Class Organization

I originally liked the idea of having the carpet be the center of the room and in front of

the whiteboard. I’ve seen it work in many classrooms, but for my 6-week placement it was best

set to the side. I have to decide if I want the carpet to be a place to work, or a place to relax.

When I first started my 6-weeks it was positioned in front of the smart board and used as a place

to work. The way the room was set up wasn’t working for the class and it was actually fairly

distracting for some kids to sit on the carpet. It was moved to the side and turned into more of a

place to relax. We’d teach reading lessons there, use it as a place to read during DEAR time, used

it for morning meetings, and a place to play games. I feel like treating it more as a place to relax

helped our team building when we’d use the carpet, and the kids flocked to it to read because

now it’s tucked in the corner instead of at the center of the room.

The supplies in my class was collected from all the students and used as shared supplies.

The kids were allowed to keep three pencils at a time, and were allowed to bring their own

coloring supplies but it was requested they bring extra to donate. I want to implement this in my

own class too because then no child is left with nothing, and that prevents me and the school

from having to provide extra supplies. All the supplies was kept in easily accessible areas so no

one needed to ask to use anything, if you need it, then borrow it.

My cooperating teacher had a large filing cabinet that she kept all extra sheets in. If a

student was gone she would had over everything they needed when they got back because it was

already set up for them. Kids had their own boxes to keep their books in with their number on it.

At Gibbs they have their lockers inside the classroom, and each kid is given their own number.

That number determines your locker and your spot in line to keep everything organized. During
work time, to make sure that students knew what they were doing and didn’t have to ask

unnecessary questions, all the information was put on the board for them. What they’re doing

(eg. math, grammar, reading etc), How they’re doing it (eg. page 3 in math journal), Where to put

it (eg. in the turn in box, or check with a teacher), and what to do After (eg. read, color math).

That way there’s no questions on what they should be doing, and it helped independent work

time run smoother.

The procedures and routines were not set by the time I left my 6-weeks. The expectation

that everyone would walk in the hallway quietly almost became something that my cooperating

teacher wanted to focus on the least because of how difficult it was for the class. The end of the

day procedure included finding your job, doing your job, helping with someone else’s job if

yours is done, and sitting down if everything is finished. This procedure was not mastered by the

time I left. In my own class I may have done more modeling on behavior and some role-playing.

I feel it may have helped to give more examples. The routines will take time, I’ve since been in

contact with my cooperating teacher and she has said that I wouldn’t recognize the class anymore

because of how well they’ve finally taken to the routine. We encouraged the class to take care of

the room and their own things, which they did. All it takes is time, consistency, and positive

teacher language.

Our class had a clip chart for behavior. Everyone had a clip with their number on it, and

they all started in the middle on “Ready to Learn.” If a student is seen doing good work then

they can be asked to move their clip up to “Good Choices,” or “Outstanding Choices.” Every

student gets one verbal warning and if behavior does not improve then they can be asked to

move their clip down to “Warning.” If behavior still doesn’t improve then the next step is
“Buddy Room.” If they reach that step they have to go to another room and either just cool

down, or do an activity that fits what the misbehavior was. Whether it be a letter home, an

apology letter to the person they may have hurt, or just a reflection on behavior. Sometimes kids

simply just need time to cool down. My cooperating teacher asked the class “What are we here

to do?” and based the rules on the answers they gave her. She already had rules picked out, but

she let them guide a few of them after giving her mandatory rules. We didn’t do anything with

the rules beyond that discussion and reminders of behavior after that. I would have wanted to

have more of a discussion about them. My cooperating teacher hadn’t used the clip chart in a few

years because her classes haven’t needed it, but she brought it back out this year for this class.

After it was implemented it seemed to work well for the kids. They had absolutely no intrinsic

motivation for their behavior, but they were ready to obey if given outside reinforcement.