Thomas Gilbert

EDUC 450
Management Plan & Syllabus
Spring 2018

My classroom management style is going to be largely proactive, based on communication of

expectations and a mutual respect between myself and all of my students. Clear ethical, behavioral, and
learning-based expectations must be set and communicated early on, but the implementation of these
rules and expectations lies first in the modeling of positive, constructive, and thoughtful behavior.
Involving students in the development of these expectations and holding myself to the same standards
can help foster a classroom community of respect and equity where students are encouraged and
motivated to exhibit positive behaviors. A set of rules or code of ethics should be established with the
students at the beginning of the class, allowing the students help to define what a safe, respectful,
comfortable, collective classroom community should look like. Class participation and discussion are
crucial in Social Studies, and students must feel safe, respected, and heard by myself and their peers, so
students will continually be expected to respect, listen to, and earnestly try to understand the
perspectives of one another. My students are young adults, and as such they should be treated with
respect, listened to, and awarded certain rights and liberties while being held to certain expectations and
responsibilities. They are preparing to enter the adult world where decisions will not be made for them,
consequences will be enforced without leniency, and a set of civil social skills are crucial to growing,
developing, and thriving outside of the classroom. Students must learn to navigate the world on their
own in some way, but in the class I hope to act as guiding resource in their growth and development as
people and as citizens, setting expectations and holding my students responsible while modelling
constructive, positive, principled behavior and giving them a voice in the classroom and some agency in
their learning. When students exhibit negative, harmful, or disrespectful behaviors, the first step will
always be a one-to-one talk with the student about their behavior, what we may be seeing differently,
and how to work out a plan to best move forward keeping the classroom community in mind.
Ideally, my classroom will be an inclusive, inviting space. The desks/seats will be arranged in
table groups, easily facilitating small group discussion and collaboration, and allowing for student
rotation, movement, and flow throughout the classroom during activities and in terms of seating
throughout the term, enabling more student interaction, discourse, and collaboration. I am fascinated by
maps and could hours looking over them, so the walls of my classroom will likely have multiple maps on
them, varying in size, region, style, perspective, reality, and fantasy. I believe that spatial thinking is key
to critical thinking in almost all Social Studies, and maps serve as powerful visual aids and learning tools
that serve to help the student see relationships, make connections, and consider perspective and
viewpoint. I am also somewhat of a compulsive collector, so my classroom will likely be riddled with
“objects of interest” – small knick-knacks, toys, or pieces of art that are Trojan Horse pieces of realia,
primary source objects, artifacts, or items bearing significance that are teaching tools. These are meant
to serve as examples when applicable, engage students in their environment, pique their curiosity, and
stimulate conversation and discussion before, during, and after class. Students will be told from day one
and consistently expected to respect my classroom, my property and my personal area behind my desk,
and the things that I choose to bring in and share with them. Each day, the agenda for each class will be
written in a column on the board at the front of the room, including the days’ plan/activities, learning
targets, and any assignments due. I would like to have a table with a filing system on it for each class (this
table will also hold communal pencils, pens, sharpeners, scrap paper, and other materials for students
until they run out – it’s communal, not free-for-me). There will be a turn-in basket in front of the file for
each class, where the students are expected to place their finished homework at the beginning of class
unless otherwise specified, and each file will contain the copies that I have made of the materials for
each day of that week. Ideally, most materials will be accessible online via students’ laptops, but a
limited number of physical copies will always be provided, unless a copy is required for each student, in
which case one copy is made for each student. Similarly, students will be given one physical copy of every
major assignment (essay, research project, etc.) sheet, which will include the rubric, to be turned in with
the finished assignment. Absent students can find the materials and/or assignments that they missed in
the folder for the day that they were absent. This way, I am sure to be planned and well prepared, and
the students can be held accountable for what they have missed, with the materials being accessible to
everyone (tests, quizzes, and major assignment sheets/rubrics will be kept in a separate file).
PowerPoints and materials will also be available on Google Classroom or some alternative online portal.
To help organize the students’ thoughts and learning, they will be given a weekly schedule each Monday
with a run-down of the week, including a basic outline for the day and the homework assigned for each
day. This will further put student learning and success in their own hands, giving them responsibility and
agency, but also act as a guide and resource to help them develop healthy and practical working habits
and potentially ease some pressure or anxiety students might have. To conserve paper, students will
often be asked to use a half-sheet of paper, and I will regularly ask students to either share the second
half of the sheet with their neighbor or turn it in. This way, I could collect extra, blank half sheets of
paper for later use so that students do not have to create a new sheet, ultimately and ideally using half
the amount of paper throughout the term. These spare half-sheets will be kept at the front of the room
with the communal pencils but should be used with discretion, when directed or necessary.
Students will be expected to be in their seats with notebooks/materials out when the bell rings.
Any student who arrives more than 5 minutes late must wait by the door until directed to sit down and
must speak to me about concerning their tardiness by the end of the day or be considered absent.
Similarly, any student who arrives more than 10 minutes late to class without a pass will be counted
absent for the day and must speak with me by the end of the period to address their tardiness if they
wish to potentially be marked present but tardy, with viable reason. Consistent tardiness will result in a
loss of participation points and may result in a referral to the administration. I intend to keep my
students engaged and in the class from bell to bell, so a student walking in tardy could interrupt a
lecture, discussion, or conversation, so they will be expected to wait silently by the door out of respect
for whoever is speaking, until they are told it is a good time to quietly sit down. The same policy applies
to the end of the period – students should be in their desks or engaged in the discussion/lesson/activity
until it is formally concluded, at which point they may pack up but never line up by the door – if there is
extra time at the end of class it should be spent constructively on discussion, student work, or quality
classroom conversation. Students will not be issued bathroom passes or required to take one with them
when they leave but will rather be afforded the right and trust to simply ask to use to the restroom at an
appropriate time and return in a prompt and timely manner. I will likely ask students if they think it is an
appropriate or good time for them to leave the room, leaving the judgment up to them. I will
communicate this trust to my students, but I will also make it clear that if at any point I feel that the trust
that I have given them is being abused and they are acting irresponsibly I can and will institute a stricter
policy regarding use of the bathroom/leaving the classroom. Trust is something that is usually earned,
but I am giving them the benefit of the doubt, and it is up to the students to maintain that level of trust
and respect between us. Cell phones are a similar right afforded to students to my classroom. We will
have discussion about when it is and when it isn’t an appropriate time to be using your phone/have it
out, and I will communicate my expectations to them clearly – cell phones are allowed only if they are
not a distraction to yourself or others; they may never be used while somebody else is talking, may only
be out when directed or approved, and music can only be listened to at a reasonable volume during
individual work time when told that is permitted. Students must learn to make sound judgments in the
adult world concerning when it is and isn’t okay to get up to use the restroom, respond to a text, put in
earphones, or otherwise disengage from the conversation/room. Once again, this is a right I am affording
my students our of trust and respect, but if I feel that respect is diminishing, or my trust has been
breached, I will institute a no-phone policy and have no issue taking phones from repeat offenders until
the end of the class period.
My daily classes should be relatively evenly organized, allowing time for some direct instruction
and introduction of new information, group and/or individual work/activity time, and time allotted for
small or large group discussions concerning materials covered, new information that was taught, and the
relevance and significance of what we are studying. Most of my lessons and presentations are meant to
be interactive, with students asking and answering questions, raising points, and helping facilitate a
dialogue about the topic at hand. Participation is required and will be a part of the student’s final grade,
but I want my students to feel heard, encouraged, and empowered when the speak and share their
thoughts, so the all students will be expected to hear and respect those who are speaking and make
constructive contributions to the conversation. Students will turn in their notebooks periodically for
review as well, so that I can check their organization, note-taking, and past assignments and keep track
of their participation, presence, and engagement. This will also help the students keep an organized,
easy-to-use study guide/reference for the entire course, including past assignments, materials, and notes
throughout the term. Late work will not be accepted, but there will be one amnesty day per
term/quarter. This is not a work day to catch up on late assignments, but simply one day that I will
accept one late assignment per student for full points at the beginning of class. Tests and quizzes can
only be made up for excused absences, and must be completed promptly outside of class time, during
lunch or before/after school, at a time that works for both of us no more than one week after the test
was given. There will be opportunities for extra-credit in my classes, but these are rare and come on my
own terms. Amnesty days may be accompanied by an extra credit day or week, or the charity week may
come at an earlier or later date, in which students sign up to bring one of the classroom items on the
provided list during that week for extra credit. The list will include things like pens, pencils, sharpeners,
markers and colored pencils, paper, tissues, etc. Students will be highly encouraged to bring in items, and
these materials will be used for the duration of the term, with surplus supplies being donated to charity
and/or other classrooms. This extra-credit opportunity gives the class a chance to earn points for
“collective altruism” and contributions to the community. Aside from the designated, scheduled extra
credit available for all students based on their charitable contributions, there will be limited extra-credit
opportunities for students who attend relevant, designated cultural events (museum exhibits, cultural or
religious festivals, speakers, lectures, etc.) and provide evidence of their attendance and a brief (half-
page) review or write-up of the event they attended, including a brief summary, student reactions, and
the significance of the experience. For all student assignments, I have a zero-tolerance policy regarding
plagiarism. My academic standards and expectations will be set at the beginning of the course, teaching
the students proper citation and the definitions of plagiarism, and I will communicate the consequences
very clearly. If a student is found guilty of plagiarism or cheating of any kind, they will receive a zero for
that assignment grade, must have a serious conversation with me, and may be referred to the
administration. Any students who contribute to the offense face the same consequences. If a student is
found guilty of a second willful instance of plagiarism or cheating of any kind, they will be given a zero,
dropped from my class, and referred to the administration for disciplinary action. I believe this not only
helps students understand the gravity and weight of plagiarism as an offense, but also teaches them to
take pride in their work, use their own language, and to be personally responsible for what they turn-in.
My classroom is meant to be a safe, inviting, engaging, and comfortable community of students
who respect one another and myself, and in turn feel respected by their peers and their teacher. In order
to foster a healthy, ethical, equitable, and safe classroom community and environment, I have a zero-
tolerance policy regarding hate, bigotry, prejudice, racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia,
religious intolerance, or any form of bullying. Any student found in violation of this policy will be
removed from the class for the day, counted absent, and referred to the administration. Parents will be
contacted in the students’ actions were particularly egregious or persistent, based on my judgment and
the impact the student had on their peers, myself, or my colleagues. The student must have a serious
conversation with me about their actions before re-entering our classroom community, and if the
behavior continues I reserve the right to ask that the student be removed from my class to protect the
rest of the students and facilitate a healthy learning environment. I do not believe that many of my
students are truly racist, sexist, or homophobic, but that does not prevent them from using bigoted
speech or exhibiting hateful or hurtful actions/behaviors. I will not tolerate hate-speech or bigotry in my
classroom, and ignorance should be met with empathy and education, so long as it is not harmful to
others – all students are capable of growth and learning, but they also deserve a secure environment in
which to do so. It isn’t my classroom, but our community, and students must feel safe, respected, and
valued. These are 21st Century high school students, and part of my job is to help them grow as rational,
caring, moral citizens who consider multiple perspectives other than their own and can truly empathize
with those around them. To be sure that the rules, expectations, and norms for the class are read and
understood by all parties, I will outline my policies in the syllabus and ask both the parent and student to
sign at the bottom of the page, acting as a sort of social/learning contract for the community and
classroom.