Abigail Ratliff

Dr. Hawk

EDU 370-01

November 29, 2016

Classroom Management Model

The following paper describes my personal beliefs about the role of classroom

management, my personal management style, procedures, approaches to misbehavior,

and methods of restoration. For the purposes of this paper, I have chosen to write about

how I would manage a Kindergarten classroom.

So often when people hear the words classroom management, it seems to

have an autonomous and controlling connotation. While it does have elements of

control, the end goal of classroom management should not be that the teacher has

made the students obey and conform to a certain set of rules. In contrast, the purpose

of managing a classroom should be to create an environment that maximizes student

learning. It is important for teachers to recognize that the goal of classroom

management is student-centered and not teacher-centered. This goal is achieved by

setting in place certain expectations for student behavior to obtain the positive

behaviors necessary for learning to take place.

This goal is not achieved alone, but rather by many individuals and groups who

are involved in the students lives. Because the teachers are the people who are with

the students during the school day, they play the biggest role in managing student

behaviors. It is the teachers job to set the expectations through classroom rules and

procedures, organize the classroom in a manner that is conducive to learning, and

implement behavior management systems. I believe the teacher is only successful in

management if there is support from others. One group of people who play a role are

other individuals from the school such as principals, and specials teachers. There needs

to be some general consistency throughout the school for student expectations, rules,

procedures, and disciplinary methods to create a healthy learning environment for

students. In addition, involvement of parents plays a key role in their childs social and

academic growth (Everston and Emmer, 2013). So, parents should be well informed of

how their childs classroom is managed and should be involved in their childs school

interactions, not only academic but also behavioral. Teachers can promote parental

involvement in many ways such as sending updates home to a childs parent to express

praise and issues if present. By parents, teachers, schools, and students working

together, the common goal of maximizing learning can be a reality.

Throughout my time here at Bridgewater, my philosophy on teaching has

changed quite a bit. For quite a while I was under the impression that a well-managed

classroom was one where students were quiet and calm throughout the school day. I

thought that noise always meant that students were off-task and disrespectful. I now

realize that this was absolutely a false impression. I believe the reason behind this false

impression is my own learning style. I tend to thrive in situations where things are calm

and orderly; however, I have recognized that some individuals thrive in noisy, busy

environments. I believe this is so important for me to keep in mind in my own classroom

because everyone has differences in learning styles. Another attribute I feel that I have

is much patience and care. I believe this could be a positive contribution in my own

classroom as I work through learning processes with students. However, it could also be
a negative quality when managing student misbehaviors. I realize that I will need to

develop consistent patterns of discipline for all students and be careful to not allow my

nurturing tendencies to interfere with disciplining. I am also highly organized, so I count

this as one of my strengths. I believe this will be an asset to my classroom management

because it is very important to me for everything to have a purpose and a place.

In my kindergarten classroom, I plan to have some foundational rules and

procedures set in place at the very beginning of the school year. Since these children

have had little to no schooling experiences prior to kindergarten, students will need to

be taught how to behave and interact within the school environment. Some of the

procedures which will need to be explicitly taught, modeled, and discussed are things

like walking properly in the hallway, how to sit crisscross applesauce, and how to use

inside voices. I plan to begin the first week or so of the school year by having quite a

few class discussions on the carpet about procedures and the possible reasons behind

them. I believe that discussing rules with the students helps them connect with the

purposes behind the rules rather than simply commanding the students to do something

because I said so. Initially the rules and procedures which dictate the safety of the

school environment will be my first priority. As the school year goes on, I will gradually

introduce other rules and processes as necessary. For instance, when I introduce the

students to centers during the second week of school, I will express my expectations for

student behavior while they are in the centers. I believe that introducing rules slowly is

vital in kindergarten because I want to avoid overwhelming my students with many

procedures. In addition, I think it is important to use much repetition when teaching

students a rule so that it becomes engrained in their minds.

 There are some specific rules and procedures other than the basic foundational

safety rules which I plan to implement in my future classroom. There will be some basic

rules such as students will follow directions, raise their hand if they wish to answer a

question or speak in class, be kind and caring friends to one another, and listen to the

teacher. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I tend to prefer a quiet and calm atmosphere in a

learning environment; however, I have realized that there are times where learning

actually is maximized in a noisy environment. In order to distinguish between times

where students should be quiet and times where they can be noisy, I plan to implement

a color-coded voice level chart in my classroom. By using this chart, I can give my

students a task and state which voice level is permitted during this task. This chart will

help me quickly communicate my expectations of students voices for certain times of

the day. So, during an independent practice worksheet where I am assessing the

individual students knowledge of content, I would tell the students that they are on

voice level red right now, meaning that they must work without speaking to anyone else.

Whereas if the students were working on a group science project, I would tell them they

are on voice level green which indicates that they can speak at a normal volume with

their group as long as their conversation is on topic for the project. By establishing these

clear guidelines, students learn to respect the teacher, their fellow classmates, and the

school environment.

Another aspect of classroom management is prevention strategies of

misbehavior. I believe that the single most important factor in prevention is creating a

strong classroom community among students. One way in which I will do this is to have

daily morning meetings with my students. During these morning meetings, I will have a
part and then my students will learn to run the meeting. I will begin meetings by reading

fictional books which have themes of building positive school climates. One book in

particular which I plan to use is called How Full is Your Bucket? This books theme is

that people need to build others up to fill their bucket or make them feel special. It

discusses various ways that the characters filled each other's buckets. So I plan to use

similar books like that during morning meetings. The second part of my morning

meetings will be student-led discussion. This will be focused on the individual students

including their likes and dislikes, their unique qualities, hobbies, family, and cultural

backgrounds. In an article by Emmett and Monsour (1996), morning meetings offer

many benefits such as: students will learn appropriate behaviors, learn about each

other, develop trust with one another, share their feelings, and learn how to solve

problems. I truly believe that these morning meetings can build a strong community

where students respect one another and the teacher, and as a result, decrease the rate

of problem behavior.

Although I believe there are preventative measures that I can take to minimize

issues, misbehavior is inevitable at times. When misbehavior does arise, I plan to use a

variety of strategies to address it. As Evertson and Emmer (2013) stated, there are

levels of severity of problem behavior: non-problems, minor problems, major problems

limited in scope and effects, and escalating or spreading problems. These have unique

qualities and require different methods of behavior management. I plan to ignore non-

problems in my classroom because they are very minor and do not cause major

disruptions to other classmates. As much as possible, I plan to address minor problems

by using sign language. I plan to teach my students some basic signs such as please
stop and work to redirect slight problem behaviors in a quiet, yet direct way. For

bigger problems in my classroom, I plan to have a behavior chart where students start

on green at the beginning of each day and their behaviors determine if they move up or

down the chart throughout the day. If a student is acting out in a disruptive and

disrespectful manner, I may ask the student to move his/her name down to yellow. If the

student continues to misbehave, I may ask the student to move his/her name down to

red. The factors determining whether or not I ask my students to move their name down

will be a decided on a case-by-case basis. It is my plan to gain insight on the

misbehaving situation by obtaining different viewpoints on the situation. When time

permits, I will quickly discuss the issue with the student, asking them to tell me what

happened. Then I will discuss what I saw or what others saw and express my reason of

concern. For instance, if a student pinched another student, I will have the misbehaving

student explain his/her side to me. Then I will state that the behavior was unacceptable

because it physically hurt the other student. I may have the student think about the

scenario that another student had pinched him/her and how he/she would have felt

about that. And finally I would have the student move his/her name down on the

behavior chart.

In a positive light, the students can earn their way back up the behavior chart if

they show that they have corrected their behavior and are going to behave in a better

way. So in the previous situation where the student pinched another student, I would

have the student move his/her name down, but I would communicate with him/her that

there may be an opportunity to move the name back up if their behavior changes.

Additionally, if a student is on green, and I see the student behaving in a very positive
manner, I will state the desired behavior and tell the student that he/she may move

his/her name up to purple which indicates excellent behavior. This way, the chart is not

just viewed as a form of punishment, but also as a way to gain recognition for positive

behaviors.
 References

Emmett, J.D., & Monsour, F., (1996). Open classroom meetings: Promoting peaceful

schools. Elementary School Guidance & Counseling, 31(1), 3.

Evertson, C.M., & Emmer, E.T., (2013). Classroom management for elementary

teachers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Dear Caregivers,

I wanted to send a note to let you know a few things about your childs

kindergarten classroom. We will start this year off by learning some simple

rules about how to act in school. In our classroom, there will be times when

students will get to talk with one another, but there will also be times when

they will need to be quiet. I have a chart that I will use to tell students what

voice level is allowed during different times of the day. I have included a

copy of the chart in this packet. When I tell the students that the voice level

is green, then the students can talk at a normal voice level with their

classmates. When the voice level is yellow, they should not speak more than

a whisper to their friend sitting next to them. And when the voice level is red,

there should not be any talking. Another important part of my classroom is

my behavior chart. All the students in our classroom will start the day with

their names clips on green. If the student makes weak choices by not

respecting their teacher, their classmates, or not following rules, then I may

ask the student to move their name clip down to yellow. If they have more

problems later that day, I may ask them to move their name down to red.

This means the student has had a rough day. The good thing is, students can

always move their name back up if they make good choices later. Also, if a

student is still on green and is listening well and doing all that they are

supposed to do, then I may ask them to move their name up to purple. So

purple means they have had a great day. I am looking forward to having your
child in my classroom this year! If you have any questions about my

classroom, I would be glad to answer them!

-Miss Ratliff

Voice Level Chart

Behavior Chart