A classroom management plan, with a template

1 What a classroom management plan is for

A classroom management plan is the written version of how your room runs. Teacher preparation programs, mentors and principals often ask new teachers for one, but the main reader is you. A plan written in August is what you will reach for in October, when a hard week makes it tempting to try something new every day.

A good plan is short and specific. It doesn't list everything that could go wrong. It says what you will teach, what you will notice, and what you will do, in that order, because most of managing a classroom is prevention: clear expectations, routines practiced until they are automatic, and a lot of noticing what students do well.

That order matches the evidence. The What Works Clearinghouse's practice guide on reducing behavior problems in the elementary classroom rates two recommendations as backed by strong evidence: changing the classroom environment to remove what triggers problem behavior, and teaching and reinforcing new skills to replace it. It rates studying the behavior first, working with colleagues and families, and considering schoolwide approaches as backed by moderate evidence. A plan built on those ideas spends most of its words on the room and the routines, not on consequences.

2 Beliefs and expectations

A short statement of beliefs

Open the plan with two or three sentences about what you believe. Keep it plain and true to you. It reminds you, on a hard day, what you are aiming for.

What to say"I believe every student can learn to manage their own behavior when expectations are clear, routines are taught and practiced, and mistakes are treated as chances to learn. My job is to teach that, the same way I teach reading."

Three to five expectations

Expectations are the few big rules that cover almost everything. Write them as what to do, not what not to do, and keep them short enough for students to remember.

• Be safe: hands, feet and things to yourself; walk inside.
• Be kind: use kind words, include others, take turns.
• Be ready: bring what you need, start when the signal says start.
• Do your best: try first, ask for help, keep going.

Many teachers write the expectations with the class in the first days, so students have a say in the wording. If you do, come with your three to five ideas and let the class shape how they are said. Post them where everyone can see them, and teach what each one looks like in each part of the day. The class rules poster prints them large.

3 The routines to write down

A routine is the way something is always done. List every routine your room needs, then write one or two lines for each: what students do, step by step. Teach each one like a lesson in the first weeks, and practice it again after every break.

• Coming in the door in the morning, and what to do first.
• Getting the class's attention (your signal).
• Moving between activities, and lining up.
• Getting help during independent work.
• Using the bathroom and getting water.
• Turning in work, and what to do when you finish early.
• Working in groups or at centers.
• Packing up and leaving at the end of the day.
• What happens when a substitute is in the room.

Put today's version of the morning routine on the board. Today on the board shows the date, the day's agenda and step-by-step directions on the projector, one line each, with a link to that day's morning work for your grade. Edit it once and it reopens as you left it: the agenda stays in the browser and in the link after the # sign, and nothing is sent anywhere. Leave it up as students come in, and the first routine of the day runs from the screen.

The first week of school routines checklist is a printable list of routines to teach and tick off as you go.

4 Your attention signal and transitions

Choose one attention signal and use it for the whole year: a call and response, a chime, a raised hand, a countdown. Write it in the plan with exactly what students do when they hear it: stop, look, hands still, voices off. Then practice it until the whole class responds in a few seconds.

Write down how transitions work, too. Most lost minutes are in the moves: from the carpet to desks, from one center to the next, from recess to reading. A plan might say: a one-minute warning, the signal, a five-to-one countdown, and then the next direction, given once.

• Signal: "Class, class" and the class answers "Yes, yes", then eyes on the speaker.
• Warning: "One minute to finish your sentence."
• Countdown: five to one on the fingers, or a timer on the board.
• Direction: one step at a time, said once, with a student asked to repeat it.

The Peabody Board puts several of these on one projector screen: a clap-back signal, a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown that ends on "Eyes on me", timers, work symbols and a quiet-time meter. The attention signals poster and the transition signals list have more to choose from.

5 Noticing what goes well: the class jar

The part of the plan that does the most work is how you notice good behavior. Specific praise (saying exactly what a student or the class did well) teaches the expectation more clearly than any correction. Plan to notice far more often than you correct.

A whole-class reward adds a shared goal. The free class marble jar puts a jar on the projector: choose a goal from 10 to 100 marbles, add a marble each time the class earns one, and celebrate together when it reaches the line. It only fills; there is no button that takes a marble out, and the only way back to empty is Start a new goal. You can split it into two to four team jars with made-up names (Comets, Otters, Rockets and Maples) for table groups. There are no student names and no accounts; the count stays in your browser so it is there tomorrow.

• Agree the reward first, with the class, before the first marble: extra recess, a read-aloud party, a game.
• Say what earned it: "That was the quietest line all week. One marble."
• Add, never subtract. A jar that loses marbles turns the class against the students who slipped.
• Keep it about the class. Individual problems get a private conversation, not a public tally.

Pick a goal the class can reach in about two weeks at first. A reward that takes two months stops meaning anything. The non-food rewards list has ideas that cost nothing.

6 A calm ladder of responses

Write down what you will do when a student doesn't meet an expectation, as a ladder of small steps, starting with the least you can do. The ladder means you never have to decide in the moment, and students see the same response every time.

1. A look, or moving closer. Most small problems stop here.
2. A quiet reminder, said privately: "We're working silently now."
3. A choice: "You can work here quietly or at the back table. You choose."
4. A short reset in a calm spot in the room, then back to work.
5. A private conversation after the lesson: what happened, what to do next time.
6. Contact with home and a plan made together.
7. Help from colleagues: your mentor, counselor or principal, following your school's process.

Keep every step calm, quiet and short. The aim is to get the student back to learning, not to win. Write down, too, what is never on your ladder: taking away recess as punishment if your school doesn't allow it, sending a student into the hall alone, or anything that embarrasses a student in front of the class.

For behavior that is unsafe, your school has its own procedure. Find out what it is before the first day, and put a one-line reminder of it at the bottom of the ladder.

7 Working with families and colleagues

A plan is stronger when the adults around the student know it. Write down how and when you will share it.

• Before or in the first week, send families a short note with your expectations and how you will notice good behavior. A class newsletter is one way.
• Make the first contact good news. Call or write to every family with something positive in the first month, before you ever need to call about a problem.
• When a pattern appears, contact home early, describe what you have seen, and ask what works at home.
• Keep notes of what happened and what you tried, with dates, so a conversation with a family or a colleague starts from facts.
• Ask for help early when a student keeps struggling. A counselor, special education teacher or experienced colleague will often see something you missed.

Share the plan with anyone who teaches your class: a co-teacher, specialists, and your substitute. A one-page version in the sub folder, with your signal and your ladder, keeps the room steady on a day you are out.

8 The template: fill in each section

Copy these headings into a document, or press Print this guide at the top of the page and fill in the lines below by hand. Keep it to two or three pages. A filled-in example for a 3rd grade room follows each heading.

1. What I believe (two or three sentences)

Example: Students can learn to manage their behavior when expectations are taught and practiced. Mistakes are chances to learn. I notice what goes well far more than what doesn't.

2. Our expectations (three to five, positive)

Example: Be safe. Be kind. Be ready. Do your best.

3. Routines I will teach in the first two weeks

Example: Morning arrival (Today on the board, morning work on the desk), attention signal, lining up, getting help, centers, finishing early, packing up.

4. My attention signal and transitions

Example: "Class, class" and "Yes, yes". One-minute warning, countdown from five, one direction at a time.

5. How I will notice what goes well

Example: Specific praise all day. A class marble jar with a goal of 20; the class picks the reward. A positive note home for every student by the end of September.

6. My ladder of responses

Example: Look, quiet reminder, choice, reset spot, private talk, call home, ask the counselor. Unsafe behavior: call the office as the school's procedure says.

7. Families and colleagues

Example: A welcome note in the first week, good news first, early contact when I see a pattern, dated notes, the plan's first page in the sub folder.

• Plan written and kept to two or three pages.
• Expectations posted, and taught with examples.
• Each routine taught, practiced and practiced again.
• Signal practiced until the whole class responds quickly.
• Families sent the expectations.
• A one-page version in the sub folder.