Ashley MacDonald

Classroom Management Plan

Inclusivity & Diversity

No matter what the student needs, a classroom should accommodate for each
student, so learning should be done in diverse ways such as: written work, oral, art,
music, technology, etc. All students should be encouraged to learn together and
from each other!

A classroom should reflect a variety of cultures, not just the cultures that the
students identify with. A classroom that is rich in diversity makes all students feel
included, accepted, appreciated, loved, and promotes positive self-worth. In turn,
students are more likely to try new things and take risks!

Some strategies to promote diversity would be to have guest speakers, penpals,

map webs, UN day, family treasures (show and tell from the student's family), and
many more. Its important as a teacher to be a model global citizen.

Its important in a classroom to avoid too much sudden change, to promote social
interaction, to be personally warm, to include relaxation techniques, and of course
its important to foster a positive classroom environment that includes everyone. As
a teacher, empathy and compassion are extremely important and this should be
passed on and taught to students to encourage inclusion in their day-to-day lives
and in the future.

Evidently, its important to never assume anything about a student based on where
theyre from, the colour of their skin, or any other attribute. So instead of assuming,
I will allow my class to explain where theyre from. A way to promote diversity is to
explain how everyone may come from different places in the world or in our
country. As a class, we will do a map activity in which each peer puts a sticky note
or a pin on the place on the map where they identify being from. This activity will
allow students to feel included, which is definitely something I find extremely
important in a classroom.

There are various texts that can be used to promote diversity in the classroom. For
example, as a class we can study Cinderella from varying perspectives and compare
and contrast them. This would allow students to acknowledge similarities and
differences across cultures. Its important that the stories used in class are accurate

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and can relate to students lives. Another resource is Elephant and Piggie: Can I Play
Too? which is a technology-based resource aimed to teach students about
empathy and the importance of including everyone.

Not only is it important to promote cultural diversity, LGBTQIA+ students also need
to be included in the classroom. It is so important as a teacher to never make
assumptions about a students gender identity or sexual orientation. Our
classrooms should have a positive climate that includes all people. A classroom
should also be open to discussion, where we have conversations with our students
about how everyone is different and the need to celebrate these differences. Open
conversations are of utmost importance when dealing with student differences, and
having these conversations and teaching empathy is a wonderful way to encourage
children to treat each other with kindness and respect.

Additionally, its important to make it known that students can be interested in

anything they want! If a boy wants to play with dolls and loves pink - let them! If a
girl likes trucks and the colour blue, thats great! We all have different interests and
our gender or sex should not define who we are or what we like.

Having these open conversations will allow me to build rapport with students and
to create a positive learning environment. Being accepting and kind to everyone
and teaching these values to children will alleviate bullying in the school as
students learn to be empathetic.

Cooperative & Small group Learning: Growth of student autonomy

Working in small groups encourages teamwork and working together toward a

common goal and it allows for all children to have the opportunity to discuss and
learn from each other. Not only do small groups allow for students to learn how to
work with others, they are able to monitor their own learning to become
self-regulated and autonomous. The students in the group have clear expectations
and it's up to them to regulate their own learning during these activities.

Nonetheless, it's up to the teacher to give students clear expectations and to teach
students how to become autonomous during their learning by incorporating
activities that are within their zone of proximal development.

In order to promote cooperative and small group learning, the physical space
should reflect an openness to group discussion. In my own opinion, the most

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important aspects to include in the physical environment of the classroom is to
have the desks organized in groups, and to keep everything neat and tidy. Having
the desks grouped together promotes discussion; its important to facilitate
student-based discussion and to be able to concentrate on teamwork. Students
learn best when they're together! Additionally, having everything neat will ensure
that students are not too distracted and will encourage students to learn about
managing themselves and their personal belongings.

The physical space of the class should also reflect student learning; one way to
incorporate this is by displaying student artwork. Its imperative to build students
pride in their work and accomplishments, so even having their birthday on the wall
will make them feel included. However, it is important to not have too many
artifacts on the wall as this can become distracting and overwhelming.

Mindfulness

Being mindful is being focused on the present moment and it involves

concentration and self-awareness. Mindfulness in the classroom is very important,
as it allows students to reflect on their own emotions, be aware of their
surroundings, and be in control of their own attention. This will get rid of toxic
stress.

One way to incorporate mindfulness is meditation or deep breathing exercises,

which will allow the student to relax and be in tune with their bodies. This will
alleviate stress and anxiety. In terms of emotions, teachers should facilitate open
discussions about feelings and current emotions. My class will have circle time in
which students discuss how they are feeling at the present moment. Students will
also be encouraged to be aware of social surroundings and encourage respect for
others with random acts of kindness. The encouragement will also include
awareness of the community and environment that the child is a part of. One way
to do this is to give them a fruit, allow them to taste it and experience it. Then, lead
a discussion about how this food came to be, albeit the farming, the seed, etc. This
could lead to discussions about farming, and create links to language arts and
science.

A resource that could be used in the class is a calm down jar: a bottle with glitter
that the students shake and watch until the glitter and water are separated.
Allowing the students to focus on one activity will help them be able to focus and
concentrate on what theyre doing and not whats going on in their lives.

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Not only should we encourage students to be mindful, teachers should practice
mindfulness too in order to maintain a positive classroom climate.

Motivation, Rewards, and Consequences

One way to motivate students is to incorporate the interests of the students into the
lesson. If the student enjoys what theyre doing and are passionate about it, they
are more likely to be intrinsically motivated to complete their work. Also, teachers
should set the students up to succeed. Success and motivation work together, and
will facilitate student learning. If students feel like theyll succeed, they probably
will! Positive comments will also motivate students to complete their tasks, as they
feel as though their work is appreciated and acknowledged. Another way to
motivate students is through extrinsic motivation, which could include a token
system.

Although I am not a huge fan of the idea of reinforcement in this way, a great way
to include tokens in your class is working together for a common goal. To do this,
when each student is doing something positive, they get a marble or token. At the
end of the week, all the students fill a bucket with the tokens they acquired for a
class reward, such as a pyjama day or movie day at the end of the month or
semester.

Consequences have to encourage or discourage behaviour or deviation from the

class rules in a way that works. If a consequence does not facilitate improvement
regarding a specific behaviour, then it is not logical! There should be a teaching
element to the consequence, and the consequence should be directly related to the
problem. Additionally, the student should understand why they are being punished
or rewarded for their behaviour, and may even be included in the decision for the
consequence.

Examples of two different consequence:

1. Detention for forgetting a pencil - This doesnt make sense
2. A student knocks over a jug of paint during a tantrum, the teacher told the
student that the custodian works really hard to keep the school clean, and
gets the student to help the custodian with the cleanup, with the teacher as
a facilitator. - This makes sense

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Classroom Routines & Norms

Classroom routines are extremely important, as it ensures a positive learning

environment, structure in the classroom, and better rapport between students and
teachers. Some ways to establish routines are as follows:
Start the day with a question related to first subject of the day
Have a clear visible schedule
Having helping hands where students to trace and cut out their hand, write
their name on and decorate them. Each day or week, there will be a helping
hand for a particular task or job such as: cleanup crew, spill crew,
messenger, line leaders, board cleaner, in charge of class pets, hot lunch,
distributer, etc.

As for classroom norms, these differ from rules, as they are more concerned with
students own feelings, health, and well-being.

Norms are often decided as a class and there are no punishments. They are a set of
expected behaviours that the students decide together. Since the students had a say
in what these norms will be, they will be more apt to follow the norms.

Norms can be decided in the form of a contract and posted on the wall, and if they
dont follow, they will have broken their word. There could be a consequence for
breaking the norms, such as writing a letter of apology or writing a story about
respect.

Some examples of classroom norms are:

Treat one another with respect
Talk nicely
Include one another
Help one another

When making norms, you should not use negatives. Instead, use positives words
like I will, I promise to, etc. Also, its important that these norms should pertain to
health and safety and morality, and must promote inclusion.

SUMMARY - add a few sentences

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