Classroom Managment Plan

Hope Stansell

Philosophy Statement:
Agriculture is an important subject for all students. These classes teach students life
skills to bring them success no matter what they do in their lives. In my classes, I will
ensure to teach students critical thinking skills, leadership skills, fostering growth
mindsets, and how to go outside of their comfort zones in order to grow. My role as an
educator is to not only educate on agriculture to create informed consumers but to also
shape students into well-rounded humans. When students exit my class I hope that I’ve
prepared them to the best of my ability for college or a career. To do this it is also vital
that I teach my students soft skills such as public speaking, empathetic listening,
confidence, and motivation. To do this I must cultivate a classroom culture where
students not only feel welcome in my classroom but want to be there. Classroom
management will be a foundational piece to creating this culture.

First Day Activities:

The first day or even the first week of class is an important first step to making students
feel welcome in my classroom. This first week for me I will prioritize introductions,
showing students around the classroom and other learning environments, and ice
breakers. These will help me set the tone of my classroom and lay out some of my
expectations and procedures without doing them through just a lecture. It’s important on
the first day for me to greet each student at the door, I will ask them to tell me their
name and give them any materials they may need for the day, and ask them to take a
set anywhere. Greeting them right away helps me begin to form relationships with
students and show them I care about each of them. The first-day ice-breakers are also
important for my students to get to know one another. I can not alone create a safe
classroom environment if my students don't care about their peers.

Procedures and Policies:

Subject to change to adhere to schools procedures and policies
1. Late Policy: Being on time to class is important, timeliness is a life skill that my
students will likely use no matter where they end up in the future. With that being
said I understand that life happens, and it is the student's responsibility to
communicate with me when they may be late to class. I plan to follow my
school's tardy policy.
2. Cell Phones: With the rise of cell phone usage, having a policy in place is
important to be able to use this technology to benefit my student's knowledge. My
classroom policy will be for phones to be off and away during class, either face
down on desks, in their backpacks, or in a phone pouch. If a student violates this
 they will be asked to put their phone in the phone pouch. There will be times
when I will specify that students may use their phones.
3. Food/drink: I believe in Maslow's hierarchy and that if a student is hungry their
learning will not be efficient. Food is allowed in my class as long as it isn't a
distraction (ie, other students getting up to share food, or throwing food).
4. Respect: As previously noted my classroom culture is extremely important to me,
disrespectful comments or actions to me or other students will not be tolerated. If
a student gets 2 strikes I will pull them aside and have a conversation about why
what they said or did was wrong. If actions persist I will contact the front office.
5. Integrity: In my classes, I will have a zero-tolerance cheating policy. If on a
summative test or project, I discover a student's work is not their own they will
receive consequences.
6. Safety: Some classes will take place in a lab setting where safety will be the
number one priority. Students will be given safety expectations before beginning
work in a lab setting or working with lab equipment. If a student does not follow
these expectations they will be asked to sit out of the lab and complete an
alternative assignment.
7. Late Policy: While due dates are important I do not want to diminish a student's
work efforts based on when it was completed. Assignments will have due dates
to guide students to not be overwhelmed at the end of the term. Students may
still turn things in until a week before the end of the grading period and can
receive up to full credit.
8. Test Re-takes: I believe that if a student is willing to put in the work to learn then
they should be rewarded for that work. If a student wants to retake a test they
must sit in my classroom for at least ten minutes to study. They can not re-take
the same test over and over again without studying. Infinite retakes are allowed
but if a student retakes a test and isn't happy with their score still they must study
for another day before being allowed to retake. This will help avoid students just
memorizing the test.

Classroom Behavior:
I will inevitably deal with a variety of student behavior challenges. When addressing
these behaviors and disciplining students I want to make sure I discipline the actions
and not the students. This is important to encourage the student to still continuously
show up for my class, and not feel discouraged. Often students who misbehave are
known as “trouble makers” and think that their teachers don't like them and maybe don't
even want them in class. Below are some strategies I will use to manage classroom
behavior.
1. Have Expectations posted clearly. It is unfair of me to enforce expectations on
students if they are not aware of them. At the beginning of the year, we will go
 over expectations and then I will have them posted in the classroom. If I start to
see multiple recurring problems we will take time to pause content, reset, and
review the expectations.
2. Assume the best. This is a strategy from the book Teach Like a Champion that
discusses the importance of thinking that your students aren't purposefully trying
to derail your class. This approach shows students that we assume that they are
trying in our class and we believe that they can succeed.
3. Narrate the Positive, another teach like a champion strategy. This strategy
stresses the importance of showing students that you notice when they are doing
well. This helps motivate students and further enforce expectations. This strategy
is especially important to use when students are misbehaving as the positive
reinforcement will motivate them to follow the classroom expectations.