Taylor Miller

Project: Part A

I. Statement of your philosophy on behavior and discipline

Behavior is more than the way in which students act. It is also the way that students act

towards others. The culture and behavior in the classroom correlates directly with students. It is

simply, what I allow it to be. A past teacher of mine once told me that the best types of managers

build in the opportunities for students to talk, move, and express themselves as they interact with

the class content. Allowing students to have more freedom than just sitting at a desk listening to

lecture creates an environment where students feel as if they have more control. Giving students

this sense of power will ultimately lead to better classroom management because students will

not be as irritable and bored.

I believe in using rewards and positive reinforcement to promote and encourage student

effort and success but I do believe that there is a fine line that should not be crossed. Not all

positive behavior will be positively reinforced but if I believe it deserves to be recognized, then I

will gladly let the student know of their efforts. Over-rewarding students can encourage them to

“play the game”. What I mean by this is that if I always give students a reward to completing a

task, then they will only focus on the end result and not learn from the initial activity. The

learning will be demolished. This goes for discipline as well. If students are given consequences

every time that a rule or expectation was broken, they will not learn from their actions. My intent

if for students to be encouraged by rewards and consequences but not solely motivated by them.

Consequences are set in place to keep students on task and keep the classroom safe. They are not

meant to scare students or demote their interest in learning.

responses, measuring student’s current level, analyzing probably controlling environmental

events, and changing antecedent or consequent events until reliable changes are produces in the

target behavior (Kauffman & Landrum, 2012). Part of my philosophy entails always having the

students’ success in mind. By documenting behavior along with academic achievement, I will be

better able to keep track of what accommodations work for each student. This is very important

because their schedules vary so much throughout their day that it may be best to have certain

classes at a certain time or with a specific teacher. However, without keeping track of their

behavior and setting goals, students may not reach their target goals.

II. Description of your hypothetical classroom environment

Ideally, I would be teaching middle school students. Specifically, I would like to teach

students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. However, I understand that not all school

districts break up students in special education based on their general needs. I would be happy

teaching special education at the middle school level. Depending on the size of school and how

their special education program is set up, I would like to have no more than twenty students on

my case load. Twenty students seem manageable and I believe that I would still be able to give

each individual student my full effort to ensure they are successful.

The layout of my ideal classroom is below. I like the idea of students working at a table

but also offering individual workspace for those who need it. I added a table next to the teacher

desk in the event that a student has more questions than most or needs to be moved by my desk

for whatever reason. In the corner, there is an option for students to enjoy comforting furniture

with a couch and beanbags. I intend to use these as rewards for successful academics and good
behavior as well as “cool down” zones for students who may need them. Overall, the room has

different areas which entail different “moods” of the room. The main table will be used for work

as well as the computers. If students need a break or are done with their work they will be

allowed to sit on the comfy furniture in the corner of the room. This is so everyone can be

productive in their own space while also being managed.

III. Rules/Expectations, Routines and Procedures

The ultimate goal of classroom rules and expectations are to keep the classroom

environment safe, organized, and productive. I specifically stated my rules and expectations as

“we” statements because I am involved in the expectations as well. If I do not follow the

expectations, then how should I expect my students to? They will be looking up to me

throughout their entire time in my room and it is my job to set the example for the rest of the

class. I chose respectful, responsible, and safe because I believe that these expectations will

create the most productive working and learning environment for my students. Rules and

procedures should be developed in conjunction with teaching strategies that enhance active and

meaningful student engagement in the learning process (Jones & Jones, 2016). I left the details
of the expectations generic so many different behaviors can fit under the umbrella of the

expectation. First and foremost, the rules and expectations of the school will be put in place but

at the beginning of the year I plan to create an additional rules and expectations list with each

individual class that the students will help me create. I plan to discuss with the students what

expectations they would like to have in their class. For example, I will include rules such as “I

will respect the classroom and property within it.” If students wanted to include further rules then

they could add “I will respect all students in addition to property.”. This way, the students have

some say in the class but students can keep their other classmates accountable.

Classroom Expectations
We are Respectful - Listen to the teacher

- Listen to your classmates

- Wait your turn to talk

- Use manners and be polite

- Have your binder and pencil

- Be ready to learn
We are Safe - Respect school and personal property

- Keep hands, feet, and objects to

yourself

IV. Description of positive behavior supports

decrease the amount of behavioral issues by teaching new skills and making alterations to a

student’s environment. To ensure that my classroom will be an inviting environment to all

students, I plan to confront disruptive behavior directly and compassionately especially at the

beginning of the year. This way I can set the tone to my expectations and students will

understand my rules clearly and also respect me and my classroom. In addition, I want my

students to know that I am human and that I will make mistakes. When one comes along I intend

to acknowledge my own mistakes immediately and publicly.

Encouraging students to act kindly with one another can go a long way. Pro-social behaviors

encourage students to treat others with respect and overall, promotes a healthier classroom.

Respect is a huge part of my personal classroom management plan. As a teacher, showing my

respect to students includes listening to their needs and displaying my effort to support their

needs. It also means living up to the expectations that my students have of me. This includes

returning homework and assignments in a timely fashion, greeting them at the beginning of class,

and answering questions during class time. I also plan to listen to students’ suggestions. Letting

the students have some say in what should be expected of them and how misbehavior should be

handled can lead to students being more responsive of the rules they helped create. With patience

and determination, I plan to create an environment in which students understand and follow the

rules and expectations.

Including culturally responsive practices will not only help engage students, but also

encourage students to make personal connections with the content. Specifically, I plan to include

diverse instructional strategies to appeal to different types of learners and reinforcing academic

development for each student (Shade, Kelly, & Oberg, 1997). Not all students learn the same and
it is important to cater to all students’ needs. First and foremost, I plan to integrate diverse work

and study practices to accommodate to all types of learners. I intend to use different types of

visual and audial lesson plans to also keep students engaged and tend to different learning styles.

My specific lesson plans will be inclusive and relate or apply to students. Establishing inclusion

also involves grouping students in different ways so they can share their diverse perspectives. I

also plan to foster confidence by mixing up assessment methods. Some students are better at test

taking than others. Changing testing methods, I will better promote students to do well in

assessment because it appeals to all students.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is where students acquire knowledge and skills

regarding how to manage their emotions and establish and maintain positive goals to ensure

positive relationships and responsibilities (CASEL, 2019). SEL prepares students to solve

problems, manage emotions, and communicate with others. To me, the most important aspects of

SEL are communication, problem solving, and emotion recognition and management. Improving

communication skills includes reinforcing active listening while others are speaking. I can help

promote this by being an active speaker when students are speaking to me. Problem solving takes

time and effort to fully understand but through different exercises and practice, students can gain

skills to lead them to better understand how to apply them to their lives. Critical thinking ties

directly to this application. Challenging students to think more intensely about choices or issues

is a great first step to promoting problem-solving skills. Lastly, emotional recognition and

management teaches students to not only notice their behavior but to also control it. When

students learn to manage their emotions, they have more ability to focus on other aspects of their

life such as academics and social life. Specifically, I will work with each student individually
and discuss what methods they believe work for them and set daily behavior goals until they find

the right methods for them.

V. Description of home/school communication

Parental involvement plays a critical role in a student’s academic success. When parents

are involved, extra support for the student is present. At the beginning of the year, I plan on

explaining how and when I will keep in touch with them. I want the parents to know that they

can trust me. When parents hand over the trust, I can then become a confident advocate for their

student. By doing so, I will assure parents that I will inform them immediately about any

concerns I may have for their child. I will stay on top of emails and phone calls home to better

promote communications between the parties. To better promote positive relationships with

parents, I plan to make calls home regarding positive behavior from students. I will offer a series

of positives as well as some things their student has been struggling with in the event that the

parent needs to be contacted. The more I work with parents, the more they will work with me.
 References

Core SEL Competencies. (2019). Retrieved from https://casel.org/core-competencies/

Jones, V., & Jones, L. (2016). Comprehensive Classroom Management (11th ed.). Pearson

Education.

Kauffman, J. M., & Landrum, T. J. (2012). How to Think About it: Conceptual Models.

Shade, Kelly, & Oberg. (1997). Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms. Gary Howard

Equity Institutes.
Taylor Miller

Part B:

6. Description of how you will address behavioral infractions from minor to severe.

Description of disciplinary steps.

In the classroom, it is expected that all students will be respectful and responsible. This

means, each student will be prepared for the class with materials and the proper attitude to learn;

each student will be in their seat when the bell rings; proper language, tone and behavior will be

evident. If there are any problems with collecting the proper materials, students will see me so

together we can put a plan into place to ensure the student is prepared for class daily. Positive

behavior will be rewarded by notes, phone calls home, awards, increased privileges, and

reflected on student’s behavior logs.

My classroom follows all of the school’s disciplinary action plans. If students negate to

follow the guidelines in the classroom, they will be given a consequence based on the three-level

scale.

 Level One for minor, first time violations

o Example: Reminder, reflection on behavior log

 Level Two for multiple violations of the same rule

o Example: Second Reminder, reflection on behavior sheet, possible note

sent home, possible lunch detention

 Level three, for more serious violations

o Example: Loss of privileges, reflection on behavior sheet, call home,

possible lunch detention, office referral

students, teachers, faculty, and staff. In addition, it is a great way to inform students and their

parents of the rules and expectations. Everyone concerned with the school has the responsibility

of contributing to a positive learning environment within my classroom, the school building, and

school property.

Procedures for parent and administrator contact.

Contacting parents regarding their child’s behavior is not an easy task. Some parents take it

well while others do not. There are a million different ways that parents could respond to a

teacher’s concerns. In addition, often times parents are busy with other parts of their life which

makes them hard to get into contact with. My plan to contact parents varies based on the child’s

behavior. If the child’s behavior is severe or dangerous enough, administration will be contacted.

Everything else will be handled in my classroom.

It is always important to notify the parents of a behavioral incident with their child. If I could

not notify them shortly after the incident happened, I will make sure to write down notes of what

had occurred. If enough time is provided then a detailed note of the incident will be documented.

My explanation to the parents will be solely objective. My personal opinions will not influence

the explanation to the parents. Before I even contact the parents, I will do some preparation on

my end to ensure the parents fully understand the situation.

After notes and documentation are taken of the incident, I will look back at other

documentation of the student’s behavior and assess the situation. I will look for patterns of
similar behavior to find out if this type of behavior has been reoccurring or if it is a first-time

occurrence.

Next, I will create a list of everything that needs to be discussed with the parents, again

without bias. This includes past behavior issues or other factors leading up to the incident. I will

make sure the start the list with some positive statements about the student. This may be

mentioning how well they are at listening to instruction or how they have been putting a lot of

effort into a certain class, etc. After establishing a positive item, I will include the reasons of why

I am concerned about their child and their behavior at school. I will also include the

rules/expectations of my classroom and the school and explain to the parents why their behavior

connects to the incident. I will also be sure to notify the parents of the steps I will be taking with

their student to resolve the poor behavior and what could happen if the student’s behavior

continues. This could be a manifestation determination meeting (for student’s with IEPs),

detention, suspension, etc.

The best way for me to contact parents of behavior issues would be by phone call. It is easier

verbally discussing issues than through email but if it is the best way to get into contact with the

parents than I will do so. Since emails can be printed and easily criticized, I will make sure to

include the same information that will be said over a phone call but carefully word what needs to

be said.

If the behavior is severe enough to where the administration needs to be involved before

parent contact, I would ensure to document everything that had occurred during the incident so

the administrators are aware. In addition, by documenting right away, the parents will be in the

loop once they are contacted.

behavior.

It does not take much time for a teacher to get a feel of the students in their classroom. Since

I intend on being a Special Education teacher, I will have more information about each of my

student’s behavior. Every Special Education teacher I have observed requires their students to

carry a behavior log with them throughout the day so their teachers can contribute to their daily

behavior evaluation. This is the easiest way to collect data that can contribute to decisions made

in the student’s IEP meeting. For more intensive behavior documentation, a series of other

recordings can take place.

According to Douglas Cullinan in Students with Emotional and Behavior Disorder, there are

five patterns that contribute to documenting emotional and behavioral characteristics which

include: aggression, anxiety, depression, impulsivity, and relationship problem (Cullinan, 2007).

To document these behaviors a series of records can take place. The first is a simple frequency

behavior tally. This is when student is observed for a short period of time and every time their

targeted behavior occurs, another tally is taken. To give the most complete picture of a student’s

behavior, a screening test can be done. A series of observations and other data collection

methods can contribute to a more in-depth assessment of a particular student. In addition, asking

the student directly what they think will and not work for them is a great way to collect personal

data from the perspective student.

Describe how you will handle major infractions against the school code of conduct.
 (image was taken from a report published by the National PBIS Leadership Forum)

I believed this concept map was a great representation of the proper steps to be taken towards

disciplinary actions of student behavior. Its organization helps the discipline referral process

seem simpler than what it is. It also breaks down the main differences between where the

problems should be managed.

class, I would first remain calm and positive. If I remain calm, I can reduce the chance of anxiety

throughout the entire classroom. It also models good behavior for the other students in the room.

The next thing I would do is to try to redirect the student to a different task to ensure that more

aggression is prevented. Next, I would make sure that everyone else is safe. It may be easier to

move the student causing the problem to the hallway or move others out of the room. When the

student was calmed down enough, I would ask them if there was anything I could do to help

them and present myself as a helper rather than an enforcer. One of the biggest things about

classroom management is choosing battles wisely. There will always be students trying to

challenge authority. It will be up to me to consider the consequences before reacting to the

situation. I plan to only “start a battle” with a student if I know it is what is best for the student’s

success.

7. Description of “Tier 2” behavioral interventions. For children who display consistent

need for behavioral support, what strategies will you have in place to provide that

support?

Describe 2-3 evidence based behavioral strategies you may employ.

Behavior issues are something that every teacher will deal with. The way teachers decide to

work through those issues varies on their approach and how the students respond with those

approaches. For children who display consistent need for behavioral support, I intend to provide

self-regulating and self-problem-solving supports. Research has suggested self-regulation

strategies are effective for improving the problem behavior of students with hyperactivity and
inattention (McDaniel S., Bruhn, A., Mitchell, B., 2015). Self-regulations include goal setting,

self-monitoring, and self-graphing. All of these approaches allow students to be more aware of

their own behavior so they feel responsible for improvements in their behavior. Self-problem-

regulation include contracts, problem-solving activities, and social skills instruction (McDaniel

S., Bruhn, A., Mitchell, B., 2015). Tier 2 behavioral interventions are designed to address

different types of problem behavior and emotional symptoms beyond the interventions that can

be applied to all students. These interventions will be accommodated based on each individual

student’s need.

Describe progress monitoring/data collection procedures.

Going more into depth with data collection procedures, self-regulation interventions are

daily reminders for students to monitor their behavior. Setting daily goals can assist in serving as

a check-in/check-out system to ensure students are on track with behavior improvements.

Keeping track of student’s goals is an easy way to track progress. These goals can be something

as small as “participate in English class”. In addition, students with IEPs typically have some

sort of behavior sheet that is designed in their IEP meeting with goals for them as well. These

goals are typically more connected to their emotional/behavior disorders such as “Takes small

breaks when needed”. These behavior sheets are another great way to track behavior. Because

students have the same schedule every day, it will be easier to track what parts of the day or

classes that the student struggles most in behaviorally.

Describe monitoring, accountability and feedback procedures. How will students know

their progress and how to improve?

students stay on track. If students complete 60% of their daily goals and 80% of their behavioral

goals for the week, they will get to choose a reward. This could be anything from snacks that I

am willing to provide for the class to other things as the school allows. Since I do not know

school policies I cannot state for sure what I plan to do but overall, a reward system will be put

in place. Students will be able to monitor their behavior each day and if their goals are not

working, then they can have them adjusted through meetings with the student, parents, and

faculty.
 References

Cullinan, D. (2007). Patterns of Emotional and Social Behavior. Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Pearson Education Inc.

Horner, R., & Nese, R. (2014). Consequences for Problem Behavior (Rep.). National PBIS

Leadership Forum.

McDaniel, S. C., Bruhn, A. L., & Mitchell, B. S. (2015). Tier 2 Framework. Tier 2 Framework

for Behavior Identification and Intervention, 24(1), 10-17.