When trying to create a management plan for my classroom I kept hitting a blank. During my time student teaching I had the opportunity to substitute in a variety of grades and found that no management plan worked for all grades. Instead, the different aspects need to be considered and tweaked per grade and even per class. A few thing that I greatly considered and have planned if I am placed in an upper elementary class include:
Psychosocial – The climate of a class will determine how it runs. Students need to trust you and feel safe in the class before learning can even start happening. When planning the psychosocial aspect I need to consider students past experience with school, their family history, and culture. Also, peer interactions need to be considered. I can talk with prior teachers to get a feel for which students work well together and which do not. I feel building community in the classroom will determine if management is successful.
Physical – The physical management of a classroom can be fun to manipulate and drastically change the climate and feel of a room. My ideal layout would be desks arranged in pods to encourage community, collaboration, and communication between students. I have seen both ridged rows and flexible pods. Both have their advantages, however, I feel more comfortable working and moving with pods. I also need to consider how to create different learning centers in a small space. Things get boring when we are locked into a set arrangement. Even by moving pod partners throughout the day would help spice up the learning and climate. I would love to have a reading nook or loft and observation stations set up around the room. the kids should have interesting visuals to stimulate conversation and spark learning. I introduced some squash starts last week and didn’t introduce them to the class. Throughout the day I heard a curious buzz start about our new addition to the class. The kids were making observation and having discussions with each other.
Procedural – I really like procedures and am excited to create them. Procedures help keep a flow to the classroom. They should be student centered and lead. I really like having a student take lunch count and attendance. This gives me more time to talk with other kids and get the morning rolling. There should be a designated turn-in and pick-up spot for homework. Especially in upper elementary students should know where to turn in papers and not always be asking. I hate repeating myself when the procedure has been the same all year. Also, I like having set procedures for entering/exiting the room or lining up. These can be great times to go over the afternoon schedule or talk about what’s going on in the class.
Behavioral – This was the hardest aspect for me to get used to during my student teaching. With our students there is no point or card system which I was had seen used in Missoula a lot. We do issue tickets but only for extreme behavior. This was really hard for me during the beginning of my experience. The students were testing my limits and I did not feel I had a strategy to use besides the drastic, dreaded ticket sent home. However, once I started taking over more of the teaching student started to respond to my strategies. I used choices a lot more, especially with students who were not participating during the designated time. I feel students need to have ownership of their behavior so we have class meeting to talk about respect and how to work on it as a class. And there is always time to review how to give respect. When I have my own class I know from the get-go I will need to have a strong behavior plan laid out. This will also depend on my school’s behavior policy.
Instructional – I love being a facilitator of learning rather than a lecturer. But being able to give control of the learning over to students is not an easy process. It takes practice, and a fair amount of it. This spring I tried a few times to have small groups working on different projects and it was complete chaos. Learning did happen, but not as much as I was hopping for. From the beginning we need to practice as a class how to work in groups and get the most out of that experience. It is a gradual release of control on the teacher’s part. And when it happens the results are so cool. However, this is not always possible with all classes. It goes back to the climate and behavior of a group. Sometimes it works smooth and every lesson can be in small groups. Other years I might be lucky to get three group projects in.
Organizational – Organizing come easily for me. This semester has been difficult trying to mesh my over the top organization with my co-teachers more scattered ways. It was good for me to let go of some habits I had. I like using binders and file folders for each unit. It makes it so much easier to pull out a binder and get an idea for a unit. Then you can quickly make student copies of any materials you need. I have heard of teachers organizing by month but I prefer thematic organization. That way you can mix things up and are less tied to a time frame because we all know there is never enough time to teach all we want to. My organization will only get stronger and more personalized once I have my own classroom and materials.
