classroom policies/procedures
It is the responsibility of Ms. Smith and her students to respectfully abided by all classroom policies and procedures.
Student expectations:
Before class/beginning of class
All students are expected to arrive to class on time and prepared to work. When the bell rings, all students must be seated at their assigned seat. If a student is not seated when the bell rings, he/she will be considered tardy. At the beginning of class each day, there will be a warm-up activity written on the board. Students are expected to be in their seats and working on the warm-up activity individually at the start of each class.
Use of materials
Students are allowed to use materials located throughout the classroom. Students are expected to respect all materials and handle them with care. Students should use materials, such as the pencil sharpener, prior to the start of class or during the warm-up activity. If a student needs to use any materials during a lesson, the student should raise his/her hand and ask for permission.
Participation
Students are expected to actively participate in all classroom activities and discussions. Participation includes answering questions, asking questions, volunteering to read, or sharing opinions about a topic. When participating in class discussions students must raise their hands in order to have an opportunity to speak. While students are participating in class discussions, all students must show one another respect.
Individual Work
While working on individual work, students are expected to remain focused on their assignments. Students are allowed to converse with other students around them, however, all students must keep their conversations to a minimum. Students must keep their voices at a low-volume so other students are not disturbed. If the volume of talking gets to be too loud, the teacher has the authority to take the privilege of talking away from students.
Group Work
While working in groups, all students are expected to be respectful to one another, contribute equally to the work, and remain focused on the assignment. Students are given the opportunity to choose their own groups. If students do not stay on task working in the groups they chose, the privilege of picking their own groups will be taken away from the students. Students are allowed to quietly talk amongst themselves and with other groups. However, if the talking exceeds low-volume natural talking, the teacher has the authority to establish no talking amongst groups.
Written work
All written work is required to follow a specific format. At the top right corner of all written work, students must print their name, date, class period, and assignment name. If students turn in work missing any of these components they will be deducted a half a point on the assignment. All written work is expected to be turned in on time and completed. Every student is allowed one pass for not turning in an assignment on time. If a student uses this pass, all work that is turned in late will result in a deduction of 2 points everyday it is not turned in. Written work should show that the student put in effort. All work turned in should be of good quality and should be work that the students feel proud to turn in.
End of class/wrap up
At the end of each class period, the teacher will signal to the students that five minutes remain until the bell. Students are expected to clean up, return any borrowed materials, and straighten up desks. Also, at the end of each class period there will be an exit slip activity written on the board. Students are expected to work on this activity quietly and individually. If students finish the activity before the bell rings, students will remain seated in their assigned seat. Students are not allowed to get up or line up at the door prior to the bell. Once the bell rings, students are allowed to leave. Prior to leaving the classroom, all students will turn in their exit slips in their assigned class’ bin near the door.
Teacher expectations:
Enforcement of policies/procedures
All policies/procedures are required to be followed at all times. If a student is not following any of the above policies/procedures, or is acting in an inappropriate manner, the teacher will issue a verbal warning to the student. If the student continues to not follow the classroom’s policies/procedures, the teacher will issue the student a detention. If the student still continues to misbehave, the teacher will issue a referral to the school’s office.
Signals
In order to get students attention, a bell located on the teacher’s desk will be rung. Only the teacher is permitted to ring the bell. If students hear this bell it indicates to them to give their full attention to the teacher. Students are expected to stop talking or working on their activities and pay attention to the teacher.
Directions (verbal and written)
Prior to giving any directions, the teacher will ring the bell to get all students’ attention. While the teacher is verbally giving directions, students will be facing the teacher and giving the teacher their full attention. Any questions regarding the directions will be answered after the directions are fully explained. Once all directions have been explained and all questions have been answered, students may begin to work on the assignment.
Any written directions for the day’s activities will be written on the board prior to the start of class. Students are expected to check the board once they enter the classroom. If students have questions regarding the written directions, they may raise their hands. The teacher will call on the students and answer the questions aloud to the class incase other students had the same question.
Grading/evaluation of student work
Grading system
Students’ grades will be determined by warm-up/exit slip activities homework, quizzes, tests, and projects. Warm-up/exit slip activities will be worth 10%, homework will be worth 20% of their grade, quizzes 15%, test 25%, and projects 30%. All work is expected to be turned in on time and completed. If any work is missing or late, the student will receive 2 points off the assignment everyday it is not turned in.
If a student is absent on the day of a quiz or a test, the student will have two days to make up the missing assessment (e.g. The student is absent on Tuesday. The student comes back to school Wednesday, The student has until Friday to make up the quiz or test). If the student fails to make up a quiz or a test within the two days, the student will loose 5 points everyday it is not made up.
Time for return of work
It is the responsibility of the teacher to return all work back to students in a timely manner. All warm-up/exit slip activities will be returned to students the next day. Homework will be returned to students within two days. Quizzes will be returned to students within two days. All tests will be returned to students within four days, and all projects will be returned to students within a week.
Quality of feedback
All returned work will have a percentage grade, as well as comments on what was done well and/or what could use improvement. It is the role of the teacher to provide feedback to all students on all work they have completed. If any work is returned back to a student without a written comment, the student may inform the teacher and receive one extra point towards the assignment.
Rationale:
All of the policies/procedures I have designed for my classroom were put in place in order to create a classroom environment that runs smoothly and minimizes any problems. Before the list of policies/procedures I wrote the statement, “It is the responsibility of Ms. Smith and her students to respectfully abided by all classroom policies and procedures”, so that my students are aware that they are expected to follow the listed policies and procedures as well as myself. It is not my intent to list a bunch of policies and come across as a controlling teacher. It is my intent to provide a classroom that is safe and welcoming to all students, and I think these policies and procedures provide students with just that. The policies and procedures I chose were purposefully selected to ensure that my students receive the education they deserve and are provided with a classroom environment that sets them up for success.
Student Expectations
The student expectations were created to structure students’ behaviors and help them succeeded academically. I chose to require that all students be seated and working when the bell rings to eliminate any problems that could potentially occur at the start of class. Requiring students to be seated when the bell rings also allows for the immediate start of class. There will be no time wasted trying to rallying up the students and get their attention. I also chose to have a warm-up activity at the start of each class period because it is a great way to preview to students what they will be learning about that day, and it is a chance for the teacher to learn what the students may already know or what they need more help with.
Explaining to students how and when they can use classroom materials is very important for a classroom to operate smoothly. I require that students use classroom materials prior to the start of class or during the warm-up activity so that it does not cut into the day’s lesson. In the middle of a lesson, I also require that students ask for permission before using materials to eliminate multiple students sharpening their pencils during instruction. Emmer and Evertson advise in Classroom Management that only one student be allowed to use classroom materials at a time. Because of this, I decided that students must ask permission to ensure that only one student is using a specific material.
Students’ participation whether it be individually or in groups is always expected. Students are expected to remain focus and on tasks to all assignments. I decided to allow students the opportunity to talk quietly to others around them when working individually or in groups because I think it is important for students collaborate with on another and help each other out if need be. Cushman and Rogers text, Fires in the MIddle School Bathroom, explains that students and middle school need social interactions with their peers. This explanation helped me further to make my decision to allow my students to talk amongst themselves while working. I think it is good for students to converse with one another. In order to keep control of the classroom, I purposely stated that the talking must be kept a low-volume. Emmer and Evertston advise in their text to specifically inform students what good talking volume sounds like. Because of this I made sure to include that talk amongst students must remain at a low volume natural talking voice. I made sure to write in that I have the authority to take this talking privilege away at anytime to influence students to keep talking to a minimum.
I also chose to allow students the opportunity to choose who they wish to work with when working in groups. I decided to make this decision because I think students work best when they are working with people they want to be working with. Assigning groups only makes students resent the assignment even more. By allowing students to pick their own groups they are more willing to complete the assignment.
The required formatting I created for all written work was created to help students become organized and responsible. Requiring students to have certain components on all written work holds them accountable for their work. I also decided to give each student a one time pass for not turning in an assignment. I understand that sometimes everyone is forgetful. Providing students with a one time pass helps students who truly might have forgot to do an assignment. However, if students continue to not turn in assignments on time, they will be deducted 2 points everyday the assignment is not turned it. I plan to do this to teach the students responsibility and hold them accountable.
Emmer and Evertson discuss in their text that end of class procedures are just as important as the start of class procedures. The authors suggest that students return all material and straighten up the room before they are dismissed. In order to make sure this occurs, I have planned to signal to all students when five minutes remain (a suggestion of Emmer and Evertson). This gives the students plenty of time to get organized and clean up. I also put in place for students to complete an exit slip activity because I think it is a good way to assess how well students learned the material from the day. I require that all students remain seated until the bell rings to eliminate any problems and to ensure that all students complete the exit slip activity.
Teacher Expectations
The enforcement procedure was created with the intent of giving students a chance to redeem themselves and fix the problem. Providing a verbal warning allows students to change their behavior without any penalties. However, if the problem escalates I cannot let the student keep getting away with whatever they did. Because of this, I have planned to issue a detention, but if the problem continues the student will be sent to the office to talk to the principle or dean about his/her actions. I think these procedures illustrate to the students that I am willing to be fair, but if you continue to disrespect the classroom I have no choice but to act accordingly.
Incorporating a bell into my classroom as a signal is a great way to get students’ attention. Emmer and Evertson explain that the use of signals in the classroom indicates to students the proper behavior and attention they should be displaying. The use of the bell will help me to get students attention and will inform students what I expect them to be doing.
The use of the bell will also help when I am giving directions. I put in place that I will ask all questions students might have after I am done explaining directions because it provides me the opportunity to fully explain the directions. A student's question might be answered by the time I am done explaining the directions. I put in place that students are responsible for looking for and reading writing directions because it teaches students to be responsible and aware of what is going around them.
Grading/evaluation of student work
The percentages I assigned to each assignment were determined by how much work is needed to complete the assignment. I made note to put an explanation of the amount of time absent students have to make up work so there would be not confusion in the future. Providing students with this information allows for them to plan ahead if they know they will be absent on a specific day. This also requires them to take responsibility and make sure they complete their work in a timely manner. I determined the time each assignment will be returned back to students by how extensive each assignment is. Since warm-up/exit slip activities and homework would not be very long or require a lot of work, they would be easy to grade and be handed back quickly to students. However, more extensive assignments like tests and projects would take longer to grade, so I allowed myself a longer period of time to grade those assignments. Finally, I have planned to record both a percentage grade and a written comment on all graded work because I think it is important for all students to receive feedback that will help them to improve their work. It is the responsibility of the teacher to help students become better students, and I think one of the best ways a teacher can do this is by providing students with honest feedback on all work.
Student expectations:
Before class/beginning of class
All students are expected to arrive to class on time and prepared to work. When the bell rings, all students must be seated at their assigned seat. If a student is not seated when the bell rings, he/she will be considered tardy. At the beginning of class each day, there will be a warm-up activity written on the board. Students are expected to be in their seats and working on the warm-up activity individually at the start of each class.
Use of materials
Students are allowed to use materials located throughout the classroom. Students are expected to respect all materials and handle them with care. Students should use materials, such as the pencil sharpener, prior to the start of class or during the warm-up activity. If a student needs to use any materials during a lesson, the student should raise his/her hand and ask for permission.
Participation
Students are expected to actively participate in all classroom activities and discussions. Participation includes answering questions, asking questions, volunteering to read, or sharing opinions about a topic. When participating in class discussions students must raise their hands in order to have an opportunity to speak. While students are participating in class discussions, all students must show one another respect.
Individual Work
While working on individual work, students are expected to remain focused on their assignments. Students are allowed to converse with other students around them, however, all students must keep their conversations to a minimum. Students must keep their voices at a low-volume so other students are not disturbed. If the volume of talking gets to be too loud, the teacher has the authority to take the privilege of talking away from students.
Group Work
While working in groups, all students are expected to be respectful to one another, contribute equally to the work, and remain focused on the assignment. Students are given the opportunity to choose their own groups. If students do not stay on task working in the groups they chose, the privilege of picking their own groups will be taken away from the students. Students are allowed to quietly talk amongst themselves and with other groups. However, if the talking exceeds low-volume natural talking, the teacher has the authority to establish no talking amongst groups.
Written work
All written work is required to follow a specific format. At the top right corner of all written work, students must print their name, date, class period, and assignment name. If students turn in work missing any of these components they will be deducted a half a point on the assignment. All written work is expected to be turned in on time and completed. Every student is allowed one pass for not turning in an assignment on time. If a student uses this pass, all work that is turned in late will result in a deduction of 2 points everyday it is not turned in. Written work should show that the student put in effort. All work turned in should be of good quality and should be work that the students feel proud to turn in.
End of class/wrap up
At the end of each class period, the teacher will signal to the students that five minutes remain until the bell. Students are expected to clean up, return any borrowed materials, and straighten up desks. Also, at the end of each class period there will be an exit slip activity written on the board. Students are expected to work on this activity quietly and individually. If students finish the activity before the bell rings, students will remain seated in their assigned seat. Students are not allowed to get up or line up at the door prior to the bell. Once the bell rings, students are allowed to leave. Prior to leaving the classroom, all students will turn in their exit slips in their assigned class’ bin near the door.
Teacher expectations:
Enforcement of policies/procedures
All policies/procedures are required to be followed at all times. If a student is not following any of the above policies/procedures, or is acting in an inappropriate manner, the teacher will issue a verbal warning to the student. If the student continues to not follow the classroom’s policies/procedures, the teacher will issue the student a detention. If the student still continues to misbehave, the teacher will issue a referral to the school’s office.
Signals
In order to get students attention, a bell located on the teacher’s desk will be rung. Only the teacher is permitted to ring the bell. If students hear this bell it indicates to them to give their full attention to the teacher. Students are expected to stop talking or working on their activities and pay attention to the teacher.
Directions (verbal and written)
Prior to giving any directions, the teacher will ring the bell to get all students’ attention. While the teacher is verbally giving directions, students will be facing the teacher and giving the teacher their full attention. Any questions regarding the directions will be answered after the directions are fully explained. Once all directions have been explained and all questions have been answered, students may begin to work on the assignment.
Any written directions for the day’s activities will be written on the board prior to the start of class. Students are expected to check the board once they enter the classroom. If students have questions regarding the written directions, they may raise their hands. The teacher will call on the students and answer the questions aloud to the class incase other students had the same question.
Grading/evaluation of student work
Grading system
Students’ grades will be determined by warm-up/exit slip activities homework, quizzes, tests, and projects. Warm-up/exit slip activities will be worth 10%, homework will be worth 20% of their grade, quizzes 15%, test 25%, and projects 30%. All work is expected to be turned in on time and completed. If any work is missing or late, the student will receive 2 points off the assignment everyday it is not turned in.
If a student is absent on the day of a quiz or a test, the student will have two days to make up the missing assessment (e.g. The student is absent on Tuesday. The student comes back to school Wednesday, The student has until Friday to make up the quiz or test). If the student fails to make up a quiz or a test within the two days, the student will loose 5 points everyday it is not made up.
Time for return of work
It is the responsibility of the teacher to return all work back to students in a timely manner. All warm-up/exit slip activities will be returned to students the next day. Homework will be returned to students within two days. Quizzes will be returned to students within two days. All tests will be returned to students within four days, and all projects will be returned to students within a week.
Quality of feedback
All returned work will have a percentage grade, as well as comments on what was done well and/or what could use improvement. It is the role of the teacher to provide feedback to all students on all work they have completed. If any work is returned back to a student without a written comment, the student may inform the teacher and receive one extra point towards the assignment.
Rationale:
All of the policies/procedures I have designed for my classroom were put in place in order to create a classroom environment that runs smoothly and minimizes any problems. Before the list of policies/procedures I wrote the statement, “It is the responsibility of Ms. Smith and her students to respectfully abided by all classroom policies and procedures”, so that my students are aware that they are expected to follow the listed policies and procedures as well as myself. It is not my intent to list a bunch of policies and come across as a controlling teacher. It is my intent to provide a classroom that is safe and welcoming to all students, and I think these policies and procedures provide students with just that. The policies and procedures I chose were purposefully selected to ensure that my students receive the education they deserve and are provided with a classroom environment that sets them up for success.
Student Expectations
The student expectations were created to structure students’ behaviors and help them succeeded academically. I chose to require that all students be seated and working when the bell rings to eliminate any problems that could potentially occur at the start of class. Requiring students to be seated when the bell rings also allows for the immediate start of class. There will be no time wasted trying to rallying up the students and get their attention. I also chose to have a warm-up activity at the start of each class period because it is a great way to preview to students what they will be learning about that day, and it is a chance for the teacher to learn what the students may already know or what they need more help with.
Explaining to students how and when they can use classroom materials is very important for a classroom to operate smoothly. I require that students use classroom materials prior to the start of class or during the warm-up activity so that it does not cut into the day’s lesson. In the middle of a lesson, I also require that students ask for permission before using materials to eliminate multiple students sharpening their pencils during instruction. Emmer and Evertson advise in Classroom Management that only one student be allowed to use classroom materials at a time. Because of this, I decided that students must ask permission to ensure that only one student is using a specific material.
Students’ participation whether it be individually or in groups is always expected. Students are expected to remain focus and on tasks to all assignments. I decided to allow students the opportunity to talk quietly to others around them when working individually or in groups because I think it is important for students collaborate with on another and help each other out if need be. Cushman and Rogers text, Fires in the MIddle School Bathroom, explains that students and middle school need social interactions with their peers. This explanation helped me further to make my decision to allow my students to talk amongst themselves while working. I think it is good for students to converse with one another. In order to keep control of the classroom, I purposely stated that the talking must be kept a low-volume. Emmer and Evertston advise in their text to specifically inform students what good talking volume sounds like. Because of this I made sure to include that talk amongst students must remain at a low volume natural talking voice. I made sure to write in that I have the authority to take this talking privilege away at anytime to influence students to keep talking to a minimum.
I also chose to allow students the opportunity to choose who they wish to work with when working in groups. I decided to make this decision because I think students work best when they are working with people they want to be working with. Assigning groups only makes students resent the assignment even more. By allowing students to pick their own groups they are more willing to complete the assignment.
The required formatting I created for all written work was created to help students become organized and responsible. Requiring students to have certain components on all written work holds them accountable for their work. I also decided to give each student a one time pass for not turning in an assignment. I understand that sometimes everyone is forgetful. Providing students with a one time pass helps students who truly might have forgot to do an assignment. However, if students continue to not turn in assignments on time, they will be deducted 2 points everyday the assignment is not turned it. I plan to do this to teach the students responsibility and hold them accountable.
Emmer and Evertson discuss in their text that end of class procedures are just as important as the start of class procedures. The authors suggest that students return all material and straighten up the room before they are dismissed. In order to make sure this occurs, I have planned to signal to all students when five minutes remain (a suggestion of Emmer and Evertson). This gives the students plenty of time to get organized and clean up. I also put in place for students to complete an exit slip activity because I think it is a good way to assess how well students learned the material from the day. I require that all students remain seated until the bell rings to eliminate any problems and to ensure that all students complete the exit slip activity.
Teacher Expectations
The enforcement procedure was created with the intent of giving students a chance to redeem themselves and fix the problem. Providing a verbal warning allows students to change their behavior without any penalties. However, if the problem escalates I cannot let the student keep getting away with whatever they did. Because of this, I have planned to issue a detention, but if the problem continues the student will be sent to the office to talk to the principle or dean about his/her actions. I think these procedures illustrate to the students that I am willing to be fair, but if you continue to disrespect the classroom I have no choice but to act accordingly.
Incorporating a bell into my classroom as a signal is a great way to get students’ attention. Emmer and Evertson explain that the use of signals in the classroom indicates to students the proper behavior and attention they should be displaying. The use of the bell will help me to get students attention and will inform students what I expect them to be doing.
The use of the bell will also help when I am giving directions. I put in place that I will ask all questions students might have after I am done explaining directions because it provides me the opportunity to fully explain the directions. A student's question might be answered by the time I am done explaining the directions. I put in place that students are responsible for looking for and reading writing directions because it teaches students to be responsible and aware of what is going around them.
Grading/evaluation of student work
The percentages I assigned to each assignment were determined by how much work is needed to complete the assignment. I made note to put an explanation of the amount of time absent students have to make up work so there would be not confusion in the future. Providing students with this information allows for them to plan ahead if they know they will be absent on a specific day. This also requires them to take responsibility and make sure they complete their work in a timely manner. I determined the time each assignment will be returned back to students by how extensive each assignment is. Since warm-up/exit slip activities and homework would not be very long or require a lot of work, they would be easy to grade and be handed back quickly to students. However, more extensive assignments like tests and projects would take longer to grade, so I allowed myself a longer period of time to grade those assignments. Finally, I have planned to record both a percentage grade and a written comment on all graded work because I think it is important for all students to receive feedback that will help them to improve their work. It is the responsibility of the teacher to help students become better students, and I think one of the best ways a teacher can do this is by providing students with honest feedback on all work.