Procedures, Climate, Communication And Student Engagement In The Classroom

To create a positive learning environment I had to think about the procedures, climate, communication, and student engagement in my classroom. At the beginning of the school year the students and I will discuss and practice the in class procedures. We will begin by discussing the morning procedure. Students will come in, hang up their backpacks, and get any materials out of their backpacks they will need. They will then sign up for lunch, which will look differently depending on the grade level. In the lower grades, students will move their name tag to their corresponding lunch choice on the smartboard. In the upper grades, there will be a clipboard located near the door. The students will mark their lunch choice next to their name as they

When all of the materials are easily accessible to the students it cuts back on the amount of wasted time. At the end of the day the teacher will call students by, group to collect their backpack and pack up. Once they have packed up they will meet on the carpeted area for an end of the day meeting. This will help control some of the chaos, allow me to wrap up the day, and build relationships in my classroom community. A classroom management procedure that we will practice is Give me Five. Kagan Cooperative Learning explains the five behaviors; eyes on the teacher, being quiet, being still, hands free of any and all materials, and listening (Kagan, 2009). This strategy is a great way to bring the class back and refocus by simply saying three words. The class will also practice procedures that apply outside of the classroom. While walking around the building students will be single file and quiet. This prevents students from distracting other classes in the building. Students will practice how and where to line up after recess and lunch. They will line up in the same spot daily to create consistency and a

During the first week of school we will play find that classmate; a getting acquainted activity. This activity requires students to find a classmate who meets a certain criteria. This will help build relationships in the classroom and require students to meet with peers they would not have any other time. I will place a birthday calendar above the cubbies in the classroom so all students can see when their peers’ birthdays are. This will help build relationships between students and show the students I care to know when their birthdays are. Additionally, we will have morning meetings every day. Some topics of discussion during morning meeting are how everyone is doing, what the students learned the day before, and a glimpse into what we will be learning. Morning meetings allow me to get an idea of where my students are at and how they are feeling about the day. I can quickly conference with students to find out how I can help and support them so they are ready for the day. Lastly, the classroom expectations will be created by the students and myself so they are in a language that the students will understand. The students will also be required to sign the rules, holding them accountable to follow the expectations (see appendix B for list of classroom