Management Plan

2a: Teachers foster a predictable learning environment in the classroom in which each student
has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults and peers.
It is extremely important for students to have a positive learning environment in which they have
the tools they need to succeed. In order to create a sense of respect between every person in
my classroom, we will start the year by doing people bags. In this assignment, each student will
bring in three things they feel describe who they are as people. Other students will take notes
and write connections they have with each student. My hope is that if we all get to know each
other on a more personal level, we will have more empathy and respect for each other. This will
also set the stage for collaboration with different peer groups further in the year.
As far as making the learning environment predictable, I plan to write the learning targets for the
day on the board each day, as well as the overall plan for the week. At the beginning of each
unit, we will review where we have been so far, and we will talk about the structure of the next
unit and how it will play into the year long plan.
2b: Teachers demonstrate a commitment to and respect for diversity, while working toward
common goals as a community and as a country.
In order to take every students diverse background into account, at the beginning of each
semester I will ask students to fill out an interest inventory. This inventory will give me an idea
about what each student is struggling with, where they feel like they need the most support,
their interests outside of school, their home-culture, and what they would like to learn more
about as the school year progresses. When I have this information, I will be able to take all
these things into account and address them in daily lesson plans, whole-class projects, chosen
texts, etc.
A goal for our classroom will be to learn about all the different cultures that are present in our
class. While an interest inventory will help me do that, students will also be able to do that by
getting to know each other through group collaboration and classroom assignments.
2c: Teachers engage students as individuals with unique interests and strengths.
Again, the interest inventory will help with this a great deal. However, I also want students to
have the opportunity to explore different topics they are interested in. In order to do that, my end
of semester culminating texts will include portfolios and multigenre projects in which students
choose a topic that interests them, and produces several pieces of work surrounding that topic
and research they have done on it. These types of projects allow students to show their
knowledge in different ways while also allowing them to engage with personal interests.
2d: Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of all students, including those with special
needs across a range of ability levels.
Relating back to fostering a positive learning environment, having a culture of respect is the
most important thing to me. That being said, that includes respect for the way each individual
student learns and a fostering of that knowledge and those interests. Throughout the year, I will
constantly be reflecting on what I am doing to support each student, and will be monitoring the
growth each student is showing. That being said, besides doing an interest inventory, I will

conference with each student at the end of each unit. We will talk about their behavior in the
classroom, the work they have done, their strengths and weaknesses in that work, and what
they need to do to improve on future work. This will be a time for students to advocate for their
own learning, to explain their thought processes and defend the work they have done. My hope
is that by doing this type of conference often, students will begin to feel comfortable regularly
advocating for their learning and what they want out of their education.
2e. Teachers provide proactive, clear and constructive feedback to families about student
progress and work collaboratively with the families and significant adults in the lives of their
students.
As a teacher, building a relationship with students guardians is important because we should be
partnering together to support the student the best we can. That being said, I would love to get
families involved right away by telling them about classroom expectations. However, thats the
easy part.
Aside from that, it is important to me that students have an authentic audience for assignments
they put a lot of work into. For the bigger projects such as the multigenre project, I would love to
set up a classroom gallery walk where students can present their work to their families and even
the families of other students. This would have to be done after school hours, but once the
projects are done we will make invitations in school for students to invite the important people in
their lives.
As far as learning about students support structures at home, my hope is that this relates back
to students advocating for their own learning, and they will advocate for support as well. My goal
is to have a positive, respectful relationship with each student so that they are comfortable
talking to me about these types of things.
Finally, I would like to have open lines of communication with families by communicating with
them about things their students are doing well and things they could work on, which
encompass both behavior and academics. I will communicate these things through parent
teacher conferences, and less formal communication such as emails and phone calls.
2f: Teachers create a learning environment characterized by acceptable student behavior,
efficient use of time and appropriate intervention strategies.
At the beginning of the year, one of the first things we will do as a class will be to go over
classroom expectations. We will talk through them, students will have the opportunity to ask
questions, and by the end of the first week they should be understood by every student.
I know that one of my non-negotiables is disrespect. Bullying in any manner is unacceptable in
my eyes because school can be hard for students anyway, and anyone feeling unsafe is not
something I want happening in my classroom. Respect for everyone and everything will be a
huge expectation of mine, and Im hoping that will be reflected in the class culture we create.
As far as maximizing learning time, when I am a new teacher I will ask my mentor teacher to
observe me on a few different days, and I will ask specifically that they pay attention to the time
breakdown of what is happening during class time. This was a suggestion from Pam Coke, who
told us that often times we are wasting more time than we realize, and having someone we trust
observe us is a great way to be aware of how much time we have and how we are using it.

3a: Teachers demonstrate knowledge of current developmental science, the ways in which
learning takes place and the appropriate levels of intellectual, social and emotional
development of their students.
Again, I bring up the idea of interest inventories, end of unit conferences, and tracking of
individual student growth. This will help me appropriately address student needs, and to reflect
them in my teaching. This will also help me differentiate appropriately for each student.
I believe that differentiating is definitely achievable, especially in an English classroom, and I will
do that by giving different level texts to different level students, by employing strategies that
involve visual, auditory, etc. learning styles, and by modifying grading as is suggested in Fair
Isnt Always Equal.
Students will build leadership qualities by advocating for their own learning, but they will also
have other opportunities to lead. I plan to have each student facilitate a day of learning by
teaching the class about something they are interested in. Although I will help them with the
classroom management piece if they really need it, I will expect them to have a plan for the day
and be able to follow through with that plan.
3c: Teachers demonstrate a rich knowledge of current research on effective instructional
practices to meet the developmental and academic needs of their students.
This relates to several of the other benchmarks. I will base my lessons on research strategies I
have learned throughout my time at CSU, planning and instruction will meet student needs by
conferences, being based on student inventories, multigenre projects, and opportunities for
students to teach other students about their own interests. My hope is that the leadership
qualities such as leading other students and advocating for their learning will transfer to other
areas of their lives outside of my classroom as well.
3d: Teachers thoughtfully integrate and utilize appropriate available technology in their
instruction to maximize student learning.
Technology in the classroom is something that honestly excites me because of the way it can
enhance content. There are several ways I plan to implement this, including students facilitating
learning by creating book trailers instead of writing book reports, by participating in challenges
such as National Novel Writing Month, and producing pieces of writing using technology such as
Piktocharts, Animotos, and other technology that will enhance projects. Also, technology gives
students several opportunities for communication. For example, depending on what books we
are reading in class, students may be able to video conference with the author and ask them
about the book we are reading.
3e: Teachers establish and communicate high expectations for all students and plan instruction
that helps students develop critical-thinking and problem solving skills.
As far as grading goes, I understand that I will have to conform to the grading system of the
school I am teaching at (standards-based, points-based, etc.). However, high expectations are
possible no matter what. We will go over what we will be learning throughout each unit, and by
the end of it I will expect students to have mastered that content and be able to show that

through work they do. There will be a variety of assignments throughout the year, and each one
will have clear expectations for what students should do to demonstrate their learning.
As far as absences, I will expect students to come talk to me beforehand if they know they are
going to be gone, or immediately after when they get back, in order to catch up on what they
missed when they are gone. I will allow students to make up work as long as they are
advocating for their learning by finding out what they missed. Although grades are inevitable, the
learning is what is more important to me, and over everything else I want students to show that
they are making an effort to learn the content.
3f: Teachers provide students with opportunities to work in teams and develop leadership
qualities.
Collaboration will be a huge part of my classroom so that students can learn from each other
and work together throughout the year. Depending on the strategy (jigsaw groups, think-aloud,
say something, etc.) students will be grouped differently. Different types of groupings will include
students working together based on developmental levels, interests, or areas where they are
struggling or exceeding. They will work together in class, and on technological forums such as
google docs.
Different opportunities for collaboration will also allow opportunities for students to run the
groups at different times, and facilitate what the group is doing.
3g: Teachers communicate effectively, making learning objectives clear and providing
appropriate models of language.
As mentioned before, learning objectives will be addressed at the beginning of each day, and
we will talk about the plan for the beginning of the unit.
As far as students communication skills, they will practice this through conferences, advocation,
and group work. There will also be assignments that ask students to speak in front of their
classes about the work they have done. This will include speeches and oral presentations.
3h: Teachers plan and deliver effective instruction and create an environment that facilitates
learning for their students.
Throughout the year, units will build on each other to scaffold learning for students. This will
allow me to monitor student growth easier. Based on where students are struggling and where
they are exceeding, I will alter my future instruction to meet student needs. I will use this
tracking and altering to talk to students families about their progress.
In order to encourage students to monitor their own progress, I will give them tracking sheets at
the beginning of the year that show the standards they will meet in each unit. This will allow
them to keep track of where they need more help and where they can push themselves more.
4c: Teachers are able to respond to a complex, dynamic environment.
Collaboration across content area is something that creates an opportunity for students to learn
how contents connect. In order to do this, I will look for any opportunity there is to collaborate
with other teachers. For example, in an American Literature class, I would love to collaborate

with the history teacher. When they are teaching World War 1, I could teach the class literature
from that time period to connect the two classes. There are several other opportunities for this
across every content content area, and I will constantly be looking for those opportunities.
5a: Teachers demonstrate leadership in their schools.
One of my beliefs going into the world of education is that if there are opportunities for me to get
involved in extracurricular activities, I should take them. Along with those extracurricular
activities, there is an opportunity for my own classroom curriculum to reflect the learning and
interests students are pursuing within those extracurricular activities. I will encourage students
to participate in these activities and will support them in that by getting involved as well.
5d: Teachers demonstrate high ethical standards.
Since this benchmark is very broad and can encompass several different aspects of teaching
and management, this is where I will include my original management plan. Although I have
worked through it in the answers above, I think it still has some valuable information, and I think
it is important to remember and reflect on how my thoughts surrounding this topic have changed
over time.
Original:
From observing different classrooms, I have learned that expectations are one of the most
important aspects of classroom management. When thinking about expectations, technology
immediately comes to mind. I would expect that students have their phones or other electronics
put away during class, and yet I know that will not always happen. My main thought on this
subject is that if students bring their phone to class they have to put it in a basket, or as my
cooperating teacher calls it, a phone hotel, until after class. Another cooperating teacher has
talked about this issue, and she thinks that most students feel better if they can at least see their
phone, and that is why they carry it with them all the time. At the beginning of each year I plan to
have students fill out an inventory of anything I need to know about their learning styles, and
that will help me determine if they are allowed to listen to music or use technology for different
reasons throughout the year.
An expectation that I have for sure is that students will work when I expect them to work. What I
mean by that is that students will participate in group work, they will read silently when they are
asked to, work on their writing when they are asked to, etc.
My teaching style includes a lot of collaboration and group work, and because of that my
classroom management style will be a little more relaxed and easy going, to a point. I have
never been good at enforcing strict consequences, and Im sure that will carry over to my
classroom. That being said, consequences have been something I have been thinking about
ever since we learned about Love and Logic and CHAMPS. Since Rob taught us about these
two management plans, my ideas about classroom management have developed greatly.
During instructional routines my plan is to have expectations posted, and when a student is not
meeting them, just point to them and ask them to follow expectations. If the misbehavior
continues, on the third time I will ask them to stay after class, and during that conversation I will
ask them what is going on to keep them from meeting expectations. If I have to continually ask a
student to stay after class, on the third time I will take more strict measures such as calling their
parents or getting administration involved.

I know that one of my non-negotiables is disrespect. Bullying in any manner is unacceptable in

my eyes because school can be hard for students anyway, and anyone feeling unsafe is not
something I want happening in my classroom.
As far as the physical setup of the classroom, that is something I have thought about a lot. In an
ideal classroom, all of the student desks would be set up in a circle, which is ideal for
discussion. However, usually classrooms are too small for that, and in that case I would set the
desks up in small groups, which would be ideal for group work, especially when the students are
strategically placed into groups. As far as the walls and such, I definitely dont want my
classroom to feel like a typical classroom. I plan to have decorations and posters on the walls,
hang student work on the walls, hopefully something to decract from the fluorescent lighting,
such as lamps, if they are allowed.
How to deal with positive behavior is something Im struggling with, although that seems like it
should be the easiest thing for me to wrap my head around. Im struggling with this concept
because Im not sure if students should be rewarded for acting how they are expected to act. If
so, how is it possible to keep up with that? I am, however, thinking that there should be some
type of reward for students who are showing growth and who are obviously working hard to
excel, although I havent thought all the way through that yet, and I think there is a delicate
balance between rewarding some and punishing the others.
Of everything involved with classroom management, I think non-instructional routines are the
easiest thing to wrap my head around. I plan to have the entire year outlined, but because the
progression of material rarely goes as planned, I will have in depth lesson plans for one to two
weeks at a time, which will allow for flex days if we need to spend extra time learning or
reviewing content. I would rather not give any test but would rather do culminating texts such as
portfolios or multigenre projects, but I understand that sometimes that is not possible because of
school requirements or expectations. As far as leaving work at work goes, one of the teachers I
look up to the most has told me that she blocks out specific time for grading papers and
completing other teaching related tasks, that way she limits herself to when and how much of
her time will be used for completing those things. I hope to keep work at work, but once again, I
know sometimes that is not always possible, especially when students are asked to complete
big projects or papers. I feel that this is something I will struggle with the most, and is definitely
something I will have to work on as I get used to the work load.

Mrs. Guerras Management Plan Fall 2016

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Welcome back to school!

Outlined below are the classroom management policies that will help us make the best of our
time throughout the year.
My number one requirement is that everyone is treated with respect. That includes myself, your
classmates, yourself, and any guest speakers or subs we may have throughout the year. This
means that there is zero tolerance for bullying. If you can handle this expectation, the rest
should not be a problem for you.
Phone Policy: Unless I explicitly let you know that we are using our phones during a lesson, I
do not want to see you using them during class. The first time I will ask you to put it away, the
second time I will take it and keep it until after class. If it happens again I will take it and keep it
until after school.
Attendance: If you miss class you must come talk to me before or after school so that I can
catch you up on what you missed. If you know you are going to be gone, come talk to me
beforehand and I will give you the work for that day(s).
Participation: Throughout the year we will be doing individual work, group work, whole class
discussions and several other strategies that require your participation. Depending on what we
are doing, I expect full participation in that activity. If there is any situation that you feel
uncomfortable in, I encourage you to come talk to me before or after class and we will figure it
out together.
My number one priority is your education. If there is anything you want me to know regarding
how you learn, including learning styles, learning disabilities or struggles, fears surrounding
education, or even topics you would like to learn about, I highly encourage you to advocate for
your own learning and I will do my best to work with you and your individual needs.
Its going to be a great year!
-Mrs. Guerra
When you are finished reading through the document, please sign and date it, have your parent
sign and date it, and return it to me. Thanks!
Signature:__________________________ Date:_________________
Parent Signature:____________________ Date:_________________