CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO
Alyssa Yeager
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Table of Contents
Classroom Management Philosophy…………………………………………..3
Written Narrative…………………………………………………………..4
Rules and Procedures…………………………………………………………...6
Written Narrative…………………………………………………………..8
Incentives and Responding to Behavior……………………………………….9
Community Building…………………………………………………………….10
Example Letter……………………………………………………………11
Management Portfolio Overview Brochure…………………………………..12
Classroom Management Guru………………………………………………...13
First Day of School List…………………………………………………………14
Tips and Snippets……………………………………………………………….15
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Management Philosophy
Classroom Management Beliefs
At the heart of this Classroom Management Plan are the following core principles
of my teaching philosophy.
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Respect
Safe environment
Community
Student success and learning
High Expectations
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My philosophy of classroom management:
The heart of my classroom management is student based. I think the behavior of the
class, especially in secondary, is the responsibility of the students just as much as it is the
teacher’s. My core principles of classroom management are respect, safe environment,
community, student success and learning, and high expectations.
Respect is important in any group and something students will need to learn to function
in society. Respect comes in many forms. Respect of self, respect of others (students and
teacher), respect of other’s property. In my classroom respect of self would mean not putting
yourself down. Respect of others means not putting others down or purposefully excluding
others. Respect of others also means respecting the teacher, which includes not talking while
the teacher is talking and not questioning teacher decisions. Respect of others’ property means
using music equipment in proper ways so as not to damage it, and not taking or using other
students’ belongings without their permission. I think this is a very important part of classroom
management because this is a type of preventative maintenance. If students are respecting
each other and the teacher I believe fewer issues will surface. Students don’t have to like each
other or the teacher, but if they respect each other they will be able to work together and learn
together.
Along with respect, a safe environment is imperative to classroom management.
Respect is a big part of having a safe environment. If students know I respect them and they
respect each other the class environment will feel safe. What this would look like in my
classroom is that all students would feel safe to sing and feel like they can make mistakes
without being made fun of. This is very important to me because singing is a very personal thing
and if students feel humiliated it can ruin singing for them forever.
Fostering a sense of community is also an important part of classroom management.
Having a sense of community helps have a sense of pride in an ensemble. When students have
a sense of pride in the ensemble they usually work harder to do their best and hold each other
accountable to expectations. A group of students that feel like a community work better together
and sing better together.
Student success and learning should be at the heart of all decisions. Keeping what is
best for the student in mind of all our decisions will not lead us astray. My classroom
management is in place so that my students will be able to fulfil their potential in music and so I
can help them be successful. Having this as part of my management plan will help my students
understand why the rules and expectations exist and they will respect me and the rules more for
it.
My last core concept at the heart of my management plan is high expectations. I believe
all my students have the capability to succeed in their own way in my classes and I will push
them to achieve all they can. Having high yet achievable expectations helps students push
themselves and focus on the work so there are less management issues. In a secondary setting
I plan on having one or two select ensembles that consist of the top singers. I will have different
musical expectations for those groups than of the others but it will be something all students can
aspire to. And in my experience the top level groups that have high expectations want to do
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work and make music as best they can without reminder from the teacher. This is what I want to
cultivate in my singing community.
With these concepts in mind I create all my rules and guideless for my classes. It is
important for me to keep these principles in mind as I begin and continue in my career so that I
always have good reason for my classroom management. Ultimately it is not the type of
management a teacher decides to employ that matters, it is the reasons behind the
management and the way it is implemented.
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Classroom Rules and Procedures
Classroom Rules:
 What are the key rules?
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How will they be determined?
o The rules will be determined by the teacher but students will have
the opportunity to vote on if they agree or wish to amend any rules
How will you communicate these rules to students, parents and
administrators?
o Poster of rules in the classroom that is easily referenced
o Send a letter home in the beginning of the year to parents giving
basic info of the class, including the rules
o I will give the administrators a copy of the choir hand book which
will include the rules
Will you have them written down somewhere?
o Course syllabus
o Poster in the room
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Classroom Procedures:
 How will you structure activities and lessons?
o Write agenda on the board for each class
o I will have procedures for entering the room and beginning class
 How will you inform students of deadlines?
o Deadlines/dates will be written in the syllabus and discussed at the
beginning of the year
o Students will be reminded verbally during class of upcoming
deadlines/dates
o Upcoming deadline/dates will be written on the board for all
students to view each day
 How will students ask for help?
o Students will be able to ask for help during class by raising their
hand
o I will be available before school starts in the morning and after
school for any students to come and speak with me
o If students need to contact me outside of school I will be available
by email
 How will you get the class’ attention?
o Stand in front of the class with my hand raised and wait for quiet,
students will be expected to raise their hand and stop talking when
they see me with my hand raised
 How will you structure transition times?
o While transitioning between pieces I will allow students about 30
seconds to get out their music and find where in the piece we will
be working on
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Rules and procedures narrative:
 Write an explanation of why have you chosen these rules and procedures
with a strong focus on the theories that have influenced your decisions
(Why these particular theories and not others)?
For my classroom I chose five rules that I believed to be most important.
These rules are; show respect to others and their property, demonstrate a
positive attitude, be physically and mentally prepared for rehearsal, refrain from
disruptive talking, and be on time. I feel that these rules capture the most
important ways students can contribute to a productive class. These rules come
from a perspective of classroom as a community pioneered by Alfie Kohn. These
rules are based not only on being a good student, but a good person and good
member of the community. These rules help students understand what is best for
them and their classroom community. I also chose to phrase all my rules in a
positive manner, so that the rules are what you should do and not what you
shouldn’t do. This helps to create a more positive atmosphere by focusing on the
positive. Focusing on positives is also part of Kohn’s system. I believe this is
preferable to systems that focus on punishment and what should not be done
because they tend to create frustration and negative feelings.
Many of my procedures come from Harry Wong. Wong also has a strong
focus on the positives in the classroom. He believes that procedures are a great
tool for classroom management so that a student is misbehaving all a teacher
needs to say is “and what is the procedure please?” I like Wong’s procedures
and methods of teaching procedures so that they become routines for a number
of reasons. One reason I really like his methods is that it low stress, so the
teacher can calmly enforce rules and expectations without getting worked up and
shouting, which never ends well. I also like that it empowers students and gives
them responsibility for their own actions and behaviors. This fits nicely with
Kohn’s model because he also believes that students should responsibility over
their own actions and behaviors.
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Classroom Incentives: Classroom system for encouraging positive behavior:
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How will you support students individually and as a group?
o I will try to acknowledge good behavior of individuals throughout the
rehearsal as well as assess the overall behavior at the end of class
and praise good group behavior
How will you teach this system to your students?
o I will discuss the system in the first few days of school and explain it
as well as review it as the system is implemented.
Responding to disruptive behavior:
Action steps for responding to disruptive behavior (list and explain the
steps)
Consider:
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How many “warnings” will a student get?
o A student will get 2 warnings
What will happen with each step?
o The first step will be a verbal warning, the second step
will be asking the student to meet me after class, the third
step will involve in school detention or a parent phone
call.
How will the student see your follow- through?
o The student will see me follow through by sticking to the
number of warnings/ steps and meeting with students
after class when necessary as well as speaking with
parents when necessary
How will you handle a situation with an individual student within
a group?
o As the above stated steps, but with respect
Do you involve parents? If so, at what point?
o Absolutely. Parents can be one of your best allies. I
would involve parents after multiple infractions that are
more than just a verbal warning (ie. Meeting with the
student after class, sending them to in school detention)
Do you involve an administrator? If so, at what point?
o Yes. The administrators will know my plan of action
before the school year starts and I will consult them when
I need to speak with a parent so they are “in the loop.”
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Community Building:
How will you foster a sense of community in your classroom?
 Preparing the room before school starts
 Ongoing
 Holiday Party
 Help students get to know each other during the first few weeks through games/
activities/ group work- help students find common threads
 Make use of traditions- specific pieces we sing every year etc.
 Team building exercises
 Stages of group development- Forming, storming, norming, performing
o Be aware, help them through it
 Common goal: Upholding the standard of excellence in the choirs- pride
 Choir is a serious thing, it’s not only fun, it’s not just an easy a
What role will the students and perhaps parents have in nurturing this sense of
community?
 Students will be responsible for treating each other with respect
 Students will be responsible for making all members feel included
 Students will be responsible for helping to keep their classmates responsible for
staying on task and following the classroom rules
 Parents will be responsible for helping create pride in the ensembles by
attending concerts and volunteering to help with choir needs
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Community communication:
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Include sample letters and policy statements that represent your tone of
communication (letter you might send home introducing yourself, welcoming students
& families, explaining the class expectations and rules as well as any social contracts
or things of that sort).
Dear students and families,
Welcome to the ______ High School vocal department! My name is Ms. Yeager and I will be your choir
teacher this year. I am so excited for this year and can’t wait to work with and meet you all.
I’d like to start off by helping you get to know me. I recently graduated from Grand Valley State
University with my bachelor’s degree in Music Education. While in school I spent my summers working
at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp as a counselor and a unit director. I loved working with young musicians
such as you and doing that made me even more excited to become a music teacher. I love to read for
fun and have read the Harry Potter series to many times to count. I also love to watch movies; Disney
movies are my favorite!
Our class this year will be focused on learning musical concepts through the pieces of music we study to
perform at concerts. There will be four concerts throughout the year, each with a different theme or
focus. The dates are as follows:
October 23rd
March 3rd
December 15th
May 2nd
I believe that the best way to learn is in a community environment. In our choir community we are
proud musicians and have guidelines we follow to helps us stay on track. These guidelines are as follows:
1. Respect others and their property
2. Demonstrate a positive attitude
3. Be physically and mentally prepared for rehearsal
4. Refrain from disruptive talking
5. Be on time
We will have a chance to discuss these rules and students can offer any suggestions or revisions during
the first week of class.
Please feel free to contact me by e-mail if you have any questions or concerns at any time at
example@email.com.
I look forward to getting to know you all and to a wonderful year filled with music.
Sincerely,
Alyssa Yeager
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Brochure:
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Guru(s): You liked and included – statement detailing why you have selected this specific
guru(s)
My classroom management guru is Alfie Kohn. Kohn’s classroom management model is
Building Community. I love this model because it is focused on promoting positive behaviors
and producing good people, not just good learners. I think it is very important for teachers to
help students become good people and that good learners will come with becoming good
people. This model also helps students cultivate academic motivation and achievement. I think
this is important especially for music since it is an elective and if students don’t like the class
then they don’t have to be in it. So student motivation is essential in maintaining a quality music
program. This model also believes that students are responsible for and capable of controlling
their own behavior. I also believe that students should be responsible for their own behavior,
especially as they get older. I have found that students love and thrive on responsibility. If you
give students responsibility and tell them you believe they are capable of succeeding in that
responsibility, they will rise to the challenge. This model also focuses on developing positive
teacher student relationships. This is important to me because as Theodore Roosevelt said
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
I believe this model is especially good for music classrooms because ensemble music
making is the work of a group and not many individuals. If an ensemble cannot work together as
a unit the music will suffer. Music making is so much more enjoyable and more productive when
students feel supported by the teacher and their classmates. If students are afraid to make
mistakes because they fear ridicule they will never progress as much as they could. Knowing
that making mistakes is part of the learning process and everyone does it is essential. Since
making a mistake in a music class can be heard and the student making that mistake can be
easily identified, it can be much more embarrassing than making a mistake in math or English
where only the teacher may notice a student’s mistake. So having a supportive community that
encourages each other and does not make fun of mistakes is a great classroom management
model for a music classroom.
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First day of school list:
All the things you want to do the 1st day of school or before the 1st day of school
Before the first day…
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Prepare classroom- decorations with a purpose
Prepare rules, calendar, syllabus, etc. to pass out to students and e-mail to parents
On the first day…
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Greet students at the door
Pre- arrange seats with notecards by section
Have students share some information about themselves on the back of the
notecard when they get to their seat
Have rules posted in the room
Spend most of class on rules and procedures, spend the rest on team building
o Practice the procedures
Introduce myself to the class
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Tips & Snippets – Ideas that you think will aide you in managing the classes you teach
and quick things that you can use to correct discipline
 “Freeze”
 “5-4-3-2-1”
 “Seatbelt check”
 Rest position/ playing position
 Clapping patterns repeat
 “And what is the procedure”
 “I’ll wait”
 “What is rule #....”
 Tapping on head to get attention so you don’t have to stop talking
 Eye contact and hand gestures while still instructing with voice
 Scooptacular days and scoop system