CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN
Stephen Tadevic
Connecting My Teaching Philosophy and Classroom Management
I believe in developing a strong classroom culture that promotes a safe and
orderly learning environment, creating (as Doug Lemov describes it in his book
Teach Like a Champion) “a place where students work hard, behave, model strong
character, and do their best.” The real world experiences I have gained as a student
teacher have helped me to see what works best to promote such an ideal classroom,
especially when it comes to weighing the value and promise of various educational
theories, as well as their limitations. As I wrote in my first Teaching and Learning
Statement, no teacher should restrict themselves to one theoretical framework as a
basis for their teaching philosophy, but use whichever of these puts the needs of
their students first. The same goes for any plan of classroom organization and
management; it must be open to continuous evolution, always searching for the
best possible framework and combination of strategies in order to promote that
ideal classroom—an effective and dynamic community of learners.
This approach also helps me to fulfill the other core elements that have
guided my coursework and student teaching experience—the commitment I have
made to be reflective, innovative, and committed to diversity. Being reflective will
help me to maintain and reinforce my classroom plan whenever it demonstrates
success for my students, but driving change whenever another approach might help
them even more. Adaptability to change is likewise driven by my commitment to
diversity, for each class brings with it a unique combination of learners with
different needs, all of whom and all of which determine how together we will work
with one another to create the optimal learning community. And finally, to always
keep my approach innovative, I resolve to be active in seeking out professional
development opportunities that will help me learn from the experiences of other
educators as well as my own, so that I might always make new and proven
strategies available to my students if it can improve our classroom culture and
ability to work together with one another as a learning community.
My experience interacting with a group of fellow student teachers on a
weekly basis last semester has been perhaps my most valuable professional
development experience so far. We used the book Teach Like a Champion as a
foundational text in this group, and it helped us examine all aspects of classroom
culture. As author Doug Lemov writes in the preface to his book: “…there’s a
temptation to evaluate what we do in the classroom based on how clever it is, how
it aligns with a larger philosophy, or even how gratifying it is to use, not
necessarily how effective it is in driving student achievement.” We must never
limit ourselves to the prescription of any single theoretical framework, but to
always let the needs of our students determine the best course for how to create any
classroom plan and of what essential elements they should be comprised.
Elements of the Plan
Teacher Attitude
In order to have a safe and orderly learning environment, I must remember first
that students do not automatically know what successful learning behavior looks
like, and that it is my job as a teacher to explain not just the subject I am charged
with teaching to them, but the habits and processes successful students use to learn
that subject, and to model these for them, step by step, every day in my classroom.
This begins with instilling discipline and control, from the first day of school and
from the moment students enter my classroom each and every day afterwards. In
order to make my classroom an effective and dynamic community of learners, I
will practice successful control of my classroom by remembering that, “Teachers
who have strong control succeed because they understand the power of language
and relationships; they ask respectfully, firmly, and confidently, but also with
civility and often kindly. They express their faith in students.”
Classroom Layout
Building a community of learners depends upon setting up the conditions for
students to successfully interact not just with me, but with each other. My desk
will be used primarily for administrative purposes and will be situated in a corner
of the room, close enough to the door to give me the space to welcome students to
my class and to see them off as they leave each day. I prefer to have my students
seated in one of two configurations: at tables or desks arranged in one large circle
in the classroom, or in a series of smaller circles throughout the classroom through
which I can easily move in and out.
The large circle on the outer edges will be used for instruction primarily at
the beginning of each lesson, when the entire class needs to understand all the
parameters and directions for the activities to follow, prior to breaking out into
smaller groups to work more intensively and collaboratively together. As the
website TeacherVision explains: “Desks or tables in a circle or half-circle promote
community and encourage all students to participate. Desks or tables in small
groups work especially well for classes that include collaborative activities. This
arrangement also allows the teacher to group together students with similar needs,
which makes individualized instruction easier.”
Because students come to our classrooms at all different levels of intellectual
and emotional maturity, asking them to work together collaboratively will require
accommodating diverse groups of learners, such that students who need the most
attention can be mixed with middle and high-achieving students who can help lift
them up by example. These groupings can also work to put students with similar
individualized education plans (IEPs) together so that similar accommodations can
be made for their group, modifying the lesson as directed by the students’ IEPs.
This arrangement is important also for meeting conditions established by the
constructivist approach to learning, in which students construct personally relevant
meanings of content in a collaborative learning environment. As explained by a
teacher who also uses circles as the layout for how their students are seated, in this
arrangement no student sits behind the circle or off to the sides: “[T]he class
enjoys the eye contact and facial expressions of everyone as they share ideas.
Students can ‘create knowledge, not simply absorb it from higher authorities’…in
the classroom where personal experiences are shared and learned. I believe the
circle of tables encourages discussion and in turn, students learn from each other.”
Other important elements of the classroom layout include making resources
available within the room for all students—resources that can help foster a holistic
and cross-curricular approach to learning wherever and whenever possible. An
English classroom, for example, should include a regular national news daily,
important works of nonfiction (not limited to just encyclopedic books or those that
catalog particular historical events or periods, but biographies, autobiographies,
and film documentaries as well), and catalogs of art and architecture which can
enable them to link imagination and reality so that they might identify the essential
truths in great literature and understand how they help to reflect the real world in
which these works were created. A History classroom should include great literary
works (and not just those from the conventional canon, but also from those which
promote diversity of gender and multiculturalism), plus movies or filmed theatrical
productions that depict historical events and figures of great significance. These
can also enable students with diverse learning styles to be more successful, helping
them to bring their passion for another subject to a classroom where they might
feel less enthusiastic or familiar with the subject taught there. Besides these
resources, it is important that the walls be decorated with student work as much as
possible and particularly so that the most innovative and diverse work can be
shared with everyone (and not just those assignments that adhered most faithfully
to the rules or instructions). I also believe that the walls should be decorated with
posters or any other forms of message/image designed to inspire intellectual
curiosity and creativity.
Unlike a teacher who wrote of their classroom plan that, “I don’t want my
students to engage their minds on blank white walls for fear that their minds might
become the same—blank,” I have a different belief about a blank white wall. I
believe that there should always be one blank white wall in the classroom upon
which students might focus, for as the painter George Seurat is said to have
observed (through a playwright’s depiction of him in a famous Broadway musical
about the artist): “White: a blank page or canvas…[my] favorite–so many
possibilities." Perhaps this wall could be blank at the beginning of each lesson, to
be filled with student work representing all the possibilities of which each lesson is
capable of inspiring students to create, before being stripped bare again for the next
new lesson.
Rules and Routines
Almost all of my teachers as far back as I can remember now laid out their
rules and routines in a class syllabus. I realize as I construct my own plan that I
need to consider doing this as well, as it becomes a sort of contract that you ask
both your students and their parents to sign, creating a mutual agreement between
all the parties involved to abide by some kind of rules of the road going forward. I
believe it is important that any such document be as comprehensive as possible
without being overly long, for no student or parent will even bother to actually read
it if it is more than, say, two or three pages at most. It must of course include a
statement about mutual respect for one another, agreeing to avoid insults or other
negative remarks that only harm our best efforts to work together as a community.
As for other rules (about eating, drinking, wearing hats, other policies that
should be more generally understood school-wide), I would ask for student input in
the creation of these rules of the road. Giving them such a say might result in rules
that they may then be more likely to follow and, even more importantly, accepting
consequences they would face for not abiding by these rules. This might help them
feel both empowered and protected at the same time. It might be a good idea to
post the rules as well—or at least the most essential elements of whatever these
final rules are by which we all agree to abide, such as shown in the following
example from Warren Mott High School:
As mentioned before, the book Teach Like a Champion has been an
excellent resource for the best ways to manage classroom routines. It discusses
multiple effective systems for how to best use time in a classroom—systems that
can be just as critical to creating an atmosphere that fosters success and student
engagement as any physical layout or posted set of rules. Just as rules governing
respect for one another and warning of zero tolerance for bullying can make kids
feel safer in classrooms, so too can observing rules that regulate the sequence in
which learning occurs and the expectations that come with each step in the learning
process make students feel less anxious, more prepared, and more confident about
learning. Sequence and expectations drive routines that happen in our classrooms
every day, and I endorse using techniques that author Doug Lemov has named
‘Entry Routine’ or ‘Threshold,’ ‘Do Now,’ and ‘Tight Transitions,’ plus many
others in his book, for they all help guide students to observe a safe and orderly
routine from the very first part of their experience in a classroom to the very last.
As he describes the first of these techniques, “Entry Routine is about making a
habit out of what’s efficient, productive, and scholarly, [starting from the moment]
after the greeting and as students take their seats and class begins.” What he calls “
‘Tight Transitions’ matter because, “Messy transitions are also an invitation to
disruptions and conflicts that continue to undercut the classroom environment even
after class has started.”
Of course, disruptions and conflict will never be entirely unavoidable, and
when they do occur I know that following a plan understood by both myself and
the students could be the most effective way to deal with any such issues that keep
arising. To help illustrate such a plan I will borrow from the fellow teacher I have
quoted earlier, who shares my penchant for circular seating plans (but not for the
use of blank white walls). I have broken down this teacher’s classroom plan for
consistent misbehavior into a list of my own, as follows:
1. If there is a consistent misbehavior problem, I will initially ask the
student to talk to me after class. I will talk to him/her about the positive
things they are doing in class and how I appreciate something they are
doing, such as in participating in class, for example. I will tell them why
their behavior is interfering in the class and have them meet with me later
to make a plan of how they will be able to stop the behavior.
2. In class I will give them a warning and then ask them to move to the
back of the room to work by themselves. I will always strive to keep
consequences in line with the misbehavior.
3. If the misbehavior continues, I will talk to the student and make a phone
call home. I might also ask the parent to come into school for a meeting
with the student. I think it is important to involve parents.
4. I do not believe in throwing a student out of the room unless they are
being harmful to others or me in the classroom–either physically or
verbally. I believe that misbehavior should be addressed, with the
teacher and student communicating as much as possible. I feel that
sending students to the "office" is an overused practice and may even
cause greater problems for the teacher with student and administrators.
Roles and Communication
In my short time as a pre-service teacher, I have witnessed some behavior
management problems that I feel were mishandled, and in almost every case where
this occurred, I felt the teacher may have been less sensitive when dealing with
students from one cultural or ethnic background versus how they handled students
from the dominant demographic background in the school, without perhaps even
the slightest awareness. These mishandled interactions can be more destructive
than just in terms of the teacher’s relationship with one student who feels unfairly
persecuted, but with all students from that background. I hope to create and
manage a classroom in which students from all backgrounds feel they are being
given equal and fair treatment at all times. Almost every course I have taken at
Wayne State has emphasized the importance of cultural sensitivity in our roles as
future educators, and I hope to put what I have learned into practice, accepting all
students as individuals who come to my classroom from all manner of homes and
backgrounds, with unique cultural and familial experiences that deserve the same
respect and sensitivity any student and teacher have the right to expect from one
another. Beyond the simple demands of respect and sensitivity, however, I hope to
go even further and learn how I can integrate the lives and experiences of my
students into the curriculum I teach, so that students can feel safe sharing those
experiences as a vital part of the experience of learning from each other about
whatever ideas or issues we are learning, and ultimately understanding that we are
fortunate to be part of such a diverse mosaic of fellow learners, such that we
actually celebrate our differences, using them to understand each other better and
the content of our lessons even more deeply and completely.
Another factor that contributed to the mishandling of behavior problems
mentioned before had to do with what Doug Lemov calls “emotional constancy,”
which demands that we as teachers modulate our emotions first and tie them to
student achievement secondly. I believe this must be observed at all times, in all
situations in our classrooms, for to let ourselves become inappropriately emotional
may cost us far more than our dignity in the moment it happens. As Lemov points
out, “An emotionally constant teacher earns students’ trust in part by having them
know he is always under control. Most of all, he knows success in the long run is
about a student’s consistent relationship with productive behaviors. The affect he
requires is productive, respectful, and orderly, and his goal when emotions run hot
is to deescalate. In so doing, he not only circumscribes the sorts of conflicts that
can consume a classroom, but provides an emotional rudder to help his students
return to productivity as soon as possible.” I find this kind of guidance as to how
we properly regulate our emotions as teachers in classroom allows us to fill the
role expected of us in our daily interactions with our students (and even with their
parents), but perhaps even more importantly allows students to fulfill the roles
expected of them—to be, as Lemov indicates, productive, respectful, and orderly.
In this way, our classrooms can be centers for the kinds of effective and dynamic
communities of learners that produce the best outcomes for teachers and students,
while also establishing guidelines for the most respectful and effective kinds of
communication between us and our students.
In terms of dealing with communications with parents and/or caregivers, I
am planning on being part of parent-teacher conferences in another week’s time, so
my experience with this aspect of classroom planning remains virtually nonexistent
at this point. I can, however, add this list of suggestions as a starting point for
what any teacher might want to remember when dealing with parents, which are
often cited by pre-service or beginning teachers as the number one or number two
issue they most fear about their new profession (the other being behavioral
management of difficult students):
“The following list is an excerpt from Parents on Your Side provided
through Lee Canter & Associates, 1991:
1.
Make sure you have contacted the parents or caregiver regularly about
problems before you call them for a conference.
2.
Be flexible in setting up the meeting time.
3.
Be sure you have documentation about the child's behavior for referring
to specifics during the conference.
4.
Greet the parent or caregiver warmly.
5.
Don't have the parent or caregiver sit on a student-sized chair while you
sit in a teacher's chair.
6.
Be sensitive to the feelings of others throughout the conference.
7.
Maintain eye contact.
8.
Call the parent or caregiver by name often.
9.
Say something complimentary about the student early in the conference.
10.
Be a good listener.
11.
Do not do all of the talking. Allow the parents or caregiver to voice their
concerns.
12.
Ask the parent or caregiver for their input regarding the student.
13.
Explain problems in observable and clear terms.
14.
Do not dredge up old incidents from the past already dealt with.
15.
Do not overwhelm the parent or caregiver with too many problems. Stay
focused on key issues.
16.
Do not discuss other students. If the parent or caregiver tries to shift the
blame to others, stay focused on the major reason for setting up the
conference.
17.
Make detailed notes of what was discussed. (NOTE: If possible, have
another teacher or someone from staff present as your witness.)
18.
Consider giving the parent or caregiver some concrete ideas for
behavioral management at home.”
WORKS CITED
1.
Lemov, Doug. (2010). Teach Like a Champion. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
A. Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2.
https://www.teachervision.com/classroom-management/teaching-methodsand-management/6507.html, retrieved on 02/23/15.
3.
Haysman, Colin, Stanford University.
http://people.umass.edu/~afeldman/beingnewteacher/sampleplan.html,
retrieved on 02/23/15.
4.
http://www.adprima.com/managemistakes.htm, retrieved on 02/23/15.