Classroom Management

This was a classroom expectation poster I created with my 4th/5th grade classroom. The students and I took a class period to talk about what the classroom environment should be like, what we should all expect from one another. The students came up with a bunch of different ideas and then we picked three main ideas and talked about what they meant and how they would look in the classroom. To me, managing a classroom is like painting a picture. There are different elements and tools required to paint a master piece, and this master piece required input from everyone that would be part of it, therefor we created the A.R.T. of the classroom. A stands for accountability, R stands for respect, and T stands for teamwork. Since the students helped designed the ART of the classroom, they understood the expectations and were motivated more so to demonstrate each piece.

In the regional learning center I helped design and implement a positive behavior support system that also exercised life skills training. As students completed a day on and met their projected goals, completed and turned in their assignments and met the classroom expectations, they received paper money, as if they were doing a job. At the end of each day they had to add up how much they made (which the fake money was bought to resemble actual money) and add it to their bank accounts, which they had a bank log to keep record. At the end of the each week the students had to pay the rent fee for their desk, their water and electric bill, and any debt they had from borrowing materials they forgot. After they paid the "bills" they had the choice to spend their money in the class store or save it for another day or activity as the class often had field trips into the community. This strategy helped teach responsibility of completing your job, but also helping the students see that the reward (much like a paycheck) also has to be budgeted to keep things working properly.