RUNNING HEAD: Classroom Management

Field Report #1: Classroom Management

Christina M.

Tarrant County College

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The required field experience was at Keller Independent School District in Keller, Texas.

My first four hours were conducted in Mrs. Martinez's 1st-grade Math and ESL classroom at

Ridge View Elementary School. Mrs. Martinez teaches most of the class and then switches with

another teacher for specials, they then come back to her class afterward.

Physical Space

Mrs. Martinez's classroom is located on the first floor towards the back of the building.

Her classroom is decorated with all kinds of colors and anchor charts as well as comfy stations

for students to unwind. The anchor charts contain different methods for adding numbers and how

to count them, the science posters show how to properly find out what something is, and the

ELA charts have letters with things the students correlate them with like A would have apples or

antelopes. Other decorations would have to be the book corner and the fairy lights that accent the

whiteboard. The tables have colored bands around them and are in 2 rows while the chairs have

little cubbies on the back of them that hold all of the supplies for the day such as folders, and

pencil bags. The Bulletin board is by the whiteboard which is in the front of the classroom and

has the months and a calendar that shows the day of the week with apples, as well as the forecast

for the day and how to count to 100.

Mrs. Martinez has a desk that has a computer and a separate computer screen that

connects to the projector. Her desk has many pens, highlighters, dry-erase markers, and paper

clips. The students have access to iPad computers that are located in the middle of their desks

during the day and are charged at the back of the classroom by the back windows and above their

cubby’s. Mrs. Martinez’s class uses natural light and soft she has big windows on the west side

of her classroom and uses translucent cloud covers over the fluorescent lights in her classroom.
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Discipline System

Mrs. Martinez IMplements a discipline system that allows the teacher and students to

create a system of meeting expectations and having consequences for not meeting the

expectations. The students and the teacher at the beginning of the year made a list of

expectations and every morning they talked about the expectations. They also have a system

where Mrs.Martinez gives out a toy duck to students who are showing expectations the ducks

turn into hole punches on a card and if they fill their card up with hole punches they get a prize

out of the treasure chest. If they fail to meet expectations and are disruptive they go to the

feelings corner and be able to get their emotions out as a consequence. The feelings corner had a

chart showing how to work through why they were there and had toys and books relating to that

topic. They also had a thing called the shouter outer count where if they filled in all the numbers

on the chart then they would have to be silent and do their books for the rest of the day. An

example of this is when the students were gathered on the carpet for story time and when the

teacher was asking questions about the book some students were shouting the answers and when

it kept happening after some reminders to not do so. They then had to put a mark on the shouter

outer chart.

Some rewards for meeting classroom expectations are getting to choose first on the

end-of-day fun activity, being the line leader for the week, having a no-shoes day, and getting a

prize from the treasure chest. Mrs. Martinez will give plenty of high fives and tell students good

job and make sure that they understand that she sees them working hard and that they are

meeting the expectations that have been set. Students can work for better behavior by going to

the feelings corner and afterward, if they can meet the expectations then they will be able to get a

duck for their good behavior.

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When outside the classroom the students use crest points to set good expectations for the

classroom. The way to earn these points is by lining up in hallways with a bubble in their mouth.

If they can get to the next classroom like this then they get to add a point to their crest. Each

grade adds to the crest 6 crests go by color, these are green, red, blue, purple, yellow, and black.

They are also able to earn points by doing well in their specials behaving in the library and

helping other students at recess. Each day students received about 5-6 points for helping each

other out by setting a good example in the halls and showing improvement in specials.

Routines and Specials

Mrs.Martinez has a procedure and routine planned out for the whole day and the students

know how to get the routine in motion. She starts every day after recess by having the students

get their stuff ready for math and then sit on the carpet. Mrs. Martinez displays the “find the

number of the day” activity. Once the students figure out the number someone is called on and

they figure out how to count to that number using different methods. They then go back to their

table to start their counting activity. If they finish early they are told to wait for the teacher to

come by and check their work. They usually do not finish though.

When the teacher sees that everyone has come close to completing their work she will

say “Everyone it's time to put our pencils and crayons down and go to the carpet for our numbers

video”. They will then clean up their pencils and go sit down on the carpet and wait till everyone

is there sitting nicely and not talking. She will then pull up a number of the day videos and have

them sing along with the video to get a better understanding. They will go into snack time but to

do that transition they need to quietly put their stuff away and get their snacks. After snack, they

will transition into ESL and will work on writing a short sentence about their day and draw a

picture with it. They will then go to the carpet to figure out the letter of the day and how to write
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it. She will then let them go into small groups and go on their tablets to learn about the letter and

how to write it on their own. She will then have them all group up and then they will get their

stuff out of their mailboxes and get their stuff ready to go home.

Impressions

Mrs.Martinez can run her class efficiently and effectively from the way she starts the day

to the way she ends it. Her students have the utmost respect for her and show that by following

her instructions as well as they can, showing high productivity in their work, and showing each

other encouragement and stability in the classroom. She has shown that the implementation of

procedures and strategies has been effective by having the students be able to figure out

instructions, ask minimal questions, and need very little help when it comes to assignments.

Mrs.Martinez was able to work in small groups very well with little to no interruption

every day and it was impressive how she would handle the questions swiftly and with ease. An

example would be when the students were working in a small group with her and a student had a

question about how to turn an assignment in she swiftly walked the student through what to do

without skipping a beat in the small group.

I would say the biggest takeaway I had with this class was time management and rules.

Mrs. Martinez had a limited time each day in class for each activity and would have to juggle

having many subjects going on at the same time and I was impressed with how well she

managed each activity time. I learned that having the students participate and want to enact the

rules created a better environment and made the students want to succeed and participate more in

class. It is clear that by having a classroom that is well managed in time and rules I will be able

to succeed in my classroom.