Classroom Management Plan

Classroom Management Plan

1. Be Respectful.

            In order to keep a safe classroom environment where all students can learn, each student and the teacher must be respectful to each other, in all circumstances, despite differences in beliefs, opinions, or actions.

Logical Consequence: Students who are disrespectful in any way will be addressed one-on-one and be asked to apologize to whomever was offended.

2. Be Sincere.

            In order to keep a genuine atmosphere within the classroom so that all students feel secure, each student and the teacher must be sincere in actions and comments.

Logical Consequence: Students who are insincere will be addressed one-on-one in order to derive the root of the insincerity, and the instructor will work with student to discuss sincere actions.

3. Be considerate.

            In order to maintain respect and sincerity within the classroom, each student and the teacher must be thoughtful in actions and comments.

Logical Consequence: Students who are inconsiderate will be addressed one-on-one and be asked to create a list of considerate actions. The student will also be asked to apologize to whomever was affected by the inconsiderate action.

4. Be open.

            In order to create a level of togetherness and safeness within the classroom, each student and the teacher must be tolerant of each other, despite differences in beliefs, opinions, actions, and biological variances.

Logical Consequence: Students who are intolerant will be addressed one-on-one and will be informed of the hurt that intolerance creates. The student will be asked to apologize to whomever was affected by the act of intolerance. Future acts of intolerance will require the student to research causes and effects of intolerance.

 5. Be aware of appropriate language.

            In order to maintain a safe and respectful classroom, each student and the teacher must be aware of the language utilized to communicate with one another and take special care to avoid words that are harmful to others.

Logical Consequence: Students who utilize inappropriate language will be addressed one-on-one and be asked to apologize to those who were exposed to the inappropriate language. The student will also complete a journal entry describing why appropriate language must remain in the classroom. 

Building a Transformative Teacher

Groupwork or Group Work?

Chapter one: “Groupwork as a Strategy for Classrooms”

         In this chapter of Designing Groupwork, Elizabeth Cohen highlights the importance of integrating groupwork within classroom curriculum. She asserts that groupwork is actually a form of active learning, rather than passive, as some people might label it. Furthermore, she declares that groupwork allows “students to talk together,” which in turn equates to more learning. One point that I found interesting was how Cohen states that the methods utilized to integrate groupwork are transferable. I thought that was interesting because I did not experience much groupwork during my undergraduate career, and I wonder why professors stay away from assigning group projects, especially in my discipline of Writing and Literature? It would have been interesting to partake in groupwork for those courses.

Chapter two: “Why Groupwork?”

         Cohen accentuates the positive impact of groupwork on the individual student in chapter two of Designing Groupwork. While some may argue that groupwork is ineffective and a misuse of time, Cohen points out that students who participate in properly developed groupwork projects will improve higher-order thinking, sharpen basic skills such as the retention and understanding of material, practice their oral communication skills, and further develop interpersonal skills—abilities which are critical even outside of school, in a real-world context (14-17). To help students reach their potential in these areas, Cohen asserts that teachers must utilize conceptual learning (8-9). This struck my curiosity because I haven’t seen a lot of conceptual learning in the classroom. It makes me wonder if that is because teachers are pressured to teach students how to take standardized tests? I’m an advocate for teaching higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills, so my second question: how do I do that? Why haven’t we covered this topic outside of theory and been presented useful practices?

Chapter three: “The Dilemma of Groupwork”

         It is in chapter three of, Designing Groupwork, that Cohen decides to tackle the expected criticisms of groupwork. Rather than arguing point for point why groupwork sometimes doesn’t work, Cohen gives a sociological explanation. She describes “status ordering” or social ranking as the dominant issue that infects viable groupwork and identifies several forms of it, such as expert status, academic status, peer status, and societal status (27-32). Social ranking seems inevitable yet unpredictable, according to the nature of the task presented to a group. Cohen defends groupwork as a chance for students to work past social expectations and gives students “the chance to talk, interact, and contribute” (36). Furthermore, Cohen states that groupwork will improve test scores, teach students how to treat each other as individuals rather than labels, challenge cultural prejudices, and offer an equal opportunity for all students to contribute to class (36-37).

At this point, I’m wondering why I keep spelling groupwork as one word? I’ve always spelled it (and been taught to spell it) as two words: group work, or maybe even hyphenated, group-work. However, Cohen decides to challenge this tradition and smashes it all together as groupwork. It may sound silly but this acknowledgment is somewhat symbolic: groupwork essentially is about working together, not working individually to eventually just submit a final product together. There is a certain cohesiveness to groupwork that doesn’t exist in group work. 

Ethnography Defined

3 I learned that creating an ethnography relates to drawing a caricature since an ethnographer cannot cover every detail and essentially highlights only a few major aspects of a society; I agree with making the research process as reflective as possible because new ideas or perspectives may stem from one’s reflection; I respect the quote “I am a subject, not an object” (8) because it is impossible to not be subjective, especially when making observations because of our predispositions.

2 Is it possible to go too far in one’s questioning of a school’s practices? Can an ethnography focus on one of Malinowski’s categories, such as social organization, or must all categories be covered in order to have an authentic ethnography?

1 I would like to learn more about “Causal Factor Propositions” because the “if X then Y” conversations seem to plague the teacher’s lounge, and I would like to learn how to be part of the solution not the problem, in a non-confrontational/non-know-it-all manner—especially as a new teacher.

Disrupting Tradition

3 Customized teaching (Mastering this is my goal, but is it possible in standardized schools?); Theory of multiple intelligences; Students mostly act out because they don’t understand, so as teachers, we must have empathy.

2 How can this chapter be taught using Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences? It seems that this chapter would really only work for visual learners. Who is adamant about keeping the traditional school model (politicians, administrators, teachers, students, parents, community members)?

1 I would like to learn more about Gardner’s definition for intelligence because it seems to emphasize problem solving skills and real-world application rather than IQ. Also, I would like to learn how to teach to different intelligences. 

Thoughts formulated after reading chapter one of Disrupting Class.

Week One Reading Reflection

In chapter one of Rethinking High School, the authors highlight how schools seem to be grossly out of sync with the times (20). This point resonates with me because most high schools are designed to follow a traditional model, despite how ineffective that system is in contemporary education. Rather than dismantle and recreate, officials seem to incorporate adjunct frameworks like NCLB in an attempt to alleviate the problems in education, but instead, end up aggravating the system more. Furthermore, the authors assert that “schools are designed to be conservative institutions,” (20)—an idea which has sparked my interest and which I want to investigate further. Since schools are intended to prepare students for ‘real-world’ situations, educating them using outmoded, traditionalist approaches seems detrimental to the future of youths across America, who no longer live in outdated era and need to be taught the necessary skills to help them succeed in a progressive future.

Many of the Second to None ‘components of reform’ relate to the concepts illustrated in chapter one, especially Second to None’s component of ‘creating curricular paths to success.’ Both Second to None and Best Practices High School accentuate a rigorous curriculum that promotes intellectual development. It seems that the future of education lies in integrated curriculum that promote higher-order thinking and that progressive schools, like Best Practices, are largely focusing on concepts rather than isolated facts. With the uncertainty of the future of our nation and mainly the economy, we, as educators, must ensure that we teach our students how to be thinkers, observers, and advocates so that they will be ready to solve the problems that they will face in future.