Classroom Management Plan

 

EdPsy399OL Forum 16

 

Instructor:  Tom Anderson

 

Submitted by Kim Fitzer  2001

 

The following classroom management plan is being created for a Photography laboratory course.  I have been teaching Photography for many years, and have a fairly well developed structure in place.  However, techniques that have worked in the past are not working as well as before, and I often find myself becoming angry and frustrated.  Since I believe that these emotions are counterproductive to good teaching, I must change my plan, so that my students and I will have a much better time in class.  This paper gives me the opportunity to examine my current structure and strengthen the weak points using some of the behaviorist theories recently introduced in 399OL, as well as the Character Counts! Program adopted by the district.

 

Classroom Management Objectives:

·        Students will be on time to class and ready to work.

·        Students will turn work in on time when it is due.

·        Students will take responsibility for cleaning up their own and assigned areas.

·        Students will show respect by not talking while others are speaking.

·        Students will demonstrate fairness by bringing rented equipment back when agreed.

·        Student will demonstrate honesty by not taking things that do not belong to them.

·        Students will put their best effort into every assignment, no matter how small, or how large.

·        Students will be attentive in class, and actively participate in classroom procedures.

·        Students will refrain from eating in class.

 

Classroom Context

The Photography classroom is a large room, with an adjacent lab/darkroom.  The course, Basic Photo, is organized into 16 assignments per semester, each one representing a different topic, and a different set of techniques.  In the beginning of the semester, there is some lecture time as the basic terms and procedures are presented.  The students are mixed in ages and abilities and range from grades 10-12.  Traditionally, there are more females than males in the classes, but the difference is slight.  The course is offered each semester. Currently, we have six sections in the fall and six sections in the spring.  The course is extremely popular, and new sections are added every school year. 

 

School Context

The high school is located in a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois.  The district is very affluent, has just two high schools, and is mostly white in racial demographics.  The population is increasing within the district, as is true of most districts in Northern Illinois.  The current student population numbers approximately 2300 students and is expected to go to 2700 within the next few years.  The school is highly competitive, and the pressure to succeed is considerable.  Teachers, parents, guidance counselors, and administrators demand exceptional performance from the students, and for the most part, the students respond by putting their academic career above everything else.  The objective is to get into good college or university, and every action is calculated to achieve this goal.  While this may seem admirable and desirable in a high school atmosphere, the reality is that many students will do whatever it takes to realize their objective, including cheating and lying.   

 

Recently, in response to a significant overall decline in student behavior and respect, a program called Character Counts! was been introduced.  The Character Counts! program was developed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, and was designed to promote good character in schools, as well as the community. The model is based on six “pillars:”  Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship (Josephson Institute, 2001).  Each pillar is a value, or virtue, and has within its conceptual framework a number of smaller, related concepts.  For example, Trustworthiness can be broken down into other virtues, such as integrity, honesty, reliability, and loyalty.  The concepts are reinforced by simple rules that are basic and easy to understand:  DO be honorable and upright, DO tell the truth, DO be a good friend.  The program has only been in place for a short while, and it may take years before any real improvements are made, but it is a step in the right direction.

 

Implementation of Character Counts! in the Basic Photo Classroom   

Six rules will be established based upon the six pillars.  Each rule will have as its foundation the values incorporated in the Character Counts! program.  It will also be helpful to allow the students to decide how the rules will be decided upon.  William Glasser suggests in his Noncoercive Discipline theory that one of students five basic needs is Power, or a sense of being able to govern one’s own choices, and a feeling of being considered by others (Charles, 2002).  By giving students an opportunity to make decisions on what their classroom rules will be, a sense of pride and ownership may develop.  Peer encouragement to follow the rules is anticipated as students become involved in making the classroom a better place.

 

The procedure for establishing the rules will be as follows:

·        Plan to present this lesson at the beginning of the semester/school year.

·        Provide students with a list of procedures that need to be addressed in class.

·        Provide students with an overview of  the Character Counts! model.

·        Organize the students into six groups and ask them to come up with six rules that they feel will make the classroom a great place to work and learn.  Stress the importance of considering the class procedures (these procedures must be incorporated for this scheme to work).

·        Post the rules on  large sheets of paper in the front of the classroom.

·        Ask groups to select one rule from each list and formulate a new list of six rules on paper.  Have each group member sign the rules and turn them in.

·        Review the six lists.  Organize the choices in terms of most mentioned to the least.

·        Share the results with the class the next day.

·        Ask the students to vote as a class on the six top choices.  Write the six new rules on an overhead, and then decide what consequences and rewards will be used to reinforce the rules.

·        Ask a student to record the rules and type them up for the following day.  Ask all students to sign the typed copy, Xerox and then distribute copies to the class. OR

·        Type up the rules and Xerox, distribute a copy to each student and ask the student to bring it back, with the parent’s signature.   

Classroom rules and Procedures

These rules are must be considered as part of the Class Management Plan :

·        Students will clean up their own and assigned areas every day.

·        Students will show respect by not talking while others are speaking.

·        Students will be on time to class and ready to work.

·        Students will return equipment on the day it is due.

 

Other rules that are important to consider

·        Students will turn in work on time when it is due.

·        Students will not bring food to class

·        Students will practice honesty by not lying, cheating or stealing.

·        Students will be attentive in class, and participate in every activity.

·        Students will do the best they can, on every assignment, no matter how large or how small.

 

When Rules Are Broken

 Often a student may misbehave because of conflicting goals (Anderson, 2001) that are temporarily preventing him from doing the right thing.  The consequence to the misbehavior should be determined by whatever is causing the student to misbehave.  The following discussions are appropriate for minor and non-habitual infractions of behavior.

·        Talking while others are speaking:  What goals does this student have?  How are they conflicting with the student’s/class’s ability to learn?

·        Failure to clean up tools and materials at the end of class:  Did the student understand the clean-up assignment?  Does she dislike her assignment, and would prefer another?  Does she felt that her efforts are appreciated?  How does this affect other students/classes?  How can this student accept her responsibility? 

·        Arriving late, or not working when class begins:  What is preventing the student from getting to class on time?  What solutions can be found?  How is this preventing the student from succeeding in class?  What reasons are preventing the student from working?  How may this pattern be broken? What other activity may be substituted temporarily?

·        Failure to return equipment according to agreement:  What is preventing the student from returning the equipment?  Has the student made good choices regarding the decision to check out the equipment?  Are there time management issues?  Does the student realize that not returning it is unfair to other students that may need it?

 

Moderately Serious Infractions

When problems that are more serious occur, the consequences must be appropriate to the act.  Glasser suggests initiating a class meeting to work out these situations (Charles, 2002), and to decide what the punishment should be.  The following is a list of possible punishments: 

·        Cheating:  Loss of credit on assignment for the student caught cheating and the student whose work is being copied (if the student is complicit), five consecutive days detention, dean’s referral, parent call, suspension.

·        Stealing:  Detain entire class when theft is detected (if detected during class), contact security or Police Liaison, loss of class privileges, monetary reimbursement of school/student for items taken, dean’s referral, parent call, detentions, suspension.

·        Insubordination:  Time out of class to contemplate verbal abuse, discussion after class/school, parent call.

·        Vandalism (tagging):  Police Liaison intervention, discussion of issues why the tagging is occurring, clean-up/repainting of tagged area.

·        Name calling, slander:  Immediate conference with student(s), peer mediation, conflict management training, find out why name calling is happening, role reversal, extended after-school conference, parent call.

 

Extremely Serious Behavior

Depending on the school’s dynamics, most classrooms rarely see instances of violence, vandalism, drug use, possession of weapons, or fighting.  When it does occur, swift and immediate action is required.  Usually when the situation has reached this level and the authorities are contacted, it is out of the classroom teacher’s hands.

·        Extreme violence:  Contact security, isolate student(s) from rest of class, suspension, parent conference, and anger management training.

·        Vandalism (smashing, breaking equipment intentionally):  Isolate student, contact security, suspension, possible removal from class, repair, remunerations, and community service.

·        Drug Use:  Contact school nurse, send student with another trustworthy student, contact security, suspension, parent conference, intervention.

·        Possession of weapons:  Contact Police Liaison, security immediately, keep student calm, if possible, remove weapon from possession.

·        Fighting:  Stop fight by calmly insisting the fighting cease, ask why the fighting is happening, contact security, keep other students away, suspension, parent conference, peer mediation, anger management training.

 

Day-to-Day Classroom Management Procedures

Most classroom management procedures occur on a daily basis, and should be taught to students, so that lessons run smoothly.  The following is a list of classroom management techniques that are designed to prevent misbehavior.

·        Use a signal to get students’ attention, teach it to students.  Jacob Kounin called this technique “group alerting” (Charles, 2002).  Make a game out of how many seconds it takes for all students to respond.  Reward appropriately with free time at the end of class, praise, or other class-determined reward.

·        Use positive reinforcement to reward good behavior.  Praise compliance with expectations.

·        Maintain good momentum during lesson presentations to keep students on task (Kounin) (Charles, 2002).

·        Kounin suggested that teachers learn how to multi-task, or “overlap” their attentions during class proceedings.  This ability to be many places at once will ensure that students are on-task.

·        Use physical proximity to prevent minor misbehavior (Redl and Wattenberg, Canters)(Charles, 2002).

·        Maintain calm, friendly demeanor at all times.

·        Maintain a warm, supportive classroom environment (Glasser) (Charles, 2002).

 

Classroom management is not a skill that can be taught to a beginning teacher, nor can one rely on a pre-packaged model to solve all problems in the classroom.  It is a skill that must be developed, honed, re-evaluated and altered over time.  Techniques and suggestions from many different theories and models must be considered when putting together an effective plan, and all must be tested for effectiveness before becoming a permanent part of any management scheme.  If further help is needed, asking a peer to observe the classroom having the difficulty may be wise.  There may be something that is being overlooked that once identified can be dealt with.  Finally, it is important to remember that no plan is written in stone.  When something stops working, it is time to fix it.

 

References

Charles, C.M.  2002.  Building Classroom Discipline.  Boston, Massachusetts.  Allyn and Bacon.

 

Character Counts! Fact Sheet.  1997.  A Project of the Josephson Institute.  Marina Del Rey, CA.

 

Anderson, Thomas.  2001.  A Social Information Processing Model.  Retrieved from the World Wide Web on 12/2/2001.