Classroom Management Plan

This is intended to be my plan of action in an ideal situation. It is based on what I have seen in my observations, learned in my classes, and experienced in my student teaching. What my classroom management will look like once I actually start teaching, I cannot say. However, I hope that it will remain close to this form.

One thing I intend to use in my classroom is learning centers. I have worked with them in student teaching, and they are a good way to instruct a small group. In order for it to work, however, I will need to start immediately with the procedures for the centers the first day of school. The students will need to practice how to work in the centers until they can follow the procedures without my intervention. The work they will do in the centers will either be some sort of worksheet or a self-paced activity that does not need teacher instruction, such as writing in a journal.

Centers will not take up all day, however. For whole-class activities, I plan to employ what I have observed with my cooperating teacher. The students will have learned and practiced "learning positions" for when they are sitting at their tables, on the carpet, or elsewhere in the room. They will know what they are expected to do when I am teaching whole-class. For example, the students in my cooperating teacher's class know to turn their chairs toward him when at their seats, and to sit with their legs crossed and their hands in their laps when on the carpet.

As far as the setup of the room goes, I'd like to have my students sitting collectively at small tables rather than desks. I realize that this is not necessarily going to be possible, depending on the resources of the school, the furniture already in the room, etc. In the absence of tables, then, I would simply arrange four desks into a small group. My classroom will be a community classroom, where there is a basket of pencils, a basket of crayons, several scissors, and glue at each table. This is so that there is not confusion when changing centers of taking one's own pencil, crayons, etc. It also keeps the students on equal footing (i.e. one student is not set apart by having Pokemon crayons, a Barbie pencil, etc.).

Another thing for classroom management is the setting of procedures. I intend to set strict procedures for where to stand in line, how to get my attention, how to switch activities, etc. At the beginning, the students will be expected to follow these exactly. As the year goes on, I will be slightly less strict in following procedures. By that time, however, those procedures will have become habit.

One last thing, and that is discipline problems. If a student is contunually disruptive, s/he will be asked to either sit in the hall or in a specific corner of the room where s/he will not disrupt the rest of the class. At an appropiate time, I will then speak to the student about the behavior. If the behavior continues, I will contact the parents and ask them to come in for a conference. If the behavior gets worse or the student becomes either violent towards others or self-abusive, I will involve the school counselor and the principal.