CMP of Beth Fine-Nelson

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PLAN BY BETH FINE-NELSON It is my belief that students act inappropriately in Supplementary School (my domain) because of some of the following: This is a 2 part problem: First the students do not find the information relevant to their daily lives and it is simply something that they have to do after a long day of school that interferes with sports and are forced to do. The second piece of this problem is that parents do not reinforce the importance of attending as well as learning the material. This is evidenced by the priority that Hebrew school has in relation to sports, dance, drama, etc. they pull students out of class early to attend it is not even an option in their mind to arrive late to the other activity. Also when there are school wide programs this is viewed as a free day. Some students view Hebrew School as a means to an end to having a Bar/Bat Mitzvah and we can get away with making life miserable for our teachers because what are they going to do NOT give me my Bar/Bat Mitzvah. So students misbehave in Hebrew School because there are no real consequences. Students are bored with the lesson. Students are socially uncomfortable in public school and seek recognition and acceptance in a new environment by acting out as the class clown or bully, etc. My Management Plan Making Hebrew School relevant and getting the parents on board is a step process. The first thing I would do is send a letter home in the summer laying out the plans for the year that would include family learning plans and family thought questions that they will be asked to do as well as send a calendar of events. This will allow parents to ingest and accept that they are expected to be a part of the learning process. They will be asked to attend class with their child and create a Judaic item and then attend a dinner and service this would be as mandatory as we can do in Hebrew School. I would also add in that attendance at festivals is strongly encourages and word the letter that we need to work as a team to show the children that being a part of the Jewish community is an amazing opportunity for all. Although we can not really have the same consequences as public school there are opportunities to include the learner. Have the students help design class rules using the APCA method, help them design lessons where they are the “teacher”. The more we can get the students involved in the process of learning and designing the class the more vested they are and perhaps will lead by example. Using positive reinforcement with charts, points, raffle tickets, etc. is another great way of rewarding those that follow the rules If boredom seems to be the problem where your best student seems disinterested then do the following: * Ask students open ended questions as to which part they do not like, etc. * Paraphrase and probe further so that all on same page If necessary modify the plan to meet the various learning methods as well as listening to the above. This is where having a bag of tricks handy helps keep the class on task and the kids involved. We must always have a plan a, b and c and d,e,f… if needed. Something that worked once may never work again and you have to change direction constantly. This is the more difficult to handle because it is a personal thing and given that we do not see these children as often as we would like the trust level is not always there. I would first initiate some of the methods of emotional listening, SUDS; some of the individual plans to help us get to the root of the problem. Once this is in place and student is comfortable ask them if it is OK if we include their parent or parents so that we can work as a team to help this student be successful in all of their learning environments. We must also know that the student may totally reject this whole plan and a first step would be meeting with the parent. It is at this point when the parent is in denial that I get stuck with where do I go from here.