This page features teaching strategies and classroom management techniques I found to be useful, along with sample lesson plans and observation reports.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

1. Establish rules, consequences, and rewards: It is imperative to start the year with clear Rules and expectations for students, bolstered by Rewards and Consequences, and to follow all consistently. A letter to parents and students outlining these guidelines is also helpful toward establishing a positive learning environment. (sample 1, sample 2)

2. Organize classroom space: Teachers and students should be able to move throughout the room and access materials with ease, even when space is limited. I experimented with tables, but I found that desks provided more effective management solutions. Glimpse my classroom from various angles: photo 2 photo3 photo 4 photo 5

3. Utilize routines and organizational strategies: Pertinent information is posted and all classroom materials are ordered. Students refer to a daily agenda in front featuring date, objective, topic, and schedule. I maintain a running list of students owing make-up work and a folder in which missed the assignments may be found. The week's lesson plans with all attachments stay in the rear of the room near the door for observers to easily locate. My homeroom students chart their progress in Accelerated Reading. These students see me for after school test prep. Classroom texts are neat and easily accessible. I seek to model organization and time management skills for my students.

4. Foster positive relationships with students; take positive actions: Students love it when you attend their extracurricular events - special programs, dances, ball games. For MLK Day, many of my students participated in a service learning project aimed at beautifying the school and grounds: Breunka and Terry are two of my students who helped out that day. Recognizing positive behavior is also very motivating to students; I have yet to see one NOT thrilled to be among the Students of the Week.

SAMPLE LESSON PLANS

This is a very basic lesson plan for teaching prefixes and suffixes that I taught last year.

Here is a plan I created for an assignment on instructional strategies.

TEACHING STRATEGIES

Teaching strategy + student work sample/success indicators

READING: I made use of our school's Accelerated Reading program to encourage and motivate my students to read more and practice comprehension skills. My goals were that they 1) develop an appreciation for independent reading (for enjoyment) and 2) improve their reading skills. I recently re-administered a reading assessment (given at the first of the year) which indicated that most of them had jumped a grade level or two in reading since the start of the year.

WRITING: Last year I took my students through the writing process with several essay projects to prepare them for the 7th Grade Writing Assessment. This year we have worked on shorter writing projects, such as friendly letter exchanges with students from schools in other states (sample 1, sample 2). Recently we went wrote narratives about a time we were scared. Having a genuine purpose for writing clearly motivates the students to invest more into the project. Issues important to students are also good writing topics.

LANGUAGE: For the greatest part of the year, we began classes with a language practice using the overhead projector. It was an established routine that started class calmly. Not only did students enjoy making the corrections, but it broadened their knowledge base in areas such as history and civics and provided great discussion topics. (sample 1, sample 2)

MEDIA: My students last year enjoyed researching on the internet for a "vacation project." I received some creative reports. This year web quests have been popular.

OBSERVATIONS and EVALUATIONS

Reggie Barnes, Former Superintendent, Cleveland School District

Evaluation: November 2, 2005 - page 2

Lisa Bramuchi, Principal, D. M. Smith Middle School

Observations: October 31, 2005 (first day back from leave)

November 4, 2005

February 28, 2006

Evaluation: side 1 - side 2