Classroom Community

I believe all classroom and behavior management strategies should be built around fostering a classroom environment that is grounded in kindness, respect, responsibility, and perseverance.

Classroom Contract

To create a strong classroom community, I will work with students to make a chart that highlights four important things: being kind, showing respect, taking responsibility, and never giving up.

Morning Meeting

To continue building our classroom community, I intend to have a daily morning meeting where we welcome everyone, ask how they're doing, and provide an opportunity for students to share.

Social/Emotional Learning

As a teacher, I believe that when SEL is woven into the daily schedule students grow not only socially, but academically. I plan to incorporate SEL into various academic areas, morning meeting, and a closing circle. SEL promotes strong relationships and skills students will carry with them well into adulthood.

Collaborative Learning

I believe students can learn just as much from one another as they can learn from their teacher. Collaborative learning also allows for students to form strong relationships with each other as they work towards a common goal.

Behavior Management

Whole-Class

Students in my class will be encouraged to display positive behavior when in the classroom, hallway, and during specials by working toward a collective goal. When the class is following expectations and going above and beyond, they will be rewarded with a letter. These letters may spell LUNCH which would be lunch with the teacher, EXTRA which would be extra recess, or PAJAMA which would be a pajama party.

Individual

I plan to begin the year by reading the story Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. This story discusses how showing kindness to one another not only affects the person you are being kind to, but also yourself. When students are caught following expectations, lending a helping hand, or showing kindness to one another they will be able to add a pom pom ball to their own bucket. Students can earn a variety of prizes by filling their own bucket.

Classroom Management

My Classroom management will involve setting expectations surrounding how students should sound, look, and engage in the classroom and how they should interact with supplies and materials. Expectations, routines, and procedures will be clearly laid out early in the school year and modeled for and by students. Finally, students will be given ample time to practice all classroom procedures to ensure year-long success.

Routines/Procedures

In my classroom, I plan to use the first six weeks of school to introduce various routines and procedures, model these procedures with students, and give them many opportunities to practice the classroom routines and procedures. I believe routine and structure helps students to feel safe and to know what to expect each and every day they enter the classroom.

Consistency

As a classroom teacher, I am aware of the importance of consistency. In the classroom, I will be consistent with my expectations for students when following routines and procedures, consistent with my behavior management strategy, and consistent with the ways I handle behavior that is not in alignment with our classroom contract or is disruptive to learning. Students in the classroom carry expectations of me that I will meet and I will in turn carry expectations of them.

Challenging Behavior

I believe all behavior is a form of communication and it is important to get to the cause of certain behaviors. Through relationship-building, classroom management, and behavior management, I plan to mitigate the level of disruptive or unkind behavior in my classroom. As a teacher, it is inevitable we will encounter students who display behavior that is either disruptive or unkind, so I have a plan in place for responding to student behavior that is not aligned with our classroom contract or is disruptive to their own learning or the learning of other students within the classroom.

If a student is displaying behavior that is disruptive or isn't in alignment with our class contract, the first step is to have a conversation one-on-one with the student to discuss the cause of the behavior and the student will complete a "Think Sheet," to reflect on their behavior and how it affects themselves and others. I will also use the one-on-one conversation to get to the root of the behavior and to guide the student toward a more appropriate behavior.
If a student continues to display these types of behaviors, I would have another one-on-one conversation with the student, implement a logical consequence, and make contact home. A logical consequence may include losing five minutes of a preferred activity to make-up work, writing an apology letter if they have been unkind to a peer, or filling out an action plan.
If a student is continually displaying behavior that isn't conducive with a safe, learning environment, I would again have a conversation with the student, implement a second logical consequence, contact home, and additionally contact administrators.

In addition to following the steps laid out in this plan when responding to certain behaviors, I understand the importance of continuing to reward students when they show positive behavior, checking in with students on a day-to-day basis to see what support they may need from me, and working diligently to help students make choices that are conducive with a safe learning environment.

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