Running head: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PLAN 1

Classroom Management Plan

Sarah Moyer

Mount Aloysius College

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Classroom Management Plan

Introduction

Classroom management plays a very important role in the lives of teachers and students.

In my opinion, whether or not a teacher manages his or her classroom reflects how successful

learning is in the classroom. In order to effectively manage a classroom, the teacher must have

classroom procedures and classroom rules. They can establish and discuss them with their

students at the beginning of the year. The teacher must also have correction procedures in case a

student does not follow the rules. For students who do follow the rules, the teacher should have

incentives and rewards for them. Another important part of classroom management is having a

daily schedule and routine. This should also be discussed with the students at the beginning of

the year. The physical arrangement of the room can also impact classroom management, so it is

important that the teacher and students are comfortable with the arrangement. Although there are

other key plans, these are some of the more broader topics that directly impact the students’

learning.

Classroom Management Goals

My goals for my classroom is to have a student-centered classroom. I want my students

to be engaged in everything that they do. By holding the students responsible for their actions in

the classroom, I want them to understand that they will also be responsible for the actions outside

of the classroom, as well. By giving them rewards for good behavior and consequences for poor

behavior, I want them to understand the outcomes of their actions. My hopes are to give a lot of

rewards for catching the students being good. By establishing rules, I hope that the students will

have respect for me, their fellow classmates, their materials, and themselves. My intentions are to
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create a safe and welcoming environment for the students to learn and have fun. I want to build

trust with each of my students and let them know that they can talk to me about anything. I want

my students to know how much I want them to succeed. All of my classroom management ideas

are based on what would be in the best interest of my students.

Classroom Procedures

The first week of school will be spent discussing the procedures that the students will

follow everyday. The first week is the best time to discuss these procedures and is the most

effective time. I will start by discussing what they should do when they first get to my classroom

in the mornings. They will be expected to put their backpacks and coats in their lockers or

cubbies and come to the classroom with the needed materials for that day. They will also be

expected to bring any notes from their family to the designated area on my desk. After this, they

should go to the board and read the lunch choice for that day. They should then take the clothes

pin with their name on it and clip it to what they want for lunch. After making their decision for

lunch, they should return to their desks, prepare themselves and their materials for the day, and

work on the morning work that is already on their desk. The morning work will reflect what they

have been learning and will be a great practice for the students. After they are finished with their

morning work, they should flip the paper upside down to let me know that they are done. Once

they are done, they are permitted to talk quietly, read, or go to a learning center in the room until

the bell rings.

Once the bell rings, they are to return to their desks and we will recite the Pledge of

Allegiance. We will then move to the carpet for our morning meeting. I will greet each of the

students and tell them what we are planning to do for the day. I will allow the students to tell me
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anything that has happened to them after school or any upcoming events that they want to share

with the class. I will also share upcoming events that I believe would be appropriate for the

students to hear. After we are done with our morning meeting, the students will transition back to

their desks and we will review the answers to the morning work.

Throughout the day, I will employ transition helpers and attention grabbers to keep the

children active and paying attention. Most of the transitions will reflect what we are learning. For

example, if we are learning about metamorphosis, I may have the children swim like a tadpole or

hop like a frog. They could also crawl like a caterpillar or fly like a butterfly. The attention

grabbers that I will use include me saying “Hocus pocus” and the children will say “Everybody

focus”. This will let them know that I want them to focus on what I am referring to. I will also

establish a code word with the help of the children that signals that they are not listening and that

they need to focus. If I say this word, the students know that I have tried to get their attention and

that I did not get it. If I see that one student is not focusing during a lesson, I will quietly and

subtly walk around the room to their desk and put my hand on their desk. This will act as an

attention grabber for that individual student and will be less embarrassing for them than if I had

told them to focus in front of the class. I will also use the name drop tactic if I feel I am losing

the attention of students. For example, I would say “What is the answer to number seven on the

worksheet, Alex?”. By asking the question first, more students are going to pay attention in case

they get called on. By saying Alex’s name, I have their attention now and they will be more than

likely to continue to focus during the lesson.

At the end of the day, I will allow the students ten to fifteen minutes to write their

homework assignments in their planners, gather the materials that they need for their homework
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that night, organize the materials on the desk for the next day, and talk amongst each other. In

order to save time and confusion, I will write any homework assignments on the board after I

assign them and keep them on the board until the day is over. This will also allow the children to

know which materials they need to take home with them in order to complete their homework.

By allowing them time to organize their desk materials at the end of the day, it will save time at

the beginning of the following day and give the students a few minutes to have a brain break. I

will also allow them to talk quietly to each other. This will eliminate a lot of talking throughout

the day.

Physical Arrangement of the Classroom

In the beginning of the year, I will have the students’ desks in the shape of a horseshoe

facing the board. This will allow all of the students to see the board, each other, and me. It will

also allow me to have a lot of space in the middle of the room to have more spaced-out activities.

As the school year continues, I will allow the students to move their desks into groups of four or

six. This will allow them to work with each other in groups. My desk will be located in one of

the corners and will serve as more of an organizational area because I do not plan to be sitting at

my desk a lot. I will have bins and drawers around the room of organized materials that will be

available to students. These materials will include pencils, crayons, markers, construction paper,

scissors, and other materials for the classroom. I plan on having a carpet in the middle of the

room, a few bean bag chairs located in various places in the room, calendars on the bulletin

board, and a designated area on the bulletin board for the “Student of the Week”.

Incentives and Rewards

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At the beginning of each month, I will give each student an empty sheet with the amount

of school days we will meet for that month. For students who follow the classroom rules and

have a green note card at the end of the day, I will give them a sticker and they will put it on the

sheet. Once their sheet is full of stickers, they can turn it in and choose a prize from the treasure

chest. For students who get a good grade on a test, go above and beyond for someone else, or do

something that impresses me, I will give them “Moyer Money”. Each “Moyer Money” is

equivalent to one point. This can be saved by the students and turned in for certain rewards. I

will have a system that allows the children to know how much each reward costs. For example,

having lunch with the teacher would cost fifteen points and getting out of a homework

assignment will cost twenty-five points. If the students choose to do so, they can also combine

their money and get another recess period or have a class party for one hundred points.

There will also be a “Student of the Week” every week. I will choose the student and they

will fill out a questionnaire that includes their favorite foods, their favorite book, and their

favorite activities. On Friday, they will have the opportunity to tell their classmates their favorite

things and I will read their favorite book to the class. They will be the leader of the class during

their week and run errands for me. Each student will be “Student of the Week” once. This will

also allow the students to get to know each other better. This student’s questionnaire answers and

their picture will be hung on the designated area of the bulletin board for the week and returned

to them at the end of the week. I will allow the next “Student of the Week” to know that they are

next so that they can bring their questionnaire answers, pictures, and a book for the following

week.

Classroom Rules and Consequences

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During the first week of school, the students and I will establish a set of classroom rules.

The rules will be more effective and more likely to be followed if the students help make them.

The basic rules that I would establish would be to please walk, to please raise your hand before

speaking, to please respect others and their property, to please use manners, and to treat others

the way you want to be treated. After establishing the rules, each child will write them on a paper

that I give them and this will be treated as a contract. They will sign the paper, stating that they

will follow these rules throughout the school year. They will also take the paper home and

review the rules with their family. A member of the family is to sign the paper and the student

will return it to me. I will keep the papers and, if a student breaks one of these rules, I will pull

out the “contract” and remind them of the rules.

I will have a signal light system setup for behavioral management. Every student will

start the day with a green note card. If they break a rule, they will be moved to a yellow note card

and, if they continue to break the classroom rules, they will be moved to a red note card. The first

time they break a rule, they will receive a warning. After their warning, I will start changing their

note cards. If they are on a yellow note card, I will review the rule that they broke with them and

ask them what they will do in the future to fix this behavior. If they are on a red note card, I will

review the rule that they broke, ask them how they plan to fix the behavior, and send a note home

to their family explaining which rule was broken and how it was broken. This is just to make the

family aware of any misbehaviors during the day and to figure out a possible reason why this

behavior is occurring. For example, a student may be upset due to a family issue and is acting

differently because of it. I will not take away recess time as a punishment, but I will ask the

student to walk around the playground with me while we talk about possible reasons that they are
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breaking the rules and how we can fix this. I will also not take away time from the specials to do

this because I believe that the students need their recess time and specials time.

Homework Policy

For the most part, I plan on assigning homework every night through the week, except for

Friday. I want the students to enjoy their weekends. Although I plan on assigning homework

every night, I do not plan on assigning a lot. The homework will be intended to give the students

practice on what they have learned that day. The homework will not always be work from the

textbook or worksheets. In fact, I will only assign this type of homework for subjects that require

a lot of practice, such as math. Even in that situation, I will only assign a few problems because I

will be able to assess the students based on a few problems. They do not need to do several

problems for me to see if they are able to do the work correctly or not. The majority of my

homework assignments will be hands-on assignments. For example, if I am teaching a lesson on

telling time, I will have the students tell me about the different types of clocks in their home.

If a student does not complete their homework, I will allow them to work on it in the

morning while we are waiting for the bell. They will also be provided time to work on it if there

is free time or if we end a lesson early. If they continually are not completing their homework, I

will ask them why they are not doing it or if they are having difficulties in completing it. Once

we solve the problem, I will allow them to complete it the following day. I will not grade the

homework, but I will use it to assess the progress of the students. I do not believe that homework

should ever be graded and it should be treated as practice in a particular subject.

Conclusion
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Due to the fact that each group of students are different, some of my classroom

management ideas may not always be successful. During the first few weeks every year, I will

use trial-and-error to see which methods work the best for the students. I will have to be flexible

and open-minded with my ideas. Even if I do have classroom management strategies planned

out, some students may not respond to them, so it is important that I have other strategies in case

of this sort of event. I can ask my fellow teachers what strategies they use that works for their

students and try to tailor those strategies to my students. It is essential that the classroom

management strategies that I use adapt to the students in the classroom. Even if I am having a

difficult time figuring out which strategies will be successful in my classroom, I will never give

up. I will strive to find the best possible strategy for my students that will be in their best interest.

As I continue my career and gain more knowledge and experience, I will be able to better adapt

to the needs of my students. I will make sure that my classroom is always student-centered and

that any decisions that I make are in their best interest.