Teacher: Alyssa Borton
Grade Level: First Grade, Full of Love
Subject: Classroom Management
School: Lincoln Elementary
Philosophy:
My philosophy of classroom management is that the classroom should be an
environment where students feel completely safe and secure. In order for a
classroom to work well and everyone to do the best they can, we have to have some
rules and guidelines. A system of rules with positive reinforcements combined with
consistent discipline for unacceptable behavior is necessary for a well-run class
where we respect each other and understands what to expect. A classroom must
have some kind of structure and an order to it so that we all know what is expected
of us.
I believe that one of the most important aspects of teaching is creating and
building the relationship between the teacher and student. Obviously, I am going to
be teaching the students, but as the year goes on I want to be a source of support
not only for their academic life but their personal lives as well. In order to begin
this relationship, even before the school year even begins, I will do my best to
connect with the families and students so we are not entering the year completely
foreign to one another. As the school year continues on I will show the students
that I am interested and excited about being in their lives by attending extracurricular activities they are involved in (sports, fine arts, etc.). I will let the
students know that I am available if they need anything. This will foster trust and
respect from the students. In the classroom setting the class will acknowledge
each other’s successes and encourage one another’s endeavors. This will create
better relationships throughout the classroom which will give opportunities to
reach the students academically.
One way to lose students’ trust and respect is to be inconsistent. Once the
teacher is inconsistent, the students will continuously push the boundaries to see
what they can get away with. If the classroom is not organized, the punishment
system will be full of empty threats, and the students will quickly lose all respect
for the teacher. When a classroom is organized, everything will run more
effectively and smoothly. Both consistency and organization will help begin a
routine, and then a habit for the students. This gives them a feeling of security
and they know what to expect each day.
Classroom Rules:
In our Full of Love classroom, we want to be sure that everyone has an equal
opportunity to learn and grow as an individual, so I have written out some rules
that everyone can follow.
1. Be ready to learn
2. Raise your hand
3. Respect yourself and others
4. Be full of love
The first rule, be ready to learn, encompasses a variety of essential and
expected behaviors. Being ready to learn means that students need to be on time
and in the classroom with enough time to accomplish the morning routine before
circle time commences. It means that students are coming to school wanting to
learn and gain new knowledge. Students need to have completed the homework so
that the information taught today will be building upon what was learned and
reviewed yesterday.
The second rule, raise your hand, is fairly simple. We must raise our hand and
wait to be called on by the teacher in order to speak out in class. This allows each
student to have opportunities to answer and participate in class. Children need to
wait until called on so that we are not all interrupting one another and that
everyone gets a full turn at having the ‘spotlight.’
Respect yourself and others is another rule that embraces many smaller rules.
Respecting others would include keeping our hands, feet, etc. to ourselves and not
bothering anyone around us. Respecting ourselves and others also means that we
are not going to use put-downs or inappropriate verbiage or actions that would
cause any kind of harm to a student.
And closing with the rule that covers many areas of life, is to be full of love. That
is the motto of our classroom this year and I am excited to see how loving and kind
we can be to one another. Being loving is something that does not necessarily come
easily to many of us and we will have to be conscious of how we are acting and work
on being kind. Being kind shows the other person that you care about them as a
person and individual, it gives them confidence in their own individuality.
Incentive Plan & Positive Consequences:
I know that we can all follow the rules and succeed in keeping our classroom full
of love! As we continue to follow these rules, there will be rewards given! Our
rewards are exciting and some of them you students will get to pick together as a
class!
1. When individuals or the class is behaving well, a marble may be placed in the
jar.
2. When the small jar is full, students will receive an extra 5 minutes of recess
AND one free homework day OR students can choose to get 3 minutes of
extra recess AND move marbles to the next jar.
3. When the middle jar fills up, students will get popcorn/snow cone/pop for an
afternoon snack AND 15 minutes of choices OR 5 extra minutes of choices
and move marbles to the big jar.
4. When the big jar fills up, students will receive a movie party!
If the whole class is doing extremely well at a certain subject, or is working
especially hard on a difficult project I can use whole-class positive reinforcers to
encourage their hard work. I would show this by bringing in brownies, making them
a special treat or putting in extra marbles for the day. Involving the parents in
positive consequences can be a huge help to teachers by providing a point of
communication to the parents as well as actively relating them to the child’s
education.
Negative Consequences:
When we choose to disobey and not do what is expected of us, there are
consequences to our choices. All of us in the class are responsible for doing our
best but when we forget to do our best, I will have to remind us. The consequences
for inappropriate behavior are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Warning
2 minutes in for Recess/ away from Class
5 minutes in for Recess
Call Parents
Send to hallway/other room
(Severe) Send to Principal
When dealing with negative consequences, I never want to misjudge and
misdiagnose the correct response to the inappropriate behavior. With this plan in
place, students are choosing knowingly to do wrong and are fully aware of the
consequences to follow their actions.
Preventative Measures:
Throughout the school year, the best way to keep students from engaging in
inappropriate behavior is to take preventative measures. Preventative measures
would include being consistent with the consequence plan which provides the
student with a knowledge that I am serious about the system in place and that it
will be carried through. Ensuring that the students know and understand the
reasoning behind the rules is essential to having good classroom management.
Another measure to take is to praise the students while they are using good and
acceptable behavior. A good teacher will be constantly perusing and walking
through the classroom in order to make sure that students are keeping on-task and
classmates are not being disruptive to one another.
I know we will follow all the rules and have a great year together and I can’t wait
to begin learning and growing in a class Full of Love with you all!