My Classroom Management Plan
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Level 1 (base) – Create caring community 1. Have engaging material (Kohn, 2006) 2. Don’t ask students to do pointless tasks (Kohn, 2006) 3. Act fairly (Kohn, 2006) 4. Avoid reprimanding students (Kohn, 2006) 5. Use class meetings to develop expectations (Kohn, 2006) 6. Celebration circles when goals are met (Pranis, 2015) 7. Respect Agreement setting out expectations (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 8. Creating safe haven with curriculum based on creativity (Olson, 2009) 9. Honor student knowledge and feelings (Olson, 2009) 10. Celebrate first day of school (Wong & Wong, 2013) 11. Use consistency to build habits (Wong & Wong, 2013) Level 2 – Recovery with Accountability 1. Class meeting led by students in which students decide on real problem and plan solution, and adults support students’ decisions 2. Conflict Resolution Circle (Pranis, 2015) 3. Sentencing Circle – talk about what happened and plan consequence (Pranis, 2015) 4. Reintegration Circle – when student comes back into group (Pranis, 2015) 5. Healing Circle – when students have the need for some type of emotional healing (Pranis, 2015) 6. Blueprint – send student out to make Blueprint for recovery (Brackett & Kreminitzer, 2011) 7. Eye contact (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 8. Walking by student (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 9. Pointing to Respect Agreement (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 10. Teacher admits mistakes and addresses them (Olson, 2009) 11. Teacher lets student plead their case (Olson, 2009) 12. “My Action Plan” – student fills out plan for change (Wong & Wong, 2013) Level 3 – Life Skills/Long-term Supports 1. Circle including all students (Pranis, 2015) 2. Teach to recognize emotions (Brackett & Kremenitzer, 2011) 3. Use a mood meter to help students assess emotions (Brackett & Kremenitzer, 2011) 4. Meet with student and use active listening (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 5. Teach student to converse using “I” messages instead of “You” messages (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 6. Emphasize internal motivation and a growth mindset (Olson, 2009) 7. Help student understand their own learning style (Olson, 2009) 8. Use current crisis to build the student’s future through transformation (Lederach, 2003) 9. Help student understand there are consequences to their actions (Wong & Wong, 2013) 10. Teach self-discipline (Wong & Wong, 2013) 11. Do not give rewards (Wong & Wong, 2013) 12. Avoid manipulating students to obtain desired behavior, instead empower students so that they develop into caring, responsible people (Kohn, 2006) 13. Emotional vocabulary building (Brackett & Kremenitzer, 2011) Level 4 – Somewhere Else to Plan 1. Allow time to pass before discussing emotional incident with student (Kohn, 2006) 2. Hold a circle outside of class, or make a circle a neutral space (Pranis, 2015) 3. “Thinkery” – with worksheet for student to fill out (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 4. Giving students time out to perform (Olson, 2009) 5. Create groups or clubs for students to vent frustrations with school (Olson, 2009) 6. Self-management student groups (Wong & Wong, 2013) Level 5 – Individualized Wraparound Support 1. Include parents, administrators, and other teachers in circle (Pranis, 2015) 2. Student/teacher meeting (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 3. Family conference (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 4. Conference with school authority (Claassen & Claassen, 2008) 5. Parents should advocate for child (Olson, 2009) 6. Parent-teacher collaboration (Olson, 2009) 7. Focus not just on one episode, but entire relationship (Lederach, 2003) 8. Courtesy and caring (Wong & Wong, 2013) 9. Communication with home (Wong & Wong, 2013) Philosophical Grounding My philosophy with regard to classroom management is that students and student learning must be the first priority in my classroom. With this in mind, I will expect my students to treat me and each other with respect. In turn, I will treat my students with respect and compassion. As Alfie Kohn explains in Beyond Discipline (1996), I believe that if I have engaging activities that promote real learning and do not ask students to do pointless tasks, there will be very few discipline problems in my classroom. This is my starting point, and the rest of my classroom management principles will flow from this. Thus, with regard to Level 1 of the Self-Discipline Pyramid (Creating a Caring Community), I will promote a sense of community in my classroom from the beginning. We will engage in activities designed to help students get to know each other, and we will all help each other maintain a respectful classroom environment that promotes learning for all of the students in addition to a caring and compassionate attitude. For Level 2 issues (Recovery with Accountability), I will engage in low-key actions that help maintain a healthy learning environment without overreacting to small problems. For example, I will use the small actions suggested by Claassen and Claassen (2008), such as standing close to a student who is not focusing or making eye contact with a student who is off-track. I also particularly like the ideas from Olson (2009) that the teacher should freely admit her own mistakes to the students and that the teacher should listen when students attempt to plead their case. In my experience, this creates a non-punitive environment in which student learning is a higher priority than teacher ego or retribution for mistakes. Many of the Life Skills/Long-Term Supports listed above for Level 3 are extremely valuable for students. I agree strongly with Kohn (1996) that schools and teachers should avoid manipulating students to obtain a desired short-term behavior and should, instead, empower students so that they develop into caring, responsible adults. To this end, as Brackett and Kremenitzer (2011) noted, students need to be explicitly taught to recognize their own emotions and need to be taught the vocabulary for articulating one’s emotions. Additionally, as Claassen and Claassen (2008) wrote, teachers need to model active listening for students and need to teach students how to converse with “I” messages instead of “You” messages. As educators, we also need to emphasize internal motivation and a growth mindset and help students understand their own learning style (Olson, 2009). Level 4 interventions (Time Out to Plan) are an important part of classroom management, as well. As Kohn notes, it is always necessary to give the student and the teacher time to cool down before discussing a conflict (1996). Once everyone has had time to cool down, it will be easier to remember that the priority in the situation is student learning, not blind obedience or retribution. I particularly like the strategies suggested by Claassen and Claassen (2008) and Olson (2009) for sending the student out of the classroom with a worksheet to complete on the incident before returning. This could help insure that the student is actually learning something from the event. With regard to Level 5, most of the experts seem to agree that conferences with the student and various other interested parties are important in getting to the root of the problem and effecting long-term change (Claassen & Claassen, 2008; Olson, 2009). In this regard, I believe that Lederach’s approach of not focusing on a single event but, rather, on the entire relationship (2003) should be a guiding principle. As a teacher, I need to be able to continue in a working relationship with a student, even if the student has caused serious problems; and the student needs to be able to continue to make progress in that relationship. Thus, it is very important to keep the long-term relationship in mind when engaging in any intervention. Works Cited Brackett, Marc & Kremenitzer, Janet. (2011). Creating Emotionally Literate Classrooms: An introduction to the RULER approach to social and emotional learning. Port Chester, NY: National Professional Resources, Inc. Claassen, R. & Claassen, R. (2008). Discipline that Restores: Strategies to create respect, cooperation, and responsibility in the classroom. South Carolina: Booksurge Publishing. Kohn, Alfie. (1996). Beyond Discipline: From compliance to community. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Lederach, John Paul. (2003). The Little Book of Conflict Transformation: Clear articulation of guiding principles by a pioneer in the field. The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. Olson, Kristen. (2009). Wounded by School: Recapturing the joy in learning and standing up to old school culture. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Pranis, Kay. (2005). The Little Book of Circle Processes: A new/old approach to peacemaking. The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series. Intercourse, PA: Good Books. Wong, H. & Wong, R. (1991, 1998, 2001, 2009, 2013) The First Days of School: How to be an effective teacher. Harry Wong Publications. |