Classroom Management Philosophy
As a teacher, I would create a comfortable learning environment that will make the students feel safe and confident. Learners need a setting that can elicit stimuli for learning. The environment ought to be free of negative feelings to make the students receptive to what is presented to them. I would also encourage the students to grasp ideas by commending them when they respond well and motivating when they do not perform as expected. The classroom management theory that is in line with the above philosophy is operant conditioning by Skinner (Lew and Nelson 10). The premise of the model is that behavior that is positively reinforced in the students is likely to be repeated by them. With that in mind, information will be presented to the students in bits, and their response enhanced using praise and other rewards. There will be many interactive sessions to enable immediate feedback for the performance of the students. Creative ways of rewarding them will be sought to prevent monotony in responding to the behavior of the students.
Strategy to Establish Expectations
The students will be informed about what is expected of them at the beginning of the year. These expectations will include academic progress, achievement, and behavior in the classroom. The rules will be clarified to the students and their parents to mitigate misunderstanding later on and ensure that the disciplinary measures taken will be fit. The learners and parents will be required to sign contracts claiming they have read and understood the academic and behavioral expectations and outcomes of the failure to follow the rules (Dabell 10). The students taking science class will have to sign a safety contract to commit themselves to create a safe environment during practical lessons. Such an agreement will save the students and school from careless accidents. The instructor will hold a discussion with the class to create a list of rules for how they treat each other and behave during the class lessons. The rules will have to be simple, few, and have positive statements (Dabell 10). The students will be requested to suggest the rules themselves. In addition to the list of rules, a list of expectations will also be prepared and pinned on the noticeboard of the classroom. Expectations will be used to enforce the rules for the classrooms, as the expectations have a positive connotation to them. All students will be expected to be punctual, civil when dealing with each other and to follow the instructions given by the instructor (Dabell 10). On the other hand, some of the rules will include prohibition from making noise during an ongoing lesson, no fighting and no name calling (Dabell 10). The expectations will entail positive reinforcement while rules will be followed to avoid the possible consequences.
Routines in the Classroom
The students need to know what is expected of them on a daily basis. This aspect can be achieved by creating schedules. The routines will entail procedures the students are supposed to follow when starting the class and during lessons, answering questions, discussing the content that has been taught, and leaving the classroom. The purpose of the routines is to prevent confusion and misunderstanding on the part of the learners and between them and the instructor (Liu and Babchuk 781). A timetable will be placed on a prominent place in the class to inform the students what lessons when to expect, and any changes to the timetable will be communicated to the learners immediately. The instructor will also prepare a weekly calendar of assignments that will have the due dates of submission indicated. The calendar and the timetable will be used in conjunction with verbal reminders to ensure that the students are aware of what is expected of them. With such information, they will be less likely to miss classes and deadlines.
Handling Misbehavior
Handling routine misbehavior will require being vigilant during the learning process. I would monitor the students closely knowing the students are unlikely to misbehave if they are under the teacher’s watch. Additionally, I would routinely walk around the classroom checking closely on the tasks in which the students are engaged. I would make quiet suggestions to the students that seem to struggle with the task to help them understand how to complete the assignment. Keeping the learners focused will prevent them from becoming distracted. Another measure to enforce good behavior will be modeling the appropriate behavior. As such, I would have to adopt behaviors that are healthy for learning, such as keeping time. The key to avoiding misconduct is giving the students mixed signals pointing to the behavior expected (O’Neill 126). In case a negative behavior becomes prevalent in the class, I would call a class meeting and inform the students why such behavior is unacceptable while asking for their suggestions on how it can be addressed. In cases of gross misbehavior, I would summon the parent of the involved student and have a discussion with the parent in the presence of the child (Sangchul-Lee 15). The parent is in a better position to understand their child and it would be better to reach a decision mutually agreed on with the input of the parent. Serious behavior problems might entail the students engaging in a behavior that puts the rest of the people in the class in danger. In such cases, I would resort to calling law enforcement to come and deal with the concerned student as well as the parent. Lastly, the desired conduct can be modeled using non-verbal cues. For example, the instructor can make use of hand signals to ask the students to be quiet instead of asking them to do so verbally. An example is raising of the hand to attract the attention of the students and have them keep quiet (Sangchul-Lee 19). The teacher can also point at the student who is misbehaving and direct him/her out of the class.
Classroom Emotional Safety
One strategy that I would use to foster emotional safety is to know each of the students at a personal level. This would involve learning their names, interests, and backgrounds known by having informal conversations with them. The students will also be encouraged to create friendships among them (Liu and Babchuk 781). Additionally, I would strive to treat all the learners equally and fairy to prevent resentment from any of them. When dealing with conflicts among the learners, it is imperative for the instructor to act as a mediator between them and have them state at least one thing they like about each other. In future assignments, the conflicting students ought to be put together and monitored closely to resolve persisting grudges. Serious behavior problems will require the involvement of parents to encourage their children to change their conduct. An emotionally safe classroom will ensure that the students focus on the course materials as opposed to being distracted. When the students are in an emotionally safe classroom, they are not likely to get stressed or have conflicts among themselves. The harmony created in such an environment enhances the cognitive capacity of the students.
Works Cited
Dabell, John. “Creating Rules In Your Classroom.” SecEd 2017.33 (2017): 10-10.
Lew, Moi Mooi, and Regena Fails Nelson. “New Teachers’ Challenges: How Culturally Responsive Teaching, Classroom Management, & Assessment Literacy are Intertwined.” Multicultural Education, vol. 23, no. 3, 2016, pp. 7-13.
Liu, Xianquan, and Wayne Babchuk. “Developing Classroom Management Skills in Non-Native Culture: A Single Case Study.” The Qualitative Report, vol. 23, no. 4, 2018, pp. 779-800.
O’Neill, Sue, C. “Preparing Preservice Teachers for Inclusive Classrooms: Does Completing Coursework on Managing Challenging Behaviours Increase their Classroom Management Sense of Efficacy?” The Australasian Journal of Special Education, vol. 40, no. 2, 2016, pp. 117-40.
Sangchul-Lee. “A Case Study On Prevention And Response Of Middle School Teachers About The Misbehavior Of Students In Class.” The Journal of Korean Teacher Education 32.1 (2015): 1-29.