Philosophy of Classroom Management

According to the Education Act of New Brunswick, it is the duty of the teacher to be,

identifying and implementing learning and evaluation strategies that foster a positive learning

environment aimed at helping each pupil achieve prescribed learning outcome. It is imperative

for teachers to provide a safe, positive learning environment for his/her students. Classroom

management is not often a struggle when the teacher personally knows his/her students, and

supports learning by using differentiated instructional strategies aiming to engage all abilities. If

a teacher is able to build connections with his/her students and highly engages them, the majority

of those students will be participating in classroom work and will need minimal classroom

management.

Building relationships with your students is important in the foundation for a positive

classroom environment. Student-teacher relationships can flourish by getting to know students

hobbies and interests. By making sure your students opinions and thoughts are valued and by

showing interest and enthusiasm in their lives, teacher student relationships can be solidified. I

plan to take a few days at the beginning of the year to really get to know my students. We will do

icebreaker and team building activities to help community building in our classroom. I also think

it is really important to establish clear expectations for classroom behavior at the beginning of

the school year. Inviting students to be a part of forming these expectations will encourage them

to readily adopt classroom rules while respecting their autonomy. Allowing them to be a part of

the decision making process facilitates a greater sense of connection to the classroom and leaves

everyone responsible for maintaining the environment, not just the teacher.

Despite proactive efforts in creating a positive classroom environment to avoid disruptive

behavior, there will undoubtedly be situations in which students will not be following rules. I like
to categorize these situations into two groups to evaluate how I will deal with them. There are

situations where a student is disruptive and violent, which affects the other students learning

and/or puts other students or staff in immediate danger. These situations require immediate

action by the teacher to diffuse or manage the situation. And in the other category falls

everything which tends to be minor, small behavioral that is not serious and requires minimal

correction. I really like the C.A.L.M Model for assessing and dealing with classroom

management issues. The first step is, Consider. Ask yourself, Does this behaviour disrupt the

classroom learning environment? If the answer is yes then you need to move on to, A, which is

Act. When acting to stop the unwanted behavior we should plan to, (move on to L which is

lessen), use the least intrusive response possible. And lastly, (on to M), manage the learning

environment to keep it positive and productive. The Calm method aims at managing the

classroom by using the least intrusive strategy appropriate to correct the unwanted behaviour.

Some examples of techniques I like to use that are not very intrusive are planned ignoring,

appropriate facial expressions, descriptive body language, and proximity. Planned ignoring is my

go to because students usually engage in behaviors to get attention from their teacher. If you

ignore a behaviour, the student will eventually get bored from the inattention they receive and

will stop engaging in the undesired behaviour.

It is a dream to be a teacher in a classroom where the atmosphere is naturally inviting and

the students are eager and excited classroom contributors that are never disruptive. From my

experience as an educational assistant and in my field placements, I have discovered that having

a comfortable classroom community that fosters acceptance and respect, is not an end to be

achieved but is a climate to maintain. Every student is a unique individual with specific needs, so

classroom disturbances vary. It is important to build strong rapports with your students and have
a positive, inviting, and comfortable classroom so that when student behaviours need to be

corrected, they are corrected without damaging the teacher student relationship.

Resources:

Manning, M. L., Bucher, K. T. (2012). Teaching in the middle school (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson
Education.

Levin, James, et.al. Principles of Classroom Management: Fourth Canadian Edition. Toronto:
Pearson Canada, 2015. Print.