Brooke Smith

EDFN 440

Professor Jennifer Munger

4-28-2020

Classroom Management Philosophy

Area #1: Procedures/Structures/Routines

Having solid routines and procedures help structure the day. They are key to the classroom

running smoothly and managing the classroom. I will need to take a considerable amount of time at the

very beginning of school in order to effectively implement, teach, and practice these routines to my

students. As the students come in, there will be a chart right where they walk in. The students will need

to move their name to their lunch choice on this chart. This will also be their attendance for the

day. They will then go hang up their coats and backpacks in their cubby/ hanger. They will have a

morning packet they will work on until circle time. During circle time, we will do a discussion question,

our calendar, school day number, and counting. This will include counting straws and money. We will use

the song “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” to transition the students from working on the morning packets to

circle time. When the song is finished, the students will know they need to be sitting in the circle quietly.

I will have a line leader each day.

I will use callbacks as quiet signals or to get my students’ attention. I will say, “hands on top,” and

the students will reply, “everybody stop!” This one works really well to make sure the student’s attention

is directed towards you, because they have to put their hands on top of their heads and stop what it is

they’re doing. There will be different jobs students will have each day. I will have a line leader each day

as one of the classroom jobs. Everyday the jobs will change. They will start our game “Pass it

Back.” They will put their finger on their lips when they are ready to go and pass it back to the person

behind them. This will continue until it reaches the end of the line. This signals to everyone to be quiet
and shows you are ready to leave the room. A nonverbal cue I often use is raising my hand. When I raise

my hand, that signals the student to join me in raising their hands and to show me you’re ready to listen. I

will use thumbs up, thumbs in the middle, or thumbs down as a quick check for understanding

throughout the school day. This will be a quick indicator if the students are ready to move on or not.

Instead of trying to argue with a student, I will simply say, “I understand, but the answer is no.” By not

giving a reason, it makes it hard for the student to be able to go back and forth with me. I do not need to

defend myself or give reason as to why I am saying no.

Area #2: Engagement & Participation

Engaging students in a lesson is key to active participation. It also prevents negative behaviors. I

will make sure to plan lessons with a variety of activities within each lesson. I don’t want to spend too

much time just doing one thing, because I will start to lose the students. I can do this by allowing

choice. The students will do their chosen activity for a certain amount of time before switching to a

different option. I really like to do think-pair-share activities for class discussions. I think it is a good way

to discuss certain topics and ideas in a classroom. I also really like using clock partners to mix up the

pairings. I can just yell the clock time, and the student will know who they are supposed to work with.

The student can bring up their post-it notes with their thoughts. We can then discuss the notes. I also

will have sticks to draw for times when I just call on students.

I will make sure to incorporate movement into my lessons along with using movement as quick

brain breaks. I think that incorporating movement is incredibly important to keep students engaged and

focused. One brain break that I have used a lot and the students always love is the “jumping game.” I yell

out a number and they jump that number of times. When I yell out six, the students will jump six times,

then five times then 4 times until reaching zero. This is a great way to get the wiggles out and refocus. I

really like using post-it notes to get all students participating. I think that differentiation is necessary to

provide rigor to all students. I will differentiate in my classroom in order to meet the needs of my
students. Some students will need opportunities to work above grade level while some will need

opportunities to work below grade level. By differentiating my lessons and what I do, I am able to reach

all learners where they are while still challenging them. I think that modeling what you want students to

do is incredibly important. This is especially true for anything new. It is also just as important to allow

students time to practice. I will use probing questions when I really want my students to dig deeper into

their thinking. I will do this by asking open ended questions that allow for multiple student responses. I

will encourage others to add on to what their peers said. One way I have done this is through math talk. I

really like to use math talk to guide our group discussions. With group work, I want to make sure there is

a reason for doing it. If I’m just doing it to do it, I do not think that creating groups is necessary. I also will

plan out my groups before I start the lesson. This makes the transition into group work easier. I will

generally have roles and responsibilities for each of the group members. These roles could include a

recorder, a reader, a timer, and a drawer.

Area #3: Rapport/Connection

I think it is important to greet your students by name every morning to help your students feel

that you are friendly and approachable. In the classroom I student-taught, the students and I had our

own handshake we would do in the morning. I would like to continue this in my own classroom. This was

kind of our own thing, so it was more special. I think that having a smile on your face can go a long

way. Also, I will show the students that I genuinely care about them and how they are doing. I can do

this by checking in with students throughout the day and week to see how they are doing. I generally am

a very enthusiastic person. I believe that when you are really excited about something and show you are

excited it makes your students more excited and engaged. I read in the book Teach Like a Pirate by Dave

Burgess that it is even okay to fake it. You need to do what you need to in order to keep your students

excited!
 I think that spending time to get to know the students is absolutely necessary. I am going to send

home an “About Me” pages to each of the students during open house. They will need to bring it to me

the first day of school. This will help me get to know my students and their interests right away. I will

then have something to ask my students about and have conversations with them about. I think that

being an active listener to my students shows them that I respect them. It shows them that I care about

them and care to listen to what they have to say while also giving feedback. I also think that you can be

respectful by understanding the different cultures of my students. I can show them respect by

understanding and respecting the values their culture holds. I also think addressing students by their

name shows them my respect and appreciation. I plan to really encourage a growth mindset within my

classroom. I am going to create an environment where it’s okay to be wrong. We will promote this

mindset with each other. One thing I really like to do is thank students and give them positive praise if

they share their mistakes. We will create an environment where we find we can learn from each other’s

mistakes too. I plan to learn about the cultures within my classroom and include it within the classroom

and what we do. This can be through including books about the students’ cultures and reading them. I

will also make sure I educate myself on their cultures and what is appropriate in terms of interactions.

Area #4: Behavior Intervention/Consequences

When it comes to behavior interventions, I often will use proximity or even put my hand on a

student’s shoulder if they need redirection. That is what I mostly use. I sometimes will say their name,

but this is not a redirect I often use. I will use the tiered model for consequences. I will have a behavior

chart with students' names on clips. The students will start each day in the middle. They can move their

clip up for positive behavior or move their clip down for negative behaviors. There will be three chances

to move up and three to move down. When they move their clip, it will either be associated with a

reward or consequence. Their consequence will get worse the more you move your clip down, and their

reward will get better as they move up. In a kindergarten classroom I student-taught in, we often would
give students choices when it came to their work. We would say, “you can finish your work now during

work time, or you can finish it during free play.” This worked really well to give students a choice. It

makes them feel more in control and like they are making the choices for what they do.

During conflicts, I will make sure I do not just react in a situation with a student. If I need to walk

away for a second, I will. I do not ever want to “blow up” on a student. One thing I will do is have the

student stay back from recess for a few minutes so we can talk or find a good time to have a conversation

with the student. This gives me and the student time to have a conversation. I also want to make sure I

am understanding where the misbehavior is coming from. This will help me not just react but understand

and help the student work through the issue. I am not going to keep reminding and nagging students. I

will just tell the student to move their clip down and follow through with the consequence. The first clip

down, the student will not get to mark a blue day on their behavior chart. If they get a certain number of

blue days (good days), they will get to have lunch in the classroom. The next clip down will be a seat

change, time-out, or private conversation. The third clip down will be a visit to the office, call home, or

behavior contract.