Ms.
Teshs Classroom
Management Plan
Hemingway wrote with a simple fountain pen Van Gogh rarely used more than
six colors on his palate, and MacLeod, himself an artist, sketches cartoons on the
back of business cards. His point is that there is zero correlation between
creative talent and the materials and equipment used. The same can be said
about an effective classroom management plan. A simple set of rules and
consequences hand-printed on ordinary poster board is all you need.
You seethere is no magic in the plan itself. It has no power to influence
behavior. Only you have the power to influence behavior by creating a classroom
your students want to be part of and then strictlyobsessivelyholding them
accountable. Therefore your plan doesnt need to be elaborate, complex, or
involved. It just needs to be followed.
The purpose of a classroom management plan is to hold students
accountable for misbehaviorwithout having to yell, scold, or lecture.
When used correctly, a classroom management plan eliminates the need to use
these and other stressful, counterproductive methods.
It allows you to demand impeccable behavior without causing friction and
resentment, which then frees you to build meaningful and influential relationships
with your students.
To set up a classroom management plan, you must first devise a set of
rules that cover every conceivable misbehavior or disruption that could crop up in
your classroom.
I will use the following rules:
Listen and follow directions.
Raise your hand before speaking or leaving your seat.
Keep your hands and feet to yourself.
Respect your classmates and your teacher.
These rules work because they make sense to students, theyre fully
enforceable, and they cover all the bases. Also, because of their refreshing lack
of ambiguity, they discourage arguing, complaining, and finger pointing.
They are what they are. You either break them or you dont.
Next youll need a set of consequences to give your rules the muscle they
need to effectively manage and control your classroombecause without
consequences, rules are merely suggestions, destined to fall on deaf ears.
The best consequences are those that dont interrupt the flow of your
classroom, that are quick and easy to carry out, and that strongly dissuade
students from misbehaving.
I will use the following three consequences:
1st consequence: warning
2nd consequence: self reflection
3rd consequence: moving of star
Print both your rules and consequences on large poster board and display
them prominently in your classroom. You will refer to your classroom
management plan often, and thus your students need to be able to see them
wherever theyre seated.
Set aside a corner or area of the room for the sole purpose of self
reflection. The area just needs to be separate to some degree. Remind students
that this is not time-out but a time to reflect on their behavior. Have stress-balls,
pillows, and calming pictures for the students to look at.
It is the symbolic separation from the rest of the class, and the feelings it
evokes, that makes time-out effective. Its not a separation of humiliation or
gloomy punishment. Its one of reflection, of personal disappointment, and of
hope in returning quickly to the class they like being part of.
Create a simple way of displaying all the students name on a good area,
if the student continues to misbehave after reflection time, their star or clothespin
will be moved, and they will then lose the end of month reward.
The consequences are in play throughout one single day. When the
students arrive for school the next day, lessons have been learned, no grudges
are held, and everyone starts freshwith another chance to succeed, to grow, to
be better than the day before.
To make your classroom management plan effective, it must be followed
faithfully and carried out in a certain way. This is key, because there is no magic
in the plan itself. It is just a set of guidelines scrawled on a piece of paper.
How you use it is what gives the plan its power.
Classroom Layout
Children need to be able to easily move to and from work areas. The
teacher needs to be able to move around the classroom to conference with
individual students and offer assistance as needed. These practices are easier if
an open layout of furniture is used. Desks or tables arranged in clusters allow
children to easily work together in pairs or small groups with someone sitting
across from them and also next to them.
A comfortable meeting area is essential for the mini-lesson and whole
class discussions that take place during the share component of the lesson. This
may be a mat or rug located either in a corner or the center of the room with
resources used by the teacher for demonstration purposes, such as an easel
whiteboard or chart paper and markers and enlarged manipulatives that can be
seen by all students. Some teachers also like to designate a chair as the
mathematicians chair for students to use when presenting their work.
Classroom Displays
The visual impact of the classroom environment is important. When we
walk into any room, the first pieces of information we get about the environment
are visual. Similarly, what is displayed on bulletin boards and on the walls of
classrooms tell a great deal about the learning that is occurring in the classroom
environment. The walls and bulletin boards of a classroom are like a museum.
They offer a history of the students work and thinking and a source of
information for students, teachers, administrators, and parents. These displays
need to convey to students that their work is valued while enabling them to
broaden their own ideas as they view the work of their peers.
Displays of students work should feature strongly in the classroom
environment and be changed regularly throughout the year. Teachers may
display work samples showing different ways that children recorded their
mathematical thinking for a particular problem, or select a variety of pieces to
show the different tasks completed during a particular unit.