Good teaching is about ensuring you have strong content knowledge in your chosen teaching

method. Having deep knowledge of their chosen teaching field will ensure that teachers can
concentrate on providing engaging and relevant learning tasks and opportunities for students.
Strong, well-developed classroom management skills are also a must for good teaching. In order
for students to work to and achieve their full potential, teachers must be able to keep a class on
task and minimise unnecessary disruptions.

I believe that classrooms should be safe learning environments where students of all abilities
and differences feel equal. Students should also be aware of where their learning is headed, as I
think that having students know where their learning is taking them allows them more autonomy in
the learning process. Teachers should also know about students developmental phase and allow
for this in their teaching and classroom management.

Good communication between teachers and students is vital to a positive classroom climate.
Without proper communication, teachers and students cannot build rapport nor can the
expectations from both sides be met. When communicating it is also important to minimise
interference such as noise, distractions, incorrect contexts and taking into account other
interferences such as gender, race, culture etc to ensure messages are clearly sent and clearly
understood. Therefore, I will ensure that I incorporate good communication strategies into my
teaching practice to guarantee that messages are sent and received clearly by both participants in
the communication process.
5.1
I hold values such as respect, strong communication, effort and honesty as important to
establishing an orderly, productive and positive classroom. Some rules that flow on from these
values include but are not limited to-
* Keep quiet and listen when others are talking
* Always respect other peoples opinion
* Always put in 100% effort,
* Do to others as you would like done to you

I want my classroom to look welcoming and inspiring. I think that is important that students feel
as though they are entering into a space of learning and achievement. In my classroom I will have
examples of projects and diagrams related to the work the students will be doing. My classroom
layout will encourage collaborative learning, whilst still maintaining a sense of rules and discipline
necessary for learning.

When planning my teaching program, I will use the plan, implement and review (PIR) cycle as
a guide to ensuring quality learning opportunities for my students. I will do the following-
* PLAN- The first step for me will be to plan my content through using the curriculum to
develop programs and assessment tasks that meet the outcomes listed in the curriculum. I will
create my lesson plans from these programs and assessment tasks to ensure that the students
learning is always relevant and engaging.
* IMPLEMENT- I will implement my programs, lesson plans and assessment tasks into the
classroom after the planning stage.
* REVIEW- After each program has finished I will review it for its success and failures. This is
important to ensure that the work I am providing to students is constantly improving in relevance,
quality and engagement. The PIR cycle will then repeat, and I will use the information I have found
from the review stage to inform my planning.

Assessment is important in order to gauge where students are in relation to the learning
outcomes. The types of assessment I will develop include pre-assessment to determine what
students know and what they need to be taught, and formative assessment to keep track of
students during programs of work. I will also use summative assessment at the end of a program
of work in order to determine whether students have met learning outcomes. This summative
assessment is also helpful in my personal reflexivity in order to help my own personal growth as a
teacher through seeing if there are areas that multiple students have trouble with which I can then
improve upon.

My belief is that students learn best through group work and incorporating ICT into the
classroom. I will use tasks that require students to work in pairs or groups, and use methods such
as the Jigsaw Method to ensure group diversity. Through using ICT resources such as computers,
tablets and phones I believe that students will have the opportunity to research quality and relevant
material in an engaging way.

I believe that using rationale emotive therapy is a good student intervention strategy. I think
that by changing the way students think through approaching incidents using rationale emotive
therapy, rationale can be used to successfully defuse situations and change irrational thinking and
behaviours. If intervention for behaviour management is needed, I believe that using rationale
emotive therapy will enable me to have a good intervention strategy to help the situation. I will use
rationale emotive therapy as I believe to really change some ones behaviour it is important to
tackle the root problem and help them find positive and alternative ways of dealing with behaviour,
problems and issues. In line with this thinking, I will ensure that when situations arise that require
intervention I will use rationale emotive therapy to help change the students behaviour and
thinking.

I believe professional reflexivity is important to my teaching because it is important for teachers

to be able to reflect on things they did well and things not so well, in a way that allows for personal
growth and improves their own teaching practice. As a consequence of this belief, I will ensure that
I participate in all relevant personal development opportunities. Seeking constant feedback from
mentor teachers and other members of staff will also support my professional reflexivity.

In conclusion, many different facets such as safe working environments, engaging learning,
positive intervention strategies and professional reflexivity make up my personal philosophy on
teaching. I still have areas to improve upon, such as gaining a deeper content knowledge of my
method areas and developing strong classroom management skills. These improvements will
come with time and experience, and Im sure my teaching philosophy will continue to morph and
improve in the mean time.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF INFLUENCES

Adam Watson- Lecturer for Curriculum 2B TAS unit. General conversations about quality
teaching has influenced my way of thinking

Michelle Higham- Mentor teacher at Kellyville High School. Had strong rapport with students
and created a positive learning environment

Dr. Roberto Parada- Pedagogy lecturer. Has shown me the importance of creating a positive
and safe environment for students, and to treat behavioural issues from a different viewpoint

Berger, C. (2013). Bring Out the Brilliance: a Counseling Intervention for

Underachieving Students. Professional School Counseling, 17(1), 86-96.
doi:10.5330/psc.n.2013-17.80

Ciaccio, J. (2004). Helping Underachievers: Whole-Class Strategies. Retrieved from

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/104016/chapters/Helping_Underachievers@_Whol
e-Class_Strategies.aspx

Darling-Hammond, L., & Ifill-Lynch, O. (2006). If They'd Only Do Their

Work! Educational Leadership, 63(5), 8-13. Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb06/vol63/num05/If-They'd-
Only-Do-Their-Work!.aspx

Lund Dean, K., & Jolly, J. P. (2012). Student Identity, Disengagement, and
Learning. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(2), 228-243.
doi:10.5465/amle.2009.0081

Lyons, G., Ford, M., & Slee, J. (2014). Classroom Managment: Creating Positive
Learning Environments (4th ed.). Sydney, Australia: Cengage Learning Australia.

Zirpoli, T. J. (2012). Behavior management: Positive applications for

teachers (6th ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson.
 Developing your philosophy of classroom
management
John De Nobile
School of Education, Macquarie University
With adaptations by Roberto H Parada , School of Education, University of Western Sydney

This resource consists of a series of linked activities chapter-by-chapter to Lyons et al.

Classroom Management: Creating positive learning environments 4E. These activities enable
you to progressively work on and develop your own philosophy, plan and style of classroom
management.

A classroom philosophy, simply put, is a statement of what you believe about how to best
manage a class and how you will go about achieving that vision. This resource will help you
build it bit by bit. Complete the activities linked to each chapter of the text and by the end
of chapter 10 you should be able to bring your work together to form your classroom
philosophy.
(Week 1)Chapter 1: Modelling classroom management
In this chapter you have gained a small insight into the hectic world of teachers starting out,
and have been exposed to the bases of a good classroom management plan through the
Lyford Model. The following activities are designed to get you thinking about your own
model of teaching and classroom management.

1.1 What is a good teacher? Think about the teachers from your days in primary and
secondary schooling. What qualities did they have that made them good? Make a list
in the box below.

Good classroom management

Patience
Strong content knowledge
Understanding of how students learn
Empathy towards students

1.2 Using the Lyford Model as a starting point, what do you think are the key considerations
when a teacher is planning their strategy for classroom management? After making
some rough notes, pick out the most important ones and list them below.

Classroom cohort
Professional reflexivity
Curriculum
Assessment

1.3 With your responses to the last two activities as a source of ideas, complete the
sentence in the box below.

I believe good teaching is about ensuring you have strong content knowledge about your
chosen teaching method. Good classroom management skills are needed to ensure you can
keep students on task.
(Week 2)Chapter 2: Classroom management theory
In this chapter you have been introduced to some theories of behaviour/classroom
management. More are presented in the online companion. Some of these might have
caused you to react in some way, either negatively or positively. Of the ones you developed
a positive feeling about, was there a particular theory that stood out? Was there a theory or
approach that you felt might fit your view of how children should be treated and how
teaching happens? Think about this before responding to the activities.

2.1 In the box below, list the theories that you think are not for you under the heading
Not me, and the theories that you think are more favourable under the heading More
like me.

Not me More like me

Choice theory Goal Centred
Assertive discipline Cognitive behavioural
Applied behavioural

2.2 Now take a closer look at the theories you placed in the More like me column. Read
the suggested readings provided in this chapter and the online companion. Get to know
the theories more intimately. Use this new knowledge, specifically the key philosophies
behind the theories (or theory), to develop your own statement of belief about the sort
of places classrooms should be. Complete the following sentence and perhaps add
another to accompany it.

I believe classrooms should be places where students understand where their learning is
going. Having students know where their learning is taking them allows them more
autonomy in the learning process. Teachers should also know about students
developmental phase and allow for this in their teaching and classroom management.
(Week 3)Chapters 3 & 6: Relationships, communication & Professional
reflexivity
Effective communication is a key component of effective classroom management, and
quality teaching depends on it. This chapter describes some very useful skills for dealing
with inappropriate student behaviour in a non-confrontational and positive way. Being
aware of non-verbal cues will lead a teacher to be more sensitive to how their messages are
being received as well as how to send messages and provide feedback more effectively.
Active listening allows teachers and students to interact with minimal interference from
underlying emotional factors. I-messages provide the teacher with a tool to convey to
students how their behaviour is affecting the class in a non-submissive, informative and
positive manner.

Teaching philosophies often describe the way a teacher will interact with their students and
this, in turn, provides a window into the classroom climate that a teacher is trying to
establish. The following activities should help you to identify your preferred way of
communicating with the class generally as well as in dealing with inappropriate behaviour.
After completing them you should have a better idea of how your classroom philosophy will
describe your communication style in the classroom.

3.1 After reading this chapter and doing some of your own follow-up reading, list in the
boxes below which communication methods you are most attracted to, and which ones
you have not tried but would not mind practising to see if they might work for you.

My preferred communication style Things Id like to try out

Active listening Open questioning

3.2 You will need to pre-empt the communication paragraph in your philosophy with a
sentence or two underpinning or justifying it. Using your readings of the chapter, in
particular the Relationships and communication, Interference, Communication process
and Non-verbal communication sections, complete the sentence in the box below. You
might need to add a second or even a third sentence.

I believe that good communication between teachers and students is vital to a positive
classroom climate. Without proper communication, teachers and students cannot build
rapport nor can the expectations from both sides be met. When communicating it is also
important to minimise interference such as noise, distractions, incorrect contexts and taking
into account other interferences such as gender, race, culture etc to ensure messages are
clearly sent and clearly understood.

3.3 To complete your paragraph on communication you will now need to identify the key
strategies you will use. Take another look at the lists in 3.1 and pick the most suitable of
these to complete the section below.
Therefore, I will ensure that I incorporate good communication strategies into my teaching
practice to guarantee that messages are sent and received clearly by both participants in the
communication process.

This week you also looked at how personal beliefs can help or hinder in your relationships
and communication with students.

3.3 Briefly outline your understanding of how beliefs can help or hinder your ability to
create positive learning environments:

Teacher personal beliefs affect the way we create Positive Learning Environments by either
helping or hindering relationships and communication with students dependent on many
facets such as culture, religion and ones own world view.

Chapter 6: Professional reflexivity

The last of the four positive practices is professional reflexivity. Good teachers reflect on
what they do frequently, during lessons as well as afterwards. Examining how well things
worked, or how things didnt work as well as planned, helps teachers to inform their future
teaching and consequently improve their practice. This chapter discusses at length an action
research model that can be used to encourage professional reflexivity. There are, of course,
other models to consider as indicated in the reference list at the end of the chapter.

Your teaching philosophy should describe how and for what purpose you might engage in a
cycle of professional reflexivity, be it through critical analysis using various perspectives or
an action research model, or both.

6.1 Why should teachers engage in professional reflexivity? By reading this chapter you will
get a clear idea about the benefits of reflection on and in action. Once you have given
this some thought and done some further reading, complete the following sentence.

I believe professional reflexivity is important to my teaching because it is important for

teachers to be able to reflect on things they did well and things not so well, in a way that
allows for personal growth and improves their own teaching practice

6.2 Having thought up a justification for it, how will you go about engaging in reflection
about your practice in your teaching career? Once you have thought this out, think of
some practical and achievable ways you can engage in professional reflexivity and
complete the next sentence.

As a consequence of this belief, I will ensure that I participate in all relevant personal
development opportunities. Seeking constant feedback from mentor teachers and other
members of staff will also support my professional reflexivity.
I believe professional reflexivity is important to my teaching because it is important for
teachers to be able to reflect on things they did well and things not so well, in a way that
allows for personal growth and improves their own teaching practice

As a consequence of this belief, I will ensure that I participate in all relevant personal
development opportunities. Seeking constant feedback from mentor teachers and other
members of staff will also support my professional reflexivity.
(Week 4)Chapter 4: Classroom organisation and Curriculum, assessment and
pedagogy
Classroom management is not just about managing behaviour. At the heart of teaching and
learning are the curriculum taught, the pedagogy used and the assessment designed to
measure how well that curriculum was taught and how well the pedagogy worked. This
chapter takes you through these three areas one at a time.

The next part of your teaching philosophy will be about how you will deliver curriculum and
assess student achievement/growth. After reading this chapter, please reflect on the
following:
What will you take into consideration when planning your teaching program?
How will you know what to teach and where to start?
What are the many ways in which your students could demonstrate achievement other
than tests and quizzes?
What teaching approaches will you use and what philosophical views will your
pedagogies reflect?

4.1 Using the PIR Cycle as a stimulus, explain how you will go about planning your teaching
program in the box below.

*PLAN- The first step for me will be to plan my content through using the curriculum to
develop programs, assessment tasks and then from these programs and assessment tasks
my lesson plans
* IMPLEMENT- After the planning stage, I will implement my programs, lesson plans and
assessment tasks into the classroom
* REVIEW- After each program has finished I will review it for its success and failures and
then go back to the planning stage to ensure improvement.

4.2 Why is assessment important? What types of assessment will you develop and why?
Answer these two questions below.

Assessment is important in order to gauge where students are in relation to the learning
outcomes. The types of assessment I will develop include pre-assessment to determine
what students know and what they need to be taught, and formative assessment to keep
track of students during programs of work.

4.3 Pedagogy refers to how you will teach the curriculum. Usually, the type of pedagogy
you implement is influenced by a basic belief about how students best learn. After
considering your pedagogical approach and strategies, complete the sentences below.

I believe that students best learn through group work incorporating ICT.
Therefore I will use tasks that require students to work in pairs or groups, as well as using
ICT resources such as computers, tablets and phones.
Chapter 5: Classroom organisation
As explained in this chapter, there are several dimensions to classroom organisation. Each of
these put together become the manifestation of your classroom culture. Your classroom
culture is, simply put, the way your class operates and incorporates:
rules and procedures
organisation of the physical space.

It is now time to think about how your teaching philosophy will describe these two aspects
and explain them in terms of an overarching set of beliefs or approaches. After reading this
chapter, complete the next two activities.

5.1 What values do you hold as important to establishing an orderly, productive and
positive classroom? Answer this question below, then list the key rules/expectations
you think flow naturally from those values and which you want to stress in your class.
Complete the section by explaining how rules and consequences will be established in
your classroom.

Respect
Good communication
Effort
Honesty

Some rules could be keep quiet and listen when others are talking, always respect other
peoples opinion, always put in 100% effort, do to others as you would like done to you etc.

5.2 What should your classroom look like to visitors entering it. Why? Think about this then
answer the question and explain how you might organise:
seating
classroom space (displays, colours, furniture, etc).

I want my classroom to look welcoming and inspiring. I plan to use a seating plan
encourages working with others whilst still maintaining order. In my classroom I will also
have examples of projects and diagrams related to the work the students will be doing.
(Week 5).Chapter 7: Interventions & Evaluation
Interventions bring the focus of your philosophy back to the behaviour management aspect
of classroom management. The first part of this chapter explains intervention as something
that is done to one or more aspects of the classroom milieu to improve a situation that is
getting out of hand (or has the potential to), usually as a result of inappropriate behaviour
that threatens the stability of the learning environment. The chapter presents approaches
to intervention according to the three theoretical orientations introduced in chapters 1
and 2.

7.1 After reading this chapter ask yourself the following questions and record your answers.

Which approach am I most Why? How would I use this in

comfortable working with?
(You can chose more than 1)
Rationale emotive therapy
practice?
I replacing students irrational Rephrasing students
arguments with rational irrational arguments in order
thoughts is a smart approach to promote rational

7.2 Did you list more than one approach? If so, how might the two (or more) approaches
work together as a behaviour management strategy (or sequence of strategies in a
plan)?

n/a

7.3 Having thought through the approaches and how you would apply them, it is time to
nail down your intervention strategy. First, write about the approach (or approaches)
you believe will work best and why.

If intervention for behaviour management is needed, I believe that using rationale emotive
therapy will enable me to have a good intervention strategy to help the situation. I will use
rationale emotive therapy as I believe to really change some ones behaviour it is important
to tackle the root problem and help them find positive and alternative ways of dealing with
behaviour, problems and issues.

7.4 Now write about how you would put the above into practice.

In line with this thinking, I will ensure that when situations arise that require intervention I
will use rationale emotive therapy to help change the students behaviour and thinking.
7.5 Having written an overview of your intervention plan, go back to your earlier
statements, particularly your responses to 1.3, 2.2, 3.3 and 5.1. In light of 7.3 and 7.4 do
you need to modify any of these? If so, make the changes now.

This week we also discussed the importance of considering evaluation for interventions

7.6 Briefly outline below how you would go about documenting and monitoring an
intervention with a student(s) or class for effectiveness.

Taking into consideration the need to have objective measures of effectiveness of an

intervention I will monitor student progress in the following ways
1) Through the use of a monitoring book, however the layout of this will be more
positive than usual
2) Through setting achievable goals that are selected by both myself and the student
3) Through interviews between key stake holders (myself, the student, the students
parents, etc) at key intervals to discuss progress
4) Through positive reinforcement of success by the student
(Week 6) Chapter 8: Stories from the field (Personal Reading)
In this chapter there are 10 stories where teachers and others describe an aspect of their
experience with classroom management in the real world. The online companion website
presents even more. To complete the activity below please read between three and five of
these. They will provide you with a variety of models of practice in classroom management
and might trigger new ideas to include in your philosophy of teaching.

8.1 After reading some of the case studies (E.g., 8 in the text Lisa, 9 Andrew, 10 Wendy and
16, 19, 20 etc online), what would you add about aspects of your classroom
management that have not been mentioned so far in your philosophy? Add these in the
box below in rough draft form. You can refine them later in 10.1.

strong communication skills

successful intervention strategies
good leadership skills
building strong rapport with students
clear and concise class rules
clear and concise expectations for student behaviour
regular self reflection on practices
(Week 7) Principles of Behaviour Modification. Zirporli T.J. (2012). Ch10 and
Killu, K. (2008)

This week we looked at fundamental aspects of behaviourism and learning. Ziporli and Killu
provide examples of the application of such theory and research to classroom management
and behaviour change. Important concepts such as reinforcement, functional purpose of
behaviour and behaviour shaping are discussed

7.1 After reading Ziporli and Killu and reflecting on the lecture content what would you add
about aspects of your classroom management that have not been mentioned so far in
your philosophy? Add these in the box below in rough draft form. You can refine them
later in 10.1.

reinforcement
behaviour shaping

(Week 8) Social Emotional Learning in Schools. Cohen, J. (2006) & Zins, et al

(2007).
Social and Emotional Learning brings your attention to focus efforts on promoting students
social and emotional competencies. Many leaders in the field underscore the importance of
skills-based teaching and learning to properly address this important facet of teaching the
whole child.
8.1 After reading Cohen and Zin and reflecting on the lecture content what would you add
about aspects of your classroom management that have not been mentioned so far in
your philosophy? Add these in the box below in rough draft form. You can refine them
later in 10.1.

cognitive and emotional learning

ensuring the classroom is a safe and caring learning environment
proper education about bullying
use positive feedback to reinforce and enhance skills

(Week 9) Chapter 9: Your theory into practice
Early in the chapter you are asked to write up a statement of your theoretical approach to
classroom management. You should read the rest of the chapter, as it takes you through the
steps of constructing a philosophy of teaching. You already started this process in activities
relating to chapters 1 and 2, but now you have a chance to refine it by altering your
responses in 1.3 and 2.2. This may require changes to sentences or even some considerable
rewriting, but as the authors say, if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing it well.

9.1 Now that you have reviewed your overarching philosophy and settled, more or less, on
your approach to teaching and classroom management, it is time to combine the bits
that you have been working on into your first (draft) teaching philosophy. It is simple
now. All the hard work has been done. Simply cut and paste your responses in the order
suggested below, into the box.

Cut and paste in the following order leaving a line space between each section:
1.3 > 2.2 > 3.2 > 3.3 > 5.1 > 5.2 > 4.1 > 4.2 > 4.3 > 7.1 > 7.3 > 7.4 >8.1> 6.1 > 6.2

My personal reflection/teaching philosophy (Draft 1)

1.3
I believe good teaching is about ensuring you have strong content knowledge about your
chosen teaching method. Good classroom management skills are needed to ensure you can
keep students on task.
2.2
I believe classrooms should be places where students understand where their learning is
going. Having students know where their learning is taking them allows them more
autonomy in the learning process. Teachers should also know about students
developmental phase and allow for this in their teaching and classroom management.
3.2
I believe that good communication between teachers and students is vital to a positive
classroom climate. Without proper communication, teachers and students cannot build
rapport nor can the expectations from both sides be met. When communicating it is also
important to minimise interference such as noise, distractions, incorrect contexts and taking
into account other interferences such as gender, race, culture etc to ensure messages are
clearly sent and clearly understood.
3.3
Therefore, I will ensure that I incorporate good communication strategies into my teaching
practice to guarantee that messages are sent and received clearly by both participants in the
communication process.
5.1
Respect
Good communication
Effort
Honesty

Some rules could be keep quiet and listen when others are talking, always respect other
peoples opinion, always put in 100% effort, do to others as you would like done to you etc.
5.2
I want my classroom to look welcoming and inspiring. I plan to use a seating plan
encourages working with others whilst still maintaining order. In my classroom I will also
have examples of projects and diagrams related to the work the students will be doing.
4.1
* PLAN- The first step for me will be to plan my content through using the curriculum to
develop programs, assessment tasks and then from these programs and assessment tasks
my lesson plans
* IMPLEMENT- After the planning stage, I will implement my programs, lesson plans and
assessment tasks into the classroom
* REVIEW- After each program has finished I will review it for its success and failures and
then go back to the planning stage to ensure improvement.
4.2
Assessment is important in order to gauge where students are in relation to the learning
outcomes. The types of assessment I will develop include pre-assessment to determine
what students know and what they need to be taught, and formative assessment to keep
track of students during programs of work.
4.3
I believe that students best learn through group work incorporating ICT.
Therefore I will use tasks that require students to work in pairs or groups, as well as using
ICT resources such as computers, tablets and phones.
7.1
I am most comfortable with using rationale emotive therapy. I believe that changing the way
students think through approaching incidents by using rational can be used to successfully
defuse situations and change irrational thinking and behaviours.
7.3
If intervention for behaviour management is needed, I believe that using rationale emotive
therapy will enable me to have a good intervention strategy to help the situation. I will use
rationale emotive therapy as I believe to really change some ones behaviour it is important
to tackle the root problem and help them find positive and alternative ways of dealing with
behaviour, problems and issues.
7.4
In line with this thinking, I will ensure that when situations arise that require intervention I
will use rationale emotive therapy to help change the students behaviour and thinking.
8.1
strong communication skills
successful intervention strategies
good leadership skills
building strong rapport with students
clear and concise class rules
clear and concise expectations for student behaviour
regular self reflection on practices
6.1
I believe professional reflexivity is important to my teaching because it is important for
teachers to be able to reflect on things they did well and things not so well, in a way that
allows for personal growth and improves their own teaching practice
6.2
As a consequence of this belief, I will ensure that I participate in all relevant personal
development opportunities. Seeking constant feedback from mentor teachers and other
members of staff will also support my professional reflexivity.
(Week 9) Chapter 10: Contemporary issues (Personal Reading)
This chapter describes some of the current issues and trends that schools and wider school
systems are dealing with. After reading the chapter, you should consider if any of these
movements require presence in your teaching philosophy. For example, once you have
visited the AITSL website and examined the national teaching standards, do you feel the
need to address any of these standards in your teaching philosophy? After reading about
time outs, exclusion and expulsion, do you feel your classroom management intervention
approach needs to change or is it OK as it is? These are just two example of areas where
wider issues that teachers might want to address in their philosophy.

Ask yourself these questions after reading your draft philosophy from 9.1:
1 Have I covered everything I want to cover in my philosophy and if not, what do I need to
add? This might be from chapter 10, but dont forget about things you might have
written in 8.1. Now is the time to consider how they will fit into your draft.
2 Does the philosophy read right to me? If not, then make your changes. Move sections
around if you feel they sit better.
3 Do I need an opening quote/sentence and do I need a conclusion to round things off? If
so, jot down some rough notes.

10.1 After considering questions 1, 2 and 3 above, edit your teaching philosophy. It would
be a good idea to leave the draft you had in 9.1 alone, cut and paste that here and
make the changes here just in case you need to refer back to your original draft.

For me, good teaching is about ensuring you have strong content knowledge about your
chosen teaching method. Deep knowledge of a teachers chosen field will ensure that
teachers can concentrate on providing engaging and relevant learning tasks and
opportunities for students. Well-developed and strong classroom management skills are
also a must for good teaching. In order for students to work to and achieve their full
potential, teachers must be able to keep a class on task and minimise unnecessary
disruptions.

I believe that classrooms should be safe learning environments where students of all
abilities and differences feel equal. Students should also be aware of where their learning is
headed, as I think that having students know where their learning is taking them allows
them more autonomy in the learning process. Teachers should also know about students
developmental phase and allow for this in their teaching and classroom management.

Good communication between teachers and students is vital to a positive classroom

climate. Without proper communication, teachers and students cannot build rapport nor
can the expectations from both sides be met. When communicating it is also important to
minimise interference such as noise, distractions, incorrect contexts and taking into account
other interferences such as gender, race, culture etc to ensure messages are clearly sent
and clearly understood. Therefore, I will ensure that I incorporate good communication
strategies into my teaching practice to guarantee that messages are sent and received
clearly by both participants in the communication process.
5.1
I hold values such as respect, strong communication, effort and honesty as important to
establishing an orderly, productive and positive classroom. Some rules that flow on from
these values include but are not limited to-
* Keep quiet and listen when others are talking
* Always respect other peoples opinion
* Always put in 100% effort,
* Do to others as you would like done to you

I want my classroom to look welcoming and inspiring. I think that is important that students
feel as though they are entering into a space of learning and achievement. In my classroom I
will have examples of projects and diagrams related to the work the students will be doing.
My classroom layout will encourage collaborative learning, whilst still maintaining a sense of
rules and discipline necessary for learning.

When planning my teaching program, I will use the plan, implement and review (PIR) cycle
as a guide to ensuring quality learning opportunities for my students. I will do the following-
* PLAN- The first step for me will be to plan my content through using the curriculum to
develop programs and assessment tasks that meet the outcomes listed in the curriculum. I
will create my lesson plans from these programs and assessment tasks to ensure that the
students learning is always relevant and engaging.
* IMPLEMENT- I will implement my programs, lesson plans and assessment tasks into the
classroom after the planning stage.
* REVIEW- After each program has finished I will review it for its success and failures. This is
important to ensure that the work I am providing to students is constantly improving in
relevance, quality and engagement. The PIR cycle will then repeat, and I will use the
information I have found from the review stage to inform my planning.

Assessment is important in order to gauge where students are in relation to the learning
outcomes. The types of assessment I will develop include pre-assessment to determine
what students know and what they need to be taught, and formative assessment to keep
track of students during programs of work. I will also use summative assessment at the end
of a program of work in order to determine whether students have met learning outcomes.
This summative assessment is also helpful in my personal reflexivity in order to help my own
personal growth as a teacher through seeing if there are areas that multiple students have
trouble with which I can then improve upon.

My belief is that students learn best through group work and incorporating ICT into the
classroom. I will use tasks that require students to work in pairs or groups, and use methods
such as the Jigsaw Method to ensure group diversity. Through using ICT resources such as
computers, tablets and phones I believe that students will have the opportunity to research
quality and relevant material in an engaging way.

I believe that using rationale emotive therapy is a good student intervention strategy. I think
that by changing the way students think through approaching incidents using rationale
emotive therapy, rationale can be used to successfully defuse situations and change
irrational thinking and behaviours. If intervention for behaviour management is needed, I
believe that using rationale emotive therapy will enable me to have a good intervention
strategy to help the situation. I will use rationale emotive therapy as I believe to really
change some ones behaviour it is important to tackle the root problem and help them find
positive and alternative ways of dealing with behaviour, problems and issues. In line with
this thinking, I will ensure that when situations arise that require intervention I will use
rationale emotive therapy to help change the students behaviour and thinking.

I believe professional reflexivity is important to my teaching because it is important for

teachers to be able to reflect on things they did well and things not so well, in a way that
allows for personal growth and improves their own teaching practice. As a consequence of
this belief, I will ensure that I participate in all relevant personal development opportunities.
Seeking constant feedback from mentor teachers and other members of staff will also
support my professional reflexivity.

Ready to roll
Now that you have made the changes, read it to yourself. How does it read now?
If you are happy with the result, you have your first teaching philosophy. Congratulations!
You have done it! Now its time to prepare your final submission. Look at the Unit Learning
Guide and now write your own personal reflection and philosophy Ability to clearly and
coherently reflect on specific learnings in this unit and their implications for their personal
philosophy in relation to the management of students challenging behaviour, learning and
wellbeing in a positive learning environment.

Into the future!

However, please be aware that your philosophy may well change as you gain experience in
teaching and are exposed to other ideas from your ongoing professional development, your
interactions with peers and other sources of inspiration. It will be an interesting task for you
to go back to this philosophy you have just completed in 10 years time and compare it to
the one you have then. Will it have changed much? How have your approaches evolved?
What kind of teacher have you become?