Reflections on My Goals and Procedures

As I reflected upon the goals, rules, and procedures for student behavior in my classroom, I found that stating three goals was, without a doubt, the most difficult part of this assignment. I have vague, unspoken goals floating around in my head, but I had never been required to focus my attention on developing just three to frame a year of teaching. I began scouring the assigned materials to get an idea of how I could organize a year’s behavioral goals in three categories, and then, how could I word them concisely. Goals were mentioned in Dr. Alene Harris’ DVD presentation on “Goals and Procedures”. In this DVD she suggested that goals should be “developed through an understanding of your students, your philosophy, and your curriculum” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). This seemed a good place to begin.

With students as my first priority, the initial goal is to develop expectations for student behavior that the students themselves, help develop. In this way, I hope to foster a sense of collaboration and community in which students have ownership, the outcome of which I hope is; they treat each other with respect and dignity and choose to take responsibility for their own actions. As Jones and Jones state (2007), “we need to involve students in developing the guidelines that facilitate a safe, supportive environment. The creation of needed structure can be an important aspect of community building” (p. 197).

My second goal is to provide assistance to those students who display counterproductive behaviors. I must help all students understand the effects their actions have on others. By becoming a guide for the student in the process of reflection, I hope the student becomes more aware of the cause and effect of his actions. Hopefully, then students will be intrinsically motivated to follow classroom norms because they appreciate their value. “Rules should provide guidelines that or benchmarks that help students examine their behaviors and consider the effects on themselves and others” (Jones& Jones, 2007, p. 197).

My last goal is to create an environment for learning that encourages safe exploration and fosters creativity. By eliciting student involvement in developing and maintaining classroom norms and my involvement in monitoring and enforcing these same norms, teacher and students can create a community where all feel welcome and safe.

Now, rules, or norms need to be considered. As I stated before, ideally, I would like the students to be involved in the process of establishing the classroom norms, but for the purpose of this reflective exercise, I will describe a few rules that I would like to have in place each school year in the art room.
1. The first norm should reflect how students are to treat each other. Clearly stated, students should treat each other with respect and dignity.
2. The second norm has to do with the manner in which the students treat the physical environment of the classroom. The students must follow all procedures in caring for, and cleaning the classroom environment. The room and all art supplies in it are school property, and need to be cared for and respected.
3. There is very little factual information to master in my discipline, yet considerable effort is required to produce a quality piece of artwork. My final rule involves student effort. Each student must endeavor to do the best quality work of which they are capable, and clarify any confusion about directions, aesthetic decisions, and processes.

One area that has been a constant problem in my classroom is the establishment of an acceptable noise level. Students understand quiet and they understand the freedom to talk, but they have a hard time understanding what too much noise sounds like. Currently, I have switched the lights on and off to indicate that they are too noisy. This works temporarily, but the noise level often gets too loud again. In Jones and Jones (2007) there were two great ideas suggested. The first suggested clear visual signs to help students know when they have exceeded a reasonable level of noise. This would involve making signs that could be color coded or have graphic illustrations on them to let the students know where they are on the noise continuum, possibly with three to four levels represented. Another idea that I thought was great was the Yacker Tracker. One of the authors had used this device in her classroom and it was successful. It resembles a spotlight and measures the noise decibel level in the classroom. The decibel reading can be adjusted by the teacher, as well. It certainly is worth researching.

Another area that presents problems from time to time is the freedom of movement that is necessary in my classroom. Students are asked to independently get the materials needed to do their artwork, yet while out of their seats, they have a tendency to socialize, and this negatively affects their productive time in the art room. Rules have been established and consequences enforced, yet it continues to be a problem. While searching for a solution I ran across an excellent resource for classroom management ideas that I intend to explore for solutions. In the meantime, this is an area in which I would welcome suggestions because the imperative to mingle is very strong in middle school students and I have yet to discover the magic solution.

Most days go quite smoothly in my room, but not all days. The process of reflecting upon my current goals, rules, and procedures has given me a new focus on how I might change my approach, particularly as it applies to norms, or rules. In the future, I plan to have my students more actively involved in creating the norms. In this way, I hope to encourage an increased sense of community and collaboration within my room.

Jones, V., & Jones, L. (2007). Comprehensive classroom management: Creating communities of support and solving problems (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom 8th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program three. The Relationship Between Instruction and Behavior [Motion picture]. Classroom management to promote student learning. Baltimore: Author.