The Classroom Management Plan

Through your work for this course you should be beginning to develop your ideas about how best to manage your classroom. There is certainly no one best way and teachers develop their own style of classroom management. This also remains a work in progress as teachers change and develop their style according to their experiences and the classes they teach.

The purpose of this assignment is to begin this process of developing a management style that works for you. This plan will enable you to better understand how you will teach and increase your confidence in your approach to classroom management. It is proactive rather than reactive to student demands. However, in the light of the realities of your student teaching placement you may wish to amend this plan and it is essential to remain flexible. You may wish to write a new plan at the end of your student teaching and a rationale for your amendments. At this stage the plan should be seen as your ‘ideal’ as the realities of your student teaching placement may mitigate against some of your plans.

At appropriate points you should refer to the relevant theorists that we have discussed in this course.

The plan should include the following: (you should give a rationale for your choices)

1.A philosophical statement on your beliefs about classroom management. This should include a description of what you believe to be your teaching style.

2.Room arrangement map, or maps for different types of activities including a student seating arrangement, teacher desk, resources, displays, etc. You should include a written explanation of your choice of arrangement(s).

3.Classroom rules — How are they arrived at? What might they include? How are they communicated to students, parents, administrators etc.

4.Classroom procedures — How are the lessons structured? How do they start and finish? This should also include some of the principles of your assessment and grading plans.

5.A description of how you intend to encourage and respond to positive students and how you will manage students that are behaving negatively in your class. What techniques are you going to use to maximize the effectiveness of your classroom management? You should refer to specific techniques that we have discussed in class.

Sample plan

[Developed by Instructor: Colin Haysman, Stanford University]

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