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Amanda McDorman
Classroom Management
Emily Gerken-EDU

Personal Management Philosophy

Teachers and paras have a responsibility to raise up strong students in the education
system. Strong in their intelligence of book learning, and also strong in characterization. Many
students can learn material taught from books and common core instruction, but in
characterization there are times students may need help. In the early stages, we call this
temperament of an infant, in maturing students it is called personality. In older students, I call
this choice making. This type of learning is in the classrooms of an education system.
Students are ever learning and there are few that actually want to fail. Most students want to
succeed, graduate and maybe have a few good life experiences along the way. There are
students who struggle at this more than others, meaning the succeeding. All students and even
teachers and paras are created uniquely and diversely. Teachers need to give students an
opportunity to succeed in as many ways as possible.
In setting up a classroom, a teacher has many things to consider. It is considered that the
teacher is always the centered among students. This gives some hand in authority which is a
necessity to have in all classrooms. No boundaries or direction, especially with discipline, can
lead to disaster and chaos in the classroom and can hinder learning by the entire student body.
Classrooms that are set up correctly and according to teacher and students personalities will be
a success. There must be rules set up and some, I think, decided by the teacher. However,
giving a limited amount of authority to the students maybe a few rules can be set up by the
students, allows them a sense of a democratic voice in the classroom. These rules will be
established in the beginning of the first week of school and posted somewhere in the classroom.

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It will present the expectations of the teacher and the students among each other. One idea is to
give one to two warnings for an inappropriate behavior, trying to implement a second option for
the negative behavior hoping to replace the negative behavior with a positive responder. A third
warning may relate to walking out in the hallway for a more stern one on one approach between
teacher and student, a fourth maybe a detention for continual misbehavior and last would lead
to the office or expulsion of student depending on behavior. As a person having patience and
tolerance as personality traits, gives some teachers such as myself more tolerance in dealing
with misbehaviors. The idea of conscious discipline especially at young age is such an ideal
discipline. It establishes the right response of behaviors and how to interact in a positive secure
way of others and peers. Students must learn skills for their actions to apply to their lifetime.
Though there are several classroom management methods, some may be proven to work more
effectively than others. Positive behavior supports, and Gathercoals Judicious Discipline are
some favored by myself. The Positive Behavior Support helps to create policies, rules and
consequences and creates a system to help change a students behavior. In Judicious
Discipline, it gives students a democratic voice and helps to empower students to be of strong
character. It gives students rights to be themselves and the right to express themselves through
their behavior and opinions would be a freedom opportunity. Students having the right to school
rules and consequences that would be fair to everyone is a justice opportunity. The right to an
equal opportunity to succeed is the equality opportunity. (pg 232). All of these ideas follow the
First,Fourth and Fourteenth amendments to our United States Constitution and will be followed
through for the rest of their lives out in society. Therefore, growing up and following these
opportunities in a classroom will give them all a judicious, constitutional outlook.
In an ideal classroom room, I think there is a balance of lecture and lab learning or
hands on learning. Cooperative learning, being presented in the classroom teaches how to work
well with others. Working in groups and reaching a common goal and doing it cooperatively is
success. In life outside of school and the classroom, working well with others is an essential life

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skill. In the physical set of a classroom, it is more effective for Cooperative Learning to have
desks set up in small groups but with a teacher in full view at all times and for the teacher to
have easy access to all students. There are some students that need to have some release
during a typical school day. Having items like bean bags, rocking chairs, taller tables for
students that like to stand, clipboards, and fidgets may help some students be able to
concentrate more on what they are trying to accomplish. Although, having items like these in the
classroom must come with some sort of boundary to the access and use of them. There will be
some students that would misuse and abuse the use of these more relaxed items. Having items
displayed in the classroom is also helpful with the control and gentle reminders of rules and
upcoming events and scheduled items.
The goal for my classroom is to have a backbone classroom (providing a consistent
structure that is flexible and functional) presentation and to be able to promote inner-discipline
( making good decisions to further self and to care about others) giving life skills to all students
and to learn how to cooperate and work well with others. With a discipline awareness like a
judicial one in place, my classroom would learn about our country's freedoms and how to use
them and follow them correctly as the freedoms we have been given in our democratic society.

Citations

Hardin, Carlette Jackson, Effective Classroom Management, Boston,MA, Pearson Education,

Inc., 2012.