Classroom

Management Plan
South Dakota State University
Carli Lager























 Guidance in a classroom is very important and some aspects can be often

overlooked. Guidance can mean multiple things in a classroom, as there are multiple people

and different personalities. I believe the importance of guidance in a classroom belongs to

helping children decipher their decisions based on classroom rules and expectations. This

filters in to helping them to better themselves while guiding them to make better decisions.

Guidance is important at an early age because it helps shape children to who they are, as

they grow older as well. As children learn to solve their problems, they are able to create a

sense of self-discipline that can help evoke higher self-esteem and self-concept. As children

learn how to make decisions, wrong or right, they can become better at solving their own

problems and fixes for behaviors that are long-term. A teacher allows guidance and

problem solving strategies that can help children gain an understanding of moral

autonomy. As teachers help children solve their problems with other children or

themselves, they can gain an understanding and base for how they might be able to solve

similar situations in the future. Thus, helping children to create guidance for themselves.

Teachers can create an environment that involves two types of guidance: indirect

and direct. Indirect guidance is understood as the planning and setup that goes on behind

the scenes. This can involve part of your day, activities, or organization items in the

classroom that need to be planned out to help issues or problems be avoided between the

children. Involving proper indirect guidance in your classroom, the chances for direct

guidance can be avoided. Direct guidance is the discipline or steps that go on during the day

when the children are there. Direct guidance is understood as face-to-face situations that

can help solve problems.

 When addressing indirect guidance, many things can be done to help make it

effective in the classroom. Setting up the physical environment can be one of the most

important aspects in helping lessen problems in the classroom. As Fields explains in her

writing, Dr. Maria Montessori considered it the other teacher in the classroom, because

physical arrangement of furniture and materials has such significant impact on

learning(Fields, p.77). For example, a classroom should be thoughtfully setup in ways that

allow for different areas of the room. The room should also promote enough space for

active movement to help with gross-motor activities. Organization and storage in the

classroom can also create a sense of comfortableness in the classroom for the children,

creating fewer opportunities for problems. A classroom should allow for different stimulus,

but not too much that the children feel cluttered. For example, hanging work samples on

the wall can be a good thing but hanging too much on the wall can make the classroom feel

smaller and cluttered. This can make the children feel as if there is not enough room and

cause problems between the children. Storage can be an important aspect in a classroom in

creating less clutter and creating a better environment as well. Storage can be something

that the children can help with as well. For example, allowing situations and storage that is

child sized where the children can be responsible for putting materials away, cleaning up

and organization of the classroom can help create a feeling of pride for the classroom and

help with responsibility at home as well.

Creating opportunities for responsibility in the classroom can help with forming a

sense of community. Making the classroom a community will help children take pride in

relationships, respect, and communication. For example, children will begin to feel a

connection in the classroom because they have a part in keeping the community a good
place. Helping children to learn how to respect their classroom environment, materials, and

classmates will help form solid responsibilities that the children can apply to situations for

the rest of their lives. There are several ways to promote this activity in the emotional

environment, but group times that allow children to express their feelings about the

environment can help them to think of their community as an open environment where

everyone should feel comfortable. This can help children with communicating their feelings

and create a strong community, ultimately solving problems that could have arisen in the

classroom or helping solve problems that could arise in the future.

While helping to create a sense of community in the classroom, it is important that

children are aware of certain aspects that create organization in the classroom. This form

of indirect guidance is extremely helpful to have thought out and give children a clear

understanding of it. This type of organization involves routines, schedules, and transitions

in the classroom. When these aspects are clear and followed everyday, children are able to

know what they need to do and when to do it. For example, following a set schedule

everyday helps children to feel as if they know what to do next and can create order in the

classroom. Schedules also have routines intertwined in them, allowing for children to

create responsibility for themselves in fulfilling tasks. This can help create manageable

transitions. When all of these aspects are set, understood and carried out on a daily basis,

children feel more comfortable in the classroom in knowing what comes next. This can help

with creating fewer opportunities for problems that could arise from the children being

uncomfortable with not knowing what to do or what comes next in the day.

As situations that are involved in indirect guidance were addressed, knowing

aspects that are needed for effective direct guidance is important as well. One example of
direct guidance that can be very effective is modeling. This can involve showing children

the preferred ways of treating others. When expressing feelings, it is important that the

children know they can solve their problems through expressing and listening to each

other effectively. I think that teachers have a responsibility to show children more effective

ways to deal with problems. This could include strategies that involve calming tactics, steps

to solve situations that the whole classroom uses, and showing how to express feelings

properly. Effective modeling can be carried out through good communication. Allowing

children an explanation of why the teacher asked them to fulfill a task helps the children to

know why they should help others. Giving children a reason why you feel a certain way and

how they can change the behavior causing that feeling helps children with active and

reflective listening. When children understand feelings and behaviors, they can do

something to change to make it positive.

Direct guidance is most effective when including the children in all aspects of it. For

example, when setting classroom limits, children gain from helping create them. Children

can gain more of an understanding and pride in fulfilling the limits if they had a part in

them. As children go about the day, using pictures of the limits around the classroom will

help remind the children of them. For example, hanging a picture of how many children

allowed in a certain area and placing pictures by materials showing the different ways they

should be used.

Because children are sometimes guilty of not following the limits, natural and logical

consequences are often needed to be enforced. Fields explains natural consequences as,

the child experiences results of his or her own behavior (p. 188). Logical consequences
are those imposed by adults but limited to the childs actions. Three common types of

consequences include; exclusion, deprivation, and restitution.

As consequences may be the answer to fixing some inappropriate behaviors, there

are other options as well. An effective strategy can be giving the child choices that all

support a positive behavior to fix the current behavior. This allows a child an option they

may choose and might be better taken by the child. This can also include redirection.

Sometimes a child might need to be guided to another area or another way to handle the

material to fix their behavior to positive. One way to explain why their behavior is not

accepted is through perspective taking which can be explained as seeing the situation

through others eyes. Sometimes children need to see how their behavior is affecting

someone and think about how they would feel about it to truly understand why the

behavior is inappropriate. Perspective taking can be involved in problem solving steps as

well. The steps to problem solving involve: Problem Clarification, Solution Formation,

Solution Selection, Implementation, and Evaluation.

While working in the classroom to solve problems or behavioral issues, guidance

may be needed for an extended period of time. For example, some children may express the

same behaviors or feelings frequently. Teachers may need use strategies to find the cause

of the behavior. Some important was teachers may be able to do this is through observing

and document in the classroom on a daily basis. This could help the teacher to look back on

previous observations and see what caused the behaviors before to see if they are related.

Techniques such as, event and time sampling, anecdotal records, and photographs are very

helpful in finding a cause and reason to form a solution to help fix the behavior(s). As

teachers have explored their documentation and tried a solution, they may find talking to
the family helpful. The behavior(s) could be caused from situations at home or they might

have insight on how to help with the behavior(s). It is important to fully assess the

behavior(s) whether they are short term or long term to help find a solution.

In conclusion, many aspects go into effective discipline and guidance in a classroom.

Strategies may change to fit the group of children that are currently in the classroom,

throughout the year. It is important to remember that guidance and discipline does not

have to require punishment, there are many other strategies that are more effective for the

childrens learning and feelings. A classroom in the early education strives on guidance, so

it is important to teach moral autonomy, self-concept, self-discipline, and strategies to fix

their problems to help them for the rest of their lives.

Reference:

Fields, Marjorie V., Meritt, Patrica A., & Fields, Deborah M. (1994). Constructive guidance
and discipline: Birth to age eight (6th ed.). Pearson Inc. Upper Saddle River, N.J.