Classroom

Management
Project
ITL 530 Optimized Learning Community

My Plan to Ensure Student Success Through Classroom Management

by, Alba Montiel - October 2019
Abstract

Having a classroom management plan for any teacher is the foundation of

success in any classroom. Having procedures, expectations and known
repercussions maintains order and makes the most out of the time students are
in a classroom. Management creates less distractions and more opportunity,
manages behavior and teaches students how to self-regulate. A good
classroom management plan implements rules and procedures, rewards and
consequences, incorporates social and emotional skills and engages and
motivates students to be their absolute best.
Introduction
My personal beliefs on classroom management and discipline is that there should be a set of
general rules that encompases an array of interpretations. These interpretations should be
established by the entire classroom through a classroom meeting so students can establish a more
personal meaning than just a sentence on a poster board. Consequences should be logical and not
punishments. If a student only experiences the imposed upon punishments of a teacher they will
never truly see how their actions actually affect them. Consequences for things such as missed
work should be what they miss out on, similarly to how an adult misses out on wages when they
miss work. I believe that every tactic should be exhausted before the solicitation of outside help so
both the student and teacher gain a mutual understanding of the roles they are to play. When it
comes to engagement and motivation, I believe there are ample opportunities to keep students
engaged and motivated and the teacher is responsible for initiating the engagement and motivation
and the students should be taught how to then motivate themselves. I also believe that a teacher is
responsible for understanding the cultural backgrounds of their students and communities to help
lessen the gap of misunderstanding due to cultural differences. Through all of these tactics and
plans the overall goal is create an environment that caters to the development of a child’s social and
emotional well being and sets them up for success in the future.
Rules & Procedures:
When I think about the word “rules” and my years in elementary, I think of a poster on the wall that had,
what seemed like, an infinite amount of sentences that were bunched together, in black lettering, on a white
laminated poster board. These sentences, at least from my recollection, mostly started with the word “no” and
were things we couldn’t do, like, “No Talking”. As an adult, I now know that those rules were meant to keep
order and not just a poster board that wanted to control us. As a future educator I believe that the
establishment of general rules and procedures in the classroom should be predetermined by the teacher but
elaborated on with the input of the entire classroom. Having a set of general rules and procedures, sets the
foundation for the expected behavior of each and every student in your classroom. Sharing in a collaborative
effort to further define what those general rules and procedures mean, gives each student in your class the
opportunity to not only give their input, but to also create a definition for themselves that aligns with what each
rule and procedure is intended to mean. Because, behavior is defined as “the way in which someone conducts
themselves or behaves” (Merriam-Webster, 1828), and to teach, can be defined as “to cause to know
something” (Merriam-Webster, 1828), allowing for the integration of student definitions will create an
experience that is memorable because they themselves, in a sense, set their own standards of behavior and
since it is memorable, it becomes something they know, in other words they have been taught what is
expected of them, they have been taught the rules and procedures.
Walk into class
ready to learn We will not interrupt
the learning of others.

General All assignments are to

Rules and be turned in complete
and on time We are responsible for
Procedures our own actions

to Build on We will aim to learn

something new
everyday Respect everyone and
expect to be respected
Rewards
I read an article that explained how businesses use a rewards system to increase sales and increase
profits, despite the reward being given out. In a business that has loyalty points or rewards it’s main success lies
in customer retention and predictability of goods purchased. This retention is fueled by a customer feeling
appreciated, and being acknowledged for their loyalty, and incentives that are directly related to what they like
to buy (Olenski, 2014). I took this concept and directly related it to my management plan for my classroom.
While I know there are many components to taking a rewards system from a profiting business and applying it
in a classroom, I see it as, just like adults are motivated to continue a specific behavior (purchasing a product or
shopping at a specific place), children are also motivated by outside factors. These factors include but are not
limited to: tangible items, verbal praise and consistency in the opportunity to obtain specific rewards. In my
classroom I plan on using “school dollars”, a rewards box and visual certificates to acknowledge and encourage
effort and reward desired behavior. Specifically, “school bucks” will be given at the end of each week and the
amount earned will be based on the completed homework submitted throughout the week. This will create a
consistent weekly reward that will also teach patients, and a basic understanding on how the workforce works,
you do the work first and are compensated later. The rewards box will be set up monthly where students will
have the opportunity to spend their “school bucks” on items they may want to “buy”. Lastly, visual certificates
will be given out when a student reaches a new milestone or increases their grade. This will allow for students
to see that even if the improvement is small, it is still worth celebration because it was their effort that achieved
the improvement.
Consequences
“The number one stressor for teachers who want to make a difference in the lives of their students is the
time they spend dealing with misbehavior.” (Nelson & Gfroerer, 2017, p.1). Going back to my memory of
elementary, consequences = punishment, interchangeably. If a misbehavior occurred that automatically meant
a punishment followed and one that seemed harsher than the offence itself, or at least in my child mind it did.
Oppositely to punishment there were also times that my teachers were so tired of dealing with a specific
student that permissiveness of their behavior was the norm. This also seemed like an extreme to me because,
in those cases, distractions continuously occurred. Since both punishment and permissiveness are more
harmful than helpful, for the consequences in my classroom, I plan on implementing a concept called Positive
Discipline. Positive Discipline is based in what Nelson and Gfroerer feel is best described by an iceberg analogy
This analogy is meant to teach students self regulation and help teachers get a better understanding of why a
behavior is occurring and to place yourself in your student’s shoes. With this method consequences will be
viewed as opportunities to do better, the class will engage in
Behavior discussions on how behavior can be improved and the ideas of why
certain behaviors are happening, and focus on using set problem
solving steps to teach self regulation and reduce repetition of
Student belief behind behavior
undesired behaviors. This approach to discipline caters to the social
emotional growth of children and overall provides for the
Need for belonging and
development of life long self regulation skills.
significance
Intervention &
Support Strategies
When studying the types of challenges that teachers face, the most noted behavior challenges are:
“talking back, lack of motivation, entitlement, interrupting, fighting, lying and not listening.” (Nelson & Gfroerer,
2017, p 6). With all of these undesired behaviors, as a teacher I am reminded that there are behaviors,
characteristics and skills that opposite those inappropriate behaviors, and with Positive Discipline the goal is to
take the negative and steer your student in a desired direction. For intervention of inappropriate behaviors I plan
on first doing my best to understand that my students do not have the logical ability that I do, simply because
they are still developing. In Positive Discipline a Tool for Teachers, they discuss how teachers can become
“behavior detectives” (p10) which is a term they use to say that as teachers, we need do our best to understand
what a student believes in correspondence to their behavior. An example would be if a student insists on
passing out papers for an assignment although it is not their assigned job that week and the teacher has asked
them to return to their seat repeatedly. After some investigation you may find that the student only feels that
they are important or helpful when they are physically helping and does not want to share that feeling with
anyone else. In this instance rather than imposing a punishment of detention, or card color change or maybe
even a phone call home, I plan on acknowledging that while they may feel a loss of power or a loss of
belonging, remind that student that they are designated to pass out papers on a rotating schedule and their
turn will come again in the rotation, and the way they can help is by allowing others an opportunity. Should the
student become aggressive, either physically or verbally that is when I would call for outside assistance,
beginning with the administration and then to their caretakers.
Engagement &
Motivation
My plan to engage and motivate students will be based in the idea that all student should be taught how
to be their own biggest cheerleaders. While I believe that adults play a significant role in providing outside
motivating factors in the lives of children, when children become dependant on those outside motivators, if
those outside motivators cease to exist so will the student’s motivation. While most students do not carry the
responsibilities of adulthood, such as bills, I believe it is never too early begin a sort of Life game, scenario for
children. Just as the popular game, depending on where you land will determine how much money you are
paid, if you are able to buy a house, if you’ll have children and in some forms of the game if you’ll own a pet. I
plan on implementing a game of Life concept into my classroom. The boards will be given to each student the
ability to move spaces will come from different things. Earlier I discussed “school bucks” as a reward for how
much homework was completed in that week. For the game board at the end of the week, my students will
have the option to buy a space. Volunteering to do a math problem in front of class or read a passage out loud
would warrant a move on your board. Each space on the boards will be filled with incentives that need to be
reached by moving forward and each of the incentives will be greater as the student progresses. I believe that
motivating students causes engagement and when students are engaged, they feel as though they belong and
feeling as though they belong leads to a positive environment, and so on, it is ripple effect of positivity..

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Social/Emotional
Skills
“Encouragement is one of the foundational principles upon which all Positive Discipline tools are based.”
(Nelsen & Gfroerer, 2017, p.50). Ensuring that our students are encouraged each and everyday will help in
maintaining a positive social/emotional classroom environment. Initially when exploring the best way to
encourage and maintain a positive social/emotional environment I found myself using the words
encouragement and praise interchangeably. I felt that by praising students for desired behavior would create a
happy environment on its own. Now I understand that specific praise for students after they’ve completed a
desired behavior leads to dependency and a momentary elated feeling. An example of this would be when a
student who doesn’t regularly complete homework, comes in to class one morning with their homework
completed and the teacher says something to the effect of “great job I’m so proud of you for doing your
homework”, in my opinion now every time the student completes their homework they’re looking for that
exaggerated response of praise and if at one point the teacher doesn’t give that praise, the lack of praise may
make them feel as if their effort was not noted or was worth it. Encouraging the student however puts the
responsibility of motivation back into the students hands. So in this case, placing the motivation and
encouragement back into their hands would be In the statement such as “ I’m sure you worked very hard on this
assignment last night you should be very proud of yourself for doing so“. This type of encouragement calls on
the student to reflect on their personal efforts and while they can be acknowledged by an outside entity, what’s
most valuable is the recognition they give themselves. .
Culturally Responsive
Teaching
As educators we all know that “we cannot teach what we don’t know” (Howard, 1999). With that said my plan for
being a culturally responsive teacher is to doing my best to learn about all the cultures of not only my students
but the community around me. Having a clear understanding that we are all different and creating an
environment where everyone is welcomed. Because culture encompases a majority of the aspects on what
people value and how they live, understanding the cultures of the community will allow me as a teacher to use
that information to create a space for education where there may not have been one. Different cultures teach
their children that there are certain ways to interact with adults, that certain home roles are more important than
an education or even that certain genders roles are more pertinent. Understanding how different cultures
expect their children to interact with others can help minimize the potential of misunderstandings that could
occur. Another way a teacher being culturally aware
could be helpful is being able to select certain cultural
stories or traditions to incorporate into lessons.
Additionally to being able incorporate different cultures
into lessons, most importantly sharing different
cultures brings about awareness and allows for
students to understand that all people have their
differences and that is ok.
Reflection

Overall the successful implementation of this classroom management plan, I

believe, will aid to the success of all of my students and help me as a
teacher provide the optimal environment for learning. As a teacher my
overall goal is to create an accepting environment where students learn
skills and life lessons along with the textbook curriculum. For my students I
want them to understand that on top of being there to teach them school
lessons, that I am truly aiming to help them better understand themselves
and see the potential they all have regardless of their circumstances. Making
sure that I have what I need in place will give me as an educator the optimal
ability to provide an overall education in my classroom.
References
Bafile, C, (2017). Rewards systems that work: what to give and when to give it. Education world. Retrieved from:
[Link]

Curran, C., & the IRIS Center. (2003). Encouraging appropriate behavior. Retrieved from
[Link]

Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of teacher education. 53(106). Retrieved from:
[Link]

Olenski, S. (2014). 8 reasons why loyalty programs are imperative for marketers. Marketing land. Retrieved from;
[Link]

Nelson, J., & Gfroerer, K. (2017). Positive discipline, tools for teachers, effective classroom management for social,
emotional and academic success. New york, NY: Harmony Books