Management Plan
Management Plan
Management Plan
Grade!
Table of Contents
Classroom..3
Physical Organization3
Centers.3
Other Classroom Features.4
Classroom Operations4
Record-Keeping..5
New Students..5
Student Work and Materials..6
Substitute Binder.6
Discipline Policies7
Clip Chart7
Rules and expectations8
Rules List8
Student Responsibilities..8
Breaking rules.8
o Minor Infractions.9
o Mid-level Infractions.9
o Major Infractions.9
o Time-Outs.10
Playground Conflicts10
Inattentiveness10
Incomplete work.11
Cheating 11
Routines and Procedures..................11
First Day of School11
Classroom Economy12
Jobs..12
Earning Dino Dollars.13
Spending Dino Dollars.13
Stego-Surplus Store
Inventory.14
Vocab Rocks!.....................................14
Leaving the Classroom..14
Specials, Lunch, and Recess..15
Field Trips.15
Other Procedures..15
Signals15
Asking Questions.16
Absences..16
Cleanup..16
Beginning the Day..17
o Attendance..17
o Calendar Time18
Ending the Day...................18
Assigning Jobs18
Homework.19
Handing in Papers..19
I Finished Early! Activities.19
Getting Students Attention.20
Transitions..20
Professional Ethics..................20
Differentiation Policies.................21
Parent Communication..................22
References.................................23
Classroom
Physical Organization
Students will sit in pods of four desks. The arrangement is such that no
students will have their backs to the board and instruction area, as this is a
big distractor for some students. Near the whole group instruction area,
there will be a rocking chair called the throne. This chair holds its
significance in that it is the chair in which young authors will sit to share
their work and where I might sit during read alouds. There will be an easel
next to the throne for sharing artwork as well as for use in instruction.
Centers
Classroom Operations
The day-to-day workings of my classroom will be integral to my
classrooms organizational plan. Maintaining an orderly environment will be
critical to my students ability to learn and thrive.
Record-Keeping
Keeping accurate, easily readable
records of each students work and
progress is a vital part of being an
effective teacher. I plan to keep samples
of students work in portfolios to show
progress throughout the school year as
well as maintaining a traditional grade book
of which I will have both electronic and
hard copies. Keeping an electronic copy of
grades will allow me to more easily chart
progress. I will use either the Whaley
Gradebook or something similar, as this
model will allow me to easily keep records
accurate and current (Wong & Wong, pg.
140). There will be three different records for each student in my grade
book: attendance, scores, and a cumulative grade. This will make it easier to
monitor students progress and to discuss this with parents and
administrators.
New Students
New students will be warmly
welcomed to my class. I will be able
to easily add the new students name
to my grade book by placing the new
student at the bottom of the list,
rather than in alphabetical order. To
facilitate easier transitions for new
students, I intend to label the
important things in my classroom,
such as the turn-in baskets and
student mailboxes. I also plan to keep extra school supplies in my room for
new students to use. I will assign a buddy to help the new student learn
Substitute Binder
It is very important to provide substitutes with adequate plans and
information in order to have a productive learning day in the event of a
teacher absence. I will keep a binder ready for the event that I have a
substitute teacher. This binder will contain a class roster with pictures, a list
of class rules, routines, and procedures, lesson plans, and emergency contact
numbers. The roster will contain a list of parent/guardian contact
Discipline Policies
Managing a classroom is far better and more effective than disciplining
a classroom. Though this is true, having discipline policies in place is necessary
to maintain a well-managed classroom (Wong & Wong, pg. 147).
Clip Chart
As a main aspect of my discipline practices, I plan to use a behavioral
clip chart. Each student will have a
clothespin with his/her name on it.
All of the clips start the day on
Ready to Learn. Throughout the
day, students will have many
opportunities to behave or
misbehave. When students follow
the rules, they will be told that
they may move their clip to the
next level. If students do not follow
the school or class rules, they will
be told to move their clips down one
level. When a student moves
his/her clip to T-Rex, I will have
a conversation with that student
about the choices s/he has been
making. I will do my best to guide
that student to make better
choices and move his/her clip back
up the chart. If a student does end
the day on T-Rex, I will call home to give the parents an update, but I will
do my best to make sure this happens as infrequently as possible. When
students end the day on Dino-mite Work five days in a row, they will
receive a certificate.
Rules List
Cooperate with your teacher and classmates.
Carry out your basic student responsibilities.
(Mackenzie & Stanzione, pg. 9).
Show respect for other people, our classroom, and materials.
Raise your hand and wait until called on to share.
Student Responsibilities
Breaking Rules
As is inevitable with children, rules will be broken. Students will test
the limits I set and I need to be prepared with logical consequences. As is
described in Setting Limits in the Classroom, I will use a democratic approach
to discipline that is firm but respectful (Mackenzie & Stanzione, pg. 127).
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Minor Infractions
For students who break the rules at a low level, I will use the logical
consequences list on page 205 of Setting Limits in the Classroom (Mackenzie
& Stanzione).
Students who abuse their privileges or classroom materials will
(temporarily) lose the use of those materials or privileges.
Students who talk during instruction will be (temporarily) separated
from their peers.
Students who display disrespectful behavior will be removed from the
group (temporarily).
Students who do not follow classroom procedures will spend 5 minutes
of their recess practicing those skills.
Mid-Level Infractions
I will contact the parents of students who continue to test the limits
repeatedly after receiving consequences for low-level infractions. I will send
home a note explaining the students actions, and ask for a signature from a
parent or guardian. This will help hold students accountable for their actions.
Students will also continue to receive logical consequences for their actions.
Students who were previously separated from their peers or the group will be
further removed from the class. Those students who require this further
separation will be sent to another teachers classroom for some time to
reflect and calm down.
Major Infractions
Time-Outs
When students are separated from their peers in a time-out, they will
still be held responsible for the work/content other students are completing.
Students in time-out will take their work with them. If students are told to
leave the room (for mid-level infractions) they will be sent to another
teacher of a different grade. If they miss instruction during this time, they
will be required to meet with me before or after school, or during recess.
Time-outs will initially be 5 minutes long. For repeated or mid-level
infractions, students will receive 10-minute time-outs. I will use a timer to
ensure that the time-outs are fair and consistent.
Playground Conflicts
Logical consequences will also be employed for rule infractions on the
playground. Students who are disrespectful, unsafe, or defiant will spend
their recess sitting on the bench. Students who cannot agree on the rules of
a game will be told to play a different game for the duration of that
particular recess. Any students who abuse recess equipment will lose the
privilege of using that equipment for the rest of the recess.
Inattentiveness
Students who have difficulty paying attention in class may have
extenuating circumstances at home. If there is a persistent problem with
inattentiveness, I will talk to the student and his/her parents about the
issue. We will work together to make any necessary accommodations and/or
consequences for that child.
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Incomplete Work
Students will be given time in class to work on most of their
assignments and projects. If students choose to waste this time or dawdle,
they will be required to complete their work outside of class. For those
students who do not manage to finish their work either during class or at
home, they will be required to finish their assignments during recess.
Cheating
Cheating is a sticky issue in school and out. I will make it clear to my
students on the first day that individual work and tests are to be completed
on ones own. I will explain that there is a time and place for group-work,
but there are certain times when it is important to complete work
independently. If I catch students cheating, they will be separated and given
new copies of the assignment to complete individually. I will also contact
these students parents to discuss the situation.
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recommend, I will have my classroom ready for students from the beginning of
the very first day of school (pg. 91). Students will have their bellwork reading
assignment posted on the board I will explain this procedure almost
immediately. When I introduce myself, I will also explain the student bulletin
board. I will already have some personal effects posted on this board and will
encourage students to bring pictures and things from home to display as well.
I plan to communicate with my students before school even begins
(Wong & Wong, pg. 101). I will send each family a personal letter, inquiring
about concerns and informing them of what to expect in the coming school
year. In addition, this letter will contain an invitation to Back to School
Night. I will also send a postcard to each student in my class. Each postcard
will include some basic information about myself, as well as an invitation for
the student to have his/her parent help write to me with any questions or
concerns about school.
Classroom Economy
In order to help students learn the money skills that are so vital in the
real world, I plan to have a classroom economy.
Jobs
Line Leader: leads the class when going to other parts of the school.
Caboose: brings up the rear of the line when the class is travelling.
Paper-Passer: helps teacher hand out papers.
Mail Carrier: puts papers in students mailboxes.
Calendar Helper: writes the date on the board and helps during
calendar time.
Pencil Sharpener: sharpens all pencils at the start of the day.
Librarian: keeps the classroom library tidy.
Zookeeper (2): helps take care of the class pet.
These jobs will be assigned to a different student each day. Over the course
of a week, all students should have had at least one job.
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$0.25
Eraser
$0.25
$0.50
Goldfish Crackers
$0.50
Stickers (Sheet)
$1.00
Notebook
$2.50
$3.00
$5.00
Vocab Rocks!
Vocabulary development is highly important for children. To help
facilitate this development, I will use a system that I saw successfully
implemented in one of my practicum experiences. Students will focus on 5-6
words each week. These words will be taught on Monday, then reviewed and
reinforced throughout the week. If I catch a student correctly using one of
these new vocabulary words during the week, the student will take a rock
from the bin and place it into the Vocab Rocks! jar. When the jar is filled,
the class may choose a reward:
Pajama Day
Reading Party
Crazy Hair Day
Math Games Party
These rewards act as incentives for students to use their new words. This is
important because it takes approximately 7-10 uses of a new word before it
is fully learned.
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Field Trips
I hope to be able to take my students on many educational field trips.
In order to reduce stress, students will be assigned a buddy. Buddies will be
responsible for keeping track of each other. All students will be required to
stay within view of myself or another chaperone.
Other Procedures
Signals
I plan to use a system of hand
signals in order to manage drink
requests, bathroom requests, answers,
etc. (Wong & Wong, pg. 197). One finger
raised signifies that the student needs a
drink, while two fingers is a request to
use the bathroom. For these requests, I
will make eye contact with the student
and nod my head to give permission. In
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the event that a student needs to wait, I would simply shake my head no.
Once given permission to get a drink, the student may simply walk over to the
drinking fountain by the sink. When given permission to leave the room to use
the bathroom, students will put the bathroom pass on their desk as a
reminder to me of where they are.
Hand-raising comes into play when a student has an answer to a
question. If a student thinks s/he has the answer to a question, s/he will
raise a hand and wait silently to be called on.
Asking Questions
If a student has a question during a lesson or
story, s/he will raise a fist and wait silently until
called upon. Each student in my class will have a
two-sided card (Wong & Wong, pg. 189). One side will
have a green dinosaur, and the other side will have a
red dinosaur. When students are working either
individually or in groups, they will place their cards
on their desks with the green side face up. If a
question arises, students will be expected to turn
their card so that the red side is facing up instead. I
will be circulating through the room to answer
questions as they come up.
Absence
In the inevitable event that a student is absent, I will set aside
materials for him/her to collect when s/he returns. I will designate a student
to put any necessary work in the missing students mailbox. Students will be
given time to make up their work according to the length of absence. That is,
students who were gone for a day will have up to two days to make up their
work. I will make sure I am available during the day to confer with these
students in order to explain any necessary makeup work. As I do not believe
in busywork, students will need to spend time with me if they missed the
instruction necessary to complete their work.
Cleanup
At the end of messy activities, the class will take part in a roomcleaning game in which each student is required to find at least one piece of
garbage to throw away. This will not only help keep the classroom clean, but
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Attendance
Students will count themselves present or absent by marking their
lunch preference (Wong & Wong, pg. 139). Each student will have a clip with
his/her name on it. Every morning upon
entering the classroom, students will move
their clip from a basket to their meal choice.
While students are
working on their
bellwork reading, I
will use the clips to
take attendance. If
there are clips left
in the basket, I will
call out to ask what
those students want
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for lunch. If the students are in fact absent, I will mark them as such and
set aside any work for the Mail Carrier to put in those students mailboxes.
Calendar Time
Calendar time will take place as a brief meeting on the carpet after
bellwork/attendance. During this time, the student who has been assigned as
calendar helper for the day will help me uncover the day on the calendar and
write the new date on the board. We will also briefly discuss the weather
what it feels like outside, and what that means for recess (coats or no coats,
indoor or outdoor). We will also discuss any changes to the usual schedule:
assemblies, field trips, etc.
Assigning Jobs
Each student will have at least one
classroom job a week. I will assign jobs on a
rotating schedule, starting with the student at
the top of my roster and moving down the list.
Students will find out their classroom jobs by
looking at the job chart that will be posted by
the door. Students jobs will change on a daily
basis; students will check by the door each
morning to see what (if any) job they might have.
Each student will have a clip with his/her name
on it. If a students clip is clipped onto a job,
then that is the students assignment for the day.
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Homework
Homework will be assigned on an as-needed basis. Most work will be
completed during school time. For any projects that I assign, students will be
given time to work with their groups in class, using materials that I will
provide. I do plan to have my students spend half an hour reading or being
read to outside of school each day. Students will have reading logs in which
they will write whether they read or someone read to them. These logs will
be turned in to me each Friday with a parent/guardian signature.
Handing in Papers
I will have a turn-in bin set up on each pod. When work is ready to be
handed in, students will simply place it in the bin at the center of their pod.
This will reduce the need for mad-dashes to a single turn-in point. With the
bins at the pods, it will be much less chaotic for students and will keep the
classroom better under control.
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Transitions
Without proper procedures in place, transitions can be chaotic
occasions of utter turmoil. In order to facilitate smooth transitions in my
classroom, I will follow the guidance of Wong & Wong, and use their threestep plan (pg. 201). First, I will close the current activity with a brief set of
directions. Next, I will prepare students to get ready for the next activity
and refocus their attention (Wong & Wong, pg. 201). I will give students a
certain amount of time (varying depending on the activity) to clean up and
refocus. I will also use a timer to ensure quick, efficient transitions.
Professional Ethics
There is a certain degree of decorum required of professionals in any
field. For teachers, it is particularly important to maintain this decorum, as
we are educating and influencing the minds of the next generation. Not only
must we remain respectful and professional within school, we must also be
respectful and professional when communicating with parents.
As a professional, I will dress, act and speak appropriately. I will
refrain from the hurtful lounge gossip that is unfortunately all too common.
This includes speaking about students or parents and talking about colleagues
behind their backs. If I have an issue with a colleague at any point, I will
discuss it with that individual in a professional manner. If the problem
persists, I will schedule a meeting with my colleague and the principal in
order to sort out our differences. If I have a disagreement with the
educational views or policies of my principal, I will respectfully communicate
my opinions with him/her.
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Differentiation Policies
Differentiation is essential to running an effective classroom in which
all students can grow and thrive. Teaching to the middle is not an effective
strategy and often results in missing more students than it reaches.
Differentiation is not individualized instruction. Rather, it is instruction
tailored to the needs of most students.
For my advanced students, I will offer several options for increasing
the challenge of their coursework. All students will take reading and
mathematics pretests. Those students who score 90% or higher on the
pretest will be allowed to compact out of the material they already know,
and instead work on extension activities. These students would still be
responsible for learning the material they missed on the initial assessment
and will be held accountable for it. At the end of the unit, students who
compacted out of the material will be required to take the posttest, but only
on the content they missed on the pretest. In this way, advanced students
will obtain the same knowledge as their classmates, but will also have the
opportunity to extend this knowledge.
One form of differentiation that will benefit all of my students is
varying question types. All students in my class will be held accountable for
the information we discuss as well as for thinking at a high level (Tomlinson,
pg. 104). I will formulate my questions as open-ended and will allow for
sufficient wait time so as to give students a better chance at answering my
queries. What will vary in my questions is the complexity or abstractness of
the question. Some students may be ready for more abstract questions. In
order to meet the needs of the students who are not quite ready for the
same level of abstractness, I will sometimes have students work with
partners to come up with answers.
Another strategy I plan to use that will help all my students is
flexible grouping. Rather than tracking students into fixed groups at the
start of the year, I will place students differently for each unit/topic
according to their readiness for that particular skill. It will be critical that I
teach proper group-work skills to students in order for this strategy to
succeed.
For those students who need extra assistance, I will provide tiered
assignments in which there are different requirements for different students.
Assignments can be adjusted according to readiness level, which will benefit
struggling students. This will also benefit the advanced students, as
assignments can be made more challenging for these children.
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Parent Communication
Parent communication is important to maintaining a working classroom.
Parent contact will be made before the start of the school year in the form
of a letter outlining my expectations for the year and inviting parents to
contact me with any questions. I plan to maintain a blog with weekly updates
on our classroom and its happenings. These posts will take the form of a sort
of newsletter, which I will also send home as a hard copy so as to reach
those parents without access to a computer or the Internet.
I will try to send home a positive comment with each student at least
once a week. These comments will be handwritten for students to give to
their parents or take the form of a short phone call. If a situation arose in
which I needed to contact parents about behavior, I would make a phone call
or schedule a meeting. I would initiate this conversation with a positive
comment; state the behavior that necessitated my call; and then end the call
on a positive note.
Ideally, I will structure my parent-teacher conferences with a short
time for students to direct the conversation, and then move to a private
conversation with the parents. This way, students can show work from their
portfolios with their parents with commentary from me on the childs
progress. During the private conversation, I would have parents ask me
questions about their child. I would also use this time to inform parents of
their childs triumphs and/or any issues their child might be having.
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References
Mackenzie, R. J., & Stanzione, L. (2010). Setting limits in the classroom: A
complete guide to effective classroom management with a school-wide
discipline plan. (3rd Ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press.
Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability
classrooms. (2nd Ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Wong, H. K., & Wong, R. T. (2009). The first days of school: How to be an
effective teacher. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.
Information retrieved from:
http://myclassroomeconomy.org/1howItWorks.html
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