This portfolio entry incorporates a classroom management case study/ theoretical classroom management plan I developed for the EDTEP 562: Adolescent Development course. This assignment involved gathering data (personal observations coupled with those of my university supervisor, cooperating teacher, and another student teacher) concerning my preliminary management strategy while teaching a short unit to an eleventh grade AP Language class. I used this information to reflect on the effectiveness of my management practice during the unit and, from this reflection, created a revised plan for future improvements to my overall practice. The plan outlines what I consider to be the ideal environment in which students not only feel it is safe to engage in learning, but in which they are compelled to learn. The remaining artifacts incorporated into this entry document my efforts to implement my plan while teaching two sections of a Classics and Shakespeare course to untracked seniors in the Autumn of 2003. The students ranged from those who had successfully completed AP and honors courses to students having just emerged from ELL classes. Because of this unique mixture of student experiences I found myself faced with duel challenges. First, establishing a course that provided both a high level of academic rigor and support, in order to keep all students engaged. The second, tapping into the wide range of student experiences and strengths in order to build a connected community of learners.

As a student teacher I was bombarded with theories, strategies, and helpful tips concerning how best to construct, or at least, what to consider when establishing my classroom environment. This advice, coupled with my own experiences as a student in close to twenty years of sitting in classrooms, gave me a veritable handbook of ideas and methods to call upon (Lortie, 1975). What I learned was that instead of merely imitating the good teaching practices I had witnessed, I would need to analyze their effectiveness in a given situation, combine new strategies together, and ultimately alter them to make them my own.

I knew I wanted students to experience a classroom community focused on group interaction, discussion, and collaboration. Therefore, I revamped my cooperating teacher's (CT's) classroom so that I could have students sit at four-person work stations rather than in rows in order to emphasize for students that group interaction was to be a norm in the class (please see Classroom Setup artifact). I was advised by my CT that each type of seating arrangement has its own advantages and challenges, and that the type of arrangement I had chosen was particularly difficult to manage. While fostering and supporting student interaction and group learning, this setup would also mean that students would be prone to side conversations at inopportune times. In addition, I would need to carefully consider the make-up of students at each table in order to maximize the learning and interactions in group work. She assured me that in order to make it work I would need to "work the classroom- hard." Taking my CT's experience-tempered advice into careful consideration, I decided that the potential benefits of the setup outweighed the challenges I would face in making it work. To do so would mean establishing a clear set of behavioral norms and building a classroom community willing to uphold them.

Due to the nature of the curriculum in this course, I planned to have students track and discuss the theme and cultural conceptions of honor as we encountered them the various text we studied. For example, the ancient Greek conceptions of honor have distinct characteristics when compared to the conceptions of honor displayed in Arthurian or Shakespearian times. As a part of this overarching theme I had students discuss their own contemporary perceptions of honor in a short reflective essay. Students were asked to define honor in their own terms and describe a time when they, or someone they observed, had acted honorably. Using this essay as a backdrop, the students and I worked their conceptions of honor into a "Class Code of Chivalry" which dictated the norms we agreed upon for the assortment of discussion methods in which we engaged (please see Class Code of Chivalry artifact). In addition to using these personal essays to help me get to know my students, I had incorporated activities and name cards that helped me to further get to know my students and form my students to get to know one another. I created a large poster and hung it above the door. The poster read:

The most challenging management issue I was confronted with was not an overt display of hostility toward me or another students, it was not a string of foul language concerning my appearance and ability as a teacher, or the use of cell phones in class. The problem, as foreseen by my wise CT, was maintaining general class attention during the transitions between group discussions and activities into whole class discussion and instructions. Now, according to my classroom management plan, simply smiling and using "wait time" should be enough to tackle such problems, and I used them to the best of my ability, but after a while, I found that wait time was only useful in certain situations, and that smiles eventually wore thin. I had reached the bottom of my bag of tools, and I needed some new methods for handling these difficult transition times. To begin my search for new solutions, I talked to my cooperating teacher who had a few ideas I could try and suggested I talk with other teachers, which I did at any opportunity I could find. In addition, I mentioned my difficulties to administrators and my university supervisor. They offered some suggestions, and I invited them to observe me and give me feedback concerning these issues. I learned from these inquiries and evaluations that I had many more tools at my disposal. Most of these methods I had seen in use by other teachers and had even tried some of these tools to little avail. Again, mere imitation or unconsidered use of strategies was not working for me; I needed to take these strategies and determine when and how best to use them.

Once I began combining verbal and non verbal communication strategies such as proximity with a verbal cue for attention, or giving verbal warnings to groups about the amount of time they had left to complete tasks combined with writing the time allotted to tasks on the board, I began to notice a marked difference not only in the shorter amount of time allotted to transitions, but also to the overall flow and momentum of lessons. I began to look at the daily management of my classroom not as the ability to use one tool to curb a single problem, but rather as an interconnected set of methods used to prevent such problems from arising at all. The difference was evident not only to me, but to others observing my classroom as well. My university supervisor noted during observation that I had established a "respectful orderly environment" and that "students follow your directions and cooperated very well... your use of proximity, your thorough lesson plan, [and] you engage students to [create] active learning." In a later observation she commented, "students move very well between tasks." While observing a lesson which featured an activity known as a line toss (helping students both vocalize and physicalize Shakespearean language) my CT commented, "you handled the classroom management and the transitions of this multifaceted lesson well, and the kids seemed to become more comfortable with the language and were engaged." These comments, in part, illuminate the successful weaving together of a positive and respectful classroom environment with strategies for effective daily management of lesson transitions. By accepting the challenge of managing a classroom set up for student interaction and collaboration, I am better prepared with an interconnected set of strategies to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of group work in my classroom.

Looking back now at the classroom management case study I created, and comparing it with my experiences with enacting the plan in the classroom, I realize two important things. First, my initial beliefs and aspirations for creating my ideal classroom environment remain unfettered by my experiences. I continue to believe that a classroom environment that fosters the high level of student learning and engagement for which a teacher strives requires both the establishment of a respectful and vibrant community of learners, as well as the ability to understand and implement into the structure of lessons a variety of communications and management tools. Through thoughtful planning, reflection, and implementation of strategies made personal through experience and experimentation, a classroom becomes a stronger conduit of student learning and growth. The second realization comes with a comparison of the management strategies I had at my disposal at the point of writing my plan and the vastly enhanced litany of tools I discovered through the process of experiencing new challenges, reflecting on the need for change, seeking collaboration and feedback from colleagues and administrators, and implementing new methods. Each time I engage in this learning cycle, I improve my ability to better manage my classroom. Each time I admit that I have more to learn, I inch closer to bringing my ideal classroom to life.