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Sophie Kettenbrink

Theresa Knipsten Meyer

Social, Emotional, Behavioral Learning

9 April 2023

Classroom Management Plan

https://skettenbrink.weebly.com/professional-identity.html

I. Statement of Purpose

The most basic and most important concept to understand about our brains as

humans is that emotion drives attention which drives learning. If our brains are in fight or

flight mode, we will not be able to learn effectively and the “main” job of a teacher is to

get students to learn. I think, though, that most people would agree that their favorite

teacher in their life didn’t have the best content-based pedagogy, but rather the best way

to connect to their students. Our job as educators is to not only teach students to be good

students, but to be good people. It’s easier said than done as many students come from

backgrounds that are not conducive to love and support 24/7. My hope is that I not only

am able to provide an outlet and be a caring adult to my students, but also to help them

better understand how to help themselves.

II. Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Learning

At the secondary level, it’s much more difficult to teach SEL lessons through

picture books and direct instruction. There’s a lot of different ways for students to be

better at skills that they lack or struggle to comprehend fully. Natural consequences are

huge for teenagers and are the most likely way for students to get a better understanding

of skills that they don’t already possess. I don’t expect my students to understand the
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psychology and brain research behind the situations that they find themselves in, but it is

important to me that they know how to regulate themselves and their emotions.

I am a big communicator and borderline over-sharer and I want my students to

feel comfortable in my classroom to communicate how they are feeling with me. It’s a

two-way street as any relationship is and I want my students to understand where I am

coming from and my expectations as well. We don’t have to guess people’s expectations,

intentions, and rules and I want my students to feel like they can question anything that

feels uncomfortable. My goal is to use the framework of Zone of Proximal Development

to guide my lessons and that leads to group work and individual assignments where

students might feel like they can’t ask questions. Students sometimes feel stupid (because

they have been told they are), frustrated, confused, or scared enough they don’t want to

ask for help. The key to this is first understanding what the emotion they are feeling is

and then having enough rapport with the student for them to reach out whenever they

need that extra support. There will never be a stupid question in my classroom and this is

something that students will know and I will have zero tolerance for disrespect if it

involves a question.

Leading right along with this understanding of one’s emotions, I need my students

to understand their needs. There’s a lot of disadvantages that students face and I will

never be able to imagine what it is like to be in their shoes. I can have empathy and can

see warning signs, but I also am not able to catch every single situation that might

possibly be going on. Along with communicating emotions, I want my students to be able

to communicate that their needs are not being met. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it is

plainly obvious that without basic needs, the other levels will not be filled. I want my
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students to be able to step back and be self-aware enough to know that they are not able

to be in the right mindset to be 100% that day. It can be extremely difficult for students to

figure out exactly what they need and get to the root cause of their problems, but I need

them to at the very least be able to manage their needs. That could look like asking me

for a bathroom break if they feel sick, asking for a snack if they feel hungry, or saying

that they just need to lay their head down in the back of the classroom for today. It also

could look like admitting that they feel defeated and confused about the topic. My hope is

that students don’t automatically revert to a fixed mindset and instead use a growth

mindset to help them feel more capable of clarifying their confusion. As the teacher, I can

set up growth mindset posters and provide students the opportunity to be open about their

situations, but, again, I really want and need my students to be able to approach me.

A class is, however, not just a teacher and one student and there is another much

larger aspect to learning how to be a teenager which is relationships. Within the 8 stages

of man, the conflict for the teenage age group is all about relationships and working

through your own identity while supporting another person as their own individual. It’s a

real problem that can cause distraction at a school when romantic or friendship breakups

happen, which can be another aspect of self-management. It also can be something that

sometimes students need advice on and not all students can go home to ask their parents,

so I am able to be an ear to listen to the situation if needed. Oftentimes, there is just a

misunderstanding, which I could slyly incorporate into some other lesson about my

words on a test being misunderstood. There’s still ways to have direct instruction at the

high school level! The larger understanding beyond relationships is just that each person

is different and that’s okay! Students will have to work together in groups, but not
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everyone will be fantastic at absolutely everything. It doesn’t, however, give students the

right to call each other dumb. I live and breathe by the fact that there are 8 different

intelligences people could inhabit. It takes a lot as a high schooler to recognize that

everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and how to recognize what those are. No

matter what, though, it just means that not every single person will be your friend and it’s

not meant for it to be that way.

These little nuggets of thought throughout this section are what I want to preach

to students for them to understand that this struggle to form and create lasting

relationships is a shared human experience. I included a couple of different theories that I

find important to my practice as an educator. Most of them are not to be incorporated

through direct instruction, but I think they are important to my knowledge of the high

school age group and what happens when life happens. There are however some direct

activities that as a class we can do together or I can offer as practices for students.

Individual strategies can include offering up anxiety breathing or anxiety checklists

(likely through posters), opening up time in or outside of class for students to approach

me about personal concerns, and occasional personal check-ins through post-it notes as

an exit ticket. As a group, offering time for students to uplift their peers during group

work, group goal setting, and creating time for games or activities once every couple

weeks just focused solely on community building.

III. Learning Environment and Classroom Culture

My relationships with my teachers growing up is why I know that teachers really

do have the power to change a life and at the very least make an impact on a student. I

want to create a positive environment right off the bat and communication is the biggest
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thing I can ask for and offer for the students. My plan is to not only have the students tell

me a little bit about themselves within the first few days, but hopefully have them write

about their relationship or prior experiences with math. By the time students get to high

school, many of them have decided whether or not they are good at math, which more

often than not comes from what teachers have told them in the past about their abilities.

A student’s gift may not be in math, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t capable of

being successful at learning and reproducing content. The information that they provide

will hopefully also tell me the kind of activities and processes they find most helpful to

be their most successful. There’s typically not a lot of ways that students are able to show

their proficiency in math and I think it’s why it can be a frustrating topic for many

students. I want students to have a chance to show their proficiency in different ways and

that could be through a hands-on project showing the volume of a cube or it could be an

understanding of slopes based on a video or a drawing. I want students to know from the

beginning of the school year that not all of their learning will have to be proven on a test

and that hopefully makes them feel a little more comfortable and confident in their skills.

Overall, I just want students to know that there is a learning partnership between

themselves and myself; they aren’t in it alone and I am always a resource for them.

Additionally, before the test ever becomes a stressor, having built in time for

students to ask questions to me or from their peers in class is crucial. It not only is helpful

for students who aren’t able to easily stay after school, but the questions are fresh on their

mind. If I build in extra time for questions, if there aren’t questions, I am able to provide

a little time for students just to be teenagers for a little while, which can be tough to find

in high school. If the students are mentally distracted or burnt out from learning for the
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day, it won’t matter if I get through all of my content because the students didn’t take it in

as already stated in the previous section. A wise high school teacher of mine told us that

every single person will never have 365 good days in a row and that it’s okay to have bad

days as long as the next day you make an effort to have a good day. I need to hold a

professional demeanor, but I also want the students to see me as a person that practices

and preaches the acceptance of you in all forms: jittery, quiet, in terms, with laughter, or

however feels most comfortable.

This also leads into the physical space because so much of a feeling of comfort in

a classroom is the physical space. Obviously, it largely depends on what the school can

provide and also taking feedback from students on what is effective for their learning. My

hope would be to create groups to further my hope for collaboration time for the students

to build interpersonal skills. It’s important to have students help each other, but also feel

comfortable not only making mistakes, but also making mistakes in front of others. This

kind of trust only happens in a classroom that is truly trusting of each other. I also don’t

want to make the walls too overwhelming for students to look at in consideration of

students who might get distracted easily. Overall I just want my students to feel safe and

have a sense of belonging and with that guiding my class culture, the rest should follow.

IV. Feedback to Guide Behavior

Learning how to give effective feedback as a mathematics teacher is crucial

because so many students have only ever been given information on whether their answer

is right or wrong and not what went wrong. The first and I believe the most important

thing I can do is to ensure that students know that it’s not only okay to make mistakes,

but that for learning, it’s important to make mistakes. By offering a small incentive
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(candy, extra points, etc.) to point out errors I may make while teaching the lesson, I not

only encourage students to embrace learning, but can teach by example how to navigate

being wrong the first time. This then allows me to give students notes on their homework,

quizzes, and tests on where they might’ve made a small error, but still reward the work

that they did do correctly. I also think that it’s important to try to use mostly positive

corrections both in person and on paper, which helps to reward students for what they are

doing right rather than criticizing them for what they are doing wrong. This helps

students to feel more confident and competent in what they are learning especially when

most math problems continually build off of itself. It would be widely understood that

partial credit is absolutely going to be offered in quizzes and tests. The one thing I do

want to ensure that I avoid is positive feedback that is empty (one-word like “Good”/

“Okay”) when that could be harmful.

Another way I can be an example in receiving feedback is occasionally

re-evaluate my teaching practices or the way I ask certain questions. My wording during

quizzes and tests might not be inclusive or it could be confusing and in that case I didn’t

communicate expectations clearly. I can't assume that just because some students

understood what I asked, that all were able to decipher the meaning. I could occasionally

ask for verbal feedback on the wording of questions and I also want students to

understand that all questions they ask during a test will get answered if it’s for

clarification sake.

The biggest proactive measure I can set up is a way to make grades feel less

important by rewarding time and effort through classwork and homework grades is

something I feel very passionate about. When you get to the “real world” you won’t get
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rewarded for just doing work, but there’s also rarely been a time where companies get

something 100% correct the first time. The learning process is as important to me as the

final product on a test. I am a person that sometimes struggles to get the numbers to

work out how it needs to, so I end up writing the process of what to follow if the numbers

had worked out. With my personal experience, I would be more than happy to offer some

credit to students who can explain the process because it shows that the student

understands the concept and then offers insight as to what numerically went awry. This

applies to homework as well, where it is much more likely that I will take homework

grades for completion rather than correct-ness. Hopefully setting up grades in a way

where it is not as stressful and black/white with the grading, I am able to motivate the

students to want to learn rather than only get good grades.

In public education, especially, there will be students that will not take feedback

regardless of it is the right kind of feedback; some students just have too much going on

in their lives to worry about the area of a triangle. I want to reiterate to my students that

they are in a learning partnership and that they are important to me. It’s proven that the

survivorship of high school graduates is quite a bit higher than high school dropouts. It’s

not just about grades and I want students to understand how deeply I care about them and

their future. If students do fall behind, in completing assignments or in the grades they

receive, I want to have a 1-1 with that student to clarify what they need from me and

what I need from them in order for their grade to improve. Mostly, it all goes back to

communicating with each other before the likelihood of passing looks bleak.

V. Procedures
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There’s a lot of procedures and routines that go into each and every day in a

school. The biggest difference between secondary and elementary is that by the time the

students get older, they have a lot more teachers with different expectations. Teachers

lose class time because they assume the students understand/remember their particular

procedures even though they only go over them once. Difficult or challenging behaviors

probably happen most often at the secondary level when there is confusion over

procedures and situations where there is already typically less structure. These particular

procedures are important to me because of their inherently disorganized nature.

The beginning and end of a class period can be a chaotic time for the teacher and

the students alike because not only are you transitioning, but it’s a whole shift in classes.

For me, I think the first 5 minutes of class sets the entire tone of the class period. My goal

would be to set up a routine for students to come into the class and understand what their

expectations for the first 5-10 looks like without me having to say anything. It would take

a lot of time up front to get into that habit and effort on my part to make sure that

information on a slide would but setting up a list of items for students to check off before

the lesson starts, it helps to make the class run smoothly. An example of this would be

having a slide with the daily agenda so students can get their materials ready, pick up a

notes sheet, set out their homework to check for completion, and begin working on an

intro problem to the section we will be discussing in class. A similar process would be

followed for at the end of the class period, but this general framework would help

students to feel more comfortable with the flow of the class period.

Typically high school students have longer class periods, which makes for a

whole lot more transition time within the class period because there is more time to fill.
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From experience and also from brain research, students need a little time to breathe in

order to re-focus and be ready to learn. I want to build structured transition into the class

period by laying guidelines as to what a transition looks like. An example of transitions

within the classroom could include: from bellwork to the lesson there is no talking or

movement since the bellwork would be on the same sheet as the lesson, but from

bellowork to classwork there is a chance to get up and move around and there’s about 5

minutes to check your phone. This small example would be a general understanding of

what transitions look like in my classroom, but it would be extremely clear as we did

them in each class period what the expectations for these are. Consistency is key with

transitions and as long as the students understand that they will get a break as long as we

get through the lesson, then there should be less chance for challenging behaviors to

arise.

Group work/games/activities is likely the most concerning of any of these for

challenging behaviors to occur because of the three unstructured times within a class

period, this could be the most disorganized. When students are relaxed and don’t feel like

they are being targeted, their brains are able to take in information a little better, which is

why it’s helpful to gamify learning! Especially with a subject like math where students

tend to have black and white thinking whether they are good or not, I find it extremely

important that students work with others that they are friendly with in the class. There

will also be times where students might be working in ability groups or be working on an

assignment where I will choose their groups, but I don’t want this to be a surprise. I will

have different types of assignments (classroom “scavenger hunts”, Kahoot, worksheets,

etc.) and for each type of assignment there would be an understanding of who the
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students would work with. The highest chance for challenging behaviors comes both

when students are working with people they are friendly with and those that they don’t

get along with. In that case, I would be very clear that if you can’t one for some reason

that is personal then that should be communicated, but otherwise I would try to mediate

the situation. In all of these situations, the biggest thing I must keep in mind is that

nothing can be assumed and try to explain my expectations as clearly as I can. If any of

these procedures don’t work out, it shouldn’t immediately be assumed that the procedure

isn’t effective, but rather it could be my attitude, the environment, etc.

VI. Crisis Plan

The act of calming down a student at the middle/secondary level becomes

increasingly difficult and more dangerous since the students are larger and capable of

more harm. As a young teacher, it’s especially important that I am ready to deal with

situations that could be potentially harmful to me or to other students. There are many

decisions that we have to make as educators in split seconds and the best thing you can

do is be over-prepared for crisis situations. The most common crises lay in active shooter

situations, weather related situations (when you’re in the Midwest !!), and when students

are in the height of the Acting Out Cycle.

The most common of these scenarios at the secondary level, unfortunately, is

probably active shooter or lockdown scenarios within the school. Every school does their

drills a little bit differently and so obviously I will follow whatever guidelines I have

been given by my specific school. However, in that situation, I know my brain will revert

to fight or flight mode and I was taught the 4E’s growing up and I actually think this is an

extremely effective way to remember the different plans of action. The 4E’s stand for
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Educate, Escape, Evade, and Engage. These are a general guideline to understanding the

situation a little more clearly and to give yourself a way to think through your actions

before immediately acting. The first step, Educate, happens during drills and before the

threat would occur for both the students and the teachers. This includes escape routes,

places to hide, and what to do in the case where the shooter/threat comes into contact

with the class, which would be my job to communicate with the students. Based on the

safest scenario for the particular classroom, the next 3 steps could happen in any order or

only doing one or two of the steps. Escape entails how to get as far away from the

classroom/school as possible if the threat was far away. Evade would be the places to

hide, how to spread out, and cover the door/entrance points from the threat. Finally,

Engage is always the last hope if the threat is immediate, but that would largely be my

job as the educator and I would communicate that information. Again, this is my personal

mental framework in this situation and how I would approach sharing information on

active shooter scenarios, but each school district likely has their own framework that

students would be more comfortable with using!

In my experience, the least likely and the scenario that most students are most

prepared for, is “weather” crises. Tornadoes and earthquakes don’t happen frequently, but

obviously it’s always a threat in the Midwest. In my specific classroom, I would have to

assess what students would be able to use to protect themselves and what the most

dangerous place to be is (by the windows, around big objects, etc.). Again, calmness in

these scenarios is learned and students will jump into flight, fight, or freeze, so I have to

be able to adapt to students doing any and all of these things and make sure they are safe.

Although they aren’t weather related crises, I group fires and gas leaks into the same
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category because it’s similar to procedures like tornadoes and earthquakes. Regardless of

the crisis that deals with something out of human’s control, the biggest thing I can offer is

information and keeping students as updated as I can on what our plan is to try to ease

some anxiety and hopefully get students back into regulation.

The most important one that teachers often don’t prepare for is students at the

peak stage of the Acting Out Cycle. At the secondary level, the likelihood that my

students will be larger than me is pretty high, but there’s a lot I can do to try to combat

this. The first thing I can and should do is to assess whether the student is or looks to

want to get violent, but if just visibly out-of-control of their actions/words. I want to

make sure that all students and anyone else is out of harm's way, including myself. I need

to be the one to be addressing the situation, but my main job is to de-escalate the student

by not trying to get information from them about what happened, but rather just offering

hope and an ear for when they are ready to share. Luckily, these days, most schools have

staff members and administrators that are qualified to handle situations like this and

would be more qualified to handle a violent situation. I would call for back-up, hopefully

to one of those individuals that are trained, but if not any help I can get would be helpful.

Proactively, I want to make sure that if a violent situation did arise that there would be

nothing in my classroom that if a violent student grabbed quickly, it would harm the other

students or myself. It’s also good to review how to defend myself in situations where I

could be a target of the fight or flight response. If I am the one in harm’s way, I have tools

to help me, whereas other students might not. The biggest way I can support my students

in these and any other crisis situations is being prepared and understanding of the way the
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brain works. Crises happen and my overall hope is that my students trust me enough to

know that they can feel safe in bad situations.

VII. Collaboration

The support that a teacher has can be the difference between staying and leaving

the profession. A positive administration and content team teachers within a school and

the family and friends I have at home will be what keeps me coming back for the kids.

The students will always be why I was drawn to the field, but that won’t be the reason I

decide to leave. I plan to lean heavily on friends I have made during my undergraduate

time at Butler as well as the professional educators that have helped me. More so than

that, though, are all of the teachers that I had growing up that I still keep in contact with

today that cheer me on because at this point there’s also a possibility that they could be

my co-workers. The first couple of years, you just have to gather your bearings and I

think having all of that support especially from professionals who have been through

similar situations helps to gather perspective.

The most important group that gets left out of all of the support groups is parents

and guardians. I want to set boundaries between my work and my home-life, but there

will be certain instances that I need to make myself available for caregivers who may be

able during other designated times such as parent/teacher conferences. My plan is to set

up a policy for when (what type of grade, what time of semester, etc.) to contact parents

about grades that are low and behaviors that are concerning and what they can do to help

their student. Also an understanding of what typical policies at the school I am working at

for parent involvement in order to best create and foster that relationship in a way that a

parent is expecting. Parents and guardians will also typically be a little more
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understanding of situations as long as you communicate with them. The biggest

understanding that we as teachers can have is that you can’t do it alone and it shouldn’t

be done alone. Communicate, ask for help, and take care of yourself first!

VIII. Action Plan

The best thing I can do as an educator who still has a couple years before I have a

classroom of my own is to continue to watch these practices happen naturally in

classrooms that I observe in. Once I start to student teach or have more control of the

classroom, I can put some of my ideas into practice to see how well they work. Some

practices might be effective for some students, but not all and that would be something I

could re-evaluate with other experience or information for what has worked well for

other teachers or these students in the past. In general, continue to learn what historically

works for students, change pieces of my plan that aren’t working, and don’t be afraid to

add new things into the mix. The beginning of a teacher’s career is a huge period of

growth and learning, most of which comes from the perspective of experience.