My classroom management plan is based on research done in various fields of academia including Education, Psychology and Communication.  Researchers such as Dewey, Maslow and others have demonstrated how good classroom management influences how a student learns and how a teacher teaches.  The environment in a classroom is vital to the students as well as the teacher.  Therefore, it is my job to create an environment in which a child’s social needs are being met and in which a child feels safe to inquire, secure to risk and comfortable to succeed as well as fail.  Below are some ideas that are taken from the work of Dr. George Batsche.

     Behavior is as much up to the students as it is up to the teacher.  A good choice or a bad choice is the responsibility of the student within the environment that the teacher has created.  Therefore, it is my job as a teacher to say “I am ready to begin” and it is the job of the student to be ready to learn.  If the child is not ready once the focusing principal has been mentioned, then I would say “Jen, I am ready to begin and now I am waiting.”  I would also use the principal of cueing with an agreed on signal system.  As the facilitator, I would raise a hand, flip the lights or count to five as cues for quiet.  The students would have a clear understanding that these signals are cues for quiet.

     There are many other principles that I would use as part of my classroom management.  The underlying foundation, however, is that both the teacher and the student are responsible for management in a cooperative and democratic classroom.  A democratic classroom is one in which the student has input.  A cooperative classroom is one in which the teacher and the student have responsibilities and roles within a fluid and structured environment.  In this type of classroom, the room is not in the traditional rows of desks and chairs.  The classroom would be comprised of different shaped tables with chairs, desks as well as bean-bag chairs. Students would participate in activity centers that included manipulating shapes and figures as well as drawing and artistic expression.  Students would have the opportunity to choose their activities as well as having certain assignments that they must complete.  This classroom management plan will be modified as the needs of the students change and the environment of the classroom prospers.