Finding meaning in life

This is the true joy in life--the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one;
the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances,
complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

-George Bernard Shaw

The heart has its reasons that reason doesn't know.

-Pascal

Altruism depends first on your liking and accepting others, second on your being concerned for
others' welfare, and third on your feeling responsible for helping others in need.

-E. Staub

Examples of philosophies of life

Start selecting your basic principles. Pull together your basic ideas from the above
exercises and comments. I will give two examples of a philosophy of life. Both may
appeal to you and should be useful. First, is a philosophy written by a student which
emphasizes self-acceptance, being your true self, self-responsibility, and self-direction. It
is comfort and happiness oriented (although the Golden Rule is mentioned).

A happiness philosophy

 I am ________ and no one else. I am unique. I am myself and do

the things I do because of me, not because of anyone else. If I ever
find myself being displeased because of something I have done, I
will realize that the behavior has to be changed by me and no one
else. The only person that I can expect to do anything is myself.
  I am one person and will take on the responsibilities of one person,
not the rest of the world. I am capable of doing only what I am able
to do and will not expect more.
 I will respect others for being what they are, not for what they
have. I will accept others for being themselves. I am superior to no
one and no one is superior to me.
 I will not let people run my life. My life is my own and I will
treasure it for all it is worth. And it is worth everything.
 I will be honest with myself and with others at all times. I will do
the best I can in all aspects. I will try my hardest to accept all of
my traits--good or bad.
 I will respect my parents and give them all the love they deserve,
which is a whole lot. I will try to accept their ideas and listen to
them open-mindedly, even if I don't agree. I will explain to them
why I believe in the things I do and ask them to accept me with
those beliefs. I will cherish them always.
 I will treat others as I want to be treated. I will listen to others'
ideas and respect their opinions, even if I'm in disagreement.
 My goal in life is to be happy to the best of my abilities. I am me
and I am real. I will live my life as the real me.

A helping philosophy
 I believe it is satisfying and a moral duty to help others. I want to
give. It does not seem fair that I should want and/or have so
much--a big home, a car, a good education, nice clothes--while
many others have so little. I feel compelled to do what is right,
even though it is hard for me to give up some things. I want to
follow the Golden Rule; if I don't, I won't be happy with myself
when I die.
 I would also like to be accepting of myself and others, even when I
or they fall short of my ideals. I want to forgive. I believe one way
of doing this is by believing in the "lawfulness" of all things, to
assume there are necessary and sufficient reasons for everything
that happens, for anything anyone does or feels. If I carefully
explore every life experience, I can learn to understand these "laws
of behavior," become tolerant, and even discover how to change
myself and some of the things I don't like. I want to be wise.
 I want to be honest, both with others and myself. I want to live my
life with a full awareness of the truth, no delusions or fantasies. I
don't want to shut my eyes to anything but least of all to my self-
centeredness and greed and to others' frustrations and needs. If I
can see clearly through my selfish blind spots, I will be loving,
giving, responsible, and self-disciplined. I want to care for others
face to face and at a distance by making this a better world.
 I want to love--and show it! I will love my family, my friends,
strangers, people who are very different, and, in fact, everyone. A
 life-long duty is to learn enough so I can give my children security,
confidence in their own judgment, and a loving spirit. I will help
my friends grow for I will profit from good, thoughtful, able,
devoted friends. The heart that gives, gathers. I will fight injustice.
As long as there is a good mind wasted anywhere in the world, as
long as a potentially loving heart is self-centered or filled with
hatred, the world is being cheated. I want to make a difference.

Comment: this philosophy of life emphasizes caring for and doing

for others more strongly than the last one. It is more demanding. It
does not mention happiness or "doing your own thing." It
explicitly opposes self-centeredness and assumes that long-range
satisfaction with life rests on doing good rather than having fun.

http://www.bsu.edu/web/latracey/PortfolioPages/managephilosophy.htm

Classroom Management Philosophy

Classroom Management: Philosophy

My ideal of classroom management is should be almost "invisible" unless you're

specifically looking for it. I strive for management techniques to be as unobtrusive as
feasible toward the end of creating a safe, interesting and challenging space for
students.

While strategies for specific behavioral issues are important, the first step is to
attempt to reduce incidences of such problems by ensuring students a safe
environment, appropriate and interesting curriculum, and some voice in classroom
matters. I agree with Kounin that teaching and discipline are not separate but
interrelated and must be developed in conjunction (Charles, 1999). Rules should be
based on mutual respect and safety, and the consequences should fit the cause.

My own teaching style tends to be laidback. However, I am good at initiating one-on-

one contact with students and I make it a point to treat them with respect (I expect
the same in return). I also wish to develop a varied curriculum that elicits student
interest and involvement and that is flexible with respect to multiple learning styles.
Students should have the opportunity to learn in depth no matter what their ability or
communication style.
I am under no illusions that this will be easy, but I can reach toward this goal by
offering lessons with multiple and meaningful entry points, giving students some
flexibility in how they carry out projects or homework assignments, and building
cooperative learning norms in which students are accountable for each other's ability
to understand.

Classroom Management: Rules

The trinity of ideas behind any rules should be mutual respect, practicality, and
safety: many "rules," I think, will be some specific encapsulation of one or more of
these principles. To this end, I will work at establishing certain classroom norms at
the beginning of the year and reinforcing them throughout the year. Be polite, be
constructive and the implicit be relevant.

I am not a stickler for specific rules and strict discipline unless privileges are abused,
in which case they need to be discussed and action taken. For example, if students
can eat and drink small amounts of food and beverages without leaving a mess
behind, I have no problem with it. Likewise, a bathroom pass will be available to one
student at a time, though the privilege may have to be renegotiated if one or several
students abuse(s) it. I do plan to insist on a few specific norms. Students should be
polite to me and to each other, and I will in turn be polite to them. This doesn't
preclude friendly banter; after all, respect can manifest itself informally.

For the sake of consistency, I believe it is necessary to adhere to school-wide rules.

A discussion of these rules and the reasons behind them may help students
understand the value of social norms even if they do not necessarily agree with
those particular norms. I am not, however, averse to helping students attempt to
change or mitigate school-wide rules in a dialogue with the administration if this is
something they can justify and are motivated to carry out.

Classroom Management: Procedures

There are some specific norms I would insist on. Students should be prepared by the
time the bell rings. To that end, I would start class with a warm-up exercise related to
the previous day's material or a brainteaser, and have the day's agenda easily visible
on the board, with a copy of the year's agendas-so-far kept in a binder in the room.

I would also like to have a prearranged signal that lets students know that "the
teacher has something to say, listen up!" such as a rainstick or an "attention spot"
where I (or someone else) could stand. Finally, the bell is a signal to the teacher, not
to the students; I expect students to work until the end-of-class summary, and only to
leave when dismissed.Classroom

Management: Techniques

Bill Rogers' positive correction focuses on prevention of undesired behavior through

an "establishment phase" for norms (and thus, addressing problems at the source)
while offering specific and targeted suggestions for dealing with the disruptions that
do occur. This, and the acknowledgement that "8.5 out of 10" means you're doing
what can be done (i.e. there's no easy fix-it-all solution) are strengths of his system
that I would like to take advantage of.

First, Rogers advocates the "principle of least intrusion" in intervention, which helps
prevent escalating problems. A good deal of his advice hinges on ways to avoid
confrontation: partial agreement, open (as opposed to closed) questions, offering
students choices, and tactical ignoring (choose your battles wisely). This results in
responses that are proportionate to the actual issue and helps prevent small
incidents or reactions to "secondary behavior," such as talking back or demeanor,
from turning the entire class topsy-turvy; it also affords students a chance to save
face before their peers. These are all techniques that I hope to incorporate, both
because they seem effective most of the time and because they are fair to the
students as well as the teacher.

Another strength is Rogers' consistency in even seemingly trivial things, such as

body language. While Rogers' particular gestures and signals provoke laughter
easily, he notes that gestural systems are individual to the teacher. The idea (if not
his execution) is attractive in that gestures and posture are less overt than words and
can often convey a lot in a short period of time. A related aspect of this is that he
emphasizes "certainty, not severity" since the fact of a sure consequence is more
important than its possible severity.

Finally, he focuses on the relationship between students and teachers, which is an

easily neglected aspect of behavior management. I find his notion of "repairing and
rebuilding" after a consequence is meted out quite useful: after all (if things go well),
the teacher will be seeing the same student (and vice versa) during the next class,
and the next after that. This is one example of the "four R's": rights, responsibilities,
routines, and rules. The first two focus on such relationships while the last two are
more concerned with ways to maintain positive relationships. Not only does Rogers
provide an ideal to strive toward, he gives concrete, specific advice on how to do
so.My own observation in this area is that if a student is lashing out there's a reason
for it. People make decisions and take actions because, from some internal cost-
benefit calculation (even if they don't frame it as such), they find those decisions and
actions less compelling than the alternatives. Students do not walk into classrooms
and say to themselves, "Today I'm going to make the teacher's life hell." They might,
however, walk into the classroom and say to themselves, "My parents are getting
divorced, I'm bored since I don't understand anything we've done for the last week,
and being a jerk always gets me a laugh from my friends." The difficult part for me as
a teacher is in developing enough of a relationship with students to find out what
internal lens is making their actions seem reasonable.

I am reluctant to use Rogers as my only model of classroom management since, as

mentioned above, he deals specifically with tackling behavior issues at a surface
rather than root level. Rogers, alas, can't tell me how I might make my curriculum
more engaging, challenging and relevant to students while supporting real learning.
However, positive correction is flexible enough that it can be combined with other
approaches.

Classroom Management: Bibliography

Charles, C. (1999). Building Classroom Discipline, 6th ed. New York, NY: Addison
Wesley Longman, Inc.

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2000). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
http://www.calstatela.edu/orgs/afp/class.htm

AFP Journal of Education

Humberto Garciasalas

Educator, English Teacher, Philosophy Graduate

A Classroom Management Plan: The Communal and Individual Prospectus on

Planning the Development of La Intelligencia de Personas

Preface
 The content of this classroom management plan contains sources that are
realistic, yet the ideas in my explanation are used by many teachers. I am a student
of philosophy as well as a student of English literature. The course of my
explanation of my procedure and methods are influenced by educational theorists. I
do not use philosophical doctrines in the classroom as ideals to teach students how
to perform their responsibilities during in-class activities, but to explain here my
teaching methods. In the classroom, I use certain words in my explanation that
follow the standards and practices of educational systems in many school districts in
California.

The examples of teacher/student situations use many teaching strategies, but

these situations are fictional, because I am discussing the problems of students with
behavioral and performance difficulties. However, there is one student, Cherrie
whose language problems are factual, and the works made by this student in my
fictional classroom situation is real. Cherrie is a Chicana who started college out of
high school. Cherrie’s poem is very emotional and is about her identity, academic
performance, and her culture, and most importantly, her world.

My goal in this explanation of my classroom management plan is to engage

students to develop their own self-evaluation skills, such as self-reflection, self-
assessment, growth, and interest development. My students and I will discover who
they are as writers.

My subject area in my classroom is English Language arts for tenth graders,

so my students will develop their awareness of their literacy abilities. My classroom
management plan is concerned with the students’ literacy in that my teaching
strategies will motivate students to participate in reading and writing assignments.

Other works from modern literary figures will be used as examples in my

philosophical approach to teaching beginning autobiographic poetry. The main figure
will be the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche in my explanation of my
perspective of the identity and culture of the individual.

The perspective of identity and culture will encompass the problem of the
individual following the laws of society. Nietzsche will explain the desire of the
individual to engage in self-evaluation and self-reflection. Nietzsche’s philosophical
view of the individual in society argues that unique development of a person’s values
and beliefs, which define the identity of that person.

My beliefs relate to Nietzsche’s philosophical views of the individual as the artist,

because I use his ideals as a reference to explain the connection between my
philosophical outlook of the classroom and the students’ interest development.
Nietzsche’s ideals will explain the essence of my approaches to mentoring students
to create and develop the meaning of their academic life. I am a humanist who
wants to help students of all personalities and socioeconomic backgrounds to
improve their reading and writing abilities for the good of their academic future.

Central Focus of My Classroom Management Plan

The central theme of my philosophical perspective in my classroom

management plan is the mentoring of each student’s development into an intelligent
adult who can act and perform as a positive and productive member of society. All
students’ progress in their intellectual development during learning activities will
define their academic identity. The actual activity of my procedure and methods in
the operations of my classroom will be about observing the explanatory skills,
leadership skills, listening skills, social skills of my students.

The central focus in my procedure will observe the scholastic life of an

English literature course. I have two ideas that come from major educational
theories: the perspective of authority and the individual by John Dewey; the theory of
communication and reinforcement by Haim Ginott; the theory of discipline and dignity
of student performance by Richard Curwin and Allen Mendler, and the reality therapy
by William Glasser.

These two ideas are connecting the educational theories with my philosophical
belief system, because I should explain how my philosophical belief system is
connected to the educational theories. Actual teaching situations in my
autobiographic poetry unit will apply my philosophical belief system and the
educational theories of Curwin, Mendler, Ginott, and Glasser.

The two ideas are devoted to explaining the structure and rationale of my
classroom management plan. The two ideas of my classroom management plan are
instructional guides that explain how the teacher fosters the development of the
individuals’ intelligence of all of my students.
 The first idea is devoted to support the development of the identity of each
student’s academic orientation and academic construction. Academic construction is
a growth process during a student’s studies in reading literature and subjects related
to the student’s research on other texts and historical texts. Here, students can relate
their personal views of the world in the scope of their exploration during research
assignments and book reports. Academic orientation is students finding a work of
literature and connecting it with their thoughts and feelings about the world, and in
writing assignments, each student can develop their own writing topics. Ultimately all
students can attain more knowledge about their specific
interest.

The second idea is based on the concept called community based learning,
which is a term I believe is useful to explain my view of active learning in group study
sessions in an English course. The main idea in community based learning is that
students learn through interaction.

Classroom Environment

My classroom is a place where students act accordingly with respect to the

community. I want my students to understand that this classroom is our classroom. I
facilitate the relationships between my students during classroom discussions on
creative writing and in-class reading and writing assignments. Each student in these
relationships will build a sense of self- efficiency and self –reflection during each
learning activity in the classroom.

What is my philosophical belief system in my communal and individual

prospectus of the learning environment in my classroom? My philosophical belief
system is based on a particular classification of a certain teaching style called
student – centered teaching. I am a facilitator who gives therapy to students who are
developing their academic skills accordingly to their own self-interests. I, the
facilitator, help all students collectively take responsibility for their own concerns in
independent work assignments and thoughts about their academic life. Each
teaching situation is different for each student, so the teacher will approach each
student as unique therapeutic situation, therefore the teacher will use different
approaches to remedy the student’s learning problems, which is possible with
effective approaches and good time management.

My definition of classroom management is the facilitation of a relationship

driven environment that influences all students to understand themselves as both
individuals and as a member of a community: planning this classroom involves
arrangement of motivation approaches by myself, the teacher to arrange the
efficiency, organization of procedures and resources in order to monitor every
student’s progress in their academic development, which requires anticipating
potential problems with behaviorally “ at- risk students or unmotivated students with
limitations in their in-class performances or independent work performances, but
some of these students are exceptional at explaining ideas, yet they lack motivation
to do the classroom assignments.

My Philosophy of Interbehavioral Activity

My philosophy is about interbehavioral teaching in that I help all types of

students, such as behaviorally “at –risk” students. At – risk students are the
most challenging for teachers, because these students are not motivated to
learn:

“To begin with, they usually, though not always have a history of
academic failure. Unable to maintain dignity through achievement,
they protect themselves by withdrawing, acting as if they don’t care”
(Curwin in Charles, 203).

My approach is to motivate at-risk students and exceptional students to gain dignity

in the course of their individual writing assignments. I believe that all students have
exceptionalities, including behaviorally at-risk students. According to Richard Curwin
and Allen Mendler, “at- risk” students want to be understood by the students and the
teacher. The at-risk students want to express their own individual thoughts on
certain issues and concerns in class discussions. The at-risk student does not
realize that other students may want to express their own opinions and comments in
class discussions. I believe that all students have an opportunity to voice their
comments in class discussions. I assert that a certain way of having all of my
students engage in voicing their thoughts and comments without disrupting the
learning agenda of the learning activity.

My role as a teacher and a believer of interbehavioral activity is to facilitate

interbehavioral influences onto his students, so each group of students learn to
engage in applying reasoning skills and moderating skills in analytical and critical
discussions on interpretations of a work of literature. For instance, J.R. Kantor, an
interbehavioralist asserts that the individual’s development of reasoning skills, good
judgment, and individualism can be influenced by a learning group activity:

Clearly, the influences of groups upon individuals upon

groups are invariably reciprocal . This fact throws considerable

light on the problems of elitism and its value for social life.

Through we banish the fallacies of innateness, it cannot be denied

that the development of superior and inferior personalities carries

many potentialities for social disharmony and conflict. However,

it is still probable that the emphasis upon expertness, knowledge,

good judgment, valid reasoning, individualism instead of

mass conformity, as well as sensitivity to natural and artistic

beauty can have salutary influences upon the condition of man

and his civilization (Kantor, 274).

Kantor’s argument for the individual is valid in my philosophy on group learning.

Here, Kantor indicates that students’ abilities to exchange ideas and words can
develop in group sessions. The development of students will depend on how much
knowledge they use as all of them argue about their points of view. The problem of
individuals experiencing disharmony and conflict is possible in that the student’s own
assertion of a point of view can conflict with another student’s ideas. However, the
exchange of ideas in their point of views in this conflict may help develop each
student’s self-interests in their independent work assignment.

The Philosophy Statement of My Classroom Management Plan

 I want to teach my students to learn how to show character as they interact
with each other during cooperative learning group sessions. As students show good
character in cooperative activities, they show respect for the community and the
individual’s needs.

My philosophical statement is the “respect” for a student’s self-interests:

“Young people are entitled to be respected as individuals, respected

for what they are and what they become” ( Mc Closky, 177).

My beliefs of classroom management are about engaging with students developing

their intellectual growth. I believe that I should support each student to find meaning
in their academic performance and learning activities. I believe that I should guide
students to conduct themselves as responsible adults in a community. This
community should allow students to freely build their own academic and creativity.

Communal Leaning, Cooperative Learning, and Individual Learning

How can the activities of cooperative learning help improve the language
skills and academic abilities of each student? The goal of cooperative learning is to
influence all of my students to strive for academic excellence through self-
introspection and interactive learning with other students. During interactive learning
situations, students engage in discussions about issues in current events and
historical content in literature. Students can develop their own rhetoric during class
discussions that lead them to build a certain type of discourse, which is the art of
persuasive communication and informing people about a specific type of view. I’m
suggesting here that students who develop strong language skills will know who they
are. The students develop a specific type of voice as a form of rhetoric, then
students can create their identity through language usage. My students will learn to
develop their voice in expressions about of their views of the world.

Philosophical Teaching Principles of English Language Arts

My philosophical teaching principles are focused on guiding students to

develop their abilities in reading and writing about literature, and most importantly,
their character and a sense of community in daily learning activities in the classroom.
Firstly, my principles on teaching English literature and character in the classroom:

 Individual attention to each student’s development is crucial to learning

 Individual guidance for each student’s development as a scholar is crucial.
 The administering teacher must give individuality as a sense to each
student’s assignments, so the students can develop a sense of identity
through writing.
 The teacher will support the individual’s interests. If the student disagrees
with me in the course of the assignment, then I will still support or criticize the
students on their needs in the assignment.

The debate can establish a negotiation with the different points of view. In the
negotiation, the student and the teacher can share their points of view on the
student’s work in his/her performance.

Individual evaluation of each student will be given to the parents in the best
productive manner by a joint responsibility between the student and the teacher.
Community learning is a must in my classroom in order for each student to gain
individual competence in his/her scholastic ability. In community learning activities,
each student will give respect to their classmates.

My philosophy is simply supporting the creative genius and the development

of the identities of my students. I expect students to assert their individuality. The
core of students’ unique expressions is formed from an individual stand point in their
inner thoughts on their own lives. In writing assignments, I expect students to think
about who they are and what they want to become.

As a teacher, I feel it is my duty to care about each student’s development of

their voice and individual focus in each of their writing assignments. The student’s
individual concern and thoughts about the world should be my concern. I believe
that my students’ academic accomplishments derive from their individual ability to
express their own thoughts in analytic writing or creative writing. The philosophical
view of the students’ development of their individual abilities is called the individualist
learning theory.
The Individualist Learning Theory

The individualist learning theory describes how a student or any person of

any gender builds their academic discipline through constant self-introspection and
self-reflection during their studying and writing. The students instruct themselves in
their reading and writing to express their own views of the world.

Instruction

I will instruct my students to take account of the main points of the readings
of each literary author. The students will go through a process and discover a hidden
interest connected to their personal experiences or beliefs.

Major Educational Theorists and the Individualist Learning Theory

The philosophies of John Dewey, Gordon McClosky, and Friedrich Nietzsche

accord with the ideas of my teaching principles and the individual learning theory.
Dewey, McClosky, and Nietzsche philosophize about the rights of the individual to
seek change and difference. I believe that at –risk students and students with
exceptional skills are searching for a meaning in their classroom environment and a
change in their education.

Most students lose motivation to engage in classroom activities and certain

writing assignments, because these learning activities do not offer support to the
students to express their difference and change. Difference is a concept about a
person’s unique way of being an individual. Students’ differences occur as they
express themselves in a research assignment or in a certain discourse such as a
poem, a commentary, or critical thinking assignment. The concept of the human
condition is involved in the student’s own process of expressing their own ideas in an
array of expressions about how they view the world.

The way students live in their specific environment is their human condition,
because the human condition is defined as a person’s feelings and thoughts about
his own living conditions and predicaments. A person’s living conditions and
experiences influence him to view the world a certain way.
 The individualist learning theory describes the practical view in the process of
a teacher’s ability to reach students at a personal level without being personal. My
duty is to aid my students to engage in the act of self- introspection and self-
consciousness, so they can contemplate on the reality of their human conditions.
McClosky and Nietzsche influenced my planning of my classroom climate where my
students engage in self-introspection about their academic identity. McClosky
presented the idea of incorporating the obligation to teach the student as an
individual in a book called Education and Public Understanding. Mc Closky believes
that the students’ needs are important, and the teacher should meet those needs.
Why approach a student in this manner? Someone else can say that a teacher
giving a student what he/she needs is like serving a student. This can be a negative
way of looking at a teacher-student relationship.

Mc Closky insinuates that the teacher must treat the student who possesses
many “capacities” and potential ( Mc Closky, 293). Mc Closky wants students to
become self-supporting adults who have a sense of morals and usefulness in
society. My philosophy stems from those ideas of the development of moral strength
and capacities in students. My belief about individuality and self-introspection is
actualized as I give a student recognition for his/her differences: “Recognize the
differences among students and seek to meet their needs”(296) Mc Closky has
influenced me to understand students at a personal level, so I decided to develop my
idea of the development of the individual’s intelligence.

My classroom climate is a place where students are free to express their

individuality or differences in class. I expanded this idea of recognition in my
classroom climate, as I read Nietzcshe’s ideas of individuality.

The individualist learning theory is related to the idea of “individuality of the

artist “ in Friedrich Nietzsche’s Will to Power, because Nietzsche describes his view
of the individual expressing and actualizing values and uniqueness through his
creative expression. The actualization is about how individuals can use their
personal powers to attain their needs in order to define their individuality. In a
passage from Nietzsche’s Will to Power, a person’s desire to attain his needs comes
from his development of being different, but the difference is actualized as that
person forms his own interpretation of “old ideas” of society:

“The individual is something quite new, and capable of creating new

things. He is something absolute and all his actions are quite his own.
The individual in the end has to seek the valuations of his actions in
 himself: because he has to give an individual meaning even to
traditional words and notions” (Nietzsche, 767).

Nietzsche’s ideals explain the positive light of the actions of the individual in society.
The idea is that an individual’s action is original and new. An individual is someone
who can create new things. Here, I relate my idea of the development of the
individual‘s academic identity and creativity, because Nietzsche says that the
individual seeks valuations and meaning, which is something that at-risk students or
creative exceptional students desire to do.

Argument for the Individual’s

Creativity

I plan to teach my students to learn to create their own values through

assignments that have them express themselves about issues discussed in novels
and current events from newspapers. I believe Nietzsche’s view of the individual’s
creativity is valid in a management plan for an English course. Nietzsche’s ideas
inspired me to support the student’s development of artistic writing and identity.

Argument for the Individual’s Needs

The student-centered teacher’s duty is to negotiate with the “at-risk”

student’s needs, because each student’s performance is difference, so the individual
assignments need to be altered for that particular student. The student-centered
teacher will take account of that particular student’s performance before modifying
the assignment. The teacher also has a duty to make sure that particular student has
the abilities to write out the original independent assignment. Every student is taken
at a case by case basis in that each student.

One “at-risk” student may need some therapy on self-confidence in doing the
independent assignment, and the other “at-risk” student may require the teacher to
use effective rule approaches and group behavior approaches to teach this student
to adjust his or her behavior in the classroom. Scaffolding is a process to improve
the student’s low performance abilities in independent assignments.
 The at-risk student’s low performance abilities may implicate resistance
against the teacher’s instructions and coursework in the assigned independent
studies. The at-risk student may need encouragement and praise. The student-
centered teacher will make preparations to use encouragement approaches to
improve the student’s abilities to do the independent writing assignments.

Low-achieving gifted students who also have behavior problems and low
performance in their independent writing assignments, so the student centered
teacher may be inclined to use Curwin’s negotiation approach. When these students
do not agree with the subject of the independent assignment, the student-centered
teacher will find a mediator that will listen to both the student and the teacher. The
students will voice some complaints and proposes to change the assignment, and
teacher will decide on which of the student’s purposes are appropriate. When the
students proposes a certain subject for the independent assignment, then the
teacher will decide to allow the students permission to write on that subject. The
students will eventually attain their preferred topic, but the students will agree with
the teacher that all the assignment will be completed to the original instructions and
expectations of the rubric. Ultimately, the students are allowed to engage on
developing their interests and academic identity, which is their values and beliefs on
certain issues that they see in the world.

Dewey’s and Nietzsche’s view of the individual’s needs

Dewey’s view of the individual is about an individual’s freedom in adjusting

himself between the old ideas and the new ideas of society. Dewey argues that a
person expresses his individuality in making changes for himself (Dewey 172),
Dewey emphasizes the necessity of the individual making changes for himself:

“The necessity of adjusting the old and the new, of harmonizing the stability
that comes from conserving the established with variability that springs from
the emergence of new needs and efforts of individuals – this necessity is
inherent in, or a part of the very texture of life.” (Dewey, 174).

Dewey is concerned with authority and the individual, because in society, Dewey
argues that the individual is making changes to adapt in a changing world.
Individuals want to make changes for themselves, which I believe is the act of self-
actualization and self-expression. My plan will function accordingly to the principles
of Dewey’s view of [an individual making changes for himself].
Individualist Learning Theory Applied by Present Educational Theorists

This notion of the individual’s desire to attain new needs are prevalent among
Nietzsche and Mc Closky, but this a prevalent notion that existed before the present
theorists of education, like Frederic Jones, James Dobson and Marlene Canter. The
notion of meeting the needs of the student is a widely excepted among the present
educational theorists such as Richard Curwin, William Glasser, Haim Ginnott,
Thomas Gordon, and Allen Mendler. In the 1950’s, Mc Closkey emphasized the
notion of recognizing the needs of each different student. Mc Closkey’s idea of
recognizing the student’s needs connects with the prevalence of the idea of [an
individual’s desire to express new ideas] among Dewey and Nietzsche. I decided to
provide an adaptation of this notion into my classroom climate. My classroom climate
will provide an environment with an open-minded understanding of difference. Each
student in this environment will be recognized as being different by the teacher and
the student. In my classroom climate, each student’s needs shall be accommodated.

Concern for the Individual Learning Theory and The Student-Centered Environment

The pressure of the student centered teacher’s duty to meet all of the “at-risk”
students’ needs can result in a uncontrollable situation, so the approaches of the
individual learning theory and Curwin’s negotiation theory are helpful, yet there
remains a possibility of students becoming more resistant and continuing to fail to
complete independent assignments.

Argument Against the Individualist Learning Theory and Student-Centered Teaching

The classroom climate of the teacher who uses the discipline models of
Fredric Jones, James Dobson and Lee Canter is an authoritarian. An authoritarian
teacher controls a student’s every move and progress. The authoritarian cares only
about keeping the students in control, but does not care about supporting the
development of the student’s intellectual and creative abilities. The climate of this
classroom is strictly a structure-driven environment. The authoritative teacher’s goal
is to keep all of the students constantly working, which Jones calls “on-task”
behavior. Canter’s discipline and Dobson’s discipline tend to inflict intense
punishment on students who misbehave during cooperative learning activities. This
classroom climate has at-risk students feeling disassociated and isolated, because
students are told to sit in isolation or suffer personal ridicule in front of other students.
Ultimately, an at-risk student will suffer more punishment, because he resents the
teacher constantly for punishing him.

In the authoritarian’s classroom climate, the individualist view is denied by the

operations of the principles of Dobson and Jones, because these educational
theorists have discipline methods and educational goals about controlling the lives of
the students. The language used between the teacher and the student in this
classroom climate is meaningless. The authoritarian teacher uses words to direct
students to stay seated and be quiet or drill the assignment. The climate has no
room for understanding the student’s individual needs and difference, because the
teacher will not allow any time for students to explore their self-interest through
talking to one another. This teacher would have in-classroom writing assignments
without any group discussion to follow. In this classroom, there is no room for new
ideas or change in that its system wants students to produce work that is not original.
Consequently, the students are doing work as if they are manufacturing old ideas;
therefore they are not doing any real self-reflection on the lessons of the assignment
nor relating themselves to the literature by expressing their opinions and thoughts on
it.

Defence of the Individualist Learning Theory and Student-Centered Approach

The Jonesian interaction in the student-teacher relationship opposes the

interactions that Curwin and Glasser, because Curwin’s and Glasser’s discipline
models are more about the psychological therapy of the student. The models of
Curwin and Glasser are geared towards helping the student’s developmental growth
as intellectuals and social members of society. The approaches of Curwin and
Glasser inspiring students to be creatively active in an in-class assignment. The
discipline models of Curwin and Glasser allow the students freedom to take
responsibilities in directing their own writing assignments and in-class behavior.

The Jonesian teacher treats a student as a cog in a factory machine. The

student’s own creativity and individuality is denied in being a working cog in a factory
machine that makes old ideas. The Jonesian teacher operates like a robot that
constantly monitors students without comments or insight on their progress, just as if
a manager is making sure that his employee stays on task.
Defence of the View of Student Support and Community and Cooperative Learning

The Jonesian and Canterian teacher does not support the individual nor
teaches a sense of community relationships to the students in classroom activities.
An authoritarian teacher would only make the students assimilate his rules by force
of rewards and punishment. No, a teacher like myself would use Curwin’s and
Ginnott’s use of supportive language to reach students at a personal level. I would
help my students as if each one is my client. I would find a diagnosis of their learning
abilities and find out what each of them wants to accomplish in my class. Using
Curwin’s and Ginnott’s therapeutic approach, I would be careful to not sound or talk
like an authoritarian who uses Dobson, Canter or Jones’ approaches. These
approaches would not work in my class, because the students needs come first, so
as a student centered teacher, I will negotiate with students on their tasks in their
independent assignments. As I use Curwin’s and Ginott’s teaching approaches, I will
take assessment of the students’ performance abilities. Each student will learn to
follow a rubric that has my expectations for the format and structure of the writing
assignment. I will support each student’s identity and unique form and analysis, and
help them to increase their independent performances. I will help students
accomplish each student’s goals in their writing assignment, which is to establish
their unique style and arguments and self-interests in their studies.

Application of the Teaching Approaches of Curwin, Glasser, and Ginnott

My goals and objectives in my classroom management plan are to fulfill the

accomplishments of my student’s development of his/her academic identity and
community-relations in the community based learning activities. How does these
accomplishments come about in my application of my philosophical principles and
the use of the educational theories of Curwin, Glasser and Ginnott. My two ideas of
this classroom management plan corresponds to my engagement of tutoring,
consulting, mentoring and advising my students on their in-class performances.

I expect my students to practice self-efficiency and self-reflection in their daily

learning activities. I have faith in all of my students showing respect for the good of
the community and their classmate’s achievements in their academic performance.
The student’s needs are the first step of my plan. In my explanation of the academic
goals in the student’s performance, I present a contract in which the student reads
and signs to establish an agreement on his/her performance. The idea of a plan will
constantly reappear in my explanation of my stratagems during in-class activities. I
expect my students to perform their abilities to keep track of their coursework and
their status in their behavioral management. I will leave the responsibility to each
student to understand the rules in my class and consistently act accordingly to the
rules in their everyday behavior.

At the beginning of the school year, each of my students will read a contract
about their expectations in their performance in their academic life and their behavior
in the classroom. The community based learning activities involve the student to
make decisions in maintaining his commitments to the contract. Parents who are
willing to participate in their child’s commitment can sign a verification form for their
child’s progress. The child will sign the contract and notify his/her parents. From the
beginning of the school year, the parents can fin out what are the particular concerns
of their child’s needs and the actual status of the child’s performance in class.

All parents are informed about each assignment and any concerns with the
child’s performance, so every assignment can have a follow up consultation with the
teacher. At the beginning of the year, the child will sign a contract that says he/she
will complete each assignment. What are the consequences of the student not doing
the assignment or turning in an incomplete assignment? The consequence will be
that he/she will fall behind in doing the other future assignments. The future
assignment can be handed out to the student, if the student has shown me signs of
progress in redoing the previous assignment. This is my way of negotiating with the
student’s needs to manage his/her own time to complete the assignments properly
and effectively. I am into encouraging improvement in the student’s writing
performance. The incentive of having the students redo their writing assignments or
homework is to engage them in following instructions and most importantly become
cooperative and focused in doing the assignments properly. Once the student
actually does the assignment a second time, he/she will benefit from understanding
the specifics of a fully completed lesson.

The contract will ensure that the student takes responsibility for making a
commitment to fulfill each objective of each assignment in the curriculum. The
curriculum can have an agreement of a work load between myself and the student,
but each assignment might result is some difficulty, and we can work in a buddy
system to accommodate each of our interests. I will let the student revise an
assignment as long as I see the assignment is done properly according to our
agreement in the lesson plan of the assignment. The negotiation between the
teacher and the student in forming a plan of a writing assignment is a mediation
procedure created by Curwin and Mendler. I choose Curwin and Mendler’s mediation
procedure to serve the needs of my students, because each student has a different
reaction to the assignment. If the student needs to find meaning and fulfillment in the
writing assignment, then I, the teacher should give students a chance to relate their
personal interests, so I can strengthen their motivation and sense of dignity in their
performance.

In the follow up, feed back activity will occur in cooperative learning groups. I
will show a lesson on proofreading. I will give examples of approaches on scanning a
paper for grammar errors and logical flaws in the body of an essay. My students will
receive copies of articles on syntax and style of writing as they continue to proofread
and shape their own essays. The student and parents will reconvene on the follow
up of any concerns on the student’s grammar usage and composition skills.

How do I motivate my students to fulfill their commitment to the writing

assignments on the individual’s choice of focus? Certain materials will be given by
the teacher to enhance the student’s self-interest. The student is given a choice on
how to approach a writing assignment.

The students and I discuss what the topic is about, and the content of the
abstract. After the students have completed their abstracts, the students will present
their topics and ideas in a conference. During the in-class conference, each
individual will have an opportunity to receive feedback from the other students. Each
student expresses his or her self-interests to other students. Here, students can aid
each other to organize their papers. In these groups, a high performance student,
medium performance and lower performance student will be placed, so they can
feed off everyone’s input. A sense of community emerges during interaction between
the different types of students. Students help one another express their self-interest,
and develop their academic identity.

The in-class conferences and interactions, peer mediation occurs, because

students discuss their ideas and react to the comments on their papers. Here,
Glasser indicates a process going on as the teacher consults with students when a
conflict occurs in the exchange of their comments on their papers. Glasser’s reality
therapy approach deals with the individual’s behavior in classroom activities. Glasser
describes the teacher’s role as a mediator during discussions among students in
cooperative learning sessions, such as paper conferences or learning lessons:

The role of the mediator is to listen to each side in the dispute, to

clarify issues,
 to help generate and negotiate possible solutions, and to write up the
agreed upon solution. (Glasser in Emmer 183).

The conflict between students brings an interbehavioral situation where a new

understanding emerges from the exchanges of ideas between students. I will offer a
solution such as asking each student in the conflict to think of a way to formalize an
agreement. I intervene and inform them that their argument is actually expressing
their concerns about their self-interests. I help formulate a synthesis of my students’
ideas through interaction.

Application of Glasser’s Reality Therapy on Behavior During In-class Conferences

During the paper conference, two students express themselves in a heated

conflict about their disagreement about the ideas. The students express their own
ideas and persuade each other to understand their views in their self-interests. As a
student-centered teacher, I will ask question two students these questions:

What solutions can we form at this moment to resolve our conflict here?

Carlos what do you want Silvia to understand about your ideas?

Silvia what do you want Carlos to understand about your ideas? (Both
students voice

Ask yourselves: How are my ideas different from this person’s ideas?

Here, in this situation, I take Ginott’s concept of congruent communication as I talk

directly to my students. The whole time during my mediation, I did not use the
pronoun I or you in a way that seems that I’m making a personal attack on either one
of the students in this conflict. I do not want to belittle the students in this heated
discussion, so I used small groups with two students. For example, I have Carlos
and Silvia help each other to constructively form an understanding of their
viewpoints.

At that moment, I want them to see that they really want to express
themselves as unique idealists and be understood. Here, I show the students that I
accept their point of view. I will make sure that the students retained the sense of
respect for the other student’s development of their voice, analytic view, and
creativity. I applied my philosophy on community learning in my classroom climate,
so I can maintain a positive sense of belonging and workmanship among my
students as they work together.

The arrangement of my classroom activities and discipline plan are

associated with Glasser’s reality therapy in an autobiographic poetry lesson in an
English Literature course. This teaching unit takes place in a high school. My use of
concepts and philosophical ideals will be limited, so my students will not be
perplexed by a complex discussion of techniques and genres of poetic writing.
Instead I will discuss one aspect of philosophy in a person’s expression about his/her
life. I will introduce some basic view of a structure of an autobiographic poem
accordingly to the writings of Robert Frost.

The autobiographic poetry lesson will have an explanation of the application

of Glasser’s discipline plan with a behaviorally at-risk student named “Cherrie.”
Cherrie has been very passionate about her difficulty with her writing in book reports
and in-class writing assignments. Cherrie is having trouble finishing her writing
assignments, and I had private discussions with Cherrie about her self-interests
about her view of types of writing styles and ideals of expression. Cherrie has been
placed in my afternoon workshop in writing, because she is having problems
maintaining her commitment to the contract on her performance agreement for the
school year. I will apply the principles under the idea devoted to support the
development of the identity of the student’s academic orientation and academic
construction in this teaching unit. I’ll demonstrate my role in aiding Cherrie’s
development into an intelligent adult who can act and perform as a positive and
productive member of society.

My teaching unit’s main goal is to have my students get in touch with their
consciousness of their existence in the events in the real world. I want my students
to discover their creative writing identity through expressing their thoughts and
feelings about their existence in their real life living conditions. Robert Frost’s poem,
The Road Not Taken will only be used as a prompt in my teaching unit about the
lesson on autobiographic writing. I believe Frost’s The Road Not Taken can give an
essence of what it is for a person to develop his identity and self-interest in the path
of his life. Frost’s poem will not be used as main reading in my English course, but
its structure will be used as a model to teach my students to understand the effect
they can create by describing the emotional tone of their voice through telling a short
story about a life situation. I believe that the strength of a student’s writing comes
from what they think and feel about the struggles of their lives.
Explanation of the Self-consciousness approach in The Autobiographic Poem
Assignment

Edmund Husserl, a phenomenologist says that our individuality is determined

by our being conscious of objects in the world:

Our engagement in experiences occurs in the mental

occurrence about being conscious of objects in the world
(Husserl in Solomon 147).

Husserl emphasized the idea that a person’s existence in the world is determined by
the individual engaged in the mental act of self-consciousness in order to understand
things that occur in an experience. I want my students to express themselves about
the thoughts and feelings of that moment in their personal living conditions. I believe
my philosophy about the development of an individual’s intellect depends on how
they develop their identity and existence as intelligent persons in society. I want my
students to be aware of their development of their identity as they express their voice
and point of view in their writing.

Lecture on Autobiographic Poetic Writing in My Teaching Unit

During my teaching unit on autobiographic poetic writing, I have my students

sit in groups of three, and ask them to listen carefully to me for the next few minutes.
I begin a brief lecture about what is autobiographic writing, and I answer this
question:

“Autobiographic poetic writing is something that requires a person to reflect

about his personal experiences in a vivid and deep way. He expresses his
thoughts and feelings about a particular moment that changed his life. A poet
wants to express what is important to his audience. What does a poet want to
say about experience to his audience?”

My intention in this brief lecture is to give my students an immediate awareness of

the truth in their lives. And, as they practice writing about an experience, they can
develop their own voice into their own unique style. My strategy in this teaching unit
is to propose to my students to join together in groups, and engage themselves to
build self-knowledge, a sense of self worth, and identity within discussing their
intentions in each of their poems or short stories. Firstly, I ask a student to read The
Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equals lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted it I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this this with a sigh

Something ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

 I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference. (Frost in Meyer, 789)

I ask my students a simple question: what is the poem about? The students say
“nature” and a journey.

I, the English teacher give a more specific answer to this question:

“This poem is about a path in a person’s life. Robert Frost does two
things: he speaks in first person to give you, the reader the effect of a
speaker who is describing a moment which changed his life. Notice at
the beginning of the poem, the speaker presents the metaphor of a
fork in front of him. The fork represents a choice that people make at a
point in the path of his life. This is a situation we all can relate to. We
come to a point in the path in our lives.”

I show this poem to my students to give them the idea of self-reflection and the
actual voice of an autobiographic poem. Then I say: “I would like that all of you look
at this hand out on the techniques and structure of Robert Frost’s poetic writing
form.” Here, I want to give my students a sense of use of a metaphor and the format.
Suddenly, Cherrie asks me a question: “Why do we have to write our autobiographic
poems in this way?” Cherrie, I’ll answer your question in a moment.” However, I did
not know Cherrie is starting to disrupt the lesson, because she had trouble finishing
a completed assignment during in-class assignments. In this moment, I believe
Cherrie could relate to this assignment because she has been going through self-
introspection about her struggles in understanding the lessons in writing
assignments.

Application of Glasser’s Reality Therapy on Cherrie’s Behavior During My Teaching

Unit

The next step of the poetic writing lesson, I’d ask the students to briefly write
about an experience or a situation that has changed their lives, but also apply some
structure points to form their poems. Would say to them, “Take out a piece of paper
and write out a short story about a problem that took place and involved you. Write
accordingly to a model of the format of Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken.” I show
the model of this poem on the chalk board:

Stanza

1. ------------ Introduce the problem or incident of your personal experience.

2. ------------ What is your experience about?
3. ------------ What did you feel about your experience?
4. ------------ What did I learn from this situation?
5. ------------ What is it that made a difference, and what message should I send
to my experience?

Next, I would immediately say to Cherrie: Does this explanation satisfy as an answer
to your question? Cherrie decides to challenge me and says: “Mr. Garciasalas with
all due respect, I don’t think this format is necessary for us students to write an
autobiographic poem, and frankly you are kind of dense in using this format.” I would
say to Cherrie: I can be dense at times when I administer assignments, but I only
seem dense, so I can bring a new assignment to all of you to explore for the good of
the class. Now, Cherrie would you like to join us in this assignment or write a plan for
how this assignment is better for you. Cherrie responds to me and says, “I think I’ll
continue working on this assignment.” Next, I will ask my students two questions:
“What did you feel about your classmate’s experience? And the other, Do you have
empathy for your classmate’s experience?

Twenty minutes later, I see Cherrie arguing with her group member, and I
notice that she is not following the assignment. I glance at Cherrie’s poem about her
hatred for writing. Cherrie’s group members are intrigued, but they express an
awkward reaction to Cherrie’s argument. Here, I ask the students in Cherrie’s group
a question about he poem: How do we understand Cherrie’s personal experience?
How do we use the format? A student in Cherrie’s group says, “By using the
questions in the format.” I say to this student, “Excellent Rebecca!! (I give praise to
the student to launch a resolution between the group members and Cherrie. Next,
what feeling is Cherrie projecting in her poem? The students answer: she is serious
and resentful.

Application of Glasser’s reality therapy and the Socratic Method

in mass practice of autobiographical poetry writing.

Using Glasser’s reality therapy, I will discuss Cherrie’s poem and write out
some concepts on the blackboard, so then I can direct attention to Cherrie’s poem.
Then I use the Socratic method in order to engage the students into using their own
knowledge about writing. The Socratic method is an approach to search for truth
through evoking knowledge from those who answer questions. My view of the use of
the Socratic method is to evoke my students’ knowledge of the elements of style and
creative writing. I ask them to answer questions on the language and style in
Cherrie’s poem: “Class, here is a poem that Cherrie wrote that does not go by the
format exactly, but she expresses her thought and feelings about a problem, which is
what I wanted all of you to do, lets read and go over Cherrie’s poem:

I lack imagination you say

No. I lack language

The language of clarity

My resistance to the literate

Words are a war to me.

They threaten my family

To gain the word

To describe the loss

I risk losing everything.

I may create a monster

The word’s lengthy and body

Swelling up colorful and thrilling

Looming over my mother, characterized

 Her voice in the distance

Unintelligible illiterate.

These are the monster’s words (Moraga in Cullern, 238)

Next, I look at the mood and the voice of this poem. I define to the class:

“Voice is a sound of certain person in a certain state of mind during a

situation.” Then I ask the class, what kind of voice does this person have? I ask the
class about what kind of person does the voice depict? The class answers the
question: “the voice of a victim.” The following question I ask is what does this
person feel about this situation? One student could say anger or more precisely,
resentment. I write these answers on the chalk board next to the appropriate
elements of the speaker in this poem:

Voice victim of the system or an outsider with an attitude

Tone serious

Mood anger resentment

I discuss Cherrie’s uses of the elements as tools to develop the purpose and effect of
a poem. I think that there is a certain approach that a beginning creative writer must
learn. Here, I explain to all of my students that they should apply their awareness of
their identity through poetic writing. The beginning writer learns to express his or her
experiences by understanding different uses of mood in the use of words. When a
person gives a certain mood to his audience, then that person defines her identity as
she emphasizes her personal issues. For example, Cherrie expressed her discontent
for the English language and the educational and institutional system. Cherrie’s tone
presents a monologue from a person whose purpose to communicate and share a
truth about the problem of learning a language. Here, Cherrie shares her struggles
with the English language, so that people can learn from her thoughts and feelings
about becoming a product of a system, as she calls it a “monster.”

Application of Glasser’s Reality Theory and Mendler’s Supportive Language during

mediation with Cherrie
 Where does the source of Cherrie’s resentment for being involved in writing
activities come from? After class is dismissed, I ask Cherrie to stay after class and
discuss her behavior in class today. Here, I used Curwin’s and Mendler’s positive
confrontational strategies under their principle of resolution approach in Cherrie’s
situation. (Curwin, 138). I ask Cherrie about her behavior in class today and say:
“Cherrie how are you doing?” Cherrie says: “Not good.” Then I ask her another
question: Are things OK at home? Cherrie says: My mom and I have had some
discussion about my language skills. What do you mean? Cherrie says: I asked my
mom to read my homework and my book reports and she didn’t look at them. Then
she said: “you should work on your Spanish, because you are starting to sound like
an American.” I realized that this was not a discipline problem, but a cry for help.
Cherrie, I said, I would like to tell you that so far your academic progress is fine, yet
you are reluctant to finish off your assignments. Does your mom make you feel guilty
about learning the English language? Cherrie says, No, it’s me. What do you mean?
Cherrie says, I think my language abilities to speak both English and Spanish is not
good. Did someone tell you that your language skills are not good? Cherrie says, I
want to stay connected to my roots of my “familia” by being devoted to speaking in
Spanish.

Results from use of Glasser’s Reality Therapy and Mendler’s negotiation approach

and Diagnosis of Cherrie’s Writing Problems in Independent Writing Assignments

My diagnosis of Cherrie’s independent writing problems is that she needs

support on the development of her language abilities, so at this moment, I offered her
a solution: Cherrie, I know a bilingual program for Latino students in the school
district. Would you like that we set up a meeting with a counselor? Cherrie reveals
her problems in the classroom and at home about the development of her language
skills. I said to the counselor: “For a tenth grader, Cherrie shows a remarkable
promise as a creative writer and a scholar, but I feel she needs more attention for
concern about maintaining her first language at home, and more importantly her
heritage as a Latino.” I’m saying this right about your situation? (I look at Cherrie for
confirmation). Cherrie says, Yes, that is right (with a compassionate tone). The
counselor says, how can this work for both of you? Cherrie says, I like to take time to
be with other students like myself. The counselor asks me about placing Cherrie in a
remedial English course for ESL students. Cherrie says, I would like to stay with Mr.
Garciasalas, but I would like to be with other students like me in this after-school
program? The counselor says to Cherrie, So this is what you want, to be in two
English classes. I say to the counselor, is this arrangement possible? The counselor
says, yes, but Mr. Garciasalas assure that Cherrie improves in her assignments or
she will be placed a remedial English course.” I say, “Well, Cherrie, do you want to
do this or …” Cherrie says, I want to do this, and I will try harder to finish my
homework assignments. Next, I say: If I see that you are keeping up with the in-class
assignments, then I will give you help to improve your grade, such as doing extra
credit assignments on Latino-American literature or a commentary on current events.
But I must see that you are motivated to do all of the assignments and improve your
proofreading skills. The counselor says to me, are you going to make sure that this
child improves? I say to the counselor, I see that Cherrie already made some
improvement, so now, I see she is more comfortable and eager to work on my
classroom assignments.

Conclusion

My arguments provide evidence that supports the student-centered teacher’s

environment that teaches students rules and steps to develop their behaviors in the
classroom and in their performances of their independent writing assignments. Each
student is a different person who lives in a different world of their own away from
school. As a teacher, I need to see their differences, so I can understand their needs.
Then I can plan to provide proper instruction for all students to generate
accomplishments in each learning activity in my English literature course. I view the
classroom as a place where students can learn from each other about their
problems. I believe that students hear and see what goes on with their classmates,
and it’s my duty to provide an environment that welcomes every type of personality
and type of student from all socio-economic statuses. The methods and strategies of
Curwin, Ginott, Mendler and Glasser are used congruently with my philosophical
belief system. The examples that I presented show my connection between my
philosophical teaching principles of the individual and the community relations during
my cooperative learning activities. In this paper, I have shown a synthesis of ideals of
John Dewey’s and Gordon McCloskey’s views of the needs of the individual. Also, I
used Nietzsche’s ideas of the individual to relate the reader to someone like Cherrie
who wants identity and uniqueness as a creative writer and as a scholar on language
and the Latino culture. Cherrie expresses her views and thoughts of the world of
language, and her poem revealed her values and beliefs about her lifestyle and her
human condition in her predicaments. My life work as a teacher is helping students
to develop their individual talent in their academic performance, because I want to
facilitate their goals in their studies.

Works Cited

Mc Closky, G. (1959) Education and public understanding.

New York. Harper and Brother.

Ludovici, A. (1964) Fredrich Nietzsche will to power. New York

Russell and Russell.

Soloman, R. (1972) Phenomenology and existentialism.

Maryland. Littlefield.

Dewey, J. (1974) Authority and the individual.

Kantor,J.D. (1981) Interbehavioral philosophy. Chicago.

Principia Press.

Curwin, R. L. (1988) Discipline with dignity. New York.

ASCD.

Charles, C.M. (1999) Building classroom discipline. New York.

Addison Wesley Longman.

Cullen, R. (2000) Rhetoric for multicultural america.

New York. Allyn and Bacon.

Meyer, M. (2000) The Compact Bedford introduction to literature.

Boston. Bedford/ St. Martin.

Emmer, E. (2003) Classroom management for secondary teachers.

New York. Allyn and Bacon.