Philosophy of Classroom Management
I like to think of my classroom as a community. Classroom learning and behavior management should be a collaborative effort between teacher and students. The students will participate in the creation of a code of conduct, so that they can own their actions and develop a sense of responsibility for their behavior. Appropriate behavior will result in high achievement, and that in itself will be a cherished reward. All students will be expected to be active community participants by showing respect for each other, the teacher and themselves. All students needs can be met, and all students can feel safe and welcome, as long as everyone can work together to be outstanding citizens in our classroom community.
The majority of my classroom philosophy is based on Linda Albert’s Cooperative Discipline, and then there are just a few aspects of Alfie Kohn’s Beyond Discipline. Students and teachers will work together in this environment to create a classroom community. Behavior expectations will be outlined by a code of conduct that is created jointly with teacher and students. Students will be motivated to monitor their behavior and to monitor the behavior of their classmates, because the code of conduct that they help create will give them a sense of ownership and responsibility in their classroom community. Once fully adapted to our classroom norms, students will be guided into “exploring ideas, seeking new solutions, looking for meaning or connections, or attempting to gain deeper understanding” (Kohn). Students will feel safe to discuss openly, agree to disagree, and debate in an orderly fashion to enhance comprehension of the class curriculum. “The effectiveness of Cooperative Discipline is increased when supported by students and parents” (Albert). By keeping parents informed and up to date with our Code of Conduct, and weekly classroom events, we can successfully embrace parents as part of our classroom community. I will establish several options for communication between the parents and the teachers to provide convenience for parents that may have limited means for communication, or limited time for communication. This will keep them informed of student progress, achievement, behavior, etc.
Linda Albert’s Cooperative Discipline suggests several ways to avoid or diffuse confrontation in the classroom. One way is to focus on the behavior, not the student. This concept allows me to be firm, but friendly and show the student my disapproval of the behavior while at the same time my continuing care for them as a person. Another way, and the most important in my opinion, is to take charge of emotions. This means that as the teacher I will remain calm, objective and non-combative when addressing misbehavior. And the last technique that I will incorporate into my classroom is to allow students to save face. This technique suggests that the teacher should overlook certain behaviors to allow students to save face and feel comfortable in my classroom. I will never use discipline to embarrass them.
To maintain functionality and order in the classroom, I will review the Code of Conduct with the students weekly, model self-correction of behavior by holding myself accountable for my actions as a teacher and apologizing when necessary, and teaching and encouraging students to self-evaluate their behavior. I will use I-messages to express my concern for behavior and will give students one warning before any disciplinary action is taken. We will have a color coded chart to display daily behavior. All students will start on green (expected behavior) and will have opportunity throughout the day to either move up or down by displaying appropriate or inappropriate behavior.
The majority of my classroom philosophy is based on Linda Albert’s Cooperative Discipline, and then there are just a few aspects of Alfie Kohn’s Beyond Discipline. Students and teachers will work together in this environment to create a classroom community. Behavior expectations will be outlined by a code of conduct that is created jointly with teacher and students. Students will be motivated to monitor their behavior and to monitor the behavior of their classmates, because the code of conduct that they help create will give them a sense of ownership and responsibility in their classroom community. Once fully adapted to our classroom norms, students will be guided into “exploring ideas, seeking new solutions, looking for meaning or connections, or attempting to gain deeper understanding” (Kohn). Students will feel safe to discuss openly, agree to disagree, and debate in an orderly fashion to enhance comprehension of the class curriculum. “The effectiveness of Cooperative Discipline is increased when supported by students and parents” (Albert). By keeping parents informed and up to date with our Code of Conduct, and weekly classroom events, we can successfully embrace parents as part of our classroom community. I will establish several options for communication between the parents and the teachers to provide convenience for parents that may have limited means for communication, or limited time for communication. This will keep them informed of student progress, achievement, behavior, etc.
Linda Albert’s Cooperative Discipline suggests several ways to avoid or diffuse confrontation in the classroom. One way is to focus on the behavior, not the student. This concept allows me to be firm, but friendly and show the student my disapproval of the behavior while at the same time my continuing care for them as a person. Another way, and the most important in my opinion, is to take charge of emotions. This means that as the teacher I will remain calm, objective and non-combative when addressing misbehavior. And the last technique that I will incorporate into my classroom is to allow students to save face. This technique suggests that the teacher should overlook certain behaviors to allow students to save face and feel comfortable in my classroom. I will never use discipline to embarrass them.
To maintain functionality and order in the classroom, I will review the Code of Conduct with the students weekly, model self-correction of behavior by holding myself accountable for my actions as a teacher and apologizing when necessary, and teaching and encouraging students to self-evaluate their behavior. I will use I-messages to express my concern for behavior and will give students one warning before any disciplinary action is taken. We will have a color coded chart to display daily behavior. All students will start on green (expected behavior) and will have opportunity throughout the day to either move up or down by displaying appropriate or inappropriate behavior.