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Classroom Management and Organization Plan-4.2

Classroom Organization and Management Plan

Assignment 4.2
David Campbell
National University
Sped 614 Classroom and Behavior Management
Professor Roanna Glynn
June 20, 2016

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Abstract
The author is this paper is explaining his overall process in developing a comprehensive classroom
management plan. In the introduction, he comments on the importance of having a classroom
management plan. Next, the author discusses what rules and procedures he would implement in his
future classroom. He not only explains the what, but the why and how he would implement this and
every other component of this classroom management plan. He then explains the specific behaviors
he would teach to the class. Then he elaborates on his classroom and schools use of rewards and
consequences to reinforce good behavior. After that, the author writes about the intervention process
for students who cannot immediately follow the classroom rules and procedures and are not affected
by the use of reinforcements. Following this, the author notes the importance of modifying lessons
and units in order to create better engagement and motivation in the classroom. In this section he
briefly speaks about the use of computer games and contests to assist in motivation. Next, the author
speaks about what specific kinds of social skills and self-regulation skills he would teach to his
students. Finally, the authors writes about how all the pieces of a complete comprehensive
classroom management plan are augmented by the use of culturally responsive practices.

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Introduction
The ultimate goal of classroom management should not be on simple obedience, but on
having students behave appropriately because they know its the right thing to do and because they
can understand how their actions affect other people. (Hardin, 2008, p.142) When entering the
classroom even as a veteran teacher, you must continually change and adapt your approaches to
classroom management. For me, developing this comprehensive management and behavior plan is
one of my first steps in getting ready for my future special education classroom. Hardins quote lies
at the center of how and why I will be creating this plan to fit what works best for my students. It
will not be created solely by me, but in conjunction with evidence based research, input from my
colleagues, and input from my future students. It will also be a living document and always
amendable to change from various points of input. It is this mindful behavior that I wish to
cultivate from my students and model myself as I teach. This comprehensive plan will be
implemented so that it will transfer to other classrooms and my students will learn self-regulation
strategies. They will learn, practice, and rehearse my rules and procedures. These rules and
procedures will be then be supported by teaching good behaviors to my students. Next, I will teach
my students the rewards, consequences, and reinforcers that support demonstration good behavior
over misbehavior. Once that is in place as an overall measure, I will use specific intervention
strategies for those students who continue to misbehave or demonstrate inappropriate behaviors.

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With the curriculum that I have and creating different learning groups and choices, I will create
lessons that engage and motivate students to learn. In teaching behaviors, I will teach specific social
skills and self-regulating strategies so students can make the right choices. Lastly, I will gain
knowledge about my classroom and make sure it is culturally responsive to the students that I
receive every year.
Rules and Procedures
If the goal is to have children take responsibility for their behaviors, teachers must
allow students to make decisions about what is right and wrong (Hardin, 2008, p.143) In producing
my rules and procedures I would like to make a social contract that I post on the wall that creates
five rules that the students will have input on . Instead of having the students brainstorm five original
rules every year, I have used what had been known as the 5 Ps. These five Ps stand for be prompt,
prepared, productive, polite, and patient. Under these subheadings would be placed an explanation
about what each of these words mean. But I would show those until I elicited from my class what
these 5 words mean to them. The teaching of these rules takes about one week and the students are
encouraged in during two periods to brainstorm, look up in the words in dictionaries to figure out
what these five words mean. Eventually, the students and I come to a consensus and I help the
process along and model with my students the examples and non-examples of these rules with
specific procedures. These five rules can be observed and practiced by the students repeatedly until
learned.
The procedures I teach around being prompt include the importance of being on time.
Being on time means not coming in and sitting down in their desks after the tardy bell rings. If they
are tardy , they need to get a note from their last teacher or office. Being prompt means entering the
class quietly, turning any homework, checking the board for the agenda items of the day and

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immediately sitting down at their seats. I unpack all this by first having a few students model this
and then other students can take turns. The homework basket is always in the same spot with the
absence folder that contains any work that the class has previously done. The agenda is always
written on the board and my students write down what the assignments are for that day. Then if
someone is absent, they can check their peers agenda planners. Next, I teach the procedures that
support being prepared. Usually, that mean having all their materials, necessary work, Chromebooks,
and they are properly dressed. We have a dress code at my school and consequences for not dressing
appropriately. Materials for them usually mean a pencil or blue, black ink pen, paper, notebook, and
their agenda planners. I teach them they have to have something to write on, with the appropriate
color pen or pencil and of course their planners. Next, I teach my students what being productive
actually means if they cant figure it out. Being productive means maximizing learning time by
staying on task, following all directions from the teacher and from the assignments, and remaining in
their seat unless they have been given permission to get up. The fourth behavioral classroom rule is
being polite. The procedures for being polite are to be nice or neutral to everyone. That includes no
swearing, teasing, talking back or bullying. Always keep your feet, hands and objects to yourself.
And if you dont own it, dont write, draw or carve on it. It also includes being respectful to yourself,
classmates, teacher, and classroom. To teach being respectful I teach them about the Golden Rule:
Treat others how you would want to be treated. Picking up trash and classroom before the next class
is also a way to show respect to the classroom. Being productive and not talking back to the teacher
is a way to respect me. Finally, when teaching patience I also need to model it. This one is the
hardest one to teach. With my special education classroom, I will be working on one rule and
procedures a day, but I may slow down with this if needed. Teaching patience is demonstrated in the
classroom when I have the students wait their turns and not complain about waiting. Next, when the

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bell rings, I tell them to stay seated and wait for my dismissal. The bell doesnt excuse them, I do.
Finally, I teach them to track the speaker and listen carefully when someone is talking. After I teach
these procedures that support the five rules, I usually get any input from them that we can add to
describing these rules and I will summarize it and add it to the list. I will sign it because I will follow
the rules, and I have the students sign it, along with any paraprofessionals in the room. And if the
students ask me about the school rules, I tell them they must follow all school rules because it fits
under having respect for the school. I usually use the metaphor of following the laws of society. I tell
them I would love to drive a hundred miles an hour to get to work, but there are safety and legal
issues against this. I explain to them that rules and laws are in place to keep us safe, to make life
better and to make things in the world run smoother.
Specific behaviors you will teach to the class
The specific behaviors that I want to teach to my class are caring and empathy. I want to
create a caring atmosphere in my classroom. I want my students to care about themselves. They can
do this by coming to school properly dressed, completing their work to the best of their ability,
asking questions so that they can learn from their mistakes and never putting themselves down. I
want to teach them that making mistakes is part of learning and that using positive versus negative
phrasing can make them more resilient in learning. For example, instead of saying I cant do this, I
will teach my students to say, This assignment is hard, but I will keep trying and get help until I
understand. This is will be elaborated on when I discuss self-regulation behaviors. I want students
to care about their environment. I will teach this by encouraging them to keep a clean classroom. I
am hoping this will transfer to the playground. I teach this by example first and then I reinforce it
with our school token system which I will explain next. Finally I will teach them to care about each
other and care about me. This is done also by example. I will show them what empathy and

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compassion means and I will praise them frequently. Only praise that places no judgments on a
students character or personality makes the classroom a safe place in which students are free to try
and to make mistakes (Hardin, 2008, p.145) I will teach students to give three put-ups if ever they
are caught giving a put-down. This will be part of the classroom culture I will be attempting to
establish from day one. I will be teaching caring and empathy during class meetings that I will have
every Friday for at least ten to fifteen minutes. Teaching these two behaviors in the classroom will
support the feeling of belonging and generosity that is part of the Circle of Courage written about in
Lisa Blooms book, Classroom Management, Creating Positive Outcomes for All Students. Bloom
says that in order to teach and allow students to demonstrate caring involves reading stories that
highlight the importance of caring, having the class discuss specific examples of caring, setting
common goals and discussing common values, and being careful to notice times when students show
caring. (Bloom, 2009, p. 133) I am planning to do this during our class meetings while also getting
to know students better and making time to have them learn about me as well.
Consequences and reinforcements you will implement: Age-appropriate reinforcements you
will use (rewards) and specific consequences for inappropriate behaviors
In the classroom during instruction I will mentally remind myself to praise my students. I
will also do this by creating posters that tell me to praise my students specifically for any good
academic or behavior they show in the classroom. According to Bloom, teachers tend to respond
more frequently with disapproval of behaviors that would like to decrease than with approval of
appropriate behaviors. (Bloom, 2009, pg.44) I will need to do the exact opposite of this. And I
would also like to teach my students to tootle. This a positive form of peer reporting that involves
teaching students to praise each other. Bloom notes that while praise from teachers can be a positive
effect on behavior, praise from peers can also have a positive effect on behavior. (Bloom, 2009, p.

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44) I will also make sure I privately praise them with one of our Cardinal Compliments. Our school
uses a token economy with slips of paper called Cardinal Compliments. One of the positive
reinforcements I will use is giving students these Cardinals when they are exhibiting the correct
behaviors and completing assignments to the best of their ability. Since I have Individualized
Education Plans for these students, I will make sure to give them these Cardinals when they are
progressing in their specific goals as well.
For inappropriate behavior, I will use a three strike policy. Again, I would modify for IEP
goals but at the same time work to be equitable and consistent with my consequences, if students
behave inappropriately, I will first give them a private verbal warning. I was also thinking of
teaching them hand signals when an inappropriate behavior is demonstrated that I could show them
quickly so that they were adequately warned. Next, after verbal or hand signal warning, I would
privately tell them they lost academic responsibility points. At our school we give academic
responsibility grades separate from academic grades. In my classroom, I use these points, usually ten
a day to reinforce good behavior and classroom participation. Everything else falls under academics.
Depending on the severity of the behavior, I would also give them some lunch or break detention.
For the third strike, I would write the student up with an office referral and have my administrator
document the behavior in Aeries. This documentation of behavior is usually done with office
referrals. I will also contact parents to notify them of their students behavior. And because I will be
in a special education environment I will need to make sure this conforms and supports their
behavioral goals in their Individualized Education Plans.
Intervention strategies you will use to manage inappropriate behaviors
In the classroom, I will make sure that I use interventions like proximity or using the
teacher look to dissuade students from misbehaving. By coming closer to students where I notice

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they may be entering the acting out cycle or giving them a look that says stop it , I am hoping to
redirect them in this fashion as much as possible. When this doesnt work, before I need to apply my
three strike policy mentioned before, I will try to get rid of contextual factors that may contribute to
behavioral problems. According to Bloom, these factors fall into three broad categories and she
includes a checklist in her book at Figure 12.2 on page 221. (Bloom, 2009) The three broad
categories that can contribute to behavioral problems are child factors, classroom environment, and
curriculum. Under child factors, the contextual factors could include things like childs sickness,
allergies, taking medications, tiredness, hunger, or certain arousals. I see these types of arousal when
students come in from lunch recess or breaks. Under the category of classroom environment there is
too high of a noise level, uncomfortable temperature, poor seating arrangement, traffic patterns that
can cause disruption, etc. The third factor is curriculum, are there too few opportunities for choices
in assignments, schedule is unpredictable, or directions for activities are unclear or inaccessible,
among other factor. So my interventions in the classroom will be mainly proactive in nature where I
work to minimize all the factors I am in control of like classroom environment and curriculum and
get the aid our school nurse, paraprofessionals, counselor, school psychologist, and parents to help
with the child factors.
Student engagement and motivational strategies
Many behaviors are caused because there is little to not student engagement during
teaching lessons and no use of motivational strategies are being used to gain that engagement from
the students. I have noticed this sometimes in my teaching and so I have incorporated more choice in
assignments or I vary the delivery of instruction so that it interests students more. When I observed
the science teacher at my school I witnessed very strong student engagement during one of her
lessons. What she did was take a review of science terms over the year and make a Family Feud

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style game out of it. This created a competition style game that the students liked playing and it gave
each student some measure of success. It was a review and the students were well versed in the
answers and were able to answer the questions without too much difficulty. I have and will continue
to use computer games and quizzes to monitor students knowledge and provide a fun competition so
that they will be more engaged in the learning process. I used an internet based computer quiz
program called Kahoot located at https://getkahoot.com/. On this website, teachers and students can
create quizzes and surveys and that test their knowledge about many different topics. I have used it
in both my English Language Arts class and History Class. There are other websites out there similar
to this and because we have a Chromebook for each of our students, I see myself using these types of
websites to make my units and lessons more appealing. To motivate my students I want to continue
to give the independence and autonomy in allowing the students to pick the order of assignments or
to choose from a menu of choices for project based learning in my classroom. Speaking of project
based learning I want to design at least one project a month that my students can work interactively
on. According to Bloom, A classroom equipped for active learning, full of centers and real materials
for students to explore, is vital to the success of all learners. (Bloom, 2009, p.147) My students will
be allowed to move around and interact with objects, in addition to use the resources of the internet
at my school in order to keep them motivated and engaged in my classroom. Finally, I would like to
use the transformative learning process in my classroom. This process allows the teacher to be more
of a facilitator or coach, trying to create certain learning and understanding for students. Teaching
occurs through posing problems, creating challenges, placing students in certain situations, and
encouraging students to work out their own ideas. (Bloom, 2009, p.148) I think that if I plan to give
these type of assignments to my students, they will feel more responsible for their work and it will
create more autonomy and belonging for them in my classroom.

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Social skills and self-regulating strategies

The social skills I would like to teach in class center around how students respond to each
other and to me during the learning process. For example, when I instruct and try to begin a
discussion, I would like students to participate. During the participation process, I would like to
encourage everyone in my class to somehow give a response either verbally or nonverbally. In order
to do this, I will teach my students hand signals to show that they agree or disagree with something,
hand signals to show they understand or do not understand what the speaker is saying, etc. I want to
also teach them how to respond to questions in a normal conversational manner. I also want to teach
these replacement behaviors for student misbehaviors like blurting out answers or speaking too
loudly in class. I will use positive reinforcers like my schools token economy, along with private
praising, and positive notes home to parents written in the students agenda planners. For this
expected social skill and behavior, I will model this for students who struggle to learn it and
continually stress the importance of participation in the learning process and in life in general. We
will also practice these skills during our once a week classroom meetings.
The self-directed strategies I would like to teach my students are self-regulation
strategies. In particular I want to teach self-monitoring and self-instruction. I will use selfmonitoring for students in my classroom who have the necessary skills but are still unable to
improve their behavior (Iris Module, SOS, p.3) With this model in place I will have students keep
track of how many times they participate correctly in class, or use the proper hand signal to get help,
or take turns properly without interrupting during class discussions. If capable, I would like my
students to start doing this on their own so that the classroom environment will be more conducive to
learning. I will more than likely show them how to tally this correct behavior and when they have
met become more successful in doing this without my intervention; I will reward them with either

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academic responsibility points, or Cardinal Compliments. As for the next strategy called selfinstruction, this will provide extra motivation for some of my students to get through difficult tasks.
Because I will be teaching some students with learning disabilities, this would very helpful for them
to remind them of the correct procedures and how to behave in class and also by repeating the
directions of an assignment to themselves. I would of course need to model this and teach my
students how to do this, and because I am assisting there learning in other classes, I will work with
them on this until they transfer it to other classes. According to Dr. Robert Reid, Self-instruction
strategies can help a student perform difficult tasks, cue them to employ a strategy, or help them
remember the steps in a task.(Iris Module, SOS: Helping students become independent
learners.,2008, p. 5) Since, I will be teaching special education students, I think these different selfinstruction strategies will be the most important ones to teach for my students with special needs. I
will of course use a combination of all the different self regulation strategies to ensure the most
success for my students.
Culturally responsive classroom management strategies
The last step in developing my classroom management plan will be to make sure it aligns
with my students varying cultures. I will do this by creating a student interest survey. Because
according to Sheets and Gay, In addition to becoming aware of biases, in order to develop skills for
cross cultural interaction, teachers need to become knowledgeable of students cultural backgrounds.
(Sheets and Gay, 1996).This student interest survey will include questions designed to teach me
about the students cultural backgrounds, what their social experiences are, their prior knowledge,
and what their preferential learning styles are. There are multiple computer and worksheet based
programs I will utilized to gauge this. I will also look at their cumulative files and seek input from
their previous teachers and my students parents to find this out. As a teacher who wants to be

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culturally responsive, I will need to recognize my biases and values and reflect on how these biases
influence my expectations for behavior and my interactions with students as well as what learning
looks like in my classroom ( Martin &Sugarman, p. 9, 1993) So before I implement my classroom
organization plan, or doing the implementation process I will need to make sure I read through my
students individualized education plans, and look for any mention of how their behavior or
academics have been influenced in the past. Then using this information, I will likely need to modify
my plan depending on students needs. For example, I may need to break my lessons into smaller
pieces so that students will be able to learn the information better. Another benefit of creating
culturally responsive student surveys will be that it shows that I am interested in my students. When
students see that I am interested in them, this will create a better learning environment in my
classroom. Marzano (2003) wrote that virtually anything you do to show interest in students as
individuals has a positive impact on their learning So, I will make sure that I talk to my students
outside of class to learn more about them and their social interests. When I find out more about my
students and reduce my own biases, this will make each component of the classroom behavior and
management plan stronger and its effects will be longer lasting.
Summary
Developing this comprehensive classroom management plan has been beneficial because
it allows me to become reflective on what areas of the plan I need to change or augment. For
example, I have never used cultural responsiveness practices to make sure my plan wasnt
culturally biased. By looking at my rules and procedures, I can make sure that my rules are
positive and observable and that each of my procedures will have an easy to teach and learn
process. If not, I will need to again retool it to make sure the students can master the correct
procedures in my classroom. By teaching my students prosocial behaviors and ways to self-

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regulate behaviors that are not conducive to learning, I will enhance my students ability to
follow the rules and procedures of the classroom. And if my students choose not to follow my
rules and procedures, I will have appropriate consequences and reinforcers so that they will
eventually choose to follow the rules and procedures of the school and classroom. And by using
behavioral techniques, I may be able to change student behavior for the better, so they will be
able to function better in school and in life. I see now that each of these subheadings is integral in
the overall classroom management plan. If I do not pay attention to each part and make sure I
have the best evidence based practices to implement these parts, I will not have a very successful
plan to manage classroom behavior. I also see that if I create lessons and units that are more
motivating and engaging to students, it will create fewer opportunities for students to misbehave.
They will not misbehave because they will have no reason to. By creating better lessons, I will
make school fun again for my students and that will hopefully create momentum for them to
continue their education. Finally, by teaching my students ways to manage their behavior and
motivation, I will hopefully help in the creation of life-learners. And that is how by managing
behavior, I can also help with academic success.

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References

Bloom, L. A. (2009). Classroom management: Creating positive outcomes for all students.
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Pearson.
Hardin, C. J. (2008). Effective classroom management (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill
Prentice Hall.
Martin, J. & Sugarman, J. (1993). Models of Classroom Management, Second Edition.
Bellingham, Washington: Temeron Books Inc.
Marzano, R, Marzano, J, and Pickering, D. (2003).Classroom management that works.
Researchbased strategies for every teacher, Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development, Alexandria, VA.
Sheets, R. and Gay, G. (1996). Student Perceptions of Disciplinary Conflict in Ethnically Diverse
Classrooms. NASSP Bulletin, 80(580), 84-94.
The IRIS Center. (2008). SOS: Helping students becomeindependent learners. Retrieved
from http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/sr/