Classroom+Management+Philosophy

A teacher’s responsibility is to educate the young members of our society in academics, life skills, and ethics. Productive citizenship is at the forefront of our public school system’s purpose for applying effective guidelines and directions for every participant to follow. In order to create a successful educational climate, my classroom management must implement clear rules, procedures, and directions. Classroom management does not mean punishing problem behavior; it involves taking preventative measures to ensure the least restrictive environment before problems arise in addition to adaptive procedures that address implications as they occur. I will establish a combination of proactive steps such as seating arrangement, student initiated rules, and positive reinforcement plus reactive behavior plans that are researched-based will produce the ideal classroom climate where both learning and respect transpires.

I am committed to making our classroom a safe and inviting atmosphere. This will be achieved through setting a tone, a tone that requires respectful peer dialog, engaging activities with full participation, and meeting the needs of all my students through IEP reviews and differentiated instruction. Before school even begins, I will arrange the seats in a manner that fits the classroom shape, either group seating or a horseshoe shape, and optimizes the learning experience. The first day of school will start with the creation of the classroom rules combined with rapport building activities. The students, not me as the classroom teacher, will collectively shape the classroom rules, sign a document clearly stating the expected behaviors and procedures, and clearly post those rules within the classroom. Cooperation, just like a healthy relationship, is key to building a culture supportive of learning while respecting the needs of all.

If an issue arises, I will address the student or students with the lowest response to intervention relative to the behavior. These consist of close proximity, verbal redirection, stating their name, or other non-verbal cues such as direct eye contact. If the problem does not subsist, I will move to the second tier and implement responses such as telling the student to meet me in the hall or to stay after class, calling home after I notify the student of the problem behavior, or using assertive I-messages. Lastly, if none of these interventions cease the behavior, an administrator might need to be called in order to defuse the situation.

I will always model and encourage cooperation to carry out the fun and exciting lesson plan of the day with the structure and organization needed to guarantee learning. To achieve proper classroom management, my colleagues and I need to reorganize ourselves into a community of interaction that includes individual adaptations to change. Consistency and operational classroom management is imperative to the climate.