Laycee Morgan

Professional Portfolio
Classroom Management Plan
My management plan uses the educational philosophy of a studentcentered classroom. In my classroom, I want my students to be
collaboratively learning with each other. I want a learning environment where
students feel safe to make mistakes and learn from them. I strongly believe
in the idea of creating autonomy within my students. I want them to be selfresponsible and understand that they are in charge of their own learning. My
management plan fits within this instructional model by continuing the idea
of students being accountable for their own behavior, as well as working as a
community to build their effective behavior.
I believe that the role of the student in the learning environment is to
be responsible for their own learning. Their success relies on how much true
effort they put in and how they engage their brain. In my classroom, I want
to inspire students to reach their full potential. I believe that striving for selfresponsibility of behavior will set students up for success in their learning.
The role of the teacher is to best understand all students learning needs and
make adjustments to the learning environment as needed. According to
Edwards, humans in general need love, acceptance, control, freedom and
fun. (pg. 304) In order to be most successful in the classroom, I need to
understand how to meet these needs for every student. I believe the student
and the teacher should work together to make the learning environment
successful. This means that students should be a part of the planning
process for everything that is happening in the classroom.
Respect and report can be established in many ways. Creating a
classroom community where everyone feels safe, respected, and heard is
essential. This can be done through a Morning Meeting, which is held
consistently every morning. This is a place where students practice their
social manners and learn how to be a good citizen/community members. If

there is not time for a meeting every day, class meetings once or twice week
allows students to feel like they are a part of a team with the teacher. This is
where classroom expectations and guidelines can be discussed. I believe a
culture of respect is established through mutual understanding of
expectations that everyone has agreed upon.
To create a culture of high expectations and learning, it is vital to begin
the year off with high expectations of the students. Clearly setting up these
expectations with students, right from the start, allows students to fully
understand what their job is. Also, I believe it is very important to teach
students that they are in charge of their own learning. Teaching students
about the idea of a fixed and growth mindset helps facilitate the
conversation with students when work gets too intense. This idea allows the
teacher to continue to hold students to high expectations, while teaching the
students how they can rise themselves up to them. When they truly believe
and understand how they are in charge of their learning, they are more likely
to persevere through those struggles and come out on top.
The first essential feature to my ideal classroom deals with where the
students work. This will depend on the grade that I teach; for younger
grades, I would prefer them to work at tables, for older students, desks
would work well. Another essential feature is a large group work space, like a
large carpet or rug. I want smaller work places too, like a round table or
reading corner. This is a place where students can go if they feel they cannot
work in their individual work space (due to loud peers or for easily distracted
students). I feel like this creates a learning environment that is welcoming
and less stressful. The next essential feature is lockers/cubbies for each
individual student. I believe is vital to students emotional wellbeing to have
a place to put their personal belongings. The next essential feature to my
classroom is technology. I want students to have quick access to either
computers, laptops or tablets. Incorporating technology seamlessly into the
classroom requires accessible technology. I believe that this feature will
support my students learning by providing a different modality of learning for

students will also providing enrichment activities that enhance

understanding of the content. Another essential feature are BOOKS and a
variety of them. I want my students to be able to access books, no matter
what their socio-economic status is. Having an arrangement of book of
varying genres in the classroom allows for easy access for all students.
Students can use these book for read-to-self practice and fluency building
activities. The final essential feature are materials such as paper, pencils,
markers, colored pencils, etc. as well as manipulatives for math like base ten
blocks, card games, clocks, etc. These types of materials are so essential to
the success of all students. My classroom would not be complete without a
good stock of these kinds of materials.
One routine that I will instill in my classroom is an attendance/lunch
count routine. I want an easy way to assess who is there that day and who
wants what to eat. Something like name clips that children move to what
they want helps students be accountable for themselves and saves the
teacher time. The second routine I would instill is lining up. I want to model
for students what effective lining up looks like (quick, quiet, and safe). This
will help students understand what is expected of them. When students line
up effectively, it cuts down on transition times. The next routine would be
how to transition between activities. Effective transitioning is very important
to the success of the learning environment. The use of a singing toy that
plays for a certain amount of time is effective. This gives the students a
tangible amount of time because they can hear their timer and know where
they need to be by the time it turns off. The last routine I would set up is
students jobs. There are many different ways to decide who is going to do
what for the classroom/school. A consistent and fair system, like a Job Chart,
allows students to know what is expected of them and keep everyone
accountable for being a part of the classroom community.
Successful transitions start with clearly explaining and modeling
expectations for transitions. Students need to know what is expected of them
and what they need to be doing in order to be effective learners in the

classroom. Once these expectations are given and modeled, the students
can easily be held accountable for doing their job. Students can even come
up with different ways they want to transition between activities. There are
all sorts of different ways to transition: arms crossed, raising the roof,
twiddling their thumbs, etc. Any of these ways can work to help students
move around the classroom effectively.
Grouping students should be vary based on the subject of the activity.
It works well to group similar skilled students in math because each student
feel that their skills are appreciated and not over looked. However, with team
building activities, grouping various types of skilled students together might
be more effective. Groupings are fluid and flexible. If a grouping is not
working, I will not hesitate to move students around in order to aid their
success. This will aid the management of the classroom because if students
are participating in more negative behavior in certain groups, they can be
moved.
A clear system for volunteers/staff will allow them to come into to the
classroom smoothly and easily. That means, they need to understand the
classroom expectations and hold themselves and students accountable
accordingly. Exactly how I plan to manage each person will be based upon
their role they plan to play. If they plan to take students out of the classroom
to do individual work, I want to make sure the volunteer/staff clearly knows
what the goal of the work is. That way, they are able to meet the needs of
the student(s). If the person plans on working within the classroom, I want
them to fully understand what their task is, as well as how they should
interact with students. Having a Welcome to Our Classroom sheet that
clearly outlines classroom expectations and guidelines is the most effective
strategy to accomplish this goal. I plan to use this sheet to talk about the
overall goal of the classroom that year and what we are trying to accomplish.
The rules for my classroom look like this: R.E.S.P.E.C.TReach out; help others- In a collaborative classroom the students are
working together to solve problems.

Enjoy your classmates- It is important to focus on the good in

everyone.
Safety First- Students need to understand the importance of safety
above all else.
Persevere when it gets tough- Not everything is going to be easy. I
want students to know they can and need to push through and keep trying,
rather than giving up. Everyone is included- No exceptions.
Clean up quickly- Time is our most valuable asset; we need to care for
it
Treat others kindly- Students will be asked to T.H.I.N.K before they
speak. Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind? If
they say no to any of those questions in their head, they are asked to keep
the thought to themselves.
I plan to teach these rules all within the very first week of school. In
order to be most successful, I believe that students should have a very clear
understanding of each of these rules early on. We will learn them through
discussing each one, modeling effective and ineffective ways to practice the
rule, and set up a system of accountability.
I plan to use a variety of types of accountability systems to reinforce
positive behavior. One is a whole class system where all the students can
work together. The Star System is where the whole class has Star Goals
that every day they are expected to follow. Each day, the class starts out
with a certain amount of stars on the board. They can earn more stars, as a
class, for demonstrating the star behavior. They can also get stars taken
away for not showing the star behavior. At the end of the day, if the whole
class earned a certain amount of stars, they earn their class marble. An
individual systems like the marble jar, where students can earn their own
marble or lose their marble, depending on how the follow the Star Goals. If
they fill up the bucket with marbles, they get to decide what kind of
celebration they want to have.
Another key component to reinforcing positive behavior in the

classroom is positive teacher-student relationships. I want to build a positive

self-concept for my students by encouraging them to take charge of
themselves, in their behavior and their learning. In his article titled,
Classroom Discipline & Management, Clifford H Edwards discusses the
importance of self-concept. I believe that focusing on the positive behavior
students are showing and using encouraging language creates power within
the students. I want this power to drive the students to make the right
choices of their own accord, rather than just doing the right thing because
they have to.
When a student is exhibiting a negative behavior, the first step I take is
to have a quick private conversation with that student. In that conversation, I
would remind the student of the expectation and how their behavior is
ineffective. I would also remind the student they can move to a different
work area where they can be more successful in their learning If my goal of
having positive student-teacher relationship with every student is in place,
that conversation might be enough to stop the problem behavior. If the
behavior continues, I would give the students a Stop Sign, which reads
Please stop what you are doing and make a more effective choice. If the
student gets another more stop sign, they lose their personal marble for the
day. If the student gets three stop signs in one day, there will be a note home
to the parent explain what happened. If the behavior continues, we will set
up a behavior plan with the parents. I believe that with positive relationships
and a consistent behavior awareness system like this, students will be set up
for success in the classroom.