Re: NEW TO MIDDLE SCHOOL.... NEED HELP WITH BEHAVIOR PLAN

Melissa

Posted on 11/12/11

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On 8/16/11, newto5th wrote:
> I am moving up to middle school after teaching elementary
> grades the past 6 years. I will be teaching 5th grade LA
> and need some help with finding a classroom management
> system that works well with this age group. I've always
> worked in a self-contained setting so I'm unsure what kind
> of rewards/consequences one would use when you work in only
> one subject area. Any suggestions you have would be
> appreciated!

Hi- I've been teaching middle school for 13 years.
Generally, what tends to work as rewards are things like " no
homework passes" "computer time" or " free reading time"
depending on your subject. As far as consequences, I always
had the procedure hanging in front of the room and referred
to it when a student needed help remembering how to
appropriately behave in class. My procedure was: -first and
second time a rule is broken, verbal warning -third time,
phone call home and points off your "do now' or "classwork"
-fourth time- lunch or afterschool detention -fifth time,
referral to the office.

I don't know if there is lunch detention in your school, but
students did NOT want to go to lunch detention. I wrote them
a pass for detention and kept a copy for myself and records
in case they didn't show. Often, I would go down to the lunch
room, find them and walk them back to my room with me. They
ate lunch in my room, they did not get to socialize and were
isolated from their friends. Also, make sure to keep records
of all parental contact, dates, name and gist of
conversations. I used to call parents often and after a year
or so, word spread that I was a teacher that called home
consistently. It took awhile, but it was worth it. I also
made sure to follow up with parents if a student did or did
not improve. Building these relationships with the parents
was very time consuming, but very worth it.

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