom. I will
support my students as they develop skills to become self-directed and independent
learners by giving them as many opportunities as possible to participate in
the decision-making processes for the classroom. For instance, I will allow my
students to make choices regarding the topics we explore in class, how to utilize
their workspace, and which jobs they would like to do to work as part of a team.
Because I use student-centered teaching strategies and encourage my students to
contribute to the formation and structure of the classroom environment, I know
every student is aware of the expectations and rules, so I am able to hold each
student accountable for their behaviors and actions in the classroom. By expressing
trust in their abilities to make positive choices and increasing their responsibilities
as members of our classroom community, I empower my students and enhance
their sense of confidence, self-worth, and self-control as growing learners.
I will use my management plan to establish a community of acceptance
and respect by incorporating conflict resolution, promoting prosocial behavior, and

role modeling support to students who challenge themselves and take risks in the
classroom. For instance, at the very beginning of the year, the class will work
together to establish rules for a fair and cooperative environment. If there is a
conflict, I will listen to each student as they express their needs and feelings. I will
help my students to find common ground by finding facts and values that they both
can agree are important. Finally, we can brainstorm and negotiate possible solutions
or a compromise to resolve the conflict, stating the plan out loud so each student is
clear about how the issue has been addressed. Once students become more familiar
with the format I use to resolve conflict in my classroom, I can ask three or four of
them if they would like to volunteer as conflict managers. Acting as a mediator
when a conflict arises, a conflict manager will calmly approach the students who are
upset, and encourage the students to express themselves, listen to each other, and
to resolve the conflict together in a way that both parties can accept. In addition, I
will use my management plan to promote prosocial behavior in my classroom by
having discussions and role modeling acceptance, inclusion, and individuality. This
way, my students are aware that differences are celebrated in the classroom.
There will be consequences for teasing, bullying, or any form of intolerance among
my students. I will demonstrate the negative effects of discrimination and
intolerance when examples occur in the literature we read, the historical events we
explore, etc. I will encourage and praise my students when they share about their
cultural, ethnic, or racial differences, so that they each feel validated and develop a
strong, confident sense of identity. By acknowledging and celebrating our
differences in the classroom, students are less likely to isolate their peers, and each
student can share and participate in a safe, open space.
By being an authoritative teacher, I can provide my students with a controlled
and nurturing environment. Therefore, I will encourage my students to take
risks in my classroom, and I will support them if they make mistakes in doing so. I
will ensure that I carefully and thoughtfully structure each aspect of the classroom
environment: scheduling, lesson plans, physical space, transitions, rules, system of
rewards and consequences, motivation techniques, etc. to maximize academic
learning time and to make my expectations clear and predictable for every student.
I will affirm my beliefs in every childs ability to succeed and grow in my classroom,
maintaining fair expectations for each student. I will express excitement about

subject matter, share grading criteria and rubrics ahead of time, and focus on
personal improvement. I will help each child monitor their progress of time, so they
can recognize their achievements and feel a sense of pride in their hard work and
dedication to learning. This way, whether a child is a GATE student, a SPED student,
or an ELL, they can take pride in making progress at their own pace. I will do
whatever it takes to help my students succeed. For example, if I feel that ELLs,
SPED, or GATE students would benefit from extra services, I will advocate for them
to receive these services. I will seek out resources, such as textbooks with larger
print and manipulatives to make accommodations for my SPED students. I will
utilize resources like software games that scaffold English language learning,
visual aids, and simplified definitions of vocabulary words to benefit my ELLs.
Finally, I can research and implement critical-thinking activities and materials
that will challenge and extend learning for my GATE students. As an authoritative
teacher, I will use caring communication to develop a sense of trust with each
student; I will strive to get to know them as people outside the classroom in addition
to the student they are inside my classroom. This way, I can encourage my students
to do their personal best based on their unique abilities and interests. When they
are struggling, I will work with them to address their misunderstanding or issue, and
I will support them as they work to improve their skills in these areas, making sure
to identify their strengths to boost their sense of confidence as a learner as well.
The Motivation Theory factors into my management plan because it will be
important to motivate all of my students, so they stay engaged in the material they
are learning. For instance, I may need to adjust my behavior to increase my
students motivation, such as adding an element of suspense or surprise in a lesson
plan, supplementing my lessons with colorful visual aids, or allowing them to
explore new concepts using hands-on manipulatives. In addition, I may need to
make accommodations for my GATE students, SPED students, or ELLs in order to
ensure they are being appropriately challenged and motivated in my classroom. I
may need to adjust a factor in a specific lesson plan, or make a change in my
management and discipline plan overall, in order to accommodate the needs of
certain students. Overall, I will ensure my students are motivated by treating them
as members of a team, getting them excited to start or complete assignments,
establishing reasonable goals and expectations, and by providing each student with

information about the results of their work, validating the efforts they put into each
assignment as soon as possible.
I will use rules, rewards, and consequences to promote caring relationships,
prosocial behaviors, and a system of shared values in order to foster a sense of
community in my classroom. My goal is to guide my students to act
independently as responsible individuals, so they can learn to work
together as members of an effective team. To work towards this goal, I would
like to provide as many chances for my students to engage in self-direction as
possible by encouraging them to make meaningful choices and by allowing them to
face the natural and logical consequences of their behaviors. Allowing students to
make decisions is empowering because they see that they are capable of making
positive choices, and also that I trust them to do so. Therefore, I would like my
students input when establishing rules for the classroom on the very first day of the
school year. I will challenge my students to brainstorm classroom rules, and
together we will vote on four or five rules in our final list. As we work together, I will
guide my students with small prompts and suggestions, so that I can encourage
them to think of rules that are useful, reasonable and address our main concerns for
classroom behavior, such as how to treat one another, how to handle classroom
materials and equipment, and how to actively listen to one another. By making the
set of classroom rules together, I encourage my students to act as members of
healthy, safe community, and each student is aware of the expectations for their
behavior in the classroom from day one.
Since good behavior is an expectation in the classroom, I will not reward my
students simply for behaving in class. However, I will reward my students for their
positive actions in the classroom, like persevering on a school assignment even
though it was very challenging, working well as a cohesive team on a task,
expressing themselves creatively, posing critical-thinking questions, and providing
thought-provoking responses or reflections. Generally, I will reward my students
with positive praise and feedback rather than tangible prizes like candy and
privileges because social awards build students confidence, increasing their sense
of autonomy and self-esteem as I demonstrate that I am paying attention to their
positive actions, recognize their unique strengths and abilities, and value their hard
work in the classroom. By praising and giving attention to students who are really

working hard and challenging themselves in the classroom, I am reinforcing these

actions as well as establishing supportive relationships with my students. When
teachers take the time to build caring relationships in the classroom, their students
feel safe and empowered, so they are more likely to take academic risks, take pride
in their work, evaluate their areas of strength and weakness, and develop lifelong
commitments to education.
To further encourage my students to take responsibility for their actions, I will
allow them to experience the natural consequences of their behaviors, or outcomes
of their behavior that are not arranged or controlled. For example, if a student does
not do the math homework assignments, he may get a low grade on his next math
exam. This is a natural consequence of his decision to neglect his homework. After
the assessment, I will speak with the student in private and ask them why they
have not done their math homework and did not study for the test. The student may
be having a problem at home affect his ability to do schoolwork, in which case we
can brainstorm solutions that will allow him to practice his math in a peaceful
environment. For instance, he may like to come in to meet with me briefly before or
after school a few times that week to do his math homework (not as a punishment,
but as an option), so he can complete it in a stable environment and avoid falling
further behind. Perhaps he may have been struggling with the math concepts and
was too shy to say he did not understand in class, so he did not do the work out of
frustration. In this case, I may ask the student if he would like to meet with me to
review the math concepts independently or in a small group. As I meet with him, I
can address his areas of misunderstanding. I may need to make modifications for
him on the homework assignments, and I may make modifications to the test as
well, allowing him to retake the exam if he willingly puts in the effort to work with
me and his parents as he completes his homework and prepares to study.
If natural consequences will not occur, then it may be appropriate to initiate
logical consequences. These can be established as a type of amends or
compensation, such as when a student must replace or fix something they have lost
or broken, as a temporary loss of privileges or trust when a student breaks a
classroom rule, or as a time-out which is administered when a student behaves
inappropriately or fails to follow directions. When a student is repeatedly disruptive
or refuses to act as a respectful member of our classroom community, I will use

time-outs to remove the student from the classroom; therefore, I will not reinforce
his negative behavior by feeding it with attention. I can continue to teach the rest of
the class as the student is provided a quiet space and sufficient time to reflect on
their behavior. To help the student build self-control, I will speak with them in
private, helping them to recognize and take responsibility for their actions. After
discussing possible healthier choices they can make to avoid inappropriate behavior
in the future, I will expect an apology for their behavior (or they will need to
apologize to another student they may have disrespected), and the student may
return to the class when they have expressed that they are fully ready to listen,
learn, and cooperate.
From my fieldwork experience thus far, I have learned that managing the
volume level in a classroom setting can be one of the most challenging issues to
address. Therefore, I will establish a visual system that allows my students to see
what level of conversation is appropriate at any given time in the classroom. For
instance, using a colored Speaker Traffic Light on the front board, when an arrow
points to the bottom color red, this means that only one voice is allowed at a time. It
is my turn to talk, and the students are expected to listen quietly, or they may raise
their hand to share a comment or ask a question. This color is also used when
students are expected to be completing their work independently. When the arrow
points to the middle color yellow, the students may talk using whispers or spy
voices to one or two partners, but they must speak softly enough to not be heard
or disruptive to other students. Lastly, when the arrow point to green, the student
may have conversations with their partners or table groups, but they must still use
inside voices.
Attention- Getters:
1. Music- I will use music to transition from one activity to the next. I will make a
playlist that I repeat throughout the year, so students become familiar with the
songs quickly. When each song is over, students know to be seated with their
materials out for the next activity and to be ready to learn.
2. Echo Clapping- I will introduce a rhythm using long and short claps to the class,
and they repeat it back to me.

3. Call and Response- I will call out the beginning of a phrase, such as 1,2,3 eyes
on me! and the class responds with 1,2 eyes on you!
4. Timer- Use a timer to help transition from one activity to the next. I may switch it
up by setting it to different sounds, like frogs croaking or ducks quacking.
5. Movement that the Students Mimic- Without saying a word, do a series of
movements, such as touching my nose and touching my shoulders, and wait until
the whole class is following along.
6. Knock-knock Joke- Clap twice and say Knock-knock! The class responds with
Whos there? Tell a quick knock-knock joke that relates to the next activity.
Sponge Activities:
1. Play Simon Says or I Spy
2. Say I went to the zoo and I found an animal that begins with the letterS
(choose any letter), and have the students raise their hands to guess which animal
you saw at the zoo.
3. Name Chain- A student starts with an adjective/animal/food and then their name.
The next student says the previous students word and name and they add their
own word and name, and so on.
4. Look Up, Look Down The students stand in a circle. I will call out "look down."
Everybody looks at the floor and picks out the feet of their "victim." After a moment,
I will say "look up." Each person looks at the face of their victim. If the two people
happen to be looking directly at each other, they are out and sit down in the circle,
out of the game. I will continue to say "look down and look up until the last two
students, the winners, remain.
5. Name Wave- The group stands in a circle. The first student says their name while
making a motion with their body (an arm swing, disco point, jumping jack, etc.)
Moving in a clockwise direction, the next student in the circle repeats the previous
students name and movement and adds their own name and movement. The
process repeats around the circle. Students can get help if they forget the name of
a student or their movement.

6. Picture and Caption-Take pictures from a magazine with their captions and cut
them apart. Hand out pictures and their captions randomly to students (note: need
an even number of students), and students have to search through the group to find
their match. Allow a brief period of time for students to walk about the room sharing
the picture or caption they have with others. Then say match up! and have the
students match up their pictures and captions. Challenge them to all pair up in less
than 30 seconds. Once the match is found, the pairs have to share something about
themselves or the picture in pairs.
Discipline Techniques:
1. Self-Correction
Overall, my discipline goal is for my students to be able to control
themselves, so I will initiate self-discipline in my classroom. In order to encourage
my students to take responsibility for their behavior and to support their
independence in decision-making, I will guide my students in finding solutions to
their problems, and I will help them to self-correct and choose positive behaviors. I
may give small hints or suggestions to help students figure out their options,
discuss ways they can get out of a situation they dont like, or resolve conflicts
between peers that are not seeing eye to eye. For example, if a student is annoyed
by another student sitting next to them, I can inform the child that she has the
option to move to another seat, sit on the floor closer to the front board, or ask her
desk partner to stop their behavior in a kind and polite way. This gives the student
the opportunity to make a choice, empowering her to resolve her own issue in a
peaceful and responsible way, and eventually she may be able to seek solutions
without needing a teaching to intervene.
2. Private Correction
While the class is actively engaged in an activity, I can approach a student
that has been making poor choices during the lesson to speak with them privately.
By having a private conversation to address the issue, I avoid embarrassing the
student in front of their peers, and I give them a chance to calmly voice their
opinion or issue. This quietly nips the negative behavior in the bud and reduces the
chance that the child will react in a defensive or aggressive manner. By having a

private side conversation, the student and I get a chance to reflect on their behavior
and come up with some better choices they can make to move forward in a
productive way.
3. Strength Refreshers
Strength refreshers is a discipline technique that involves pointing out a
students negative behavior in reference to their generally good behavior. For
instance, I might tell a student, I am surprised that you were talking during the
assembly because you usually listen so well in class. By using a strength refresher,
I acknowledge the fact that this behavior was an isolated incident, and that I am not
judging the student on this mistake. Also, I can demonstrate that I recognize and
trust the student to make good choices, but I address their behavioral slip in a way
that states my expectations of them in a positive and self-esteeming way. When
they feel like they are trusted and they feel confident in their abilities to make good
decisions, the student is more motivated to correct their own behavior.
4. Model and Teach
Since I wish to cultivate a sense of community in my classroom, it is
important that all of my students feel safe and respected. I can model to my
learners what being treated fairly and with dignity feels like vs. what being
disrespected looks and feel like. For example, I will model to my students that I care
about them by treating kindly and fairly, showing them respect and understanding,
even when they are not listening or they are acting out in class. In addition, I can
share personal experiences I have had where I was disrespected and how that made
me feel, or I can point out a character in a story that is showing respect or
disrespect to another person, and how that treatment is affecting their feelings.
When a child treats another member of the class poorly, such as teasing them, then
I can calmly point out the natural consequences of their behavior. For example, I
can tell them that mean words hurt feelings, and they are not allowed in my
classroom because we have a community of dignity and respect. Then, we can
discuss the logical consequences that may result if the behavior continues and
appropriate alternatives to use instead of teasing.
5. Apologies

Part of being a supportive member of a community is admitting and

apologizing to others when we have made a mistake. Therefore, if I unintentionally
offend a student, it is important for me to accept responsibility for my mistake and
use an apologetic, sincere message, such as That did not come out the way I
planned. I apologize if I offended you in any way, it was not my intention to do so,
and next time I will think more carefully before I decide to speak about that. By
admitting and owning up to my mistakes, I role model fairness and humility to my
class, and I demonstrate that if they make a poor choice in the future, it is okay to
make a mistake, learn from it, and move on. This discipline strategy sends the
message that no one is perfect, and that it is okay to make mistakes because it is
part of being human. Adding a positive spin, I can demonstrate that mistakes allow
us to learn about ourselves and each other and encourage us to grow together.