For the course EING-3515, Methods in TESOL at the Elementary and Secondary Levels, we were assigned to create a Classroom Management and Procedures Project. This project would be a digital portfolio that we would have to develop using Canva. In this digital portfolio, we would use the knowledge we acquired through the class discussions and the course textbook to prepare a list of handouts that we could use as a tool in our future teaching career to explain our classroom management plan to both parents and students.

 

     The list of items we had to include in our digital portfolio were: first day packet for parents, expectations for students, expectations for teachers, initial bulletin board, procedures, last day of class letter, and teaching philosophy. Out of all these items, the first day packet for parents and the procedures section would be the ones most thoroughly developed. Within the first day packet for parents section, we needed to include: an introduction cover letter, classroom rules, classroom consequences and rewards, homework policy, contact details, semester overview, a permission slip for photos that parents must sign, and an acknowledgement of receipt that parents must also sign. For the procedures section, we had to select twenty out of fifty procedures covered in the course textbook (The Classroom Management Book by Harry K. Wong and Rosemary T. Wong) that we would be implementing in our future classroom. We would have to create an attractive one-page handout that visually explained the steps to follow for each of these procedures and write a justification after each one explaining why we thought that procedure would be an important contribution to effective classroom management. The procedures were divided into five different categories: procedures for the first day of school, procedures for students, procedures for the classroom, procedures for instruction, procedures for special needs classrooms, and procedures for teachers. In the list of twenty procedures we selected, we had to include at least one procedure from each of these categories.

 

     The theme I chose for my portfolio was robots. I made this choice because the professor had suggested we could pick a theme for our portfolio that was popular among children and teenagers, as this would make students interested in it. This project was completed in 2024, a year in which two movies about robots came out in cinemas and were well-liked by audiences and critics alike. Even if this had not been the case, movies and television programming surrounding robots and technology is always a very popular topic with younger generations. I also thought it was an appropriate theme for a twenty-first century classroom because it would help promote the idea that technology is very good and beneficial if used correctly.

 

     It took me about a month to complete my digital classroom management portfolio, as I wanted to make sure that all the required sections were thoroughly discussed and correctly prepared according to the grading criteria. I took special care to consider each item as I was developing them, asking myself if it was something that I could truly see myself implementing in my future classroom and that parents, guardians, and students could enjoy and benefit from. Also, I used the notes I had taken during class discussions and the course textbook as resources to help me create each section and as a way to justify the choices I made for this project.

 

     Of all the sections I had to develop, my favorite was the procedures section. This is because I discovered many classroom management strategies that I had never heard about before and I could be sure they would be effective in my classroom, as they have proven to work in many others throughout time according to the course textbook. I also had a lot of fun creating the visuals for each handout, which would aid in their explanation of the steps for each procedure. Apart from this being fun for me, it is also something very important for students who are visual learners.

 

     Before taking this course, I had very little knowledge about classroom management. If you had asked me to define the term, I would have probably given an incorrect answer, mixing it up with the definition of classroom discipline. However, now that I have completed this course, I can confidently say that I know what classroom management is and how I can effectively implement it in my future classroom. The best evidence I can provide to backup this claim is my digital classroom management portfolio, which I have decided to implement during my future teaching career.