Classroom Management - Manage the Monster

Part 1 – Observation

Some classroom norms that are in place is the fact that when you come into the room as class is starting you get your binder off the shelf and you sit down in your seat and you being working on the Warm-Up activity/question. It is not allowed to go back to your locker after you are in the room. Also, you give your best effort when you are in class and you do not just settle for an average attitude. You give your best and the teacher will give their best as well. In terms of the class period, it always goes in this order: Warm-Up, homework review, notes, lesson, activity and homework hand out. These actions and routines are just in place and they were in place when I arrived in the classroom.

Some classroom rules that are in place is the fact that they give 100% when they are in class. There is no second best or average effort. They are expected to give their best. They need to respect each other and each other’s views. There is no name calling and cursing, etc. These were enforced within our first week. If the language or name calling is severe then it warrants an office referral. However, some redirects from the teacher dealt with these particular situations.

Some classroom norms that are in place are the Buddy Room and the Safe Seat. All of LPS uses the same disciplinary system called BYST. I am not totally certain what that acronym stands for, but the entire district uses it. If a student is unruly then they receive one warning. If it continues, they move to the Safe Seat. This is put in place to keep the student safe from getting even further in trouble. Then if they continue in their disruptive behavior then they are sent to a Buddy Room or to the office. A Buddy Room is an adjacent classroom that they go to where they sit and think about their actions that just got them in this situation.

 

Part 2 – Interview

LPS has a behavior plan called BYST. Part of BYST is that you need to run your classroom how you chose to run your classroom. There are two main rules, if you are hurtful or disruptive, it is not ok. If that does not work then they move to the Safe Seat, this causes the student to realize they are being disruptive. Then if they continue they move to the Buddy Room and they then need to make up class time after school with the teacher that sent them there. Then there is a parent phone call that goes along with that.

There is a new policy for the eighth graders. It was put in place because half of the classes were showing up late. So if you are not in your seat by the time the bell rings you received a ten minute penalty where you have to come in on your own time to make it up with that teacher. If this is not done within 48 hours, then it moves up to twenty minutes. If they still do not make it up, then there is an office referral that is done.

For procedural norms that are put in place, there are so many. They all have binders that stay in the classroom on a shelf. When they come in they need to grab their binders and sit down and begin working on the Warm-Up. Warm-Up is up every day. Class starts when the bell rings and ends when the bell rings. High Five attention getter is one thing that is a norm in our CT classroom. Parking lot is another procedure. This addresses the students’ off topic questions that are parked there until Friday at the end of class.

Holly enforces the ideas of being a good team member and coach by using as much positive reinforcement as possible. She tries to never use negative reinforcement. She has tried this before in her classroom and she noticed it did not work. These were all explained to the students at the beginning of the year. It was signed by both students and parents.

Part 3 – Reflection

Classroom Management Plan Template

Teacher:	Tyler Cronin	School Year:	2014-2015	Grade Level:	Sophomore
Guidelines for Success: ·         I expect you to do your homework and try to do every problem even if they are difficult. There will be no learning if there is no work put in. ·         I expect you to study for tests and be prepared to take tests on test days. ·         I expect you to come to class every day ready to work and to give 100% to what we are learning. ·         I expect you to ask questions when you do not understand something and to come in after/before class to get extra help if you do not understand something. ·         Persevere			Posted Rules: ·         Respect every student in our class. ·         Respect me as the teacher. ·         Do not talk when I am talking. ·         Almost every single time I am talking it is for your benefit, so you need to be listening. ·         Questions are expected, none of them are stupid ·         No Cell Phones
Attention Signal (Verbal and Visual): ·         High Five Please: Everyone stops talking and raises their hand in the air and looks at the teacher. ·         Countdown from 5: Once I reach 0 you need to be in your seat and silent
The following is my plan for teaching and re-teaching classroom rules throughout the year: ·         I will go over them once at the very beginning of the year to make sure every student knows my expectations. ·         I will print them out on a contract type of form so that they can review them and sign them. Also they will take them home with them to have their parents sign it as well. ·         Throughout the year if they are becoming unruly, then I will make them take out those forms and specifically read the rules they are not following and I will ask them how they are going to do better starting right now.
Encouragement Procedures (Motivation): ·         I will have some type of “Cool Points.” I don’t think I will offer to buy them pop as a prize for following the rules, but maybe I will give them extra credit or something along those lines. ·         I will use positive reinforcement to encourage the students that are doing what they need to be doing and hopefully the students who are not doing what they need to be doing will take the hint.
Correction Procedures for Misbehavior (both early-stage corrections and rule violation consequences): ·         For students that do not follow the rules I will begin by giving a warning ·         If it persists I will move them to a different desk that is separate from the class ·         If it still persists I will send them to the office and it will be followed by a phone call home to their parents at the end of the day. This will also include doing a worksheet that explains why their behavior was bad and what they are going to do better next time. ·         If this keeps happening then I will begin to take allotted points away from them so it can start affecting their grade in my class.
Daily Routines: Routine for how students will enter the room: Students will enter the room ready to learn with all required materials that they will need for the class period. I will be standing outside the door and I expect them to say hello to me before entering the room. Routine for how students will be instructionally engaged while attendance is taken and for how opening business is conducted: Students will be getting their warm-up out and on their desk. They will be working on their warm-up while I am taking attendance. After the warm-up is finished by all the students we will review it and then go over any classroom announcements (i.e. Test dates coming up, homework reminders, etc.). Routine for dealing with tardy students: Students who are tardy will come in without disrupting the class. If they have a note then they will give it to me immediately. If they don’t then I will deal with this tardiness after class asking them why they were late. If it continually happens then they will fill out a worksheet that explains why they don’t like showing up on time. Routine for dealing with students who come to class without necessary materials: Students will first ask a fellow student to borrow whatever they are missing. If I deem it necessary for the class then I will let them borrow one of mine, but if it is not necessary then they will not be allowed to go get it from their locker. Routine for dealing with students returning after an absence: Students will need to come in on their own time (before/after school) to review what they missed in their absence and get any materials they need. They will have 2 school days to complete the work before grade penalties will start to be added to the assignment. If it then isn’t turned in after the grade is at a zero, then there will be further consequences. Routine for dealing with student bathroom breaks: The students are not allowed to use the bathroom during the lecture or activity. If they need to use th restroom then it will be during homework time or during the warm-up. Routine for returning student work: I will return student work within three days of when it is assigned to be turned in. I will hand it back to them while they are settling in at the beginning of class or during their homework time at the end of class. Routine for students when engaging independent work: Students will work on their task and not talk to other students. If they have a question then they will raise their hand to ask the teacher for clarification. Routine for students when engaging in partner/small-group work: Students first and foremost most be respectful of all the students within their group. Everyone has a say in solving the problem or doing the activity. All students will be engaged and participating in their groups. Routine for students when engaging in whole-class discussion: Students will sit quietly and listen to their peers’ comments. If they have something to add then they will raise their hand and wait to be called on by the teacher. They will not blurt out the answer or their thoughts. Routine for wrapping up at end of day/class: Students will be dismissed when the teacher says so. Class does not end when the bell rings, it ends when the teacher dismisses you. When the teacher dismisses you, you may begin packing your backpack to go to your next class. You will not ever stand next to the door waiting for the bell to ring. Routine for dismissal: Students will leave when I say it is ok. They will leave in an orderly fashion and leave the room clean.
Policies & Procedures for Managing Student Work: Policies & Procedures for assigning classwork and homework: All assignments will be written on the white board before class and it will stay there until we finish the chapter we are currently working on. Policies & Procedures for collecting completed work: Completed work will be collected at the beginning of class after we go over any last minute questions that they might have. They will pass them in by giving it to one person in their group or passing the homework up to the front of the classroom. Policies & Procedures for keeping records and providing grades and feedback to students: The students and parents will have access to the grades that will be posted online. Feedback will be given on almost every homework assignment, quiz, or test. They will receive an official quarter grade to know their progress, but if the students are nervous about it, then they can always come in to see me some time during their own time. Policies & Procedures for dealing with late and missing assignments: Late work will receive one point off for every day that it is not turned in to me. There will be a “No Name” basket that will be filled with students’ work that is unknown. Since I do not know who’s work it is then these people’s assignment will be late as well. Policies & Procedures for dealing with absent students: Students will need to come in on their own time (before/after school) to review what they missed in their absence and get any materials they need. They will have 2 school days to complete the work before grade penalties will start to be added to the assignment. If it then isn’t turned in after the grade is at a zero, then there will be further consequences.

 

Curriculum, Curriculum...Everywhere!

Part 1 – Observation

Examine the instructional materials used over the course of week.

Date	Materials w/ Descriptions	Teacher interaction	Student interaction
Monday, Dec 2	1.  Making Sense of Graphs a.        “Showdown” flashcards that were in each groups’ boxes on their tables. 2. Worksheet over slope, calculating slope and making a table of values.	1.  Placed the cards in each groups’ box. While students completed these questions, the teachers monitored their progress and guided them where there was confusion.   2.  Assigned by teacher for homework.	1. Students worked in groups of three or four to complete these ten questions, asking questions as they went.       2. Taken by students to finish for homework and hand in the next day.
Tuesday, Dec 3	1.    Major Cumulative Test questions in the form of Showdown with individual cards. 2.    Worksheet covering table of points, domain, range, slope, rate of change and the different linear forms	1.    Handed out an envelope of Showdown cards to each student. Previously during plan period we mixed two different Showdowns together: Writing Linear Equations & Graphing Linear Equations   2.    Passed out to students to complete for homework as a review for upcoming test	1.    Received the Showdown cards and began to work individually then in groups, in the style of cooperative learning, to learn from peers over the topic of Linear Functions     2.    Complete for homework as a review for upcoming quiz
Wednesday, Dec 4	1. Guided notes sheet for the students’ introduction to Probability   2.  PowerPoint WTQ?! Introducing Probability       3.  Worksheet over Probability	1. Handed out guided noted sheet and then walked the students through the process to fill it out. 2. Had a call and response for the students to get the next question     3. Handed out worksheet for students to work on over the evening and hand in the next day.	1.  Received the noted sheet and filled it out with the teacher   2.  Had white boards and worked out the problems after doing the response to receive their next question 3.  Received their worksheet and will complete it over the next day or so
Thursday, Dec 5	1. Questions were posted on the document camera to help review for the Cummulative Test. Questions were based on what the students were struggling with.   2.  Cumulative Review Worksheet	1. Created the questions during the activity for students to work on.         2. Passed out by teacher for homework	1.  Students worked independently on the problem that was posted. If they were stuck or had no clue they were allowed to ask their teammates.     2.  Completed by students that evening and handed in the next day
Friday, Dec 6	1.  Cumulative Test	1. Passed out tests at the beginning of the period, went over some directions clarification	1.  Received tests and worked on them independently

Part 2 – Analysis

                For all the homework it seemed that it was all memorization. There were no exploratory pieces to the homework. So this would be categorized as a lower level. For the Showdown cards I think it could be categorized as Procedures without connections because the questions that were covered on the flashcards were clearly stated and just demanded an answer. There really wasn’t any deeper thinking involved in this. These are not connected to the concepts or meanings that underlie the procedure that is being demanded of the students. It never seemed as though the kids were doing mathematics. They were always just asked to provide an answer instead of explaining their reasoning behind it as well.

Part 3 – Interview

 

                Miss Liibbe feels as though she has no control over the curriculum. However, she does not feel like this is an injustice. She explained the committee of teachers that outlines this curriculum and the great job they do. They have rewritten and scaled down what they want the kids to know. They are more focused on quality instead of quantity. The main thing is that they have moved from an objective-based curriculum to covering and knowing the Big Ideas of the sections.

                Miss Liibbe creates a lot of the material she uses since she does cooperative learning. It is a joint effort between her, a teacher that teaches the same subject and through DocuShare which is a sharing website that allows teachers to share materials. That is where she gets her tests as well.
                When Liibbe plans she starts with looking at the test. So that is how she looks at how she teaches the lessons and try to find comparable problems to the tests. So she uses questions that help her teach the kids what will be on the test. She does not use the text for her teaching material. She might have a long time ago, but now she uses her own material.
                She uses integers chips and algebra tiles for factoring and such. They use a lot of number lines and things that they draw. She uses the chips because it is a good tie in to the concept. This helps the kids learn the concepts much better.

Part 4 – Reflection

                There are several things that are great about Miss Liibbe’s teaching and curriculum use. I love the cooperative learning style and the fact that she creates many of her own worksheets and activities. However, I do not like that she starts with the test and teaches the students to the test. I think that I will use the objectives and big ideas of the chapter and teach the kids to that. Obviously the test will be testing if they have learned these things. So giving them problems that can help them learn better and deeper knowledge I think is better. So I would try to find better activities that produce some higher cognitive load.