Modern United States History: 1945 to Present

Mr. Rossi
Grade 12

Classroom Rules
Classroom Expectations Be respectful of others. Be responsible for yourself. Be ready for class. Classroom Procedures Entering the Classroom: When entering the classroom, please quietly seat yourself in your assigned seat. Everyone should be seated by the time the bell rings. Tardy: If you are not within the classroom when the bell rings, you will be considered tardy. When you arrive tardy, please go directly to your seat and quietly begin working/listening. Listening in Class/Asking Questions: Please be respectful of everyones right to speak in the classroom by raising your hand when you have a comment or question about the material or wish to participate in class discussion. Additional Help: If your questions are not addressed in class or if you are having difficulty with any aspect of the course, please talk to me about scheduling an appointment to meet outside of class. I am available before and after school, so feel free to schedule a time to meet so that I can help answer any questions and address any problems you are having with our class. Moving Around or Out of the Room: Movement within the classroom distracts everyone and disrupts the learning environment. If you wish to move around the room or exit the room for any reason, please raise your hand and wait for permission. If it is an emergency, please exit quickly and quietly. Bathroom Passes: Two (2) bathroom passes will be given to every student at the beginning of each quarter. These are your literal tickets to the bathroom, so it is your responsibility to save them in a safe place until you wish to use them. If you want to use a bathroom pass, please raise your hand and wait to be given permission. In order to retain passes for emergencies, it is in your best interest to use the bathroom before or after class. Classroom Language: When speaking in the classroom, use appropriate language for the environment. Always use positive and respectful language when addressing a classmate. If you disagree with a classmate, the material or myself, be respectful and intelligent in your criticism. Always challenge ideas rather than people. In-Class Assignments: If in-class work is given, please work on the assignment until it is complete or until the bell rings. If you finish early, quietly work on homework for another class or read. Homework Assignments: All homework assignments should be completed before class on the day they are due. If homework is due, have the assignment on your desk when the bell rings because it will either be turned in at the beginning of class if we are not using it during the period or will need to be readily available if it is being used during the period. Exiting the Classroom: Please remain seated until I dismiss you. Do not move towards the door

or put materials away before dismissal. Absent: If you are absent, please look in the Absent folder located on my desk for missed assignments. If you have questions about the assignment, please arrange to meet outside of class in order to avoid taking up class time. Incentives and Consequences for Following Rules Incentives In order to further encourage students to adhere to the aforementioned classroom expectations and procedures, I have established some incentives for exhibiting these positive behaviors in the classroom: Creating a Positive Learning Environment: Everyone deserves to have the opportunity to learn in this class and the internalization of the expectations and procedures above by all students will help ensure a productive, successful and (hopefully) fun experience for every student. Participation Points: Participation points will be assigned when students adhere to the basic guidelines of the expectations and procedures in a given class period. Participation points will be factored into the final grade for the course. SWAG Tags: If a student embodies one of the expectations or procedures exceptionally well during a given class period, they will earn a SWAG Tag. Earning five (5) SWAG Tags will allow a student to: a. Receive five (5) extra credit points on a quiz or test b. Obtain one (1) homework pass c. Turn in an assignment a day late for full credit d. Choose a prize from the SWAG Bag Consequences In the case that a student fails to comply with classroom or school expectations and procedures, the student will be subject to the following consequences: Verbal Warning: Student will be warned verbally to cease negative behavior. Written Reprimand and Response: Student will receive a written explanation of how they have failed to exhibit behavior mandated by the expectations and procedures. In response, student will be asked to think about why they exhibited the negative behavior and how they might eliminate or improve behavior in the future. Student-Teacher Conference: Student will meet personally with me to discuss the negative behavior and to receive possible suggestions for future improvement. Office Referral: Student will receive a referral to the office and be asked to leave class. This does not necessarily represent the progression of consequences in every discipline situation. If a behavior is a severe infraction of class or school rules, I will issue an automatic office referral and possibly schedule a parent-teacher conference with the students parent(s) or guardian(s).

Reflection Since I felt that it was the broadest as well as the most vital to the creation of a positive and successful learning environment, I will elaborate on how I will teach my first expectation. The statement Be respectful of others appears extremely broad and vague on the surface and definitely needs a bit of operationalizing in the classroom in order for it be applicable, measurable and effective. Before the course even begins, I would personally operationalize respectful behaviors, such as waiting for ones turn to talk while another student is speaking, never insulting another student in class and refraining from distracting behavior, such as tapping or yawning loudly, to name of few examples of specific respectful behaviors in my opinion. In order to make the expectation clear and applicable to students, I would share the core aspects and examples of my own perception of respect in order for them to begin to construct their definition of respecting others in my classroom in particular. In the first class period and heavily throughout the first weeks of school, I would go out of my way to model respectful behavior towards them and any professional peers that may enter the classroom by always saying thank you for student responses, never cutting off a student during while they are answering a question and always repeating students names when I am addressing them or a point they have made. I believe this lead by example style of demonstrating expectations build rapport with students and allows a trusting and respectful relationship to be established between myself and the students, which I hope would encourage the same type of relationships between students in my classroom. I will make a point to acknowledge any and all behavior I believe to be an example of respectful behavior in the classroom during the first few weeks, possibly utilizing the my incentive system a bit more heavily during this period than I will for the rest of the year in order to encourage and, ideally, internalize these behaviors in students interaction within my class. The issuance of measurable elements of my incentives (SWAG Tags and participation points) for respectful treatment of others will allow myself and the students to see how well this expectation is being fulfilled and will allow both myself and my students to make adjustments in order to ensure the expectation eventually is met at a satisfactory level. I felt the easiest part of this assignment was developing the creative and/or unique elements of the rules and procedures. I had a lot of fun trying to develop my own system of HUSTLE points, which eventually became my incentive system of SWAG Tags. In this system, S stands for Sincerely Interested, W equates to Willing to Participate, A represents Always on Task and G means Great Assignment. While others may be self-explanatory, sincerely interested means that a student gave an awesome response to a proposed question, provided an insightful comment on the material or possibly posed a thought-provoking question. These types of behaviors are the kind I will strive to cultivate in my classroom, so I found it easy and enjoyable to come up with ways to encourage such behavior. The hardest part of creating the expectations and procedures was trying to stay within the framework of the necessary elements of the assignment without becoming boring, repetitive and formulaic. Having seen so many of this type sheet over the years in my education, I wanted to try and make something original and actually meaningful rather than just rattling of some rules, rewards and punishments. Although I feel I did insert my own voice and flavor into the assignment, I still feel like it may be a little too rigid and formulaic for its own good.