Zachary Martin

EDUC 5903S – Classroom Management

Classroom Philosophy
Instructor: Bill Buggie

Due date: 31/10/2018

Department of Education
St. Thomas University
 Properly managing a classroom might be one of the most important and influential things

a teacher can do to allow and enhance student learning. I believe that in order to achieve this, the

first thing that needs to be done is to establish that your classroom will not only be a learning

area for students, but that it will also be a safe and non-judgmental space for everyone. It should

be our duty as a teacher to ensure that our classroom is the most positive environment possible

because it is practically a second home for our students and some may not have the chance to

experience this regularly. My strong opinion and thoughts toward this comes from the following

inspirational quote, “Human potential can best be realized by places, policies, processes and

programs specifically designed to invite development and by people who are personally and

professionally inviting with themselves and others” (Purkey, W. W. & Novak, J. M., 1996). I

couldn’t agree more with this statement. Whether it is a student or a teacher, no one can or will

ever reach their full potential if they are not able to participate in a safe and respectful learning

environment where they can properly interact with others.

Today’s typical classroom management strategies have changed a lot over the past few

decades. However, there is still a lot of the traditional types of teaching, methods and strategies

being used in classrooms today. Personally, I would like to steer away from these and allow for

more of an interactive, collaborative and discussion based classroom learning environment for

both the students and myself. I believe that this will benefit students in many ways since lessons

could be considered more meaningful and engaging to them. Statistics show that discussion

based learning actually enhances your ability to be able to retain 10 times more information

comparatively to lecture-based learning within a 24-hour time frame (Sousa, D. A., 2002).
 As stated earlier, I would love to be able to transform my classroom into a collected and

cooperative environment. However, in order to achieve this, I think that two of my greatest tools

will be to get to know my students, and my ability to motivate them to learn and appreciate the

content. By getting to know my students, I mean getting to know them on a personal level and

figuring out what their interests are, which is something that I’ve always valued doing as a

person. I believe that students will appreciate this caring approach since I will be able take note

of this information and integrate it into the classroom and lessons in order to coordinate them to

be both relatable and effective. I think that getting to know your students on a personal level will

also reduce behavioral issues in your classroom because students will feel like you care about

them and that they have a sense of belonging in a positive environment. This will help students

develop a sense of respect towards me.

This connects with Linda Albert’s theory about cooperative discipline. Her cooperative

theory is what I mentioned earlier because it is mostly defined by all students having a need to

belong, where if this need is not met, they may tend to have behavioral issues or act out in

certain ways. I think that Ms. Albert’s cooperative discipline method is quite accurate. I agree

with her that if some students fail to fill their need of belonging to something or someone, they

may shift towards the misbehaviour path. This could be because it seems like a quick and easy

solution in order to get attention and to finally feel like they belong to something, even if it is

perceived or received in a negative way. Therefore, as an educator, it will most likely work in

our favor if we can work alongside the students and the parents to avoid and reduce these

situations.
 Another classroom management and positive environment asset that I mentioned earlier

is the ability of the educator to motivate their students. This is very important for teachers to take

in consideration because, when students are motivated in your class, they will obviously have a

higher interest towards learning, they will pay more attention in class and they will have less

tendencies to misbehave. I am a firm believer that the first step to motivate your students comes

from the teacher’s attitude and interest towards the topic. Students’ motivation levels and desire

to learn will certainly be greater when their teacher seems passionate and enjoys teaching the

content. That said, this can be complimented by using the knowledge about your students’

interests mentioned earlier.

Furthermore, I know that another big obstacle in the classroom is managing student

behavior. This can be very difficult in some cases since there is no particular script or way to

handle a specific situation. This is where having and developing classroom policies, procedures

and rules will particularly come in handy. This must also be developed alongside of clear and

relatable consequences for when these are not followed. Another thing that should be noted is

that we should use consequences instead of punishments, since punishments are perceived as

being more negative and that they tend to get the students to rebel; therefore not reducing their

undesired behaviors. In order to create a more collaborative environment, I believe that

classroom rules should be developed in tandem with students; this will allow them to feel like

their opinions are valued and that they have a certain control over the accountability of their

actions. This ties down well with Linda Albert’s cooperative discipline theory about the sense of

belonging, having an influence on behavior. That being said, I am aware that this cooperative

approach may not always work, therefore I think it is important to take note of and apply other

classroom management methods and strategies. For example, Craig Seganti and his theory in
classroom management is based off how to get control of any classroom by showing that you are

in charge and are a professional who knows what they are doing from the beginning. He has the

mentality of implementing very strict and severe methods to gain respect from your students,

then autotomy will slowly follow. Even though I don’t agree will all of his harsher methods, I do

think that they could be very useful in some different environments, for example, if you are

teaching in a correctional facility. Also, I don’t think that we should completely ignore or

eliminate his ideas or theories either, he does have some that could come useful in order to

manage behaviors. For example, Mr. Seganti is a firm believer in using silence and deadpan

glances as a tool in order to stop students trying to argue or manipulate you. This could work

well in most cases, especially in high school. As long as this is used properly and in the correct

situations, students will quickly notice how serious you are, that you are disappointed and that

you are not the type of teacher that gives them an opportunity to argue at all.

Lastly, we must keep in mind that behavioral issues are bound to happen, however, we as

teachers, must assure that we only address these undesired behaviors and not judge the student.

No matter the behavioral issue, or even if you have a disagreement with the student, they should

always be welcomed into your classroom no matter their past. With all of this in mind, I look

forward to beginning my journey as a teacher, where I will be able to apply all of these methods

and modify them if I need to.

 References:

Purkey, W., & Novak, J. (1996). Inviting school success: A self-concept approach to teaching,

learning, and democratic practice (3rd ed.). Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Pub.

Sousa, D. A. (2002) Un cerveau pour apprendre. Montréal : Chenelière Éducation. 101-102.

Charles C. (2005) Building Classroom Discipline. Linda Albert’s Cooperative Discipline. 8, 199-

217

Charles. C, & Cole, K. (2018) Building Classroom Management: Methods and Models. Taking

Charge in the Classroom: Craig Seganti. 20. 121-145.