Class Management

This is my fifth year of teaching sciences in middle school. Middle school students are teenagers characterized by being filled with energy and rebellious at times. So, class management is considered quite a challenge for any middle school teacher. The teacher needs to be fair, firm and friendly at the same time. I have been implementing the following class management plan for three years now after I realized that I have to develop my own discipline policy within the school policy. I also realized that for the discipline policy to be effective it should not include many rules and that rules should be clear and well explained to convince the teenager of the necessity of following them. Moreover, I found out that the key to successful class management is consistency when it comes to applying the rules. When the students are forbidden to speak Arabic in class they are forced to maintain a serious attitude and this limits the useless comments or jokes that usually waste time and affect the learning process negatively. Furthermore, when the students are forbidden to take any action in class (talking, moving, etc.) without permission they are forced to maintain good behavior and this keeps order in class and enhances the learning process.

§ My Discipline Policy

a. Rule #1: English is the only allowed language during class.*

b. Rule#2: “The teacher’s PERMISSION is needed before any action is taken in class”

M Any rule infraction Ä1 Minus sign + extra work for next time

A. Extra work perfectly achieved è Minus Removed

B. Extra Work NOT achieved è Minus Remains + Double Extra Work for next time

C. Failure to achieve the consequence of part B:

2^nd Recess detention to achieve the assigned work &avoid a WARNING DEMERIT slip

D. 3 Minus Signs ð WARNING DEMERIT slip

E. 3 Warning Demerit slips ðDemerit Slip + Saturday detention

Remark: The underlined statements constitute parts of the school discipline policy.