Classroom Management Plan
Josh Bollinger
4/21/16
1. Background information
This plan is intended for High School Chemistry, ranging from 10 th-12th grade. In
addition, Biology 1 or 2 are also classes that this is planned for. In regards to my
own personal philosophy to teaching, I resonate most with David Ausubel and his
ideas of meaningful learning and advance organizers. I believe, as Ausubel did, that
teaching is most effective when information is learned in comparison to prior
knowledge, or through discovery and hands on activities. We will be doing lots of
hands on activities for lab. The advance organizers are a great concept about how
information is built upon prior knowledge, or new knowledge is built on knowledge
just taught. Especially in chemistry, the material builds on itself over the year.
2. Room arrangement
The classroom setup attached displays what I think may be an ideal classroom. I
have the tables in columns of two desks, so that students have someone next to
them they can ask if they have questions and I am busy. This builds understanding
for students if they help explain the material to each other. This column method
also allows for more space for the aisles and walking through. Ideally, the teacher
desk would be up front, and having it on the side would allow for students to see the
board without a desk or my head getting in the way if I was seated. I plan on using
PowerPoint a fair amount, so having students oriented toward the board is best, and
having several white boards to show work, or have example problems worked out
on is greatly desired. I would like a low bearing bookshelf to be by the door, for
both storing my personal books and belongings, and to provide a pseudo-barrier to
students to signify that the desk corner is my space. Finally, I want to have lab
stations in the back of the room. Ideally those would be line up against the wall, but
another setup that would work just as well if not better would be to have several
rectangular islands for groups to work at. I also would need a fume hood to have
demonstrations in.
In regards to seating, students will initially know where their seats are by the
seating chart projected on the screen, or by the numbers on the desks. Each desk
will have a number, increasing from column to column, and these numbers will be
notes on the seating chart with names. This way the numbers can be kept
throughout the year, while simply changing the names.
3. Classroom Rules & Procedures
Rules Students must follow:
No talking while I am talking. There will be time to talk with your buddies at
other times than in the middle of taking notes.
Respect. Respect your classmates, your teacher, the schools property, and respect
yourself.
Be prepared: make sure you bring a pen and pencil to class, as well as a calculator
and your handouts from class. Often we will revisit notes or worksheets.
Policies:
Students should bring a pencil, pen, highlighter, paper, and calculator with them to
class. If students do not bring in their materials, they may borrow one from the
class, but if unpreparedness persists, measures will be taken to provide
consequences: like losing participation points, or doing classroom chores.
My policy on students being up out of their seats is that there can be only one
student to the bathroom at a time, and that students remain in their seats during
instruction. Loitering or standing up while taking notes will not be tolerated unless
an IEP requires it.
In regards to questions during class, I require that students speak one at a
time, and are respectful to their students and myself. This means not loudly asking
questions, and raising their hand to get my attention. I will call on students, and
they can speak freely at that point.
I require that phones be on silent/off and out of site during instruction, but if
there is an activity that the device would be useful for, I will tell students if they can
use their devices. I hold the right to confiscate their devices if I believe the
privilege is being abused.
As part of my student involvement plan, I will utilize a couple different methods
of calling on students. I will have a mental or drawn map dividing the class into
sections, and will divide who I call on by the section, rotating sections. Another
method is to have names in a hat, or the Popsicle stick method to randomly draw
names if there is little response, or only a few students keep raising their hands. In
addition, I will utilize a check in on occasion, where I have students give me a
thumbs up, thumbs down, or sideways to help me see where their comprehension
and attention level is at.
4. Managing disruptive behavior
A minor disruption such as two students chatting in the back of the classroom would
result in several non-verbal cues, such as proximity, or giving the students a look
and a finger to the lips. For a moderate disturbance such as a student talking back
to me with an attitude, a verbal warning would be the first step, either speaking
individually, or if mid-lecture out loud to reinforce the rules for everyone. For
extensive disruptive behaviors such as continued shouting or physical
aggressiveness with other students, I would get the class working on seat work and
take the student out in the hall to have a talk with them and try to resolve the issue.
If issues persist, I would send the student to the administration.
5. Assignments and Grading
I will always provide a rubric for assignments, and have instructions. Students will
be able to see what assignments are due by the calendar on my website, or by a
white board system reminding students of due dates. Parents can see what
assignments are due by the website calendar. Students will always turn their
homework into their appropriate section bin, and late work will be accepted with
point reductions depending on how late the work is. Each class period will take off
5% points of their grade, and the point amount is dependent on how much the
assignment is worth. Quizzes and tests can be made up after school, but only under
extreme and excused circumstances. If unexcused absence, then points will be
deducted from the test. My grading policy will use the point system, where
homework will be 20 points per week, participation/attendance will be worth 15
points per week, labs will range from 30-60 points depending on the style, quizzes
will be 50 points each, and tests will be 200 points each. The reasoning for this
system is because students will need to practice some of the concepts and
problems at home to provide extra reinforcement. The homework may be
completion or for correctness depending on the type of homework (review sheets
for correctness, pre-lesson concepts for completion). Participation ensures that
students are active in the classroom, and also provides me room to tweak students
grades. Quizzes are important check-ups on comprehension, which is why they are
worth so much. Again, this may vary on the size of the quiz itself. Labs provide
hands on learning, and being able to actual use the concepts learned is vital, which
is why they are worth so much. Tests are the ultimate grade, being the culmination
of the unit of information, and will have several parts to the tests, which is why they
are worth so much. I plan on giving a lot of assignments to help provide a buffer in
case students dont do well on the tests. This way students can still do well even if
they do poorly on the tests. The ideal grade weighting is: 40% Tests: 4 throughout
the year, 20% Lab: Notebook and report sheets, 20% Quiz: 1 per week, 10%
Homework, 10% Participation
6. Parental Involvement
I will contact parents at the beginning of the year through my letter home as an
introduction to my class. In addition, I will give parents my email and phone
number to contact me if they have any concerns. Being open to communication is
very important, and every 9 weeks or semester block I will send out a newsletter or
summary of what we are doing in addition to the progress report for each student to
have their parents sign and return. I will tell parents that email is the preferred
method of communication, but that they may also text or call me during the week
until 7pm.
7. Typical lesson
A typical lesson in my classroom will consist of a warm-up for when students
come in so that the class starts out being focused. This warm-up would be a few
questions that either review what was covered previously, or thoughtful questions
about information they will be learning that day. These warm-ups will be collected
at the end of the week and considered part of the participation grade. During
warm-up, I would circulate and check for homework if there had been any assigned
for that day. After warm-up, we will launch into the main lesson, which should
usually have a demonstration or an example of what we would be learning that day
to gain interest. Then I would ask students to get out their notes, or I would pass
out notes for the students to take along with the presentation. Lessons will include
information they need to know along with lots of opportunities for practice, which
they may do on their own paper, or I may have students come to the board to try.
In this way, my classroom lessons will mostly be teacher-centered, with labs to
supplement student involvement. Labs will compose much of the later class time,
along with other activities, and then I will wrap up the class period by reminding
them on the board about what assignments are due, and what tests and quizzes are
coming up.
8. Other
For my chemistry class, the only special circumstances that occur would probably
be days that we do hands on labs with chemicals. For these days I will ensure to
provide ample instruction and monitor the class at all times. Another instance is if
we take field trips to different locations such as a science museum, or a chemical
plant. This would get students excited about real-life applications.
Ideal Classroom Setup (From 2. Room Arrangement)
