Classroom Management Plan

The foundation of my classroom management practice is genuine relationship building, following the philosophy of Love and Logic. I treat students with mutual dignity and respect. I work diligently to be a life-long learner in order to be culturally competent and context-specific. I use empathetic listening to learn about who my students are and what they value. I ask them how they are doing, what is going on in their lives on a daily basis. I greet each student as they enter by their name, I wave, offer high fives, and lots of smiles. I build opportunities for students to explore and share their identities and the world around them into the academic work that we engage in. I work from a trauma-informed framework that understands that many students arrive in the classroom carrying painful experiences and/or with unmet social and emotional needs that prevent learning from taking place in their brains. To learn, students must feel safe, welcomed and included, which stems from my ability to build a relationship with them. Therefore, my goal is to create a safe space for students to learn/practice/master these foundational social and emotional skills by providing and modeling consistent, compassionate and positive adult behavior.  From there, students can develop their artistry skills and knowledge. I scaffold the instruction to meet their learning needs and abilities, wherever they are at.

Also foundational to my class is building routine - both for positive behavior as predictability means safety and also for managing and caring for an art studio. The art room is a shared studio space that belongs to all of us. Sharing requires mutual respect and dignity. To show respect for one another, we need to show respect for the shared space, therefore students are involved in the decisions of room expectations. I will first provide clear and explicit instruction in each art studio procedure that I expect students to learn over time and then take responsibility over. I will model the habits and re-teach and redirect students as necessary. Infographics and posters are hung on clearly visible locations that outline studio habits for clarity and reference.  

My approach to teaching is proactive, I provide shared thinking and shared control within limits–– meaning, I consistently give choices to my students that I am okay with as I believe that the more control I share, the easier it is to take when I need to. I speak from my own perspective and utilize enforceable statements that allow me to be calm, fair and consistent. When I’m instructing I’ll walk around the space as much as possible. When students are off-task, I walk towards them, while teaching, if they then behave, I move away, if not, I lean in and whisper to ask them to re-join the group or ask them to do me a favor and then move away --  the goal being to never stop teaching. I work to address behaviors that are unproductive to learning in the classroom as much as possible by working directly with the student. By resolving conflict with the students in a calm way, my students can learn to trust in my care for them and we can find a solution to the problem. When I need to provide a consequence, I always begin with sincere empathy. When I am unable to resolve a conflict with a student, I will follow school procedure to work with other professionals to do so and then to restore my relationship with the student. Regardless of how that procedure works, my goal is to ensure a safe, equitable learning environment for the group. If a student is disrupting this for others, I will do something, what I do depends on the situation. When students are not completing their work but not causing a disruption, rather than engaging in a power struggle telling them to get to work, I will ask, how can I help?