Management Philosophy

Throughout the Classroom Management book, I came across a few philosophers with opinions, thoughts, and theories that I either agreed or disagreed with. There were some examples that really made me think about whether their ideas could work within a classroom. However, I did find myself agreeing with two philosophers with theories that I see myself using in my classroom. The first philosopher I chose is Rudolf Dreikurs. He believed in democratic teaching and encouraging the students rather than praising them. The other philosopher I chose is Thomas Gordon. His theories consisted on understand the students behavior and discipline, different ways it can be defined, and the variety of ways it can be used. Rudolf Dreikurs mainly focused on four concepts that teachers should use with their students. Those four consist of four understanding mistaken goals, encouragement, democratic teaching, and logical consequences. Unfortunately, the four mistaken goals would be the cause of misbehaviors. He expressed there are students who use these goals for power seeking, revenge, attention getting, and helplessness. An example of what Dreikurs theory on attention getting would be is when a student feels they are worthless in learning and participating with their peers. They tend to misbehave to get the attention they want. He also believed that teachers are to be more democratic than autocratic. He simply says their role as a teacher is to develop a democratic environment and build instructional strategies to limit the misbehaviors in the classroom. The students responsibilities are to understand the rules in the classroom and to obey them in order to be independent and active listeners. Dreikurs conveyed that teachers should encourage their students rather than praise them for their hard work. Encouraging a student sets a positive tone towards their self-esteem as opposed to praising a student. When you praise a student, they can be dependent on it, and if they dont do well on the next test, it might weaken their self worth. I believe Dreikurs theories are used for extrinsic motivations, mainly because if students see their peers excelling in class and following the rules, it will motivate them to do so as well. I feel with the teacher having organization skills, it will bring a positive and a long term change for those who lack self-esteem and confidence. Thomas Gordon believed that teachers need to have proficient skills in order to identify student misbehaviors and know how to handle them. He mentions that teachers are not the only ones who are responsible for students misbehaving; the student has responsibility as well. Teachers who get more involved in active listening will help students to understand the problem, discuss the problem and why it was wrong, and think of a logical consequence for that student. Gordon also points out that teachers should not have their classroom filled with rewards and punishments. For example, teachers should not have bulletin boards of those with the most stickers for completing their homework or for those who got an A on every spelling test.

This is similar to Dreikurs encouraging students rather than praising them. A negative effect of the teacher praising the student for doing really well on every spelling test is ignoring the others for at least trying their best. Gordon also talks about teachers becoming empathetic with their students: taking the time to reflect on their students as misbehaviors and having discussions with them. There are any other issues bothering that could have led to them acting poorly as they did. In addition, Gordon explained the I-Message theory and he suggested it be used within classrooms. Instead of using the word you and addressing to the student as you; the teacher can say I. When a teacher says you to the student, it only reflects back to the student. If the teacher were to say I, then the student will understand how the teacher feels. I feel with Gordons theories, they can be a long term change as well, mainly because they are focusing on the students behavior, understanding why they did it, and analyze a way they can give their students consequences. He feels the more the teachers get involved with their students misbehaviors, the more it will promote the students to learn and grow from it. They can take on self discipline and accept responsibility for the problem. Based upon his theories, I feel they can be either extrinsic or intrinsic motivations. For instance, on an intrinsic motivation, the student knew he was wrong for misbehaving during lecture, so he decide that next time he will sit quietly and not disturb his peers while the teacher is going over the lesson. My main philosophy for classroom management would be to provide every student with respect because every student deserves chances on excelling. I believe in having rules and enforcing them with my students to help them become independent and motivated to learn. I strongly agree with Dreikurs theory on encouragement than praise. I would want to motivate all my students who feel they cannot succeed. I want to also develop a relationship with every student and identify their strengths, weaknesses, abilities, and needs so I can better understand them. Considering student differences will allow me to think of a logical consequence for each of them, whether it is good or bad. My role as a teacher is to identify any misbehavior in my classroom and address it right away. I would make sure the students are busy at a task while I pull the one or more students back to discuss the problem. I would not want to embarrass any student about why they misbehaved in the middle of my instruction. Not only does that take away from learning, but that may bring a students self-esteem down. The students responsibility is to understand what they did wrong and explain why its wrong and how they will learn from it. If the student continues to not follow directions, then they will be put on a behavior chart. Students should take the responsibility for their actions, and the teacher should address the consequences. I support long term change, because students will grow and achieve their dreams as they make mistakes and learn from them. The majority of students will make mistakes and its the teachers responsibility to act upon those mistakes, and encourage them do better next time.