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The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to
create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active
engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Rationale
environment does not; however, normally manifest without some type of effort on the
offer this artifact “Discipline and Management Plan,” that I created as part of the
requirements for FL561 Teaching Second Language: Theory into Practice. I am including
problems relevant to the population I plan to teach, and research solutions to them.
Nunan says that “the exploration of classroom issues and problems should lead
teachers from practice to theory and back to practice again as a sort of on-going
professional growth spiral” (Aebersold & Field, 1997, p. 1998). Classroom issues and
problems are in a continuous state of flux; for example, when I first attended college over
20 years ago, there were no cell phones, with the exception of those big, clunky things
that you plugged into your car’s cigarette lighter. Text-messaging (texting) of course, was
a non-issue. Nowadays, cell phones and texting are critical disruptors in the classroom
Standard 5 – Classroom Motivation & Management Artifact 1 Joely Rogers
and teachers must find a way to balance their students’ rights to personal freedom with
The “Discipline and Management Plan” that I wrote for FL561 was my first foray
into thinking about important management issues in the adult language classroom. I came
late arrivals/early departures, 3) positive feedback coupled with occasional rewards and
4) firm discipline policies on cellular telephone use and/or texting during class. As I near
the end of my MATL program and the beginning of my teaching career, I still believe
that these are critical components; however, I realize that like cell phones/texting, new
issues will arise in the classroom that I must address. I believe that the key to effective
There are 7 community colleges in Dallas (Texas) county which offer ESL (English as a
second language) courses (n.d.). My future goal is to teach at one of them; therefore the
target student population for this discipline and management plan is adults ages 17+. I
feel that the key components of a well-managed adult language classroom are: a proper
arrivals/early departures; positive feedback coupled with occasional rewards and firm
horseshoe arrangement, and the ‘traditional’ arrangement with rows of desks in straight
lines. M. Elliot Fulton, a professor at the University of Connecticut, prefers the semi-
circle stating “Each student can see every other student (as can I) and each person's ideas
are given value in discussions” (Dunne, 2001). I feel Fulton makes a valid point about the
semi-circle creating a feeling of equality in the classroom, as well as allowing for easy
communication amongst the students (no one has to stand up or turn around). Moreover,
since students are directly facing each other and the teacher, they may be less likely to
text, doze off or do other assignments during class. In my future classroom the desks will
Late arrivals are distracting to the whole class and students who depart early risk
homework or giving quizzes at the end of class. This seemed to work well and I am
inclined to try it in my future classroom. The issue of late arrivals is more problematic.
There are some individuals who are habitually late for everything; however, there are
others who may have legitimate reasons for being late, like traffic (a huge problem in
Dallas), work or childcare issues. Bhavsar (2008) suggests using an object lesson where
the teacher presents a unique object that pertains to the day’s lesson during the first few
minutes of class and asks the students to discuss it while productively waiting for late
magazine clip that pertains to the day’s lesson. Bhavsar (2008) also suggests making
copies of this object to hand out to all students for their notebooks. I really like this idea
of productively waiting for tardy students rather than penalizing them and plan to try it in
my future classroom.
key component of a discipline and management plan because I believe that if students
don’t feel they are succeeding, they may become bored and/or disruptive, and possibly
drop the class. Barbara Gross Davis (1999), a professor at the University of California,
Berkley, says that frequent, early, positive feedback encourages students to become self-
motivated independent learners. I agree with Gross Davis, and in my future classroom I
In addition, I feel that occasional rewards, if they are properly managed, are not
out of place in the adult language classroom. A system for earning extra points, such as
winners of a classroom word game is one possibility. I think the key to extrinsic rewards
is finding a way to utilize them to encourage learning, without allowing them to foster
extrinsic rewards, such as extra points, and observe its affect on student motivation.
When I first went to college in 1988 there were no hand-held mobile cell phones
and certainly no ‘texting’. Today, I cannot think of anyone, except maybe my 87 year-old
grandmother, who does not own a cell phone and who has not at least tried texting once.
In everyone classroom I have been in during the last 3 years there has been at least one,
usually several, occurrences of cell phone usage and/or texting during class. To me,
hearing a cell phone ring, or even worse someone answering it, are two of the most
unnecessary and distracting things that can occur in a classroom. As such, I will have a
very strict policy about telephone usage and texting in my future classroom. My policy
will be: 1) No telephone usage or texting is allowed in the classroom. 2) The penalty for
talking on the telephone and/or texting is dismissal from the classroom until the
conversation is finished and 1 point off your final grade. The policy will be in the
syllabus and I plan to post “Turn off your Cell Phone” in a visible place in the classroom.
Please note that students who must take telephone calls pertaining to serious emergencies
(accidents, illnesses, etc.) will be an exception to the 1 point off rule, but they must make
Conclusion
All of the classroom discipline and management issues I have proposed in this
college level this semester, as well as my own language learning experiences as an adult.
My belief is that without some discipline and classroom management there cannot be
complete harmony in the classroom; and without harmony, learning cannot take place. I
am 99.9% sure that other discipline and management issues will arise once I start
teaching and plan to conduct research and/or ask for help from experienced teachers
References
Aebersold, J.A. & Field, M.L. (1997). From reader to reading teacher. New York, NY:
Bhavsar, V. (2008). An object lesson to deal with tardiness. Retrieved December 2, 2009,
from http://tasctip.wordpress.com/category/dealing-with-classroom-
issues/dealing-with-tardiness/
Dallas County Community College District. (n.d.). Fast facts. Retrieved December 2,
world.com/a_curr/curr330.shtml
http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/mot
iv.htm
Ormrod, J.E. (2007). Educational psychology (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson
Prentice Hall.