Running head: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO

Classroom Management Portfolio

Johnny Hughes

June 13, 2017

Capella University
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Table of Contents

I. Reflection on Philosophy Change

II. Mini-Interventions

1. Classroom Culture Change

2. Tracking Accommodations

3. Behavior Assessment

III. Reflective Journal Entries

IV. References
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I. Reflection on Philosophy Change

[Instructions: Go back to the Unit 1 discussion, “Setting the Scene for Change.” Copy
and paste it here. Then, reflect on how your classroom management philosophy has changed.
What weaknesses did you have in your classroom management before the course began? What
classroom management strengths have you developed?]

Original Reply

TCM (Tranformative Classroom Management) is described by Shindler (2010) as a

system that shows that classroom management has a long term effect on the students'

development and the teachers' successes. I see myself as a good teacher overall but can see

which areas I need to work on. If I can make these areas more efficient, I will improve my

personal teaching ability, but more importantly, will improve the education of my students.

I see my teaching habits and personality as somewhere between what Shindler (2010)

describes as a facilitator and a conductor (leaning more toward conductor). I teach 5th grade

math and science and teach two different levels of students. My first group is high level and

independent, and my second group (after lunch) functions on a much lower level and has trouble

with basic math concepts. For that lower group, I am strictly a conductor, but for the higher

group, I get to hand them the assignments and let them be more self-led, which is always more

beneficial to students and teachers.

The lower group has trouble staying on task and focusing. They are good kids, so the

discipline problems are non-existent, but if left without direct and step-by-step instruction and

goals, they will drift off, start drawing or stare at the walls. The higher group thrives on more

vague directions. They prefer over-arching daily goals and love working in cooperative learning

groups and situations.

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As a side note regarding teaching habits and classroom techniques, I was glad to see the

author state that popular strategies such as reward systems, token economies, and behavior charts

have negative long-term effects (Shindler, 2010). I personally agree with this and would prefer

the students stay on task or behave because he or she wants to and not so they can get a shiny

bauble or some other reward.

I have used a token economy in the past but learned that it works fine for a few months

then sputters out. I prefer the students just enjoy being in the classroom. When they enjoy being

in the room, they tend to naturally behave well.

I do have an admission though. Several years back, I taught in a very out of control

middle school. The students ruled and knew they could do anything without any repercussions.

The principal did not believe in disciplining the kids for any reason, so it was a rough year to say

the least. Near the last half of the year, I switched to what the book referred to as "dominator."

That year stunk.

Reflections and Changes

This course showed me I am heading the right direction in terms of how I run the class

and the attitude I need to foster a supportive and inclusive environment in the room. It also

reminded me that I need to always keep my impatience in check. While this is not a huge

problem I have, it is something I deal as a weakness. This is my issue to deal with, particularity

after after dealing with several weeks of the same inappropriate behaviors from students and

after multiple remediations and attempts to help the student change his or her inappropriate

behaviors. Those undesired behaviors hinder the educational and social experience of the child.

This upsets me, as I see myself as someone who is there to protect, educate, and help these

students achieve their personal best.

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II. Mini-Interventions

Mini-Intervention 1: Classroom Culture Change

1. Describe your current classroom management style and how it affects the

management of diverse learners. Creates a detailed description of current classroom

management practices, and includes multiple examples of most common practices

and how these practices impact the management of diverse learners.

The school I teach at is a public charter school in Aiken, SC. Our school houses grades 3k

- 8th grade, and the students are racially and culturally diverse. They are generally on a higher

academic level compared to the surrounding mainstream public schools probably due to parental

involvement. Major studies, such as the one from Henderson & Mapp (2002), find that the

children of involved parents earn higher grades and test scores, enroll in higher-level programs

are promoted, pass their classes, attend school regularly, and have better social skills. I see that at

my school. The parents have to volunteer at the school each year to keep their child enrolled, so

parental involvement is high. Also, our school did not qualify for Title-1 status this past year. If

we do not qualify next year, we lose the desired Title-1 funds. Children coming from higher

socio-economic household generally test and behave better than those coming from lower

income households have lower scores, so this could be a factor in the level of our students

(OECD, 2011).

As Schindler (2010) write, it is important to cover daily procedures, and I cover these at

the beginning of each day. To keep this clear to the students, I keep a poster on the side wall of

the classroom showing the daily routines and rituals. This contains five or six simple directions

such as: come in room quietly, get all books and utensils out, and put homework on the corner of

your desk. When we finish our daily bell-ringer, I inevitably have a student or two tell me they
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do not have a pencil or book. They then ask if they may go to the hallway cubbies and get it. I go

to my daily routine board and point to the applicable rule as a reminder that those routines are to

be followed every day, and if a student does not do so, it cuts in on learning time and affects the

other students. I always let the student get what he or she needs, but if it is a student who is a

repeat-offender, he or she loses five minutes of recess. It tends to be the same students who do

this, but after a few weeks of losing chunks of recess, the desired behavior begins to be

exhibited.

I avoid group punishments as much as possible due to the obvious unfairness to the small

number of students who never talk out of turn. Unfortunately, I have used group punishments

(time off of recess) frequently over the past few weeks due to the increasing level of talking

during times when discussion is clearly prohibited.

I have a good habit of giving behavioral expectations with every assignment. Some

assignments are group work, which involve talking, and others are single-person work. Those

must be quiet times due to the nature of the assignment. During these, I play classical music as a

cue for no talking. The students are told if they hear music in my classroom, it is quiet time. The

students are now ignoring that, and they are losing recess time. I give one “freebie” warning,

then each time I tell them to stop talking during a quiet assignment, I remove five minutes off of

their recess time. They are now averaging 10-15 minutes lost every day now, which is not fair for

the five of my 25 students who never talk out of turn.

2. Describe a classroom management practice to change and describe the desired

effects of the change in detail.

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I would like to find a different way to correctly identify and address the students who are

demonstrating negative behaviors and punish them appropriately without involving the few

students who are following the clear classroom expectations. I wish to do this for obvious

reasons. I prefer positive reinforcement overall (and use that for the majority of my classroom

procedures) but plan to continue removing small increments of recess from the students who are

not following the daily rituals and routines.

3. Propose an immediate implementation plan that targets a specific change in

classroom management.

I wish to identify the group of students who are interrupting instruction and make them

realize what they are doing to their peers. I am positive that most are doing this without the

realization that they are constantly breaking the daily expectations and are affecting their fellow

students.

I have created a plan that quietly and quickly identifies the students who are interrupting

class which leads to them seeing what they are doing and seeing they need to stop. I plan to hand

out tokens to the students when they are interrupting class. They will be instructed before-hand

(at the start of class) that if they receive a token, they must put it on the corner of their desk and

behave for the rest of the class period. If they get a token, they do not lose any recess but must

come back the next day with an essay entailing how they are hurting their fellow students and

what they plan to do to fix that undesired behavior. They will also be told that if they do not

return the completed essay the next day, I will contact the parents, but if they return it, it is gone

and forgotten. The problem is fixed, so there is no need to address it any longer regarding that

individual indecent.
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4. Develop a script to introduce and approach this management change with students

that includes specific, age-appropriate details.

I start my class each day with an overview of what we are covering and a reminder of

daily procedures and expectations. I will add the following to that expectation speech:

Script
Instructor: “Good morning, class!

As you know, behavior has changed recently, and all students are losing recess time,
despite some of you doing what you are supposed to. Everyone, check out the side
wall. (wait a moment) You will see the daily expectations that we follow every day.
Those are not being followed, and we now have an opportunity to correct some
behaviours so we can go back to having fun again, and I can teach properly.

Starting now, when you talk out of turn or talk when I am teaching, which is the main
issue currently, I will place a token on the corner of your desk. Leave it there. If you
get a token, it mean to please stop talking, and that you owe me a paper that will be
done that night. You will not lose any recess, however.

The paper will have some requirrements but will not be long. I will hand you the
rubric to it at the end of the day if you get a token. The rubric states you must tell me
three or four reasons how you talking while I am giving instruction or teahcing the
material affects your fellow students, then you will list one way that it affects me as
your teacher.

I dislike punishing you, and I really dislike you losing recess. If you lose recess, you
don't get to play, and I spend my recess time sitting with you. That is my time to enjoy
the outside weather and chat with my co-teachers, so it affects me as well.

Please stop interupping class. I give everyone lots of time each class to do group
work, so you get to interact with your friends. I just ask that you do it at the
approrpate times.”

(later on, I place a token on a student's desk and make brief eye contact before
moving on).

The next morning:

“Thank you for your essay. Please don't do it again, but it's no problem. Let's just
move on like this ever happened. Do you agree?”
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5. Describe a way to measure changes in the classroom climate based on specific

changes in instructor behaviors.

I will record the number of tokens handed out each day and compare the numbers at the

end of each day for 7 school days. I will also meet with each student to discuss what he or she

wrote in the essays to gauge if they meant what they wrote.

6. Describe the results of and reflections from each mini-intervention. What changes

did you see? Would you rate the interventions as successful or not? What data did you

collect, specifically, that helps you decide whether the interventions were successful?

I feel this mini-intervention was successful. The changes I saw were small but present.

The data I collected was through watching the class to see if there were any differences after the

new ideas were implemented.

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Mini-Intervention 2: Tracking Accommodations

Students and Accommodations

1. Identify current classroom accommodations for students with disabilities.

The school refereed to in this essay is a small public charter school. Compared to

neighboring main-stream schools, there are strikingly few students requiring accommodations

for disabilities or other learning difficulties. There are 44 students in the two classes I teach at

the school (all 5th grade), and out of those, only four of them require mild accommodations.

For those accommodations, the classroom has the following setup:

 Seating to the side of the room for students requiring extended time on assignments or for

space away for other students.

 Reserved seating near the teacher.

 Timers to ensure students get the allowed 200% more time on tests or quizzes per the

accommodation plan.

 Dark colored paper for covering sections of assignments. This is referred to as

“chunking” in the accommodation plans.

 Sound dampening headphones to minimize distractions. Note: this is not listed in any

current accommodations this year, but these are available to all students since this is a

common requirement in IEP and 504 plans.

2. Develop ideas for accommodations, including technology that may be effectively

implemented now or in the future.

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Accommodations ideas that may be used in the future would be affected and dictated by

the various disabilities of future students. These would range from minor things such as sound-

dampening headphones to more involved accommodation requirements such as books on mp3

audio for students with vision problems or special future or seating.

The use of stations for students with disabilities may be counter-productive to students as

it could make them feel isolated from the student population or “different” from others. Common

technology such as Android-based tablets (such as the inexpensive Kindle Fire) could be used at

the students' desks for individuals needing audio textbooks. This could also be used for students

who have trouble using their hands for turning pages in books.

3. Develop a plan to implement accommodations, detailing a specific change that could

be monitored for results.

As previously written, these students require very minimal and easy modifications to

their environment and curriculum. Of the four students requiring accommodations or

modifications, one is present in the classroom before lunch (first half of the day), and the other

three are in the classroom after lunch (second half of the day). A simple checklist on a clipboard

would suffice to ensure their accommodations are being met.

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Accommodation Chart

Student AA:

Accommodations Implemented To be Completed Ideas for Future

Accommodations

 Small group setting for  Yes. Ensure timers Give the student

quizzes and tests and proper assignments, quizzes,

seating are and tests early in the

 Multiple or frequent
 Yes.
available. day before the student
breaks
gets overly tired.
 Extended time for
 Yes.
assignments, quizzes, and

tests

 Yes.
 Preferential seating

Student BB:

Accommodations Implemented To be Completed Ideas for Future

Accommodations

 200% more time for  Yes. Ensure timers Record the questions

quizzes, tests, and and proper onto an audio mp3 for

 Yes.
assignments seating are for use on a tablet. The
 Yes.
available. student could wear
 Small group setting for
 Yes. headphones and take
quizzes and tests

 Yes the orally administered

Administer the
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 Preferential seating test orally to this test without disturbing

student. the rest of the class.

 Chunking of assignments

into smaller parts

 Oral administration of Give the student

assignments that do not assignments, quizzes,

asses reading (S.S. & and tests early in the

science) day so the student

would not feel rushed.

Student CC:

Accommodations Implemented To be Completed Accommodations

 Small group setting for  Yes. Ensure timers Give the student

quizzes and tests and proper assignments, quizzes,

seating are and tests early in the

 Multiple or frequent
 Yes.
available. day before the student
breaks
gets overly tired.
 Extended time for
 Yes.
assignments, quizzes, and

tests

 Yes.
 Preferential seating
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Student DD:

Accommodations Implemented To be Completed Accommodations

 Extended time for  Yes. Ensure timers Give the student

assignments, tests, and and proper assignments, quizzes,

 Yes.
quizzes up to 2 days seating are and tests early in the
 Yes.
available. day so the student
 Chunking of assignments
would not feel rushed.
so that it is not

overwhelming to him Give longer

assignments on a
 Seated near a teacher to
Friday so the student
lessen distractions
can have the weekend

to complete.

4. Develop a plan for evaluating the effectiveness of accommodations after they have

been implemented.

Progress Tracker and/or Improvement Plan will be checked and updated on a regular

basis. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2004 (IDEA) lists parents as members of

a special education team that assists the students in a successful education (South Carolina

Department of Disabilities and Special Needs , 2012). Ongoing communication with the parent

and with the school's IEP/504 officer will occur.

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5. Create an evaluation plan that details the efficacy of the approach taken in

implementing the accommodations.

The school's IEP/504 officer will work with the teacher to create a rubric and checklist

detailing possible gains for the student with the accommodations in mind. That rubric and

checklist will be updated and referenced appropriately throughout the school year and factored in

during future learning plan updates administered by the appropriate staff.

6. Describe the results of and reflections from each mini-intervention. What changes

did you see? Would you rate the interventions as successful or not? What data did you

collect, specifically, that helps you decide whether the interventions were successful?

The potential ideas and approaches were not implemented this year, but I feel they would

be successful since they are common-use concepts in classrooms. Clipboards with checklists on

them and the use of Android-based tablets are tried and true approaches. No data was collected

yet, but these are things I am planning on trying in my classroom next year.
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Mini-Intervention 3: Functional Behavioral Assessment

Behavior Assessment

1. Provide a detailed overview of a student's current behavior that needs to be

changed in order to improve the learning environment.

The current behavior that needs to be changed in order to improve the learning

environment is the student's tendencies to not work on assignments and to stop working and stare

off into the distance or engage in off-task behaviors.

The student comes in late each day due to daily scheduled interventions with learning

specialists. When he comes into the room, he is given the daily assignment. If not directed by the

teacher every few minutes, he will sit and stare at the desk, his hands, or his pencil for around a

few minutes then, he will fidget, talk, dance, twitch, and balance in his chair for several minutes

before pulling out the needed supplies for the assignment.

2. Identify the outcomes for the student's behavior change, including the rationale

for the change, the behavior goal, and the replacement behavior.

Outcomes for student behavior change would be for the student to come to class and

begin the daily assignment within a reasonable amount of time. This would help him learn the

material that he is struggling with and would distract the class less. The replacement behavior

would be him coming to class and doing the assignment in a timely manner and to stay engaged

until the assignment is finished.

3. Develop intervention procedures to implement in order to change the identified

behavior.
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An aspect of personal success that is important in this situation is for the student do

develop his internal locus of control. This would be him wanting to do well and focus on the

assignments for his own good rather than to avoid trouble or negative consequences (Shindler,

2010). Breard (1999) states that, (the) “Inner or internal locus of control means that the student is

guided in his/her actions by what is meaningful and important to him/her, not by what others

think. This may isolate the student from peers or adults in authority. This early independence

may lead others to perceive the student as 'marching to a different drummer.'” In other words, he

should do well because he wants to do well. He is also alienating himself from his peers through

his behaviors, so this plan would also help his social development and growth.

This student is much like Newton's First Law of Motion: once he is in motion, he tends to

stay in motion. There needs to be some type of set guidance to get him started, periodic

reminders to keep going, then positive feedback to congratulate him and make him see his

progress and daily successes.

The first step to get him going could be a daily routine sheet made just for this student. It

could be attached or taped to his desk, but that could possibly make him feel as though he is

being singled out or treated differently than his fellow classmates. A small, laminated card could

be given to him upon his late arrival each day. This card would have numbered steps such as:

1. Get out pencil, paper, and needed assignment supplies.

2. Ask the teacher details regarding the assignment.

3. Begin the assignment.

4. After finishing three problems or one page, ask the teacher to check the

work.
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There could be a small box to the side of each numbered step for the student to check the

box upon completion of that step. The card stock would be laminated, so a dry-erase marker

could be used to check the box. Note: different steps on a different laminated card would be

necessary depending on the assignments for that day.

Students need positive reinforcement, so this would be an important part of this

improvement plan. This student enjoys praise, but he particularly likes pleasing his mother.

Rather than praising the student every time, an email or note home once a week (to avoid over-

saturation) would go a long way to motivate this student.

Along with praise, there needs to be reinforcement. Praise and reinforcement are different

things. Praise focuses on perfection rather than progress and improvement and puts more

emphasis on the outcome rather than the experience (Hoefle, 2017). The student needs to see his

efforts are leading to self-improvement, which is making him a better student. This is related to

the aforementioned internal locus of control the student needs to develop further.

A final step would be a periodic review of the improvement plan to see if it is working

and to see if any changes or tweaks or needed for improvement. The parent should be contacted

or included in this plan so she can see the student is making progress and see the school and

teacher are making efforts to help the child achieve his personal highest potential.

4. Describe the results of and reflections from each mini-intervention. What changes

did you see? Would you rate the interventions as successful or not? What data did you

collect, specifically, that helps you decide whether the interventions were successful?

Unfortunately, the student was not present the final week of school, which is when this

plan was crafted. I am however, presenting this plan to the IEP/504 official at our school for
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potential use in his plan for the upcoming school year. Still, the use of a checklist on a card

seems to be a positive and realistic way for him to achieve his goal of staying on task more.
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III. Reflective Journal Entries

Reflective Journal: Unit 2 Entry

Think about the articles that you read this week, along with the chapters that you read in Units 1
and 2. How does this paradigm of classroom management as relationships compare to the other
classroom management theories and practices that you have used? What questions have the
readings from these first two units raised for you?
The classroom material covered social frames and the emotional bank account. The three social
frames covered by Shindler (2010) in Unit 2 were interesting. Out of the three social frames that
author covers (Responsibility-Freedom , success-recognition, and loyalty-caring), I would like to
work on the first more. Still, I like that I do success-recognition to an appropriate level and do
not do as society does and give each kid a trophy no matter who well or poorly he or she does.
Still, I believe each kid does something well, so I make a big deal about something for each
student. Unfortunately, I am dealing with parents who are realizing that their child may not pass
the grade because he or she has failed all year, and they are not used to being told that their child
failed something.
The emotional bank account concept is interesting, but tough years can really tax a teacher and
make it hard to do this. During a good year, it is particularly easy to put out extra effort
emotionally, but hard years, which can come from students, parents, administration, and even
ourselves. This makes those withdrawals particularly rough.
I do not have any questions or observations but am looking forward to material that addresses
particularly rough situations such as inner-city schools and rural schools with low academic
morale.
The textbook is pretty good, but the “No Need to Wait for Superman” article was painful to read.
The education jargon, which I understand, was overused to the point that the article became a
chore to read.
I did however, enjoy the article “Inciting Something Better than “Best Practice:” Taking a Closer
Look at the Relationships among Classroom Management Practice, School Climate and Student
Achievement” by Shindler. It concluded with some actual points and statements related to better
classroom management practices and the outcomes associated with having better practices.
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Reflective Journal: Unit 3 Entry

Think about what you have learned this week about communicating expectations to students both
positively and negatively. Reflect on a situation in which you were positively recognized by your
peers or a teacher for a task that you did skillfully. Then reflect on a time that the use of negative
recognition and chronicling of behavior has been used in your presence (either by a teacher of
yours, or by a teacher who you observed). How effective were these positive and negative
communication techniques in reinforcing or changing your behavior?

I taught for several years in a middle school that was in the middle of one of South Carolina's
biggest meth belts. The children were wonderful kids who came from rough households. One
year, I had 16 students in my homeroom, and 14 of those were being raised by their
grandmothers due to the moms being incarcerated or incapable of caring for their child. I had one
student who came in ever day smelling of ammonia (cat urine). I had learned a few months
before that the smell of ammonia signifies the student is coming from a house that has a meth lab
in it. I know the student and his mother, and him mother is a sad case. She is the stereotypical
meth junkie, and the situation breaks my heart.
The student came into my STEM lab and smelled so strongly, we had to evacuate the classroom.
This went on for days, so I asked his teacher what I could do. She said they wanted to talk to him
but were not comfortable to do so. I volunteered and took him outside and kindly explained to
him that his smell was overpowering, and we could not use the classroom because of it. I did my
best to not make him feel bad and suggested that he wash his jacket or come to me, and I would
help him wash it or replace it. He came back the next day smelling better. His teacher wrote me a
letter thanking me for my kindness regarding how I handled the situation. I still have that letter to
remind me to always be kind and think before talking to a student.

As of this writing, a few days ago, a teacher I work with snapped at a student. He really didn't
mean it, but it just came out, and the student began to cry. When I left yesterday, the parent was
in his room demanding an answer to his rude comment. I feel for him and the parent. He snapped
but should not have. The parent was mad with merit, but that unfortunately is a part of our job.
We just have to think before talking, which is really easy to say but very hard to do sometimes.
To be honest, it has happened to me, and I apologized and moved on. Sometimes we have to live
and learn and pray we are doing the right thing and presenting ourselves in the right light
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Reflective Journal: Unit 5 Entry

For your third journal entry, read the story in Reflection Box 6.5 on page 109 of Transformative
Classroom Management. Does this story represent something that really happens when a teacher
tries to reduce rewards and incentives? Describe a time that you have used (or have seen
another teacher use) rewards and incentives. What results did you see? Was this an effective or
ineffective practice?

I do see some truth to the story but also see the story as negative in its overtones. The fable runs
on the assumption that people only do things for rewards and money. While that is often true, it
clashes with the current trend of encouraging internal motivations over external ones. The author
does seem to prefer rewards overall though. In table 6.2, Shindler (2010) gives a chart showing
intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations. The author lists six extrinsic/external teaching methods with
advantages and disadvantages yet only lists two intrinsic/internal methods with disadvantages.
Every author (consciously or subconsciously) has a lean or a slant on his or her research and
writings, so I think I can surmise where Shindler's preferences lay. There seems to be a heavier
lean on external motivation throughout the book, so I tend to believe the author thinks that
humans rely more on rewards rather than doing things for self-satisfaction.

In my personal career in teaching, I have seen things both ways. If a teacher reduces rewards and
incentives, the students react depending upon individual personalities and personal background.
The teacher must gauge and decide what works best when he or she meets the students.
In my classroom, I reward the students with RC Colas upon doing something exceptional. I do
not tell them what they are trying to accomplish. I only hand out the reward when they do
something exceptional upon their own accord. This means I reward them when they do
something without expecting a reward. I am mixing the two concepts and making them become
more internally focused while still patting them on the back for doing something well.

Overall, I have learned to limit rewards because the students do become reward-based. I have
also learned that limiting rewards tends to make students become more internally motivated,
which would hopefully create habits causing the student to become a more internally motivated
individual who does not need a cookie or trophy every times he or she does something well.
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Reflective Journal: Unit 6 Entry

For this week’s journal entry, you will do some internet or library research and rely on your own
experience to write about how technology can be used as part of classroom management to keep
communication open between home and school. You might consider texting, e-mail, school-
hosted teacher Web pages, blogs, apps, and so forth. Be sure you relate the selected technology
to classroom management.
You may find this resource helpful:
Marcinek's 2014 blog post, "Classroom Management in the Tech-Equipped Classroom," from
Edutopia.

This is something I could write all day about. Parent to teacher communication is possibly the
most important tool and concept guiding a student's education. Unfortunately, it is close to
impossible to find parents in standard public schools who give a rip about their kid's education. I
know that sounds harsh, but I have always had an issue with parents. I love the kids and love
teaching the kids, but I dislike the lazy and sad state of parents and parenting in today's society.
I am blessed to teach at the only school I have ever encountered where the parents are involved
and actually take the side of the teacher when there is a grading or discipline issue. It is amazing.
I work at a public charter school where the parents have to volunteer 30 hours a year just to keep
their kid enrolled, and that works wonders all across the board. The parents are updated and on
their kids, and I have full support. I know however, that is incredibly rare and have taught at
schools where the parents are not involved and do not care.
I use Remind.com and email to contact the parents. I used to use Google Voice/Text, but Remind
is better and keeps logs of the communications. Our school requires us to have a class website
(free from Weebly.com ) and to use Remind to communicate with parents. Our school also
requires us to send home graded papers to be signed weekly, which I do along with the Remind
and emails. I have two parents who have requested more frequent updates which I gladly give.
I use my Weebly classroom site, which is www.hcahughes.weebly.com to give updates on the
two subjects I teach, has a homework section, and a resource section which gives links to the
parents for things that could help them, such as educational games and links to community
events. I use Remind to "remind" the parents about graded papers, tests, homework and needed
classroom supplies. The parents are very appreciative of all of this communication, and this
fosters teacher-parent relationships which enables me to be a better teacher to their children.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO

Reflective Journal: Unit 9 Entry

This week, you conducted an Internet search on 504 plans. For your final reflective journal
entry, summarize your understanding about students with IEPs, students with 504 plans, and
accommodations for each. How do these accommodations impact management in your
classroom?

IEP plans and 504 plans are similar in many areas but vary in some, particularly in the amount of
power or emphasis of the plan on the student's education outcomes and goals, with the IEP plan
being a stronger one (Understood, 2017).
The accommodations can impact my classroom management to varying degrees, depending on
how involved the plan(s) are and how many students are on modified learning plans. That does
not matter, however. We as teachers must morally and legally follow these plans to provide the
child with the proper and appropriate leaning environment. Also, we must follow the plans to
avoid litigation or job loss.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO

References

Breard, N. (1999). Gifted Studies. Converse College. South Carolina Department of Education.

Henderson , A. & Mapp, K. (2002). Southwest Educational Development Laboratory,. Report

Conclusion. (PDF , 87 KB, 5pp)

Hoefle, V. (2003-2017). The Difference Between Praise and Encouragement. PBS Parents.

Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/parents/expert-tips-advice/2015/05/difference-praise-

encouragement-matters/

OECD (2011), “Does socio-economic background affect reading performance?”, in PISA 2009

at a Glance, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264095250-20-en

Shindler, J. (2010). Transformative classroom management: Positive strategies to engage all

students and promote a psychology of success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs (2012). The Parent Guide to

Special Education Services In South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Education.

Retrieved from https://ed.sc.gov/scdoe/assets/file/programs-

services/173/documents/ParentGuideNov12.pdf

Understood (2017). The Difference Between IEP and 504 Plans. Understood.org. Retrieved from

https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/special-services/504-plan/the-difference-

between-ieps-and-504-plans