Classroom Management Strategies: Fostering a Positive Learning Environment, Lecture notes of Voice

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Classroom Management Plan

By: Kadia Beckford

Prof: Dr. Lisa Bloom

Good morning colleagues, I take great pleasure in welcoming you to our first presentation on classroom management. First I will be sharing my key values and beliefs, class covenant and goals. Subsequently, we will look at developing a community in the classroom, intrinsically motivating our students, developing expectation, supporting these expectations and engaging in problem solving.

KEY VALUES AND/OR BELIEFS

It is my belief that students should be seen and treated as children/students first before they are stigmatized as having a learning, mental or physical disability. Many times it is the actions of adults that cause children to react to situations the way they do. As educators, it is of great importance that we listen to and act on students’ perspectives.

KEY VALUES AND/OR BELIEFS

CONT’D

I believe that students, like adults, need to feel and not just hear, that they are cared for, loved, respected, valued, and needed. As such, it is my responsibility to ensure that students leave my classroom as changed agents, therefore I must add value to every learner’s life.

GOALS  I want my students to be responsible. They should be able to give an account for their actions.  I would like my students to develop a sense of independence which will lead to them being creative, objective and reflective.

GOALS CONT’D  I want my students, at the end of each day, to have a feeling of satisfaction resulting from them exercising generosity throughout the day.  I want my students to develop mastery at the level at which they are at and as such, feeling that they belong in my classroom.

PRACTICES TO DEVELOP GOALS

CONT’D

Independence refers to one’s sense of control over his/her own actions. Students, like adults, like to have a sense of governance over their own destiny (Bloom, 2009). To develop a high level of independence in my classroom I will spend more time listening to my students and soliciting their input in planning lessons and activities. This means that they will have a choice as it relates to seating arrangements and the types of assignments and projects given.

PRACTICES TO DEVELOP GOALS

CONT’D

Classroom meetings will be done to allow students to have a voice in the classroom. To carefully develop autonomy, my students will be engaged in self-evaluation and reflection. These reflections will be done in a reflective journals.

PRACTICES TO DEVELOP GOALS

CONT’D

Research has proven that when working in cooperative groups, students are more attuned to each other’s needs and are more willing to help each other. All my students will be actively engaged in different service clubs in the school and projects that involve service to the community, for example, structured clean up days or helping to solve problems that may arise in the community.

PRACTICES TO DEVELOP GOALS

CONT’D

Other research indicates that youths who volunteer are less likely to engage in risky behaviour (Mueller, 2005).

With a sense of being valued and respected members of the classroom, children will be “ready to learn” and will be more likely to enjoy school. A strong community creates a sense of unity and shared purpose, and children learn to care for each other (Bloom, 2009). In developing a strong classroom community I will seek to employ some strategies that have been tested and proven.

 The first strategy is to direct my attention to the social climate of the classroom. This is important as it greatly influences the students’ readiness and enthusiasm for learning. I will focus on ceremonies such as morning meetings, as these bring people together for a shared purpose such as celebrations. They generate a sense of affiliation with a particular group.

 A strong ethos of caring is another strategy that I will use to develop, facilitate, nurture and sustain an effective community in my classroom. In doing so, we will read aloud stories that highlight the importance of caring, the class will discuss specific examples of caring – these will be those seen in the classroom and otherwise – and we will set common goals and discuss common values.

 Another strategy I will be focusing on is maintenance of classroom discipline. Children view acceptable behaviour as vital to maintaining the community because they have a vested interest in the health of the group as a whole. I will place emphasis on teaching students to be responsible for their behaviour, self discipline and mutual respect.