Classroom Management

Standard 6. A teacher creates and maintains a learning environment in which all students are

actively engaged and contributing members.

The Candidate demonstrates their understanding of how to connect concepts and use differing

perspectives to engage learners in critical/creative thinking and collaborative problem solving

related to authentic local and global issues, as well as demonstrates their ability to integrate a

variety of instructional approaches for all members of the classroom; considers learners’ needs,

interests, and goals in determining instructional strategies to engage students as both learners and

teachers.

My philosophy of teaching has changed little over the course of this program. What has

developed instrumentally is the level of congruency between my philosophy and my actual

classroom management and practice. I am confident that my classroom management style is well

grounded in constructivist theory. I have studied several theorists and the relationships between

them with an emphasis in how their ideas commonly manifest in the school setting. I can now

identify which theorists influence my practice and can weed out any practices that are not

serving my philosophy. In their book Setting Limits in the Classroom, educational psychologists

Robert J. MacKenzie and special education teacher Lisa Stanzione (2010) state that, “An

effective classroom is like a table supported by four legs: effective structure, positive

relationships, engaging instruction, and effective limit-setting practices” (p. xii).

Effective Structure
 I have a proactive approach to classroom management. I believe that setting clear and

consistent academic and behavioral expectations and establishing classroom routines early on

will prevent many behavior issues. “Stable routines help children know what to expect, and

therefore can assist them in being cooperative members of the group. Routines also provide

emotional security through predictability” (Fields, Meritt, & Fields, 2014, p. 122). Teachers must

be intentional in everything they do. It is critical to design how we want our classroom to be.

Even “the design of the environment has a profound effect on motivation and our sense of well-

being, behavior, and learning.” (Fields, Meritt, & Fields, 2014, p. 77) What it will look like, how

routines and procedures will work, whom we collaborate with and in what ways, how we will

grade work, get the class’s attention, and how we will motivate students are just a few of the

facets to consider. As an assignment I was asked to create an ideal classroom outline as a practice

for my future first year in teaching, which required consideration for all of these aspects.

Positive Relationships

To be effective teachers we must establish and maintain trusting relationships with our

students that are built on mutual respect. Trust is the foundation on which positive relationships

build upon. “Trust is the culmination of intentional actions, reactions, attitudes, and moments we

share with those around us” (Murray, 2019, p. 37). We can build trust by viewing our students as

unique individuals with the potential to succeed which allows us to be responsive to their

specific needs. Every student comes to school with his or her own knowledge and skills based on

previous experiences. We can capitalize our students' strengths and channel their energy toward

positive behavior but we must know and respect our students to do so fully. It is also critical to
provide a safe and welcoming classroom environment in which every student can be a valued

and contributing member. Students feel safe and secure when they know what is expected of

them and how misbehavior is responded to.

Maslow provides us with a hierarchy of needs with physiological needs as the largest and

most important needs. “In Maslow’s theory, needs that are lower in this hierarchy must be at least

partially satisfied before a person will try to satisfy higher-level needs.” (Slavin, 2015, p. 250)

He identifies the most important needs to be love and self-esteem. “Students who do not feel that

they are loved and that they are capable are unlikely to have a strong motivation to achieve the

higher-level growth objectives” (Slavin, 2015, p. 251). The importance of building positive

relationships with students is apparent.

Engaging Instruction

Within these established relationships we must continually express our belief that each of

our students is capable of success. “Every student has a hidden and extensive capacity to learn…

It is the teacher’s responsibility to be the engineer of student success” (Tomlinson, 2014, p. 26).

To engineer their success teachers must know students well. Instruction should be differentiated

to the needs and style preferences of students. For instruction to be engaging it must be relevant

to the interests and lives of students. “To focus on students is first to be attentive to who they are

– their cultural backgrounds, their strengths, the kinds of questions that motivate them” (Perrone,

1991, p. 25).

As Marvin Marshall, an extremely influential authority in education, advises, "create

curiosity, interest, enjoyment, and challenge with activities that will have students want to put
forth effort in learning" (Charles, 2014, p. 164). In his book Teach Like a Champion: 2.0,

educator Doug Lemov (2015) includes several instructional strategies that set high academic

expectations and build ratio. Favorites of mine that I have incorporated into my own teaching

practice include no opt out, right is right, stretch it, format matters, without apology, thumbs up/

down, cold call, hold up a card, Think/Pair/Share. Each of these techniques encourage

participation and provide feedback which allows me to make data-informed decisions for future

instruction.

Effective Limit-Setting Practices

Much like we need order and routine for optimal classroom function, our students require

consistency and clear expectations to thrive in our classrooms. It is equally vital to dedicate time

to teaching these things to the students. In order for students to understand what is appropriate

behavior, they must be given clear, consistent, expectations. In their book, How to Be an

Effective Teacher The First Days of School (1998), Harry and Rosemary Wong state that

“Student achievement at the end of the year is directly related to the degree to which the teacher

establishes good control of classroom procedures in the very first week of school” (p. 4).

Expectations and rules must be taught, modeled, practiced. Often times this process needs

to be repeated whether for individuals or the whole class. When misbehavior does arise, it is

paramount that the behavior is separated from the student. According to Marshall, “Without that

separation, students become defensive when asked to change their behavior” (Charles, 2014, p.

167). Students need to feel confident that we believe in their ability to change and grow, and

understand that we all make mistakes. This perspective helps students develop a growth mindset.
Most discipline problems can be prevented. However, undesirable behavior is inevitable. How

we choose to respond to it is something that we can prepare for, practice, and learn from because

after all, we all make mistakes.

Minor discipline problems can generally be solved in a non-intrusive way such as

utilizing proximity, signals, or reminders. Educational psychologist, Fred Jones, advocates for

nonverbal communication in achieving desirable behavior. “Jones says few physical acts are

more effective than eye contact for conveying the impression of being in control” (as cited in

Charles, 2014, p. 37). Bigger, more serious, or chronic discipline issues, may require a number of

approaches or techniques such as loss of privilege, one-on-one conferencing, calls home,

behavior contracts, or support from other staff. Whatever the consequence, it should be logical

and proportionate to the behavior, and we should strive to keep students in our own classroom

whenever possible. The most important part of a teacher's response is to remove emotion and

remain calm so we will be able to respond rationally and treat our students with respect while

still holding them accountable.

By circumstance, during my practicum experiences, I was walking into classrooms for

which I had not established these procedures. Instead of teaching new routines or expectations I

emphasized to students that when I am teaching the class the expectations will be the same as

those of my host teacher. With younger students I found it extremely helpful to have them then

tell me some of their class rules and expectations, and then later draw upon the very rules they

had verbalized to correct behavior. This is demonstrated in the implementation of this first grade

language arts lesson plan, which is outlined in the feedback notes from my host teacher in the

reflection portion of the artifact. These strategies allowed them to take ownership over the
classroom culture that they had helped create and maintain. “When the class as a whole has

agreed on a set of rules, offenders know that they are transgressing community norms, not the

teacher’s arbitrary regulations.” (Slavin, 2015, p. 279).

Fields, Meritt, and Fields (2014) stress that, “Constructivist discipline strategies are

aimed at helping children construct socially productive behavior rules and values for themselves.

The approach is aimed at helping children become better able to reason, and thus become more

reasonable human beings” (p. 10). When students feel that they are valued and respected

members of the classroom they are more likely to be committed to upholding order and

maintaining a positive learning environment. Establishing and maintaining a classroom culture

that promotes cooperative learning and mutual respect increases the chance the students will care

about the well-being and learning of classmates as well. These two concepts are foundational in

constructivist theory.

Here I have three vignettes along with my reflection of each from my time in

fourth and first grade classrooms. Central themes that are present in each of these vignettes is my

commitment to the inclusion and success of each student, my ability to separate behavior from

the individual and treat students with respect, and the intention of using the least intrusive

intervention needed to adjust behavior.

Charles, C.M. (2014) Building classroom discipline, 11th ed. Allyn &Bacon

Fields, M.V., Meritt, P.A. & Fields, D.M. (2014). Constructive guidance and discipline: Birth to

age eight, 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J. Pearson.

Lemov, D. (2015). Teach like a champion: 2.0. Jossey-Bass.

MacKenzie, R.J. & Stanzione, L. (2010) Setting limits in the classroom. 3rd ed. Prima.

Murray, T.C. (2019). Personal & authentic: Designing learning experiences that impact a

lifetime. Columbia, SC. IMPress.

Perrone, V. (1991) A letter to teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Slavin, R.E. (2015). Educational psychology: Theory and practice. New York: Pearson

Education Inc.

Tomlinson, C. (2014) Differentiated classrooms: Responding to the needs of all learners, 2nd

ed. ASCD

Wong H.K. & Wong R.T. (1998). How to be an effective teacher the first days of school.

Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc.