Thursday, November 20, 2014

Josh Olsen's Classroom Management Plan

Joshua Olsen
11/20/2014
P475
Classroom Management Plan
            Dr. Fred Jones states that "For teaching to be enjoyable, you must be able to simply relax and teach. Classroom management must be built from the ground up so that most problems do not occur." In order to successfully teach, you have to have a foundation, that is your classroom management plan. Your classroom management plan helps set order and structure in the classroom. Knowing how to manage a classroom with mastery level understanding will make the classroom all the easier to contain and gear towards effective learning. Without management, the class room would be more like a warzone, paper planes and paper ammunition plaguing other students, along with all of the other ruckus going on. In order to setup a classroom for success for all students, the teacher will need a strong understanding of classroom management along with being able to apply this knowledge.            
            In order for my classroom to have a strong learning environment is to have specific classroom management skills to keep order in the classroom. There are a series of useful classroom management skills that I will use in order to create a strong classroom; establish relationships with my students, create a positive learning climate, encourage helpful hands, teach needed skills, set up structure and procedures, organize the lesson, and use effective discipline. Establishing a relationship with a student shows that you are there for them, that you care for them and want them to succeed. Passion is the most powerful thing in the world if you are passionate about helping students, show them. This will help them listen to you. Creating a positive learning climate will help you get the best out of my students. After getting to know them, I will know their strengths and weaknesses, what gets them riled up and who brings out the best or worst in each other. Being able to manipulate the seating based off of their interactions can save me a lot of stress as a teacher. Encouraging helping hands will give the students a sense of responsibility and positive reinforcement for positive behavior. The students will end up taking away the boredom they may possibly feel, by helping, especially if they finish an in class assignment early. Teaching needed skills will help the students see relevance in what they are learning, as opposed to learning something completely useless, there is practicality in what they are doing. Setting up structure and procedures will help to best accent my teaching style. Essentially providing style to best implement my teaching. Organizing the lesson is very important. Ultimately knowing what will work best for my students and applying it to the lesson will be extremely useful. The way I plan the classroom will affect the student’s ability to process the lesson and their self-esteem will also be influenced by the set up. For example you must spend time on accommodating a student in a wheelchair and make my classroom just as accessible for them as for the other students. Also if a student struggles with social interaction, placing them within a group of students who work well with others, would benefit them greatly. The way I will layout my classroom will be having the students desks arranged in a manner where they create a U-Shape, not only with they be facing the center of the class, I will be able to monitor the students easier. After the initial layout of the classroom, I will get to know my students on the first day of class by having a few ice breaker games, such as the snowball activity and the color based personality test.  The snowball activity will be utilized as a tool to help me see who the rowdier students are and also get to know some interesting facts about them. The personality test will help me decide where the students will sit. At first I will have the students who are most similar sit together, but if that doesn’t work I will separate the students based off of whose personality will work best together to prevent classroom disruptions.
            I will have certain rules set in place for the classroom. One of my rules will be no use of electronics in the classroom without my permission. Technology can be very distracting and will definitely disrupt students learning processes. Another rule that I will have is only the person that has the floor can talk. The students will only be allowed 3 bathroom passes throughout each quarter, unless I see it as an emergency. However, I won’t tell the students the last part, so some of them won’t try and fake it. If they can convince me that it is real, they deserve the bathroom pass. Students won’t be able to leave the classroom if there is trash by their seat as well. Gum will not be allowed in the classroom. For some reason, students can’t keep gum in either their mouths, or the trashcan. So no gum, whatsoever. In my classroom there will be an expectation, the students will be expected to follow the rules, be respectful, knowledgeable, accountable, and responsible. If the students meet the expectations of the classroom, along with maintaining a class average of a B, I will allow the students to bring in food and we will have a class party.

 Having control of the classroom will give anybody a strong advantage when it comes to teaching. Utilizing effective discipline will create a safe learning environment, allowing students to be comfortable to learn. I will introduce classroom disciplines and post them on a bulletin board of some sort at the beginning of the year, this can be extremely useful. I will be creating a safe zone for all of my students. As a teacher, I am going to need to demand the attention of my students before I even get started. Trying to teach over the students would just cause more stress. I will use silence as a tool to show the students that I will not be competing with them. I will give direct instruction to also help with discipline. Uncertainty will cause the students to get rather rowdy. I will monitor what the students are doing during the class time to prevent them from thinking that they can get away with things. If I are constantly walking around and demanding eye contact or asking questions about the work students won’t have time to act up. I will use myself as a model, if I am yelling, that will enable the students do the same. I will use non-verbal cueing as well. If I use the proper non-verbals, students are more likely to respond right away. I will also use environmental control, this will help the students stay interested. By randomly switching posters or decorating the classroom, I will bring a level of controlled excitement to the classroom. Also if a student acts up, I won’t turn it into a big deal. I will set them aside, possibly to the back of the room to have a time out. Once an opportune moment appears in my lesson, I will go to the back of the room and talk to them. This will prevent embarrassment. During our discussion, instead of blaming students, I will use the appropriate I-messages. I can’t teach if… works way better than stop that. When it comes to teaching, classroom management and classroom discipline are integral for being able to teach. A teacher must be able to control the room effectively.

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