Introduction
I was asked to begin thinking about how I want things to be run in my classroom. For this assignment, I was presented with a few questions to help me piece together my thoughts about this topic. These questions were: will I establish my own rules or will my students help me create them, what kind of procedures and routines will I establish in my classroom, and what kinds of violations are worth documenting? I was also challenged to create a student communication plan as well as a family communication plan . Below I will discuss these concepts.
Establishing Rules and Procedures
In my classroom I plan to create my rules with my students. I will have different classes so I will have to take the time to create rules with each of them . In the middle school setting I will probably have a sixth, seventh, and eighth grade chorus class. For each of these classes I will write the rules and expectations on either a big sheet of construction paper or a trifold and display them on the walls in the classroom. Students crave structure (Marzano et al., 2003) and if my students help construct these expectations with me, I can hold them accountable due to it being their words and not mine. If a student does break a rule, I will keep a running tally for them. I have not yet come to a specific number of tallies but once a student reaches a certain number they first will be given a verbal warning. The next level will be to either call or email their parents. The last level will be to take it to my higher ups whether that be by referral or just sending them to the school counselor. I don’t plan to have to ever get to the last level but students surprise us every day .
Class Routines
I have a few procedures I would like to try in my classroom. The first is to have collection trays for each class so that when the students finish their work they will have a specific place to turn it in . I will avoid traffic jams by allowing one row to turn in their work at a time. This also helps me keep things organized. On these trays I will have the specific class written somewhere. I also plan to have a small whiteboard posted beside the trays so that I can put due dates on it. This gives the students a specific place to look for answers first instead of asking me. Another procedure I would like to have in place are classroom surveys. I would like to give my students a chance to give me feedback on my effectiveness as their teacher . I also want to use the surveys to check in on how they are feeling. This lets me know how many of my students are in a healthy mental space and how many are not. Then I can make sure I’m checking in with the ones who aren’t doing as well .
Documentation of Violations
I believe that students can be over-policed when it comes to their actions. Sometimes a student is just tired of sitting in a chair listening for six-eight hours and maybe acting out is the only way they know how to get a break in their day. I plan to only log violations if it is a serious or repeated offense. When I say serious, I’m referring to being disrespectful to me or their peers, causing physical harm to me or their peers and causing so much distraction it is affecting their classmates negatively. For documentation purposes I plan to take note of the date, behavior, and whether I contacted their parents or not. This allows me to keep the running tally that I mentioned earlier. Here is an example of what I want my behavior log to look like:
Student Communication Plan
For this plan, I plan to log the good, bad, and the ugly. I want to be able to balance the good with the bad instead of just keeping a running tally on the bad . This pertains to behavior and grades. As far as where I will be documenting all of this, only serious situations will use the discipline log I have pictured above. Praises and general misconduct will be documented in a special notebook. This notebook will be for my eyes only and it will look different from all my others so that I know exactly what it is for. I will be communicating with my students about their behavior at least once a week. On Friday, for example, I will walk around while they are doing work and either congratulate them on having a good week or let them know that I expect better in the coming weeks. If possible I plan to also allow them to see their grade in my class once every two weeks so that they know to either keep up the good work or study more.
Family Communication Plan
As far as communicating with family, I would like to keep communication open. If they have concerns regarding their child, I want them to be able to voice them to me. I plan to give all parents and guardians my email so that they can easily contact me. I also want to be able to let them know the good, bad, and the ugly as well. Parents don’t just want to hear when their student is doing bad in class, grades, and behavior[JB14] . I want to be able to communicate that their child had a great week and highlight some of their achievements. I will do this by email as well. I don’t believe in calling parents unless it is an emergency. Parents more often than not have a different day- to- day schedule than I do and emailing seems to be the most effective way to not interrupt them in important moments.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I had to really sit down and think about how I wanted my classroom to be run. I always saw how my teachers did things and some things I liked and some things I hated. I want my classroom to be a safe environment for my students and I believe the things I have stated create the safe space my students need.
Resources
An Up Hill Journey. Student behavior log. TeachersPayTeachers. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Special-Education-Student-Behavior-Log-154348
Marzano, M. J., Marzano, J. S., & Pickering, D. J. (2003). Classroom management that works: Research-based strategies for every teacher. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.