1. Rules and Procedures

The project aims to analyze the various components required to ensure proper classroom organization by implementing effective management plan. The assignment will provide seven important components and the ways to incorporate and implement those within a diverse classroom to make sure that the students learn easily and effectively. The project will have rules and procedures explained first followed by specific behaviors that will be taught to the students. Then, the assignment will focus on the consequences and reinforcements section and then move on to the intervention strategies to ensure appropriate behavior. The project will then highlight the strategies for student motivation and engagement followed by social skills and self-regulation strategies. Lastly, the report will discuss strategies that will be used to ensure culturally responsive classroom.

Rules are very important for the teacher to make sure that the students understand what they are required and expected to do in the classroom. Further, rules allow teachers to comprehend student’s behavior as well as work on those behaviors. When teachers make rules, they expect each student to follow those and when a student fails to follow or intentionally break the rules, the teacher is able to understand that the student has some issues that need to be addressed. An effective way to develop rules is to reminisce on the rules that this candidate had to follow during her school years. Remembering those rules would help the candidate segregate the rules that are effective and those that could be ignored. Further, developing the rules are not enough to ensure that the students will follow it immediately; it is important that this candidate involve the students while creating the rules.

Similar to rules, procedures are also essential in ensuring an impressive classroom where the students are disciplined without being forced. Procedures are the instructions given to students regarding certain activities that they need to do while in school. Procedures include helping students know what they need to do when the bell rings, when they need an extra pencil, regarding their uniforms, lockers, regarding the exams and so on. the candidate must prepare the procedures in a way that allows every student irrespective of the cultural background, understand and follow those smoothly.

It is important that the candidate develop specific rules apart from the general rules that are developed by all the teachers in almost every school (Piwowar, Thiel & Ophardt, 2013). The candidate will include the following rules for the students to follow that will be class established:

Rules outside the classroom will include the following in the below paragraph.

Rule no 1 – When entering the class, the students must ask for permission from their teacher

Rule no 2 – The students should make punctuality a habit so that they are never late for school

Rule no 3 – The students should make sure that they treat everyone the way they would want them to be treated, i.e., respect them

Rules inside the classroom will include the following in the given paragraph.

Rule no 4 – The students must make sure that they participate in every class discussion and if they are not able to participate for some reason, they must inform prior to beginning of the class

Rules

Rule no 5 –The students must make sure that they also work collaboratively on assignments

Rule no 6 – If the students have any question about any subject or topic being discussed in the class, the they need to raise their hand

Rule no 7 – The students are free to question anything that they think is not right or not correct even if it involves their teacher

Rule no 8 – The students are allowed to interact with their teacher freely but they must know their boundaries

Rule no 9 – The students must take extreme care of all the equipments that are used in the classroom

Rule no 10 – Prior to leaving the class, make sure it is cleaned and all the things are put in the right places

The students need to fill up the query form after the class if the students face any issue. The query form comprises questions that are related to the problems the students face or might face within the classroom. Asking a question in the class during discussion requires the students to raise their hands first and then wait for the teacher to finish. While leaving the classroom together, the students need to form a queue. The students need to place their homework assignments in their respective desks and wait patiently for the teacher to collect those. On account of failing to turn up the homework assignment, the students must produce valid reasons in written form following which they will be given extension

The students need to perform their daily activities as per the directions given on the board and the overhead projector. To access any item for any activity, the students need to take prior permission from the teacher and then access those from the desks and shelves. During exams, the students must discuss with their teachers if they have any issues regarding the requirements and not with each other. The items for outdoor activities are kept in the shelves while the items for the indoor activities are kept in the desks. During outdoor activities, the students are to sit on the rug as per their rolls

Specific behaviors are those that help students follow the rules and procedures clearly and improve their overall classroom behavior as well (Hamre et al., 2013). The candidate must ensure that she teaches behaviors that not only help the students flourish in school but later in life as well. The candidate will make use of the Circle of Courage to teach specific behaviors to the class. Prior to that, the candidate will also try to make the students have real-world experience so that they understand beforehand, what they are expected to do in any given situation. This would also help them learn the importance of following rules and procedures.

To teach life application to the students, the candidate will invite guest speakers in the class who could provide real-life examples by sharing their experiences. It would not only interest the students but also help them learn about the importance of certain things. To provide an instance, a marine as a guest speaker is the best person to teach the students about the importance of being disciplined. The marine’s experience will help the students learn the benefits of following rules and understanding procedures like forming a queue, waiting for others to complete before responding and so on. Apart from having guest speakers in the classroom, the candidate shall take the class to field trips and let them experience the real life. The field trip will allow the students to observe and learn things without external assistance. This will help the students learn the rules and procedures without always asking others or taking help from others but by observing others. For instance, a student finds it hard to follow the procedure of accessing items for activities and observes another student or students the way they do it and then learns it on her or his own.

Procedures

One of the rules stated by the candidate for the students is to treat everyone with respect (Reinke, Herman & Stormont, 2013). It is now important for the candidate to teach specific behaviors to show the students the ways to respect others. The candidate is aware about the different cultural backgrounds of the students and thus, the different interpretation of respect for them. At first, the candidate will learn extensively about each student in the class and their cultural backgrounds as well. After that, the candidate will prepare a chart that has all the details about the cultures that every student represents. The chart will be hanged in the class and the candidate will ask each student to identify the specific symbol or terms that belong to for example, Asian culture or African culture. The students are not required to know about all those symbols and in that case, the candidate will teach them. However, learning these will help the students understand the way they need to treat their fellow classmates and teachers. When a student from a non-English speaking background raises her or his hand to ask something that she or he did not understand; other English-speaking background students must not make comments or laugh at their stutter if they do stutter. The students instead will be taught the value of helping others without making wrong judgments.

Apart from showing respect, demonstrating high level of responsibility is also an expected behavior from the students. Being responsible means that the students have awareness about their own behaviors and the way it affects the entire classroom. Responsibility, in general, refers to the accountability one has over something or someone. It also refers to the fact of having a duty where one deals with something. Within the classroom however, responsibility means performing the assigned tasks in time and with dedication, following the rules and procedures, maintaining classroom decorum amongst others. In order to teach the students about responsibility, the candidate will organize role-play at first where the students will be given different roles. The role-play could be the following:

• A student has mistakenly kicked over another student’s art project in the classroom and no one noticed it. The project was due the next day and the student whose project it was, becomes extremely upset and informs the teacher about it. The teacher then asks the entire class to narrate what happened and who did it. Here, the student faces a situation where either he or she comes forward and confesses honestly or stays quite. It is a question of responsibility. Two situations will be provided to the students.  In the first one, the student will stay quiet and would not take the responsibility. In the second situation, the student will come forward and take full responsibility of his or her actions, apologize and offer help as well. The first situation would result in the student whose project was destroyed failing and becoming depressed, taking drastic steps. The second situation would result in the student initially feeling angry with the one who destroyed the project but then would feel that it was not intentional and that the student even offered help, which would make the student happy.

Other than role-plays, some models will also be utilized to assist students. The Circle of Courage is very important model for helping students learn specific behaviors. It is a model with four quadrants – Belonging, Mastery, Independence and Generosity – and focuses on socialization, learning and youth development (Brendtro, Brokenleg & Van Bockern, 2014). This evidence-based model helps educators adopt a teaching and reaching method that addresses the problems of young students with extreme behavioral and emotional disorders.

The first quadrant, belonging, is a characteristic that developed during the Native American and First Nations era. According to them, the intrinsic value of belonging is to relate in some or the other way to everyone, one knows (Edu.gov.mb.ca, 2018). Treating other people as relatives, forms influential social bonds that bring all into “relationships of respect”. When implemented within the classroom, it cancels out the policies of expulsion and suspension. In order to make the students understand this characteristic, the candidate will make use of visual elements to show stories of belonging. Social stories will also be used to explain to the students about the importance of belonging. However, it is important to remember that the candidate has to inherit this characteristic first to pass it on to the students. Belonging could be taught to students by making them realize that if one student fails, they all will fail and if one student succeeds, they all will succeed. The candidate will prepare tasks and activities that are group-based, as it would ensure that every student feel they belong to each other.

2. Specific Behaviors to Teach to the Class

As per the second quadrant, mastery, every person strives to be competent and excel in any field he or she aspires. However, mastering an ability or skill does not mean that the person aims to be superior to another person. Mastery means that one learns from a person with superior ability and does not perceive her or him as rival. This quadrant highly encourages peer teaching, as evident from its important aspects (Edu.gov.mb.ca, 2018). Within a classroom, not every student will have the same capability; some might be exceptional in academics while others might have great sporting capabilities. Some students might excel in arts and painting while others might have skills in dancing or singing. Students should not be deprived of mastery rather they should be encouraged learn from their peers and even disseminate their skills. When this does not happen, students become frustrated and end up behaving in ways that are not congenial for the classroom environment. To help students attain mastery, the candidate will organize competitions where students will be divided into groups of two with each student having different set of skills. Both students will be asked to learn these skills from one another and apply those in the competition. In this way, they will learn the art of mastery without any rival feeling.

Independence is the third quadrant and it refers to the freedom given to individuals to make their own decisions and demonstrate personal responsibility (Edu.gov.mb.ca, 2018). In case of children especially, they should be allowed to develop self-governance and self-sufficiency. The Natives had designed a teaching process that encouraged children to solve problems on their own, make decisions and be responsible. Adults nurtured, modeled and taught values, gave feedbacks but children were provided sufficient opportunities to make choices with no compulsion. The candidate realizes well the importance of letting the students develop on his or her own and hence, will allow them to do certain things on their own while observing them from a distance. This quadrant can be implemented in situations where students are required to work in groups during class assignments.

The fourth and last quadrant in the Circle of Courage is generosity. Generosity means being unselfish and kind (Edu.gov.mb.ca, 2018). The ability to give away the most cherished things one possesses without feeling bad or upset is what generosity means. When the youth help others, they make positive contribution to the life of another human being and prove their own worthiness. The level of generosity differs in different students based on the environment in which they were brought up. Some students might demonstrate more generosity than others might because they had the environment from childhood where giving to people was celebrated. The candidate will create situations where the students have to give away anything that they hold dearly without even complaining. However, encouraging students to be generous is difficult because not all have the tendency to give and be happy. Therefore, the candidate will have to make first the students realize the joy of giving. The candidate will then act as an example where she will give away her prized possession to the student who has demonstrated any of the four quadrants.

3. Consequences and Reinforcements

When students comply by all the rules and demonstrate exceptional behavior, they are rewarded. In contrast, when the students do not follow rules and demonstrate unlawful behavior, they will have to meet consequences.

Consequences are actually part of the framework that makes it possible for rules to be followed. The students need to know the consequences of them breaking the rules beforehand. Consequences could be negative or positive. Negative consequences occur when students fail to follow a rule while positive consequences or reinforcements occur when students comply with the rules. The candidate will use class reinforcement system. The classroom reinforcement system will include sharing the rules of the classroom with the families of the students. The letter will be sent to the families and will contain details of the classroom rules. The letter is a way to let the families know that the school is taking steps toward improving the student’s overall development. The following are the consequences for non-compliance with some specific rules (Krueger, 2014):

• Failure to comply by the rule of entering the class without the teacher’s permission will not incur any severe consequence such as detention or suspension but it will draw warnings.
• The students who are found non-compliant with the rule of coming on time will face the consequence of detention if it is repeated more than three times.
• Those students who are unable to comply with the rule of treating everyone with respect and found bullying any culturally or ethnically different student, will be warned the first time and then expelled even, if they repeat the behavior.
• In addition to the above consequences, students who are found destroying classroom properties will bear the consequence of suspension after first warning.
• Students who will be found demonstrating chronic break of rules will be asked to attend the Saturday School Meeting where the candidate will supervise them
• Non-compliance with the rules mentioned will result in the loss of points not only for the individual student but also for the class

The students who demonstrate behavior that complies with all the rules of the class will be rewarded as well in the following ways:

• The candidate will keep a track of compliance and non-compliance of rules and the student who will complies the most will be rewarded with a medal of honor
• Apart from the individual student, the entire class will be rewarded if the candidate finds that most of the students of that class have repeatedly demonstrated excellent behavior
• Positive feedback from the candidate and other teachers will be given to those who will keep the cleanliness of their respective classrooms intact and on a consistent basis
• Students who will take utmost care of the classroom equipments will be rewarded with outdoor activities of their own choice
• The tags like ‘most respectful behavior’, ‘most decent behavior’ will be given to individual students as well as group of students who demonstrate quality behavior with other students especially those belonging to minority groups
• The individual student or the entire class, who has or have lost points due to non-compliance, will have the opportunity to earn it back through consistent compliance with the rules

Sometimes, managing inappropriate behavior of the students becomes quite difficult for the candidate due to improper training and knowledge about interventions (Caldarella et al., 2015). Knowledge of proper intervention strategies and ability to mold or modify these strategies as per the individual student or situation will make it easier for the candidate to manage inappropriate behavior.

Interventions focusing on students (Edu.gov.mb.ca, 2018):

• Using concrete language, that is, avoiding generalized instructions
• Keeping instructions short and on point
• Rephrasing directions or breaking those down into tiny steps
• Using visual aids
• Using pictures to demonstrate steps
• Anticipating and identifying warning signs
• Removing the students from classroom
• Questioning the student later and focusing on what could be or have been done differently
• Teaching the correct behavior in place of blaming
• Providing knowledge about preventing future outbursts

Intervention strategies will also be prepared using the Antecedent-Behavior-Consequent (ABC) Chart. The ABC chart provides a comprehensive insight into the student’s behavior prior to a problem situation (Sultan & Yin Wong, 2013).

There are various strategies which can be used to enhance student engagement and motivation. This section of the paper provides an overview of such strategies and how they can be applied to enhance motivation and engagement. One of the ways in which motivation and engagement can be enhanced is by proving opportunities to the students to depict what is valued by them the most (Cervetti, Kulikowich & Bravo, 2015).  The way in which this is to be achieved by the candidate is by initiating an art project activity where the students may cut out silhouettes with respect to themselves and decorate them with signs and symbols representing their important experience and interest. This can be a fun way to initiate the school year and would also provide an insight to the candidate into the lives of the students. This can also be done by the candidate so that the students would also be able to learn about her. The second strategy, which can be used to enhance student engagement and motivation, is by making by collecting clear date about the students.

 One of the main advantages of this is that it would help the candidate to indulge in better decision making. This would help the candidate to instantly refer to the data in the entire year when there is a decision making requirement in relation to class assessment and projects. This will allow the candidate to build on interest and strengths of the individual students. This can be done by the use of online tools which provide a digital picture of every students’ skills and interest (Shernoff et al., 2014). The third activity which can conducted to enhance student engagement and motivation is by asking them what they expect from the candidate. In this situation the candidate needs to ensure that the expectations of the students are met as far as reasonably practicable. If the students are made to feel that the candidate is taking genuine interest in waht can be done by her for the purpose of gaining the respect of the students, they will provide additional efforts to do what it takes to gain the respect of the candidate. This can be done by asking for their opinions about what they think is required to be a good teacher  and giving the best effort to meet their expectations. This will enhance engagement as they students will know that what is said by them is of importance to the candidate. Motivation can also be enhanced by having in place a reward and recognition system. This can be achieved by the candidate that any commendable effort made by the students is recognized. This will make the students to be more engaged in class room activities to gain rewards. The candidate can do so by introducing mini competitions which all students would be eager and comfortable to engage in. These may include fun games or educational activities. The Candidate can also enhance motivation by ensuring that she identifies any weak link in the students individually. This would help her to ensure that she can personally talk about the problems faced by the students to resolve them (Kahu, 2013).

4. Intervention Strategies to Manage Inappropriate Behaviors

Social skills refer to the skills that individuals use to communication with others in both verbal and non-verbal way. However, when it comes to students with disabilities like autism, social interaction becomes an issue (Autismspeaks.org, 2018). The candidate will incorporate different methods like play, role-play, social stories and visual prompts to teach social skills to differently able students.

Practicing play skills is an interesting and effective way to teach students with special needs ways to develop social skills. The candidate will use toys like a teddy to act a scene where the candidate will interact with the toy, help it get up and so on to demonstrate communication skills to the students (Wong et al., 2015).

The candidate will do a role-play in which the students will be allowed to suggest what to do with their friends. Further, the candidate will enact a situation where the candidate will have to choose between sharing one piece of cake with two people or having the piece all by herself.

To teach students with special needs, the candidate will also make use of social stories so that the students learn social skills easily. The candidate will narrate the story of a child who was alone and had no one to play with him because he did not know the fun of playing with others. This will help the students understand the importance of playing with others.

The candidate will utilize technology to make the students learn social skills through visual prompts. Videos showing children playing together, participating in group activities will be used by the candidate to demonstrate the significance of social skills to the students.

Self-regulation, on the other hand, refers to the ability of the students to regulate or monitor their own behavior. In simpler terms, self-regulation means the ability of the students to identify and rectify their own behaviors that causes problems (Schohl et al., 2014). The candidate shall use various strategies such as meditation, yoga, developing self-esteem, and balloon breathing to help students monitor their own behavior (Williford et al., 2013).

The candidate will perform meditation each day at the start of the class as that will help students stay calm throughout the day. She will make the meditation a fun activity by making it a competition for the students.

Next, the candidate will practice yoga during outdoor sessions to help students regulate their emotions in a better way. The basic yoga will be taught to the students.

Further, the candidate will focus more on reinforcements such as appreciation, praise and rewards to encourage students develop their self-esteem.

In addition, the candidate will use the practice of balloon breathing especially during situations when students feel angry or frustrated. The candidate will tell the students that their belly is like a balloon that expands and contracts when they take deep breaths. In this way, the candidate will be able to teach students to self-regulate their emotions.

The candidate will use SDAIE strategy to make the classroom a culturally response one. The specifically designed academic instruction in English or SDAIE strategy is used to teach non-English background students. It is a crucial strategy to ensure a culturally responsive classroom. The candidate will make use of the following SDAIE strategies:

5. Student Engagement and Motivational Strategies

Emphasizing academic language – the candidate will post words like neat, tidy, clean, scrubbed, impeccable and immaculate in the board and then group those under one category. Then, the candidate will encourage students to use academic language only.

Active learning – the candidate will then create situations where students are made to observe behaviors or actions and then repeat those when asked. This will ensure that each student, irrespective of culture has the opportunity to respond.

Collaborative problem solving – the students will be asked to solve problems by forming groups and working collaboratively. The candidate will observe from a distance and supervise when and if needed.  

After undertaking the assignment, I have come to the conclusion that giving equal importance to each of the given component is extremely crucial to ensure a proper and complete classroom management. I have learned that it is not enough to know just about the components and the various strategies and concepts in each component. It is important that as an educator I learn the ways to incorporate those strategies and concepts within the classroom.

Reference:

Autismspeaks.org. (2018). Social Skills and Autism | Autism Speaks. Retrieved from https://www.autismspeaks.org/social-skills-and-autism

Brendtro, L. K., Brokenleg, M., & Van Bockern, S. (2014). Environments where children thrive: The circle of courage model. Reclaiming Children and Youth, 23(3), 10.

Caldarella, P., Williams, L., Hansen, B. D., & Wills, H. (2015). Managing student behavior with class-wide function-related intervention teams: An observational study in early elementary classrooms. Early Childhood Education Journal, 43(5), 357-365.

Cervetti, G. N., Kulikowich, J. M., & Bravo, M. A. (2015). The effects of educative curriculum materials on teachers’ use of instructional strategies for English language learners in science and on student learning. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 40, 86-98.

Edu.gov.mb.ca. (2018). Circle of Courage Philosophy. Retrieved from https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/cardev/gr9_found/courage_poster.pdf 

Edu.gov.mb.ca. (2018). Classroom behavioural strategies and interventions. Retrieved from https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/specedu/fas/pdf/5.pdf

Hamre, B. K., Pianta, R. C., Downer, J. T., DeCoster, J., Mashburn, A. J., Jones, S. M., … & Brackett, M. A. (2013). Teaching through interactions: Testing a developmental framework of teacher effectiveness in over 4,000 classrooms. The Elementary School Journal, 113(4), 461-487.

Kahu, E. R. (2013). Framing student engagement in higher education. Studies in higher education, 38(5), 758-773.

Krueger, L. (2014). Academic dishonesty among nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 53(2), 77-87.

Piwowar, V., Thiel, F., & Ophardt, D. (2013). Training inservice teachers’ competencies in classroom management. A quasi-experimental study with teachers of secondary schools. Teaching and Teacher Education, 30, 1-12.

Reinke, W. M., Herman, K. C., & Stormont, M. (2013). Classroom-level positive behavior supports in schools implementing SW-PBIS: Identifying areas for enhancement. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 15(1), 39-50.

Schohl, K. A., Van Hecke, A. V., Carson, A. M., Dolan, B., Karst, J., & Stevens, S. (2014). A replication and extension of the PEERS intervention: examining effects on social skills and social anxiety in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(3), 532-545.

Shernoff, D. J., Csikszentmihalyi, M., Schneider, B., & Shernoff, E. S. (2014). Student engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory. In Applications of flow in human development and education (pp. 475-494). Springer, Dordrecht.

Sultan, P., & Yin Wong, H. (2013). Antecedents and consequences of service quality in a higher education context: a qualitative research approach. Quality assurance in education, 21(1), 70-95.

Williford, A. P., Vick Whittaker, J. E., Vitiello, V. E., & Downer, J. T. (2013). Children’s engagement within the preschool classroom and their development of self-regulation. Early Education & Development, 24(2), 162-187.

Wong, C., Odom, S. L., Hume, K. A., Cox, A. W., Fettig, A., Kucharczyk, S., … & Schultz, T. R. (2015). Evidence-based practices for children, youth, and young adults with autism spectrum disorder: A comprehensive review. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 45(7), 1951-1966.