9. Learning Environment (LO 2.8 & 2.

9) (APS 8 & 9)

TWS Standard
The teacher plans for a structured, positive learning environment where students feel safe and valued
as contributing members of a learning community.

Task
Create a plan and explanation for how you will create a positive, safe learning environment including the
behavioral expectations, consequences and rewards as well as non-instructional routines and procedures.

Prompt
A. Classroom Management:
Describe and explain activities that you will implement to create a positive climate where
students will feel like valued members of a learning community.

To ensure that my students always feel emotionally safe and valued in my classroom, each child
will be respected and treated the same and all students will be expected to treat others with equal
respect. During morning meetings students will greet one another with respect. During sharing
during the morning meeting each student will have a chance to share whatever topic we are
focused on and they will listen while their peers are talking. Also, if students do not want to share
they will not be obligated to. When students do class activities that require working in pairs or
groups, they will all have a chance to participate in whatever activity they are doing. All students
will be encouraged daily to strive for their best and will be equally disciplined when behavioral
issues occur.

To ensure that my students feel physically safe in my classroom, they will be reminded to keep
the classroom door locked while coming in and out, rules will be enforced while using specific
classroom equipment so that no child gets hurt, such as iPads. If they are handling the iPad cart or
going to and from the iPad cart they are to walk with their iPads in hand. No physical interaction
among each other will be tolerated. If these problems occur, students will face the classroom and
school consequences.

List the 3-5 behavioral expectations or rules for all students in your classroom.
Always listen while the teacher is talking
Stay safe
Take responsibility
Act respectfully

These rules apply to each student in the class and they are expected to abide by these rules. Following
these rules creates a positive classroom environment for both the students and teacher.

List the hierarchy of consequences that you will follow when infractions of the rules occur
in the classroom.

1. First Offense: The student will receive a verbal warning. The child will be informed on what
they are doing wrong and should let me know how they can fix the problem.
2. Second Offense: They receive a ticket or fine. Students can get fined for breaking the
noise ordinance (talking), loitering (not doing work), traffic violation (playing or talking in
 the hallway), or disturbing the peace (interfering with learning).
3. Third Offense: Students parent will be notified on the daily parent-teacher communication
log if behavioral issue persists.
4. Fourth Offense: The student will be formally written up if their misbehavior continues. The
referral will include normal consequences and a parent-teacher conference will be set up to
discuss how to fix the issue.
5. Fifth Offense: A meeting will be set up between the parent, teacher, guidance counselor and
principal to discuss the effect of the childs behavior and what steps need to be taken to fix
the issue.

List the types of intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcements that you will utilize in the classroom.

Intrinsic Reinforcement: Students who follow all rules and practice good behavior will be
recognized and rewarded by:
Earning dollars
Choosing an extra item to buy at the classroom store
Helping with specific or hands lesson demonstrations
Earning student of the month or Terrific Kid
Utilizing these positive reinforcements will encourage other students to follow their lead and
behave more often to earn these rewards.

Extrinsic Reinforcement: Students who do not follow the rules and practice good behavior will:
Be fined
Lose iPad privileges
Have sad note sent home on daily parent-teacher communication log
Play in their own restricted area at recess

Utilizing these negative reinforcements will make the rest of the class realize that misbehaving
results in losing special privileges.

B. Non-Instructional Routines and Procedures

Describe non-instructional routines and procedures that will ensure your classroom runs
safely (i.e. you are providing appropriate supervision) and smoothly. Questions for you to
consider are:
1. How will you begin and end class?
I will begin the class with a daily routine that requires the students to come in, make their
lunch choice, place homework folders in the appropriate basket, place bookbags where they
belong, have a seat at their desk and start morning work. No student is to get out of their seat
during morning work unless they are coming inside the classroom or going to the bathroom
with permission. They will have specified activities to do after they complete morning work
and until the morning news or announcements come on. Attendance will be taken quickly
afterwards. Before instruction begins, we will have a daily morning meeting where students
greet each other, share a certain topic, do a group activity, and read the morning message. For
lunch, students will line up quietly by choice when their name/ number is called to ensure
that students are in the correct order of choice. The lunch report person will give out hand
sanitizer. The first person in line for choice 1 will receive a choice 1 sign and the first
person in line for choice 2 will receive a choice 2 sign. The end of the day routine will
consist of students taking out a book to read after the last lesson, while I call each student up
to get their behavior sheet to place in their homework folders. When everyone has received
their folders, one group will go one at a time to get their bookbags, to avoid traffic collision
 throughout the classroom. When each student is packed up, they will have a seat until
announcements come on for dismissal. If there are a few minutes at the end, as a class we will
play Around the World (math facts), or as a class we will do a read aloud.

2. How will you distribute and collect materials and student work?
Students are to place homework folders in the basket every day. Once a week they will
receive a Signed Papers folder to take home. In these folders will be items to be signed and
returned to school on one side, and items to keep at home. The Signed Papers folder should
be returned to school the following day it is sent home. Homework will be distributed on
Mondays and Wednesdays which will be passed out by the classroom assistants for the week.
Classwork will also be distributed by classroom assistants. Any unclaimed work will be
placed in a separate basket and students will have until the end of the week to claim it or will
lose points. Any make-up work will be placed into a make-up work folder until the student
returns to school to make it up.

3. How will you assign and utilize student helper(s) or assistant(s)?

Student helpers or classroom assistants will be assigned weekly. This will be their jobs for
the week which they will earn classroom money for. This will clearly be posted in the
classroom for the students to see. Students will help distribute papers and other materials to
the class.

4. How will you manage routine tasks such as pencil sharpening, bathroom breaks, and
transitioning between classes or hallway transitions?
Pencil Sharpening: Students will be given a pouch with 6 sharpened pencils at the beginning
of each week. They have all week to keep up with these pencils. At the end of the week their
used pencils will be replaced with sharpened ones. If they still have all 6 pencils in their
pouch at the end of the week they will receive a dollar. Pencils will be sharpened outside of
 class time.
Bathroom breaks: Students will raise 1 finger if they need to use the restroom and will be
given permission to go if restroom is in classroom. If restroom is outside of classroom we
will have assigned times where we go to the restroom as a class throughout the day.
Transitioning: Transitions will be made by enforcing a daily routine. Students will line up
quietly as we leave and enter classroom and remain quiet in the hallway.

5. How will you ensure your students are appropriately supervised and safe during
emergency situations? (e.g. fire and tornado drills)
To ensure that students are safe during emergency situations, procedures will often be
discussed so that the students will know what to do incase anything happens. The importance
of drills will be discussed and students will be informed of any materials or equipment
needed during a drill. Students will be expected to take drills seriously and act as if they are
real emergency situations. An emergency kit will be in appropriate reach for both drills and
emergency cases. Students will be informed of the order in which they are to line up just in
case an emergency happens. This will be practiced numerous times. Students will be expected
to follow the rules as normal.