classroom management

I tried to follow everyone's advice: to be clear and strict about my rules and consequences from the very beginning, and actually implement them. My consequences run as follows:
1) warning
2) discipline sheet, due tomorrow (I can add more that same day if they so desire)
3) detention (for no or incomplete discipline sheet)
4) call home
5) office referral

As of yet, I have only given 2 discipline sheets, no detentions, and no office referrals. I should have given more discipline sheets, but overall, my classes are pretty well-behaved.

I have realized I really do not enjoy disciplining, and I have to usually force myself to (but not with my 5th period). I give lots of warnings, and not enough discipline sheets. I know that my students know that I don't like to discipline, but they also know that I care. I have learned many things to do to manage my classroom that are not actually outlined on my plan, and are more effective for my personality type.
-I constantly call on students, usually the ones who aren't paying attention, who have heads down, or saying a comment to a friend. And this always gets them back on track (they hate being embarrassed in front of their friends by not knowing the answer).
-I use proximity a lot. As soon as I walk near a student, they start working (or at least look like they are).
-I always try to be polite, saying, "please" and "thank you" whenever possible. (ex: thank you for being quiet, please raise your hand next time to sharpen your pencil...etc.)
-I talk to them quietly in class (so noone else can hear), or call them over after class, to tell them not to do whatever they are doing wrong. Usually, they shyly smile and say "yes ma'am" and the problem decreases (although it doesn't always completely go away).

Just like fellow teacher corps peers told me this summer, I am a very "motherly" teacher. My students know I care, and I show it constantly, and I think this is the best way for me to get them to work, more so than constant discipline. I do discipline, and I must admit, I need to more. But at the same time, I do not enjoy doing it, and it makes me not want to teach. And more than anything, with minor disruptive talking or not, I need to enjoy what I'm doing every day.

Fifth period is still my biggest challenge, and I am hardest on them (and of course the discipline sheets have only been given in this class). I spend far too much time getting on to the same people to be quiet, and it's not fair to the other students who are wanting to learn. 3rd period is the quietest, and (without surprise) they have gotten farther than my other algebra II classes. Why they are the quietest, I'm not sure, and when they do talk, it's about the examples I'm having them work out and they are competing against each other to get the right answers. I'll have to think about anything else I do differently in this class...

So in a nutshell I...
1) need to follow through with my consequences more often,
2) be very aware of my students, rowdy and quiet ones (I have just noticed recently that some of my quietest students are struggling more than I thought),
3) start a rewards system (I meant to do this a while ago), and
3) continue to use my image as a young, energetic, motherly, organized teacher to motivate my students to want to work and not goof off. I can tell when I get on to my students, they actually feel bad. But I know I need to be careful, and that's when those discipline sheets and detentions will come in handy.

clone of the math teacher

My highschool AP-Cal teacher was probably my best math teacher...although I hate to admit it now. She was also the most anal, and had an annoying voice, and let her religious ideas be known in her class, but my, did she gear us up for the AP test. All of our work that we turned in had to be just so, with ALL of the steps clearly shown, with our notebook with the exact right sections with exactly the right things in each section, etc. But she pushed us to do as well as she knew that all of us could. In a nutshell, here are the characteristics that made her rock as a teacher (although not necessarily as a person) :

-VERY organized
-energetic and passionate
-positive attitude towards learning
-challenging and demanding
-thorough in explanations
-focused (didn't ever got off-topic)
-rigorous course work (those take-home tests just about killed all of us)

Although I definitely admire and use some of these characteristics in my own teaching (or attempt to) I would never, and could never, be exactly like her. I am not as detached from my students as she was, and I don't want to be. I don't want to be "friends" with my students, but I do want them to see me as a person who cares. I have definitely stolen some of her ideas, including her notebook quizzes that forced us, and now my students, to keep an organized and up-to-date notebook.

And now for some reason...I can't remember her name. It's driving me crazy!