DOCUMENTATION AND

COMMUNICATION PLAN
Alexandra G. Stahler

Department of Education: Old Dominion University

TLED 360: Classroom Management

Dr. Jori Beck

April 19th, 2021

Plan for establishing rules/norms and consequences

Rules and norms are a difficult subject for any teacher to approach and I think this is

because of the delicate balance that has to be established with them. When writing rules you

can’t help but ask yourself what rules are too harsh, or what rules can I scrap. Is this one too

difficult to follow? Can I enforce this one effectively? Will my students follow the rules I place?

All these questions scrambling on someone’s head to make fair and effective rules for all

students. Something  I have noticed through a combination of Mursion Labs and student

observation is that every student is different. No one classroom is going to be the same as the

other. Sure it would take a lot less effort to simply write out rules for all 100+ students and

enforce them to the best of my ability, but I believe that some rules would be easier to enforce

with some students than others. Also, I can’t guarantee that each student understood the rules

fully, to take in how each rule was interpreted. There could very well be a possibility that a

student simply misunderstood a rule, or maybe they never read it in the first place. Combining all

these factors into one effective solution seems almost impossible, but I think that the answer lies

in a very special article written by Wynita Harmon. This art teacher goes into detail about the

methods and benefits of creating rules what her students on the first day of school, and I believe

that this a very effective method of creating/ establishing rules for a couple of reasons.

The first and more prominent of these reasons would be that any confusion from either a

teacher or student standpoint would be potentially cleared. According to Wynita Harmon,

“having students directly involved in the creation of classroom expectations leaves less room for

confusion” (Harmon, 2017). Allowing students to brainstorm and have a direct hand in what

rules will be in the classroom will likely mean a more concrete understanding of the rules and

how they will be enforced throughout the school year. 

 Another big reason I want to create rules with my students on the first day is that I want

to be able to build relationships whenever I can, and I think that this is a great way to do it.

Personally, when I was in school there so many teachers that never truly bothered with creating

those relationships with their students, and as a result, the students would often act out or fail to

complete assignments due to a lack of attention from the teacher. However, there were a select

few teachers who took that time and talked to us on our level. They made me feel important and

like I wanted to try in the classroom. Every teacher did this differently, and while I do intend to

implement other methods of relationship-building I think that his would a good start to the year.

Giving students a say and making them feel important in class. There is a point made by Harmon

that she has had good experiences with students because this made them feel like their voice had

been heard by their teacher (Harmon, 2017). While these rules will be enforced in my classroom,

they are rules that we all will come up with together, and it will hopefully make my students feel

welcome and safe in my classroom. At the same time, I hope that students will also come to

understand that my classroom is a space in which these rules will be enforced fairly among all

students in the least embarrassing way that is possible.

Documentation of rule violations

I can hope for all of my students to follow the rules and be little angels, but I know that

isn’t going to happen. Ultimately, I am going to have students that are going to break the rules

either intentionally or not, so I want to have a routine in place for when these situations do

happen. I would use a simple Google document that is listed with student names. Whenever a

student would break a rule I would simply go to their name on the document and briefly describe

what had happened and on what date. This way I am easily able to keep track of both first-time

and repeated offenses. I think using this method is going to allow me to gauge when to intervene
with students and talk to either them or their parents. Looking at this log I can see the frequency

and severity of each student’s violations and determine what course of action is needed if any.

Below I will include a sample log that would potentially be used in my classroom.

Taylor Dodd September 19th, 2021 Arguing with another student

in class over a movie. Got a
bit heated. It calmed down
after some intervention. Keep
an eye out.
Sarah Leitgeb October 1st, 2021 Scooting chair around the
classroom during class.
Eric Akulin October 28th, 2021 Repeatedly interrupted class
to talk about his Halloween
plans. I was able to integrate
this into an activity today, but
still worth noting.
Eric Akulin October 31st, 2021 Came class in an extremely
inappropriate skeleton
costume that had a blow-up
“boner” on it. Sent him to the
bathroom to change.

Classroom Routines

Routines are going to be essential to me as a teacher. I am quite the procrastinator in my

free time, and I cannot afford that mindset in my future classroom. However, establishing these

routines is going to help me substantially in my first year to set a standard for myself and each of

my students. Overall, it is going to be mutually beneficial for all involved, especially me who is

going to likely be a bit of a mess during my first year of teaching. I think that these two routines

that I intend to have in my classroom are going to help me substantially and some very different

ways.

Getting student attention

 Something very integral to my personality is pop culture. I love anime, Dungeons and

Dragons, classic movies, and so many other geeky things. Also, I believe that despite having

some separation of my personal and professional life, I want to add my flair to my classroom in

any way that I can so that I can make a classroom I enjoy teaching in. It is because of this that I

want to create some fun attention-getters for my students that are pop-culture references. I got

this idea from a teacher on TikTok that does this with her students. Every class she grabs their

attention by using a pop culture reference that they have to finish or repeat back to her. An

example would be if the teacher starts the phrase with “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed

my father,” and the students would finish off with “prepare to die.” Now, I do recognize that an

average middle schooler in the years 2021 and beyond likely have never heard of the Princess

Bride, and that is why for the sake of keeping up with the times I would be integrating more up-

to-date references into my attention getters. However, I think that these attention-getters are

going to be great to grab my students’ attention while establishing a small connection with them

little by little. This method of attention getters would require me as a teacher to interact with my

students and understand their interests or whatever may be trending in each class. Also, I feel

students are going to connect better with me and be more engaged in class if they know that I

acknowledge them as more than numbers or scores on a test, but as people that have thoughts

and interests outside of my class.

Make-up Work

One thing that I’ve learned from studying to become a teacher is that teaching is a whole

lot of work. I recall that during my first general education class my professor told us that our first

year was going to be like working three jobs in one between setting up your first lesson plans and

getting a feel for real-time classroom management. That alone is a nerve-wracking thought, but
on top of that, I will inevitably have to deal with late/make-up work from students regardless of

my experience level. It is because of this that I hope to have a good plan set in place for myself

when I do begin to teach, and I received my answer courtesy of Meredith Dobbs, a high school

English teacher who implemented a similar plan that I intend to use in my classroom. I want to

be able to provide this documentation in the form of a Google Classroom so that my students

will be able to access assignments, slides, videos, and notes at any time regardless of if they were

absent or not. The plan that Dobbs provides can be broken down into three parts.

Providing a syllabus

Toward the start of her article Dobbs points out that “They[students] need to learn how to

be responsible for their paperwork and keeping up with their own records” (Dobbs, 2020). I

think that this is especially important in middle school, the setting in which I intend to teach.

Middle school serves as a turning point between elementary and high school, hence the name,

and it is because of this that teaching students to have some responsibility for their paperwork

and missing assignments are integral to prepare them for high school, college, and even life in

general. Dobbs explains this first method as a monthly calendar that students would receive at

the beginning of each quarter to give them a good idea of what assignments are upcoming and

when they would be done. This way students can begin to learn time management with

assistance from this new calendar system (Dobbs, 2020). I want to implement this into my

classroom with one small change. While I do enjoy the format of a monthly calendar I don’t like

the limited space they provide. I would want to be able to write out the assignments and their due

dates, and it would likely be beneficial to students if they were given some room on their

schedule to write notes or highlight important information. The solution for this would be a
simple checklist that I would include on a separate document. This way students have the option

of either using the calendar, the checklist, or a combination of the two to keep track of their

school work. I would provide the document in class as well on a google doc that I would update

to indicate whether I have graded in each assignment or if the due date has passed. Below I will

include what both the calendar and checklist would look like for one month of instruction.
Keeping a make-up work log

Keeping a calendar is fantastic for students who were in class and present for the

assignment descriptions in class, but there also needs to be accommodations for students who are

absent and have no other way of knowing what we would have done in class. Luckily we live in

an age of technology that allows me to log my make-up work and assignments to my students so

that they may access the assignments at any time. The documents and assignments that they

would need will be accessible through make-up work folders separated by day. In addition to any

make-up work. I also intend to take a bit more of Dobbs’ advice by placing a small summary of

what was done in class so that any absent students would have at least a rough idea of what we

did while they were gone. While this summary would be brief, it would be enough for students to

have a rough idea of how to complete assignments for the next class (Dobbs, 2020). I would also

want to add my school email at the bottom of these summaries just in case students have

additional questions or concerns about their late work that they would need to bring up with me.

I will include below an example of a a mock summary of what would have been written for class

on that day.
Non-tech make-up work

I mentioned before that technology is a great tool to use in the classroom, but there are

undoubtedly going to be times when technology can’t be used either by students or myself.

Whether it’s Google Drive malfunctioning or a student not having access to the internet, I am

going to need some kind of backup plan if technology cannot be used. In this case, I return to

Dobbs one last time and her idea of using a combination of a make-up work bin and late work

slips that allow me to keep track of when students submit assignments. Dobbs describes the

method as having a bin or folder in which students can place make-up work inside for her to

grade later on. The slips are small forms that students are supposed to fill out so that Dobbs can

keep track of who submitted the assignment and when (Dobbs, 2020). Under normal

circumstances I would use my Google classroom as a means of turning in late work, but if that’s

not possible for a student for one reason or another they have the option of using the make-up

work bin that I would have near my desk. I think that the make-up slips would also be a great

way to keep a paper trail of documentation in my classroom in addition to the logging that I

would have online I will include below an example of a make-up work slip that would be

attached to the assignment.

Another thing that I would do that is rather simple is to simply keep a few of the more

recent assignments on hand as a printed copy. Just in case a student misplaces an assignment or

needs to come to me for a printed version of the make-up work there will be printed copies of the

week’s homework assignment right next to the bin in case they need it. Of course in the case of

the bin, digital logging, and any other make-up work-related things I would make sure to remind

them at the start and/or end of each class that these methods of submitting late work exist and
where to find each of them. This is both for the sake of being consistent and to simply remind

them what to do under these circumstances. Dobbs mentions that ‘students don’t pay attention to

it until they need it” (Dobbs, 2020). Based on both my experiences as a student and my few

interactions as a teacher, I can confidently agree with this statement.

Communication

Routines and documentation are important, but it doesn’t mean much if none of it is

properly communicated to students and their family members. While this information is meant

for me to keep track of students and stay organized, it should also be available to students and

their families. I assume that each student wants to stand the best chance of passing my class and

that is going to be impossible if I was a teacher fail to communicate with anyone. I want to

implement a couple of methods to effectively communicate with students and their families.

Some of the methods apply to both students and teachers, but some methods will only apply to

one of the groups.

Remind

Remind is a mobile application that I have used both in high school and college. It is a

group messaging app that anyone can join by using a simple group code. While no account is

required to use this, it would be strongly encouraged to get full use of the app. Remind is free to

use and has a very simple interface that mainly operates through group text messaging. As long

as I have a phone number of a student or guardian I will be able to contact them about upcoming

assignments and remind them of anything that might be late or missing. There is a place on the
application where you can choose to send messages either privately or to a select group of people

as needed.

The reason I want to use remind is because of its inherent simplicity. I am not a

complicated person, and as such, I don’t want any complex applications or solutions in use in my

classroom if I can help it. Remind is perfect for my uses. While it does only use any average text

messaging functions such as sending texts and photos, I don’t see a need for anything else. I get

everything I need through Remind without any bells or whistles attached. I can easily and

effectively communicate with students and their families without having them pay for anything

insane out of pocket just to keep up with classroom updates. Plus, there isn’t a requirement to

fully download the application, all that I would need is the guardian/student’s phone number and

they would receive a notification straight into their messages on their device.

Family contact log

Under the circumstance that I would need to individually contact families due to failing

grades or problematic behavior from their student, a family contact log seems to be yet another

simple but effective way for me to both document and communicate with guardians. The contact

log is a document that I would fill out after communicating with a guardian over the phone,

through email, or otherwise. The log would include information slots such as the reason I

reached out to the family, how, and when. Using this log allows me to keep track of any

communication with families. I would use this along with my google document that tracks and

logs student behavior that I mentioned in “Documentation of rule violations.” This log would

also serve as a great basis for me in the future as proof that I did attempt communicating with

families and what I communicated about in case that kind of documentation is needed by the

school at any time. The google document mentioned before as well as this contact log together is
going to allow me to accurately track any issues in my class so that I can come up with the best

course of action. 

Within the contact, log document would also have family contact information included in

the document so that I have quick access to contact information without opening too many tabs.

It is also going to be helpful for me to know which parents I have contact information for and

what the preferred contact method is before I even attempt communication with them. I think

that having the logging template and the contact information on the same document is going to

help me keep organized and, more importantly, sane when I need all of this information. 

Teacher evaluation form

This form of communication would be a way for me to improve my teaching and

relationships with my students. A teacher evaluation form is a form that my students would fill

out at the end of every semester that would allow them to rate me on my performance as a

teacher. I am going to have several opportunities to verbally communicate with my students

through the school year, but I also want them to be able to influence how I teach them and others

in the future. I think that using an evaluation form is going to allow students to have an opinion

without having to submit their names or outwardly speak their opinion if they do not want to.

Essentially, my goal in using this is to give students a chance to communicate with me on a more

individual level while giving me a chance to silently communicate back through making small

improvements to my classroom my students recommend.

 References:

Dobbs, M. (2020, May 9). Managing Make-up Work in the Secondary Classroom: Five Steps for

Success! - Bespoke ELA: Essay Writing Tips + Lesson Plans. Bespoke ELA.

https://www.bespokeclassroom.com/blog/2016/8/9/managing-make-up-work-in-the-

secondary-classroom-six-steps-for-success.

Harmon, W. (2017, August 3). Create your classroom rules with your students for a powerful

start to the year. https://theartofeducation.edu/2017/08/08/3-benefits-creating-classroom-

expectations-students/.