Classroom Management Plan:
CALMM CLASS 9th-12th grade

Kristin Guffey

I currently teach at Soddy Daisy High School in the CALMM Class. CALMM stands for Coaching All Mentoring and Modeling. I teach social skills to high functioning autistic high school students. I have 12 students in my class. I have 3 girls and 9 boys in my classroom. There ages are from 14-18 years old. In my class students are instructed to walk into the room and sit at their assigned seats at the big tables in the middle of the room. If they need materials at their individual desks along the wall, they raise their hands to get permission. Usually students enter one or two at a time, due to their varied schedules. Students each have a desk for their supplies, backpacks, etc. They only have what is needed for the time being on the tables in the middle of the room. This prevents them from getting their things in others' way and arguing about stuff on the table. The room is not large, but there is plenty of walking space around the tables and desks. Usually there are only one or two people moving at a time. My desk is in the corner where I can see everyone, and the educational assistant’s desks are in the other corner where they can see everyone as well. My computer is in the corner by my desk, where it is not vulnerable to students messing with it. A book shelf with curriculum materials is along the wall behind my desk. It is accessible to my educational assistants and I. Students may get things from there with permission. The time out desks are behind a partition, and there is a round table there too. If a student is back there, an adult is at the table to supervise and record behavior. The white board is at the front of the room where it is easily seen by all. A table with supplies for students is located along the wall behind the big tables. They can get paper, art supplies, and classroom books to read from there, with permission. They need to raise their hand for permission to get up for any reason. If they need to sharpen a pencil, they just hold their pencil up in the air to get permission. A student computer table is located next to the supply table. At given times, one or two students may work on this for projects or for free time as a reward. I tell the students that we act like the room is full of students, because we need to be in the same routine as a larger classroom. Students work individually with me or my educational assistants, or sometimes in groups of two. They stay at the big table and I present the lesson from up front, or we work at the tables with them. Sometimes we need to change chairs around to work in a group.
My general classroom procedures include how to walk into the classroom and what to do then, how to ask for help, how to participate in class discussions, how to make transitions between activities and classes, sharpen pencils, ask for a restroom break or nurse pass, work independently and with others, get materials, address teachers and other adults, address students, walk in the hall, respond in an emergency or fire drill, listen to the teacher and follow directions, how to clean up one's area, and end of the day routines. The three procedures I will focus on are walking into the classroom procedures, transitioning from one class to another, and end of the day routines. To teach walking into the classroom procedures, I will start on the first day of school. I will talk about why it is important, list the steps on the board, model the steps, and then have students practice. 1. Students will walk into the room quietly, keeping their hands to themselves.
2. Sit down at their assigned seat at the big tables in the center of the room. (They often come in one at at time.) 3. They will raise their hand if they need to go their individual desk to get materials for the next class, of if they have a question.
4. If no materials are needed, they will quietly get to work on an assignment they have with them.
5. If the teacher or educational assistant talks to them or gives instructions, the student will listen and follow directions. Transitioning from one class to another can be problematic. My goal is to teach students to be independent and responsible during these times. I will start on the first day of school. We will discuss why this is important. I will list the steps on the board, model the steps, and have students practice them. This activity varies, depending on the circumstance, so the steps of the procedure are more general than for some procedures. The steps are: 1. The teacher or educational assistant says it is time to get ready to go to ___.2. Clean up area at the table. 3. Gather needed materials from table or desk. 4. Line up at the door in our classroom. 5. Walk quietly toward class when the teacher or educational assistant gives permission. The end of the day procedures will be taught starting on the first day of school also. We will discuss why this is important. I will list the steps on the board, model the steps, and have students practice them.
The steps are: 1. When the last class of the day is dismissed, walk into the room quietly with hands to yourself. 2. Gather homework or other materials from desk and put things in backpack.
3. Sit at assigned seat at big tables.
4. You may talk quietly.
5. When bell rings, walk to door and walk down the hall to exit. For each of these procedures, the timeline and levels of reinforcement will be about the same. During the first month of school, I will teach these procedures and assess whether students need more teaching and reinforcement in these areas, or not. I will give verbal praise, tickets for the class auction, and points on individual point sheets when students follow procedures correctly. The points add up for daily prizes, or can be saved up for bigger prizes. They also add up toward social and activity rewards. If they don't need much instruction in these areas, I will focus on procedures that they need help with. In October, I will work on reinforcing correct procedures, and start to reinforce accurate schoolwork, so that students see the link between procedures and success in school. In November, I will keep modeling and reinforcing correct procedures, and emphasize reinforcing successful academic activities. I want them to understand that successful social behavior will increase academic performance. During the winter months, I will not continually reinforce correct procedures. I will expect students to be learning how to manage themselves and follow procedures automatically. In December, I will give reinforcement when students are more responsible for their own choices in following procedures. During January I will reteach procedures to make sure everyone knows them, and then reinforce independent behavior. In February I will review procedures once a week and reinforce correct procedures and independent behavior. Since many field trips occur in spring, during March and April I will teach these routines as they relate to preparing for other settings or events. In May I will evaluate the performance of students during the year and review activities that students need practice on.My classroom rules are: 1. Speak kindly to others2. Listen when the teacher is talking to you3. Follow adult instructions the first time given4. Keep area clean5. Keep hands and feet to yourself6. Do your own best work Starting on the first day of school; I will present a short 5-7 minute lesson for each rule. I will talk about the rule and get volunteers to demonstrate following the rule and not following it. Then I will demonstrate with examples and non-examples. I will have the rules posted in the room and refer to them often during the year. Since rules are general, I will talk about how they apply to different situations as the school year progresses. The timeline and reinforcement schedule for teaching rules is the same as for teaching procedures. I will use this same timeline and emphasize how the procedures are specific actions that reflect the rules. This is the timeline and reinforcement schedule:For each of these rules, the timeline and levels of reinforcement will be about the same. During the first month of school, I will teach these rules and assess whether students need more teaching and reinforcement in these areas, or not. I will give verbal praise, tickets for the class auction, and points on individual point sheets when students follow rules correctly. The points add up for daily prizes, or can be saved up for bigger prizes. They also add up toward social and activity rewards. If they don't need much instruction on certain rules, I will focus on others that they need help with. In October, I will work on reinforcing correct rules , and start to reinforce accurate schoolwork, so that students see the link between following rules and success in school. In November, I will keep modeling and reinforcing following the rules, and reinforce successful academic activities. I want them to understand that successful social behavior will increase academic performance. During the winter months, I will not continually reinforce following the rules. I will expect students to be learning how to manage themselves and follow rules and procedures automatically. In December, I will give reinforcement when students are more responsible for their own choices in following rules and procedures. During January I will reteach rules and procedures to make sure everyone knows them, and then reinforce independent behavior. In February I will review rules and procedures once a week and reinforce correct procedures and independent behavior. Since many field trips occur in spring, during March and April I will teach these routines as they relate to preparing for other settings or events. In May I will evaluate the performance of students during the year and review activities that students need practice on. I teach in a Positive Behavior Support classroom students who are in my room for part or most of the day because their behavior interferes with their learning or others' learning. Academic levels range from way below grade level to on grade level. Most of them are in my room for reading, writing, math, study hall, or some combination of these subjects. Some may be in my room almost the whole day. Most of them attend regular education classes for science, social studies, music, and PE. They may have special education support for these subjects, or not. I work with two paraprofessionals. I realize that my strengths are in behavior reinforcement, and monitoring, data collection, and providing examples during instruction. This makes sense, since each student has his individual behavior chart based on IEP behavior goals. Each day, every student and I have a record of his behavior in each class or situation. I have done several functional behavior assessments, and have learned how to collect data for these. The main area I would like to improve on is students shutting down when a task is hard or when they feel overwhelmed for other reasons. This results in assignments not completed and students' attitudes going down. Last year, shutting down was one of the primary coping mechanisms for one of my students. It had worked for her for years. The result was that the assignment was postponed. She eventually had to do it, but she got out of it for a while. She shut down if the task was hard or if someone or something had bothered her. Rather than talking about the problem, she would bottle up anger and then shut down or explode and throw a pencil or something. Math was difficult for her, so it was almost always hard. Students always have the option of going to Chill Out on the beanbag chair, so she would go there and then fall asleep, or pretend to. Shut downs usually lasted about an hour. Frequency went from about once a week to three times a week during the last month of school. Every one of my students shut down at least a few times during the year. I can minimize shut downs in my classroom by modifying task dimensions and by proactively dealing with emotional problems by teaching social skills. When I know a task is new, I can adjust the task complexity, task schedule, and task variation. Multiple step tasks can be presented step by step, with reinforcement given with each section. I can arrange the task schedule by working on a new task for 15 or 20 minutes, doing a review or game for a few minutes, and then returning to the task for more practice. Last year I played a multiplication game with candy for the last 15 minutes if the student worked during the lesson. I will use this same idea, but break the schedule up more. Changing the task schedule like this will vary the tasks and incorporate easy and hard activities. To avoid emotional shut downs, I will teach social skills during the year. I plan to use the "Talk, Walk, and Squawk". Verbal bullying is a major source of problems for my students. I do not tolerate it in my room, but it can happen there and throughout the day. I will proactively watch for problems during students' interactions and teach appropriate responses. Another proactive thing I can do is watch students for body language that shows tension or anger, and encourage them to talk to me or the social worker. By modifying task complexity, task schedule, and task variation, hopefully I can minimize shut downs due to curriculum. Shut downs from emotional upsets can be reduced by teaching students how to react to bullying and appropriate ways to work with others. Each student in my class has an individual behavior monitoring sheet for each day. They take it to each class. I tell the teachers about it, and often there are special education personnel with the student to keep track. The goals are their IEP goals for academics and behavior. For each student I add the number of points needed to reach 80%. For this student, a perfect day of all 2s is 96 points. 80% of this is 76 points, so this is his daily goal. I make a copy of the sheet before sending it home. I keep them in separate notebooks on the bookshelf. Students get 50 tickets for bringing them back signed. This is a reinforcement plan for students to learn how to work with a partner to study for a test using flashcards. The expected behavior is for students to:Gather materials they need, move chairs next to a partner, talk with partner and decide who will quiz the other one, give the clues or say the answers in turn, encourage the partner. Task history: familiarTask response form: productionTask modality: oralTask complexity: hard, multiple stepsTask schedule: abbreviated - 15 minutesTask variation: unvariedReinforcements will include tangible - tickets for class auction and points toward daily prizes, social-praise, and activity-daily points add up for Friday fun activities.I give continuous reinforcement at the beginning of this task, and when they encourage their partner. I change to intermittent reinforcement as students begin to master the task. Intensity of reinforcement will be high at the beginning of the task and for the first few times that they do this. Intensity will be high when they encourage their partner, because this is new for most of them. Praise and tickets will be given less often as they learn the skill. When they do it automatically I will give intermittent and less intense reinforcement. Lesson Plan Skill name: Asking for help appropriatelySkill rule: Students will ask for help appropriately when you are working individually on an academic task. Skill components: 1. When you have a problem or question with work, keep trying for a few minutes. 2. If you still need help, raise your hand and wait to be called on. 3. Listen to the teacher, follow directions, and do your best.Model/demonstrate: Watch me as I show what this looks like: I act like a student who is getting frustrated because I don't understand something on an assignment. I keep trying for a few minutes. Then I raise my hand and wait to be called on. Then I listen to the teacher and try again.Role play/behavior rehearsal: Students act in the roles of student and teacher and go through the three steps. I observe and give positive feedback or corrections as they do the role play.Review: Over the next few weeks, I will ask students to tell each other the steps or write them before an academic lesson, at the beginning of independent work time of a lesson, and before they go to another classroom for instruction.Test: I will ask students what they would do if:The teacher or educational assistant doesn't see their hand up.They still have a question after the teacher or educational assistant was there.They think they don't know the answer just by looking at the problem.Homework: Challenge students to try working on their own for more minutes than they have before.Tell students to practice this technique when doing homework at home (without raising hand).Reinforcement will be tangible-tickets and points for daily prize, social-praise, and activity-points go toward Friday Fun. At first I will give continuous reinforcement because this is an issue that many of my students struggle with. Persistence when something is hard is a difficult thing to learn. Most or all of the academic task dimensions will be difficult because the student is struggling with the assignment. I will give reinforcements with high intensity at the beginning when teaching this social skill, and get less intense as students learn it. As they learn it, I will give reinforcement for succeeding at the academic tasks at hand.If students are not learning this social skill, I will assess the situation by using the ERR strategy - evaluate/revise/reconsider. I will try to pinpoint the circumstances around the students' failure to learn it. I will see if modifications in the structure and concepts in the lesson can be done. I can make sure the students get a good start right at the beginning of the lesson or assignment. Depending on the academic task, I may be able to change some task dimensions by breaking it into steps or teaching prerequisite skills. I can increase the intensity of reinforcers if students are still having trouble. I can use precorrection if students are still having trouble with this social skill. I can pinpoint the context in which the students have the most trouble, go over expected behaviors with the students, and have students practice correct behaviors, reinforce correct behaviors and remind students of target behavior. I may be able to change the learning context of the assignment by preteaching certain skills required. Neutral tasks can be suggested if students need further help in learning the social skill. If none of these strategies work, I can use punishment such as verbal reprimands or time out. When a student's behavior repeatedly interferes with his learning or the learning of others, it is appropriate to conduct a functional behavior assessment and propose a behavior intervention plan. The first step is to collect data about the student's behavior over a period of at least three weeks. Teachers can observe and collect their own data, and gather information from other teachers by asking interview questions. The focus of the data is to determine the behavior that causes the most concern, the antecedents to the behavior, and the consequences for the student when the behavior occurs. The functional behavior assessment asks very specific questions to enable the teacher to write a hypothesis which states what the student does, when, and what the intended outcome for the student is. Then the teacher or teachers can write a behavior intervention plan with possible specific changes in the environment, teacher behavior, and instructional materials. Replacement behaviors should be proposed that will result in the student getting what he was trying to gain from the inappropriate behavior. Our group examined Brian, whose inappropriate behavior involved getting angry and shouting at teachers and students when he was expected to work with a group on academic tasks. The consequence was that he was removed from the classroom and went to another location to talk with the counselor or administrator to debrief. He would get out of having to work with that group on that day. Our group's behavior intervention plan is that Brian would be given a choice of working alone or with a partner during the group times. There would be no negative consequence for either choice. Brian and a partner would have a table that is a little bit separate from the rest of the class. The classroom teacher should watch Brian and provide a neutral task if she anticipates that he will have a tantrum. If he has a tantrum, he would be sent to a time out spot, debrief with the counselor or teacher, and then return to the classroom. The second tantrum in one week would result in Brian meeting with the counselor for a detailed debriefing of the situation. Three tantrums in one week would result in Brian working with an attendant care worker in the library for complex debriefing. He would complete the rest of the day's work in that setting. The goal is for Brian to work at grade level with a partner without having tantrums. Reinforcers include verbal praise and earning points toward computer time and tangible rewards. The teacher will keep a record of Brian's behavior and he will get tangible rewards for daily and weekly successes. Brian needs to learn the social skills of identifying his triggers and controlling his outbursts. He will meet with the counselor every day to learn these skills until he shows progress, and then he will meet with her less frequently. When Brian has no more than one tantrum per week, he will earn the activity of shooting baskets with the principal. Since I teach in a Positive Behavior Support classroom, I work with students who definitely benefit from behavior intervention plans. Last year I did FBAs and BIPs for two students. I determined that both of them were using inappropriate behaviors to avoid unpleasant tasks. In their BIPs, they got free time to draw or get on the computer once their work was done for that class. Their behavior plans were starting to help them get their work completed. They were both bright, and the work was not too hard. Sometimes it was too easy. Sometimes the work was from other classes, so I didn't have much control over the assignment. They had learned how to avoid work by refusing to follow directions and bothering other students. It was very helpful to get the data and determine exactly what the worst behavior was and why they were using it. They both valued free time, and they got this time to do what they enjoyed after the work was done. Now that I have some experience with FBAs and BIPs, I plan to do them and amend them as needed. I hope to get more input from the rest of the SIT team regarding a proposed BIP. Behavior intervention plans can be an effective way to determine students' problems and help them get their specific needs met in an appropriate way so that everyone can learn.