Supporting Elementary School Classroom Management: Implementation Study Of The CW-FIT Program

Brief Article Summary

For my journal article critique paper, I selected the article “Supporting elementary school classroom management: an implementation study of the CW-FIT program” written by Howard Wills, Joseph Wehby, Paul Caldarella, and Leslie Williams. This article focuses in on methods, in this case, the CW-FIT program, that can assist teachers with proper classroom management. The CW-FIT program in particular emphasizes teachers utilizing praise and rewards while minimizing the amount of criticism and negative talk used within the classroom and around the students. The CW-FIT program is designed with a point system in place, the students who are placed into teams, receiving points for every positive classroom behavior displayed. Goals

The reason the CW-FIT program stood out to me in particular is because instead of focusing on the negative actions of the students, it rather, highlights the positive behaviors being exemplified by the students. I think it is so important to praise students for their hard work and to let them know that their efforts are not going unnoticed. If students are constantly hearing negative feedback and are being reprimanded on a daily basis, their motivation to do well in the classroom is going to slowly wither away. After reading this article, I am extremely inclined to implement elements of the CW-FIT program in my classroom. It was evident while reading this article that this program was effective in keeping students on task, as the students are aware that if they do remain focused, they will be receiving points for their

The Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program is essentially where a teacher works at a low-income school for five years in order to gain forgiveness on some of their student loans. Based on the information that there is a higher number of students with emotional and behavioral disorders found within low-income schools, I know that the CW-FIT program is definitely going to assist me in how I structure my classroom management in particular. One of main components found in the CW-FIT program is helping students remain on task by using the point system combined with forms of praise and rewards. Therefore, this program will help students in my classroom that have a higher likelihood of getting distracted and not staying focused on the task at hand. For example, students who struggle with EBD’s such as ADHD or OCD will be better assisted with the use of the CW-FIT program as it will keep their attention on the lesson at hand. Students with EBD’s might also be sensitive to criticism as some students do not approach social situations in the same way as others. This is why the CW-FIT program is constructive in a classroom with students that have EBD’s because there is a big emphasis on being positive and making sure there is continuous praise being said to the students. With the use of this program, the students with EBD’s will have less of a likelihood to feel like an outcast or as though they are being