Management

Style and Philosophical Beliefs



Effective classroom management is crucial to successful teaching and
learning. Without the ability of teachers to physically manage their classroom,
including monitoring and controlling students behaviors, classrooms would
essentially be a waste of space where no learning would occur. Imagine students are
consistently displaying disruptive behaviors and teachers have poor classroom
management. The entire class would be spent in a complete whirlwind, with
negative interactions between teachers and students.

As someone with a psychology/mental health background, I sincerely believe
positive reinforcement is the key to effective classroom management. In my future
teaching practices, I intend to USE positive reinforcement significantly more than
any type of punishment. Due to this, I tend lay between the authoritative and
democratic classroom management styles. With students, I tend to be fair. I tend to
find areas to compliment and reward students. I think this is especially important
working in special education.

While I tend to be fair with students, I recognize that fair is not always equal.
I believe this statement is especially true when working with students with
behavioral disorders. Disciplinary consequences (which I already stated I aspire to
use sparingly, because I prefer reinforcement) for students with behavioral
disorders may be different than typically developing peers. For example, a student
with a behavior intervention plan who frequently lashes out verbally in class may
receive simply a nonverbal prompt for his/her action, while a student who is not on
a plan may acquire a more severe consequence. This is a concept that I struggled
with early on, but after several teachers and administrators have modeled how
effective this concept can be, I have grown to establish it as part of my philosophical
classroom management beliefs.

In conclusion, I intend to have effective classroom management by using traits
of an authoritative leader and democratic leader. In addition, I will use positive
reinforcement often and punishment sparingly. When I do need to use punishment
techniques, I will use a fair-fair isnt always equal mindset.

Establishing a Positive Classroom Culture

I plan to develop student-teacher relationships and establish a positive
classroom culture immediately upon meeting my students. I believe it is extremely
important to create a safe place within my classroom, which means I must establish
a comfortable classroom community off the bat. I believe students need to feel safe
and comfortable around their teachers AND their peers.

The ABCs of Me activity truly appeals to me, because it allows students to
share personal details about themselves. In addition, it allows students to see and
learn details about EACH OTHER, as the final products will be placed around the
classroom. To encourage students to be comfortable with their teacher, I will plan to
model the activity using my own name and details prior to the students completing
the assignment.

Developing Classroom Rules and Procedures

Prior to coming up with my complete set of classroom rules and procedures, I
intend to use the above checklist to help give me ideas of how to do so. Once again, I
have to think about this from the angle of working with special education students.
Generally speaking, students with special education needs prefer structure over
flexibility. Due to this, I will have a sketched out idea of all rules and procedures
prior to the first day of school. In addition to structure, however, students with

special education needs also enjoy the freedom of choice. This is why I decided to
have a sketched out idea not a set-in-stone idea. Students will be told the rules
and procedures that I have come up with, and they will be allowed to edit them to
allow themselves to be held accountable for their actions.

The rules in class will be relatively flexible, as students will be given a 3
strike policy before having any repercussion or consequence. Expectations will be
VERY clear for students ahead of time, and students will also be reminded of
expectations throughout the year. I believe that it is important to have the
expectations posted around the classroom, as it will provide a visual for my
students.

I will be incredibly organized and in-tune to what is going on with my
students. Again, I believe from a special education standpoint, it is ESPECIALLY
important to develop relationships with students. In addition, my roster will be
smaller than general education teachers, which will give me an opportunity to
REALLY know what is going on with my students. In addition, I will be required to
progress monitor students with academic goals, which will allow me to keep track of
student learning throughout the year.

Classroom Layout

Some things to note on my classroom layout include that the teachers desk
faces the door. This will allow me to help monitor students behaviors, as I will be
aware of who is coming in and leaving the classroom. I will also be facing students
and walking around while teaching. In addition, students will be asked often to work
together, so they will be organized as four students to one table. Since often times
students with special education needs have difficulty with sustaining attention
AND/OR behavioral difficulties, I have also provided individual desks that students
can work at (and face the wall to eliminate distraction). During my approach to
classroom management section, I spoke a lot about positive reinforcement. I have
provided two computers in my classroom to reward students who are on behavior
intervention plans by allowing them to use 5 minutes of tech time for meeting their
goals.


Monitoring the Classroom and Responding to Student Misbehavior


Once again, the category of responding to student behavior will be slightly
different for me as a special education teacher (compared to general education
teachers). First, it is extremely important to realize that many of my students will
likely be on behavior intervention plans. Due to this, it is ESPECIALLY important for
me to monitor the classroom constantly. I think this will be a relatively easy feat for
me, as I will have a smaller classroom, AND I have experience in this area as an
associate.

When students are off task, I will begin with a nonverbal prompt, such as a
headshake or a glance. If the nonverbal prompt doesnt work, I may say the
students name out loud. If that doesnt work, I may have a private conversation
with a student. I am a firm believer that a private conversation with students works
significantly better than calling students out in front of the entire class. If the
behaviors continue after the private conversation, then it may be time to consider
further consequences.

For students who are on behavior plans, I will follow the plan and have the
student complete a processing sheet, such as the one above. The processing sheet
will include the student looking into what happened and thinking of how to change
the behavior for the next time. I will generally have filling out this sheet be the main
consequence for misbehaviors. The only types of behavior that I will have zero
tolerance for in my classroom will be violent behaviors or sexualized behaviors. In
the case of these behaviors, students will be sent directly to the principal and
parents will be contacted.

Parents as Partners

I firmly believe that parent involvement in education is crucial to student
success. In special education, it will be very important for me to update parents on
how their children are performing. This is especially important in relation to IEP
goals. I will plan to communicate with parents however they feel most comfortable
email, phone call, meetings, etc. I will frequently contact parents with good news, to
lesson the negative impact of calling with not so good news.

If a parent is overly involved in his or her childs schooling, I will find ways to
invite the parent in to volunteer. As a special education teacher, I will often be
overwhelmed with paperwork which would be a great option for a parent to help
with. If a parent is NOT involved, I will continue to send good news home in hopes of
encouraging the parent to become involved. I will also invite the uninvolved parent
into the classroom and encourage participation in his or her childs homework.

As the picture above (which I love!) suggests, family is truly at the center of
being a responsible student and overall human. Parent involvement is so important,
that communication with families will be one of my main goals as a teacher. If some
of my students are not fortunate enough to have caring families, I will provide a safe
place at school and be very knowledgeable of community resources.