Samantha Jackson

Graduate Portfolio

Standard 10 Reflection

EDSP 679: Proactive Classroom Management and Advanced Positive Behavior and Support -

Design and manage classroom routines using universal prevention strategies.

Radford University

Fall 2022
 The course on Proactive Classroom Management and Advanced Positive Behavior and

Support has become another crucial part of my teaching toolbox. This class introduced me to the

process of an FBA (Functional Behavior Assessment) and a BIP (Behavior Intervention Plan).

As a general education teacher, it is especially important to know how these processes work. At

some point teachers will have a student and their family go through this process while they are in

your classroom. It is meaningful to understand what that student and the family are going

through during this time. It is also important to understand why observers are in your classroom

and what will be expected of the teacher throughout this procedure. Another reason this class

was extremely helpful is because of the focus on the standard; “Design and manage classroom

routines using universal prevention strategies.” Some of the prevention strategies I use in my

classroom are posting a daily agenda, keeping classroom routines, and using written/spoken

instructions with timers. These strategies I learned help me and my students keep the class on

track and foster a positive learning environment in my room.

Posting an Agenda in the classroom is not a new tactic for proactive classroom

management. The fact that it is still being used demonstrates how important it is to use this in

the classroom. Since the pandemic, we have had televisions at the back of the classroom in our

school. Since we no longer need them for Google Meets, I use them to post a digital agenda for

my classes. This Agenda is shown in Artifact 10a in my portfolio and was made using a Canva

slideshow. It includes the “Adventure” (or schedule) for that day, their homework, and the

learning objective for the day. This is posted throughout the class and extremely easy to present

on the screen. I use this instead of writing it on the board because it streamlines the process, and

I also do not have to worry about my handwriting on the board. Incorporating the Agenda slide

into my class has helped my students understand what to expect for the day. They must look up

there at the beginning of every class to write their homework in their agenda. I also have my
students take turns volunteering to read the slide at the beginning of every class. This way

students are reading or listening to the whole slide and not ignoring the information aside from

the homework. Having an Agenda in class is extremely important to preventing unwanted

behaviors in the classroom. The agenda helps students understand what will be expected of them

for the day and can remove the fear of the unknown. When I have the students read it aloud, that

also reinforces the agenda and can help me hold the students accountable. Students cannot say “I

didn’t know that” because we went over it together in class.

Keeping a routine is another tool I gained from the standard for the class Proactive

Classroom Management and Advanced Positive Behavior and Support. Keeping a routine in my

classes every day is extremely beneficial to the students and the teacher. When the students

enter the room, they immediately know what is expected of them. This is important for when

you have a substitute teacher in the room. You have set up the expectations for the students.

The routines are posted on the board in the agenda and the routines are the same thing every day.

For example, I make sure I start my classes the same way every day. The students enter the

room and are supposed to sit down and write their homework in their agenda. Once they finish

writing in their agenda, the students will get started on their warm-up. The students have until

the end of CNN10 to complete these tasks. CNN10 is a ten-minute news broadcast for students

that airs online every weekday. The students know that they should be finished with their warm-

up and agenda by the end of the news. I also give them warnings and reminders of this

procedure every class to remind my students. That way, the students who get distracted can get

refocused and complete their tasks. Posting the routine in the agenda and following it every day

have helped streamline the focus of my classes and reduces behaviors in my class.

Including written instructions and timers on the board has also been an extremely helpful

way to use prevention strategies in my classes. On the Smart Board in the front of my classroom
I present expectations to my students for their different assignments. I have a slide for

independent work, group work, stations, and quizzes/tests. These slides all included my

expectations for the students while they complete their activity. I go over them myself every

time we get started, have the students echo me, and then I make sure they are presented on the

board. I also included timers in my slides when needed for the students. These give the students

a visual of how much time they have left to work on a certain task. I give warnings periodically

as well to make sure the students are paying attention to the timers. This has been such a

wonderful classroom management tool in my classes. The expectations are clear, and the

students have expressed that they understand what I am expecting of them. This way I can hold

them accountable if disruptions occur. For example, when students are expected to work on

independent work quietly, yet I hear a lot of distracting chatter, I have them read the first bullet

point on the board. This reminds the students of the expectations and refocuses them on their

task. When we have extra good days where the students are on point with following the

directions, I make sure to reward them with extra Americana tokens (from our class economy) at

the end of class. Posting written expectations in my class after going over them with my students

is extremely beneficial for classroom management and has worked very well with my students.

The class Proactive Classroom Management and Advanced Positive Behavior and

Support has been extremely beneficial to my career in teaching. This class taught me about the

process of an FBA and a BIP as well as the importance of using universal preventative strategies

in my classes. The standard “design and manage classroom routines using universal prevention

strategies” has been used in my classroom in multiple ways. I post an agenda, implement

routines, and post my assignment expectations in my classroom every day. Using these tools has

helped my students understand what is expected of them throughout my class and minimizes

disruptions in my class. The students can refer to any of these throughout the class and I use
them to help keep them accountable. I will continue to use these strategies and build my skills

throughout my career in education.