Classroom Ecology Plan

Team Villanueva

Section 1: Building a Classroom Community
Reflection
How do you define a classroom learning community?
In a classroom learning community students and teachers all participate in creating
collective knowledge and fostering caring relationships. This is done through
mutual respect of all participants in the learning community. Everyone learns from
one-another. A positive learning community supports diverse levels of expertise.
Knowledge is shared and constructed by all students and by teachers. A safe
learning environment is created by trust by both teacher and student. The teacher
promotes a sense of belonging by acknowledging the diversity that each student
brings to the classroom. Most importantly a teacher takes the time to know their
students, this shows that the teacher is caring, and this makes all the difference.

What are the qualities/characteristics you would like to promote as you build community?
As teachers build community in their classrooms, there are particular
characteristics that can help promote a safe and positive learning environment for
students. In order to maintain mutual respect among students and teachers, I
statements are a form of communication that allow one to speak using non-
judgmental language and refraining from generalizations. Moreover, part of
fostering caring relationships requires every participant to be a respectable listener.
This encompasses listening before speaking and being reflective towards others
questions, comments, ideas, concerns, etc. Building effective social relationships
stems from being a good listener and immersing oneself in dialogue with people
who have similar and different perspectives.

What theories inform your ideas about classroom community?
Rogoff, B. (1994). Developing understanding of the idea of communities of learners.
Mind, Culture, and Activity: In a community of learners, all participants are active;
no one has all the responsibility and no one is passive. Children take an active role in
managing their own learning. In a community of learners students also work with
one another in collaboration and with adults in carrying out activities with purposes
connected explicitly with the history and current practices of the community.
(Rogoff, 1994).
Diaz, E., & Flores, B. (2001). Teaching as a sociocultural, sociohistorical mediator. As an
educator our role is to act as a facilitator in the students learning environment. Diaz
and Flores (2001) acknowledged that the teacher becomes the link between the
childs sociocultural experiences at home and school. That is the teacher becomes
the sociocultural, sociohistorical mediator of important formal and informal
knowledge about the culture and society in which children develop (p. 32).
Abraham Maslows Theory of Hierarchy of Needs: Students cannot learn in a
classroom unless their basic needs are being met. Maslows theory starts with self-
actualization, in which students aim to become everything they are capable of
becoming, or, reaching their potential. Then there is esteem, which includes self-
esteem and self-respect as well as the desire to be accepted by others. The next need
is love and belonging, which includes emotionally-based relationships such as
friends and family. Then there are safety needs such as health and well being and
financial security. Finally, the top of the pyramid are physiological need such as
food, water, breathing sleep. While the needs do not necessarily fit into a pyramid or
hierarchy in the way Maslow explained, they are all very important for ensuring that
students can be successful academically. Teachers need to keep in mind which
needs are and are not being met for their students and then do what they can to
fulfill some of these needs, such as guiding students toward friendship and making
sure the classroom is a comfortable place to learn. Classroom communities can
develop through each persons active role in helping meet the needs of others.

Action Plan for Building a Classroom Community
How will you introduce yourself to the class? What will you say? What will you do?
Biobag/box: I will show students personal items from my life representing things
that matter to me. These include: family, friends, hobbies, background, education,
dreams and aspirations, and other interest or facts I may feel are important.
Slideshow: Visual representation of family, friends, places I have traveled or would
like to go, my community, my past, previous classrooms and activities and any
wishes/expectations for the year.
Interview time: A designated time for students to ask questions they have written
about what they would like to know about you. The questions can be added
throughout a day or week. Majority of questions will be asked on the first or second
day of school and days following students will be allowed to ask 5 questions a day.
Manifesto/promises: Introduce any promises or manifesto that I feel defines me or
what I expect from the class and post them in the room. The promises speak of me
as a teacher and my promises that I promise to keep with the students.

How will you learn about your students, their lives/interests/families/cultures?
Three fact notecard: students write three facts about themselves, ranging from
general to specific
o to begin class (or as a mid-class break), all students stand up, teacher reads
facts one by one; if the fact applies to you, stay standing, if not, sit down
(after all three facts read only one student left standing)
o helps students see what they have in common with each other
o also gives opportunity to get moving/take a break
Questionnaires: simple homework for the first day of school
Interviews: Students will learn about the interviewing process and then will be
asked to interview either someone in their family or in their community. The
students can take pictures and include other artifacts if they would like and then
share what they learned with the rest of the class. The results of the interview may
also be made into a class book. If possible, students may also invite family or
community members into the classroom and interview them there so that everyone
in the class can ask questions and learn about the person.
Lunch/Recess Time: From my own experience, I think spending recess and/ or
lunch with students is such a great way to build relationships and to learn more
about our students. Once in a while make the effort to spend a recess period
observing and participating in games with your students. Observe who is included
in the games and who is excluded. For lunch time you can work on scheduling a
special group lunch with the teacher. This is a good time to find out about eating
habits at home, when do they eat, do they eat as a family, what do they eat?
Create a classroom puzzle: I have seen classroom puzzles where each piece is
designated for a specific. The students draw things that are special to them: their
families, pets, favorite foods. As the teacher, you could narrow the focus by guiding
students to depict only their favorite books or favorite foods. This is a very fun and
creative way to showcase similarities and unique sides of all your students.

List of Community Building Activities
World Building (Resource: Inner-City Arts)
Materials: Buttons, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, yarn, canisters (variable sizes),
large black drapes.
Objective: Students will be able to conceive, construct, and describe a fictitious
world using their own background knowledge of societal customs, government,
politics, and values.
Students will divide into equal teams then cover their desks with the drapes
(arrangement of the objects underneath the drapes is at students discretion).
Above these drapes students will arrange the other craft items to depict a world
setting of their choosing.
Students must develop social rules/customs for their worlds.
Students will then share and present their civilization to the class.
Yes, lets (Resource: Inner-City Arts)
Objective: Acknowledgement of classmates and exercise of group unity.
The class walks around the room, filling up the space.
One person calls out an action to pantomime, always beginning with the phrase,
Hey, everybody, lets (ex. Hey, everybody, lets dig a hole!)
Before doing the movement, the group responds in unison with YES, LETS
(action).
Everyone then mimes the action until someone calls out another action. The goal is
for the actions to all be clear and active. Students may NOT call out any actions
which disengage the class (Lets take a nap! etc.).
Reflection: How did it feel to do these actions together? What were some of the
actions we did? (Verb chart.) What were some of the things we used? (Noun chart.)
Yes and. (Resource: Inner-City Arts)
Objective: Saying yes establishes group agreement and acknowledgement as well
as finding the positive side. Develop focus, listening skills, and patience.
Standing in a circle, a student turns to the person next to him/her and says, Her,
(name), I have a _________ for you. Ex. Here Nancy, I have smelly sock for you.
The person receiving the gift ALWAYS accepts and replies, Thank you for the
__________, (name). I will use it to/for_________. Ex. Thank you for the smelly sock,
David. I will use it to draw the flies away from the house.
A person cannot negate a gift. (eg. I will throw it away.)
The person who received the gift then creates a new gift to give to the next person.
Parachute Activities (Resource: TEP Handout)
Materials: Large, gym class parachute and lots of outdoors space.
Objective: Community inclusion in group activities.
Activity 1: Crossing Over and Crossing Under - Students kneel and make hard, fast
waves, then when you call out the numbers the students crawl ON the parachute
instead of run under it. Another might be using the same numbering off and go
under the chute (regular inside the mountain directions), call the number or
whatever and those students go into the center and make statues, then come back
and call another group, etc.
Activity 2: Mousetrap - Students stand around parachute and hold it high above
their heads (a very taut parachute is needed so have the students take an extra step
or two backwards). They must run under the lifted parachute, trying to make it out
between the other students still holding the chute before it falls.
Activity 3: Popcorn - Throw out small foam balls and have the students shake the
chute, popping them up in the air.
Activity 4: Shark and Lifeguards - 3-4 students are sharks and travel under the
chute, 3-4 are lifeguards and try to save the others. The remaining students are the
swimmers and sit with legs under the chute. Sharks try to pull them into the chute if
successful they also become sharks. The lifeguards try to rescue them by grabbing
one of their arms and pull them away. If a shark is pulled out from the chute they
must let go. Play till you feel it is time to call new sharks and lifeguards.
Two Truths and a Lie*
Objective: Introductions, creating familiarity.
Tell the class that each student will introduce him- or herself by stating two truths
about their life and one lie. The rest of the participants will guess which statement is
the lie.
Ex. Hi, I'm Mary. My hair was almost to my waist in high school, I talked to Cher in
an airport coffee shop, and I speak four languages.
Me Montage*
Materials: Magazines, scissors, glue sticks, folders, lamination.
Objective: Students will construct a physical representation of their identities.
Students will cut out images and words from magazines to which they relate or
associate with themselves.
Students will then glue these images on to a folder, covering at least 70% of the
folders exterior.
Teacher will laminate the folders so that the glued images will not flake off.
Reflect and Present: Students will consider their work and then present their
montages, describing its relationship to their identity, to the class.
Impulse Circle*
Stand in a circle, holding hands. Facilitator squeezes the hand of the person on his or
her right, sending an impulse around the circle.
After a couple of times around with an impulse, add a second impulse. See if the
group can keep the two going at once.
Reflection questions: How difficult was this? Why is this exercise challenging? What
were the challenges? What were the distractions? Were you able to make the
impulse move more quickly? If so, what strategies did you use and how were they
decided on?
Not-So-Knot*
Have students stand in a circle, shoulder-to-shoulder. Each person then crosses
their arms, either right over left or left over right, and joins hands with the people
on either side. Make one break in the circle so that there are two loose ends. With
everyones hands tightly held and arms crossed, the challenge is to untangle the
group into one continuous line. If hand-holds are broken during the exercise, the
group must start over. Students are not allowed to go underneath their own arms,
do forward flips, or twist off the wrists of their fellow classmates.
Reflection Questions: How many of you had an intuitive sense of how to untangle
this knot? Was it hard to get the group to go along with your idea? What worked in
negotiating the proposed solutions? What skills were involved? Are these skills
transferable to real-world situations?
Mirror*
Have the group divide into pairs and sit facing each other. As the partners face each
other, they try to mirror body motions and facial gestures. See if pairs can do it so
carefully that an observer cant guess whos leading.
Reflection Questions: What can we learn from this activity about observation?
Stand Up/Sit Down*
Participants stand up or sit down in response to a series of questions, with standing
up representing yes and sitting down meaning no. Start with simple questions
and then lead to more challenging ones. Example: Who is left-handed? or Who
has brown eyes?
Reflection Questions: What did you learn about your group through this exercise?
What did you learn about yourself?
Who Started It?*
Have the group sit in a circle, and send one person away. The group then chooses a
leader who will create hand movements (claps, snaps, jives, etc.) that the group will
follow. When the person comes back from exile, he or she has three tries to guess
who the lead is.
Reflection Questions: What strategy worked to discern who was starting the
movements? How frustrating was it? What misled you? How is this like fitting into a
new place, culture, language?
Building Bridges*
Divide Participants in teams of five. Tell them that their challenge is to build a bridge
that will hold a shoebox full of junk, allowing the shoebox also to slide under it. Give
the teams about 10 minutes. To challenge, see if someone can sit on it without the
bridge collapsing.
Materials: Lots of newspaper, several rolls of masking tape, and shoeboxes full of
junk.
Reflection Questions: Did everyone in your group participate in a meaningful way?
Was there any dissension in your group? Did the first plan work, or did you have to
resort to other plans? What grade would you give yourselves for teamwork, and
why?
Weaving the Web*
Have participants stand or sit in a circle. The person holding the ball is the facilitator
and makes a statement on a topic he or she has selected as a way to reflect on the
day. These statements might pertain to qualities each person would like to offer the
class, or one thing each learned through the day.
Reflection Questions: Explain the symbolism of a spider web, a groups
interconnections and interdependence. Ask what the strengths of a spider web
might be. Are there weaknesses? How might these relate to group work?
Materials: A ball of yarn or string.
Rainstorm*
Have everyone sit in a circle on the floor. Explain that participants are to replicate
any action the person on their left does. The facilitator starts the action, which is
usually finger-snapping. One person after another snaps his or her fingers as the
person to the left picks up the action, until it travels around the circle like a wave.
Once the action has traveled all the way around the circle, add a motion to the wave,
so that the sequence of actions is increasing in number for everyone. The action
sequence might be: snapping fingers, rubbing hands together, slapping knees,
stomping feet while slapping knees, slapping knees, rubbing hands together
snapping fingers, resting hands on knees. The exercise ends when the facilitator
grabs the hand of the person to his or her left, to signify that he or she has
completed the sequence.
Reflection Questions: What skills does this exercise illustrate? Why is it a good
activity for the end of the day?

*All of these lessons come from Cornells website about building community:
http://nys4h.cce.cornell.edu/Documents/Cultivating%20Community.pdf

Works Cited:
Diversity: Activities for Cultivating Community National Youth Leader Council. From Lift:
Raising
the Bar for Service-Learning Practice. 2010.
Hand-outs from Teachers Institute, Inner-City Arts Annenberg Professional Development
Program










Section 2: Classroom Management
Reflection
What are your major components of an effective classroom management system? If you
plan to teach in a middle school how would you adjust these components?
Relationships: When students know you personally and you know them, their love
and respect for you is the best management tool possible. We all teach people, not
curriculum. As we get to know our students, we will know what they are interested
in and how to reach them. Even teaching to their interest will make management a
lot easier because student engagement in the lesson makes it easier.
Individual responsibility: Students need to be conscious of their own actions and the
decision they make as well as take accountability for themselves while in the
classroom. Students need to take ownership of what they do and talking to them
about how they each play a role in the class. Sharing with students your
responsibility to them as a teacher.
Collective responsibility: This means having an understanding that you need to be
responsible for yourself but also as a class because we are a unit and a community.
Students need to know that at times a student can individually be responsible but
we also need to be accountable of ourselves as a class. Informing students to
encourage others to stay engaged and stop talking. Also telling students that as a
class when you cooperate and work together you can be rewarded for good
behavior etc.
Expectations and practice: A lot of classroom management issues come from
confusion. When students have a clear understanding of what they should be doing,
how, and what they do after theyre done, things become a lot more clear. Great
classes run by themselves and students can facilitate learning themselves. Students
fight the structure at first sometimes but I can tell they appreciate the stability in
their lives. When there are clear instructions from Day 1, and then practice, practice,
practice, then students will have a great flow throughout the day and not react.

What theories and research inform your ideas?
Elementary Classroom Management: Lessons from Research and Practice
-Weinstein, Romano, Mignano (2011)
-Effective managers had clear rules for general conduct as well as procedures or
routines for carrying out specific tasks[and] spent much of the first few days
teaching these rules and procedures to students-as carefully as they taught
academic content (p. 94)
Hearing Footsteps in the Dark: African American Students Descriptions of Effective
Teachers
-Tyrone Howard (2002)
-The students mentioned doing our best work and acting the way we are
supposed to as actions to show support for their teacher. In other words, they saw
their teacher as a human being, one who has emotions just as they do, something
that according to the students is rarely shown to students by their teachers(p.15)
Teaching as a Sociocultural, Sociohistorical Mediator
- Diaz, Flores (2001)
- Creating relevant lesson plans and activities by incorporating the students
communities in the classroom and involving the classroom in the community.
- Rebelling against deficit thinking
- Bringing the lesson to the student, rather than bringing the student to the lesson
Funds of Knowledge for Teaching: Using a Qualitative Approach to Connect Homes and
Classrooms
- Moll, Neff (1992)
- Being aware of the social, historical, and cultural backgrounds of ones students
and integrating that history into the classroom
- Accessing students experiential backgrounds and funds of knowledge

Action Plan for Classroom Management
What agreements will you implement in your classroom? How will you create them with
your students? What will happen if somebody breaks the agreements?
Agreements: Students will create their own classroom agreements. Having students
create the classroom agreements gives them more ownership within the classroom,
students feel that they are a valuable member in the classroom and this begins creating a
strong classroom community.
Students are broken up into groups of 4 and are given 3 sentence strips.
With their groups, students will agree on three classroom agreements for the class
and write them down on the sentence strips.
The class will come together and read all of the agreements from the different
groups. They then begin to group the agreements into different categories.
Once the students have grouped the agreements they will come up with a label/
title for each category
The final result should be a list of no more than 5 agreements that the students
created.
Consequences: Students will come up with a set of consequences that will follow if they
break the agreements. Allowing students to come up with their own agreements and
consequences holds them more accountable for their actions. Students decide what what
the consequences will be after they break an agreement for the first, second and third time
it occurs. Just like the classroom agreements, the consequences will be kept simple and
minimal.

Identify structures you want to put into place for:
Beginning class
Questioning: You can begin each morning by asking a question for students
to respond. They can either be write down their responses on a diary or respond
orally as a way to share out the class. The benefit of doing it orally is that students
can practice their oral language which is especially beneficial to ELLs. A positive
result of doing it written is that students can communicate directly with their
teacher. We can respond to each students response.
Song: Begin the morning with a morning upbeat song on the carpet. In the beginning
of the year, this can be especially useful if the song incorporates students names in
the lyrics such as the traditional Good Morning song (to the tune of Frere Jacques).
This gives students and the teacher the opportunity to learn their peers names.
Ending class
Tossing a ball: Everyone is in a circle including the teacher. The teacher has a small
hacky sack that he/she tosses to a student who then tosses it to another student and
this repeats until all the students have tossed it to another person. It is important to
be explicit with students that they will have to remember who they tossed the ball
to for the second part of the activity. The second part of the activity begins when the
last person to receive the hacky sack gives it back to the first person, in this case, the
teacher. The teacher then poses a question that seeks to remind students of
important facts or strategies that they learned/ practiced that day. For example, I
would like (students name: Ronald) to always remember that (the legislative
branch of the government is in charge of making the laws). The students at the
same time are tossing the ball back to the person that they originally tossed the ball
to and addressing them by their name and which a detail of the day that they would
like them to always remember. This can be adapted to end an activity or a whole
unit. If students are recollecting details from a whole unit, it is important to first
review to lower students affective filter.
Exit Slips: a problem or question to check for understanding, that students use ase
their ticket out the door at the conclusion of class
Getting students attention
Clapping rhythms (students repeat back to teacher)
Mirror Up/Mirror Down: As the teachers hands go up, palm facing out, the students
become the teachers mirror. They say and do whatever the teacher says, and when
the mirror (hands) come down the teacher can say mirror down to end mimicking.
This is part a TPR (Total Physical Response) strategy that even students can use
with each other.
Call & response ideas
o Hocus Pocus/Everybody Focus
o Macaroni and Cheese/Everybody Freeze
Collecting work
Designated paper monitors (changed each week) will collect papers for their table
and place in an ungraded work file
o also: have a place for work that doesnt have a name, so that students can
claim their work
Distributing books and materials
Designated Table Monitors: Students that are assigned to collect the books are those
students who are closest in proximity to the stack of books. It is most beneficial
when the books are put away according to table. This makes it easier on the table
monitors to grab their own pile and distribute to the rest of the table. If the tables
are large, two monitors should be assigned. One student can carry the books while
the other student hands out the books, or they can split the number of books they
have amongst the two. If one of the table monitors is absent, the next person closest
to the book stack is asked to help.
Designated Job: Book monitors can be designated as part of a whole class job
system. The number of book monitors should reflect the classrooms need.
Group work
Provide structure by asking students to claim roles within the group (scribe, time
keeper, etc)
Cooperative Learning Job Cards: Create manageable groups of about 4 students each
depending on the task. Each group is given a set of cards that details a specific job
such as: Time Keeper (manages the time), Voice Controller (makes sure everyones
opinions are shared), Materials Manager (compiles all necessary materials),
Recorder (writes/documents what needs to be recorded). The jobs themselves
should reflect the content area goals. For example, if the groups are for a literature
discussion then they should include specific jobs such as predictor or
summarizer.
Seating
Option 1: Allow students to choose their seats, but let them know that if their seat
does not seem like a good fit (ie. they will be distracted/chatty), that you will move
them
Option 2: Create a seating chart for the class that mixes students evenly by gender,
academic ability, sociable level, etc.
Keeping track of assignments
Grade Book: A traditional grade book allows you to keep track of students work.
This is beneficial in that it allows you to show quantitative data to your student,
their parent and if needed, an administrator. It also allows you to see trends and
averages in a very visible and accessible manner. The other added benefit of this
tool is that you can use it for calculating averages for report cards.
Grading
Rubrics: A rubric gives students a very detailed explanation of the different
elements on which they will be graded and the details they need to include in order
to achieve a certain grade. Rubrics take away the guessing element of grading and
ensure that everyone receives a fair grade. Rubrics can also be put together as a
class, in which everyone participates to develop the rubric so the students have a
say in how they are being graded. Students may also grade on another using this
rubric.

Define your policies for absences, tardies, food/drinks, cell phones, late work, bathroom
use/leaving the classroom, sharpening pencils, talking during direct instruction,
bullying/use of oppressive language. How will you respond to these and other difficult
issues?
(Classroom policies will be different for every teacher, but we will make suggestions here for
different types of policies new teachers might try employing at the beginning of the school
year).

Classroom Rules: In addition to behavioral expectations for specific activities, teachers
need to teach students their basic expectations for how they should behave in their
classrooms. Classroom rules are in effect at all times and help ensure that your classroom is
a safe environment where you can teach and students can learn.
Determine classroom rules: Before the school year begins, determine the rules for
classroom. Few guiding questions are: What general behaviors do I need at all times,
each and every day, so that I can teach and my students can learn? How do I expect
students to conduct themselves in my classroom?
o Rules need to be observable. Address behaviors that you can clearly see.
Vaguely stated expectations dont mean the same to every student.
o Rules need to apply throughout the entire day. Consistency is key! Keep rules
that will be in effect all day and in every situation.
Teach rules to students: Because rules are in effect all day, everyday, this lesson
should be taught on the first day of school. Classroom rules should be taught
continually until students are fully aware of the expectations.
Post rules in the classroom where they are visible to everyone to serve as a constant
reminder of the importance of the rules.

Tardies: We have talked a lot in TEP about the tardy policy that bans students from the
classroom if they are even a second late to class. These tardy policies ostracize students
and make them even less likely to be engaged and want to return to the classroom.
Moreover, for our youngest students, tardiness is often beyond the students control.
However, we cannot treat absences as a simple mistake or unavoidable event--we need to
make sure to include our students once they are in the classroom and find ways to work
with them to make up for what they have missed. And most importantly, for students who
are often late, we need to find out what is causing their repeated tardiness and see if there
are any ways we can support them in coming to class on time. Below are some suggested
policies we can use:
Buddy policy: Having a student buddy system to ensure that students who are late
will have a peer they can turn to to get caught up to speed if they are late.
Make-up time: To get caught up, the teacher may have a sign-up sheet with make-up
time that students can sign up for when they are late. This time should not be
considered a punishment, but a logical consequence of making up for lost time and
an opportunity for students to make up for any learning they missed. Suggested
make-up times: after school, before school the following day, during free
choice/study hall, during the last few minutes of lunch (but never a full lunch).
Parent meeting: After three unexcused tardies, students, parents, and teachers will
have a meeting to talk about the importance of coming to school late and come up
with a plan to help the student get to class on time.

Absences: Like tardies, absences are often unavoidable. If a student is absent frequently
without showing any signs of illness or rationale, the teacher needs to find out what is
going on first. It is possible that there is something going on at home that the student is not
telling you. So, with every policy, the first step should always be talking with your student.
The policies are similar to the tardy policy:
Buddy policy: Having a student buddy system to ensure that students who are late
will have a peer they can turn to to get caught up to speed if they are late.
Make-up time: This is similar to the make-up time for being tardy, however it should
be noted that the make-up time does not need to add up or be equivalent to the time
out of class. The amount of make-up time should be determined by how much time
that student needs to get caught up. To get caught up, the teacher may have a sign-
up sheet with make-up time that students can sign up for when they are late. This
time should not be considered a punishment, but a logical consequence of making
up for lost time and an opportunity for students to make up for any learning they
missed. Suggested make-up times: after school, before school the following day,
during free choice/study hall, during the last few minutes of lunch (but never a full
lunch).
Parent meeting: After two unexcused absences, students, parents, and teachers will
have a meeting to talk about the importance of coming to school late and come up
with a plan to help the student get to class on time. (Of course, the number of days
permitted first is up to the teacher, but since absences are more pernicious, I
decreased the number here.)

Late Work: This was a controversial topic, even in TEP. Some progressive schools are
beginning to give credit for late work just as they would if the work had been turned in on
time. The argument is that grades should reflect what a student knows, not when a student
completed an assignment. Some of us felt that we need late work to carry a penalty in order
for students to ever turn work in on time. Some of us felt that grades should not only reflect
what you know, but also how you participate in school and how much effort you put in,
agreeing that late work should be given a penalty. Some of us agreed with the changes to
late work policy, feeling that late work comes in late for many reasons: a student puts a lot
of time into their work, has a family emergency, or maybe is struggling with a concept.
What matters is what they understand. The late work policies below show the range of
opinion on this topic:
No late work permitted: The teacher sets high expectations for students to complete
work on time. Any work turned in later will not be given credit.
Partial credit on late work: The teacher will set a sliding scale for how many points a
student can earn based on how late they turn in the assignment. For instance, 1 day
late, the student may lose ten points, but after a week they can only receive half
credit.
Late work given full credit: Teachers will have to demonstrate high expectations for
students completing work on time for this policy to work. If a teacher accepts late
work for full potential credit, they will have to set even higher expectations for the
quality of work that is turned in late than what would have been turned in on time.
Teachers in this type of classroom are more likely to give students opportunities to
redo assignments for full-credit also.

Food/Drink: This depends a lot on the environment of the school. In Compton and LAUSD,
where the day begins with breakfast in the classroom, having certain foods and drinks may
often seem normal. In schools where eating in the classroom is taboo, that would not be the
case. Teachers who permit snacks in the classroom should be wary that not all students
may have the ability to bring in their own snacks from home. To make sure these students
do not feel bad or hungry as their peers eat, these teachers should make sure there are
healthy snacks on hand in the classroom.
Healthy snacks and water permitted: Students are allowed to keep healthy snacks at
their desk that are approved by the teacher (i.e. nutritious snacks that no one in the
class has an allergy to). Teachers in this class want students to moderate their eating
on their own, but also should have a clean-up policy in place to keep out pests and
odors.
Food and drinks permitted only during designated times: Students are allowed to
eat snacks in the classroom during the breakfast in the classroom time and
classroom activities, such as parties or rainy day lunch. Some teachers may even set
up a designated snack time where students can eat their snacks if there is a long
time, for instance, between breakfast and lunch.
Water fountain in the classroom: Students may quietly leave their seat to drink
water without raising their hand. Students will only be allowed to leave their seats
to drink water once during that period of the day.

Cell Phones: It is difficult to ban cell phones from school altogether, because they are hard
for us to detect, and because sometimes students need them to coordinate and feel safe as
they are going home, etc.
Cell phones restricted: Cell phones should be turned off and left in the students
backpack throughout class time and the school day.
Cell phones permitted during breaks: We are unlikely to have this policy in our
elementary classrooms, but this is more likely in a middle school. If the school
permits cell phone use during recess and lunchtime (unlikely), teachers may permit
students to bring their cell phones out of their backpacks at the beginning of this
time.
Cell phones permitted for school use only: This is still an unlikely choice for us to
use as elementary school teachers, but it is an interesting idea nonetheless. Students
may use their cell phones as directed by the teacher to do research online,
collaborate with other members of the class (i.e. when creating a media project
using technology), or to use school-permitted apps. In primary grades this is very
difficult, because many students still will not have cell phones and may feel isolated
from their peers who do and are using them in the class.

Sharpening pencils: Without a clear policy for sharpening pencils, teachers may
experience a number of problems: interrupted lessons, students unable to work because
they do not have a usable pencil, and a long line of students waiting to use the sharpener.
Give each table a box of pencils and have them sharpened at the start of each day.
Whenever students need a new pencil, they can simply open up the pencil box on
their tables and switch out for a new one. This way, students wont have to distract
instruction time to ask for a new pencil or get up to sharpen their pencils.
Make sure each box has enough pencils for everyone to use and switch out
throughout the day. Let students know that they are given a set amount of pencils
per table and that they are responsible for returning them into the box at the end of
the day, so the pencil monitor or teacher can have them sharpened by next morning.

Bathroom use/ leaving the classroom: We believe that students should not be allowed to
leave the classroom without the permission of the teacher or the office staff. We hold true
to this belief because it is important to know where your students are at all times.
Giving students the freedom to use the restroom whenever they need is quite controversial.
On one side, it is the students right to visit the classroom whenever they need to. On the
other side, how do we know when our students just want to go for a walk or if they truly
need to use the restroom. To alleviate this situation we have set up the following two
measures:
First, we would encourage our students to use the restroom before or after each of
their breaks. We make a strong point to emphasize this at the beginning of the year
so students could internalize the importance in doing this.
Students who absolutely need to use the restroom during class would be asked to
stay two minutes inside the classroom before they go on their break. We would use
these two minutes to review or mention any material that they might have missed
while they were gone.

Talking during instruction: Talking during instruction is a big problem in the classroom
not only for the individual who is doing it but also the students that are around him. If we
have students that talk during instruction they are missing out instruction that is crucial to
understanding the material or strategies that is being presented. To address these issues,
we have come up with the following two solutions:
During each lesson students will be given time to pair-share and engage in
discussion not only to comprehend the material, but also to give them a chance to
simply talk.
At the beginning of the school year we would focus on the importance of respect. We
would make sure to have a discussion about it, include it in our classroom
constitution, and revisit it throughout the year. We would focus on the importance
of respect because it will be the means through which students would understand
why its important to listen rather than talk when instruction is being given.

Bullying/use of oppressive language: As new teachers, we understand the some of the
causes and implications of bullying. From the courses we have taken at school, we also
understand how oppressive language has the potential to perpetuate the isms in society.
For that reason we understand that the following two approaches should be taken to
decrease the likelihood of bullying and oppressive language in our classrooms.
As new teachers, our goal for the first few weeks of school would be develop a safe
classroom space. Some of the activities to achieve this have been outlined above.
Developing a safe classroom should be an ongoing process, this means that we will
make an effort to have community circles or council at least once a week. By
building a safe classroom environment, students will learn about the importance of
being a community and what it means to a member of a community.
We would also make an effort to show students various ways of releasing emotions
or stress that they have built up. Some of these strategies can include writing on
their journals or we can even show our students breathing techniques, so they can
regulate their emotions in better ways