Submitted by:

Rebecca Traficante
9/4/13

Sixth Grade Learning Support Classroom Roosevelt Middle School, Erie, PA

Demographics:

This classroom management plan is designed for the 6th grade Learning Support classroom at Roosevelt Middle School in Erie, PA. The school is located in an urban area and is connected to Central Tech High School. There is little technology available in this school but, this classroom has an ELMO projector. There are 11 boys in the classroom all day long. Five boys are Caucasian. Five boys are African American and one boy is Middle Eastern. One student has an aide that is with him the entire school day. All of the students are behind in all four subject areas: math, language arts, science, and social studies. Three students in the classroom are reading on a first grade level. The other students are between two and three years behind in reading. Two students in the classroom cannot write legibly. The students are arranged in the classroom sitting in pairs, while one student sits alone so that he stays on-task. So far, there have not been any behavior problems in this classroom. The students come in to the classroom and sit quietly at their desks. One student in the classroom does not stay focused or on-task. He needs extra prompting to complete work. The problem in the classroom is that the students do not participate. The students will write down their thoughts, but do not like to verbalize.

C Choose wisely L Live honorably A Act responsibly S Speak respectfully S Serve humbly

Keep your hands and feet to yourself.

Rationale: This will be a basis of showing respect for other peers and for me.

Use your inside voices.

Rationale: This will control some of the noise level in the classroom.

We raise our hands to participate in class.

Rationale: I do not want to be interrupted and so everyone in the class has a chance to participate.

Respect material in the classroom.

Rationale: I do not want materials damaged.

Be friendly and kind to others.

Rationale: To limit bullying. I will not tolerate bullying in my classroom. Consequence: Bullying will not be taken lightly in my classroom. I will notify the parent first and if it keeps persisting the student will be sent to the principals office for further consequence.

Consequences:

Warning/Verbal Reprimand

1 on 1 Meeting With Me

Notify Parent After School Detention Report to Principals Office

HOMEWORK/PLANNER: Every night, the students will take home their yellow folder that contains an agenda and their homework assignments. The students must get their planner signed each night by their guardian and bring the planner back to school the next day. Students do not have to take their folders home on Fridays because, there will be no homework. BATHROOM: If a student has to use the restroom during class, he will take the clipboard that hangs by the door. A student cannot use the restroom during instructional time. Students can also use the bathroom between periods. LINE UP: Students have to leave the classroom as a group for lunch, recess, assemblies, etc. Each week there will be a line leader who starts the line at the door. Students will line up behind him. Before the students can leave, the line must be straight and quiet. ARRIVAL: When students arrive to class, they will get their Language Arts binder out and begin their JUMPSTART and their Literacy Boards. After ten minutes, teacher will go over both morning assignments. DISMISSAL: Students cannot be dismissed until after the afternoon announcements. In order to be dismissed from class, students will need to have their homework folder/planner on their desk and complete. I will dismiss students one at a time when students are prepared.

Nonverbal Interventions
These interventions are for surface behaviors such as small off-task behaviors that can be verbal or physical movements. Planned Ignoring: Some students do these small off-task behaviors to get a reaction out of the person in charge. Planning ahead to not give feedback to the student may have the student stop on their own. Signal Interference: When students are doing small off-task behaviors such as tapping a pencil, it is not necessary for me to interrupt the class. A simple hand gesture such as sliding my finger across my neck, meaning to stop will still allow the student to understand that the behavior needs to stop. Proximity Interference: This nonverbal intervention is for when students are not doing what they should be doing. For example, if I can see that a student is reading a magazine and not reading the book that is required for the class, simply standing next to the child may make them realize that they need to stay on task and read the correct material. Touch Interference: This intervention should be used very limitedly. When I think of using this interference, I think of students who may need sympathy or empathy from me. When a student is upset and needs to calm down in order to be on task, a simple hand on the shoulder will let the student know that I am there for them and it might calm them down.

Homework/Planner: Every day the student brings their planner back to school signed by an adult and has their homework completed the student receives a stamp in their planner. At the end of the week: If the student has all four stamps from the week, the student receives a piece of candy. At the end of the month: The student is allowed to miss two homework assignments per class (social studies, math, science, language arts) to receive a pencil. At the end of the quarter: The student is allowed to miss four homework assignments per class in order to participate in the movie and pizza party.

Participation Incentive Plan

*Rationale: Out of 11 students, only two students actively participate in the classroom. This incentive plan is designed to engage the students in the classroom and to have more active participation among all the students. All of the 11 boys in the classroom love basketball. Hanging on the classroom wall will be a dry-erase participation chart with every students name. In each class period, the teacher will keep a tally chart of each students participation. Each time a student raises their hand and is called on, the student will receive one tally. At the end of the class period, the teacher will use her judgment to give each student a score of 2, 1, or 0 based upon the tallies taken during the period. 2 = excellent active participation 1 = participated but could still be more active 0 = no participation There are four periods that the students are in the classroom throughout the day. The students have a possibility of receiving eight points a day, 40 points for the week. At the end of the week if the student has received 30 out of 40 points, the teacher will rent out the gym for the last ten minutes of the day and allow the student to play basketball. At the end of the quarter, if the student has participated in basketball 7/9 Fridays, the student will participate in a basketball tournament that will be played on the Xbox that is kept in the back of the classroom.

In the classroom that I am at, there are no serious misbehaviors at the moment. The most common problem in the classroom is the lack of participation. I have created a participation incentive based around basketball and video games since there are only boys in the classroom and the majority of the boys like to play basketball or like to play video games. The homework token economy is an incentive plan that was created to have parents become more involved with their students schoolwork. The students are rewarded for completely necessary skill building activities. In this classroom management plan I have included the school-wide expectations for all students, the classroom rules, and the classroom consequences. The rules are based around respect because I believe that is the most important behavior that a student can grasp. The consequences that were created were formed in a hierarchy. If there is a persistent behavior that is occurring in the classroom, I believe that the best thing to do is contact the parent in order to see why a behavior is occurring and ways to stop the behavior. Sending a child to the principals office is the last resort in this classroom. I believe that it is the teachers responsibility to control the students in the classroom and to try different management strategies until something works for that specific student. Although, there are always exceptions to every rule; if a student performs a drastic behavior, like threatens the teacher or another student, this student will be removed immediately from the classroom and sent to administration. I believe that this management plan will work for these students because it focuses on having the students become actively involved in the classroom. The management plan is also stated in a positive way to encourage students to stay focused and to embrace the classroom.