Management Model

Allie Mendenhall

Allie Mendenhall
Classroom Management Model
Bridgewater College-Education 370
4/25/15

Management Model

Allie Mendenhall

Classroom management is a broad term, used predominately to

address the set of behaviors and strategies used by teachers to guide
students behavior in the classroom. As a teacher my main goals for
my approach to classroom management will be to simultaneously
foster student engagement and have students cooperation during
teaching so that real learning can occur. Good classroom behavior and
good classroom management correlate positively with real learning. I
am thankful that this course has offered a plethora of management
theories and theorists who can serve as examples to use in my future
classroom.

Classroom management is a combination of strategies used within the

classroom, throughout the rest of the school, and even outside of the
school as well. Individually classrooms need to have good management
systems put into place so that transitions run smoothly, students are
focused and engaged, and learning occurs. However, schools as a
whole also need to have management systems in place where there is
a school wide set of rules/standards that students throughout the
entire school are expected to adhere to. Holding all students to the
same set of standards makes them accountable for their own actions.
Finally I also believe that home life can play a crucial role in how
management succeeds or doesnt succeed within the classroom.
Students who have discipline routines in place at home are more likely

Management Model

Allie Mendenhall

to comply with procedures put in place in the classroom, and compliant

parents can go a long way in helping with student cooperation as well.

I believe that teachers need to present themselves in a certain manner

in front of the class in order to have successful classroom
management. First of all I believe it is important from the very first day
of school, that a teacher establish a position of power within the
classroom. This position is not harsh, yet it demands the respect and
control of the students. After this initial expectation is set, I think there
are other important qualities that successful teachers must possess. I
think a successful teacher is respectful, accountable, and passionate. A
teacher must be respectful to the way that students feel within the
learning environment. In order to have successful classroom
management, the students must feel safe and welcome within the
learning environment. A respectful teacher will take into consideration
how they feel and will do all they can to make it an inclusive learning
environment. An accountable teacher is one that adheres to all of the
same standards they set for their students. After studying the work of
Fred Jones, I whole-heartedly believe that one of the best ways for
students to learn appropriate behavior is to see the behavior modeled
right in front of their eyes. Jones argues that the best way to
accomplish modeling appropriate behavior is to demonstrate this
behavior in every day activities in the classroom (Larson, 2015).

Management Model

Allie Mendenhall

Students will feel they are respected as individuals, and will then in
return respect the teacher and the policies of the classroom. An
accountable teacher will elicit the desired compliance from students by
demonstrating the desired behavior on their own. Passion, I believe, is
the strongest quality a teacher must possess. Teaching is not always
easy, and things do not always go as planned. But a passionate
teacher will persevere through the hard days knowing that the goal of
impacting students futures is worth every stressful moment. While this
is in no way an all-inclusive list of attributes that contribute to
successful classroom management, I believe that all three
characteristics above aid immensely in controlling students behavior
and fostering student engagement and I believe I possess all three.

In my future classroom, we will establish the set of classroom rules and

procedures as a group. I believe that this system of collaboration will
be the most likely to result in compliance from all the students. There
will be a list of predetermined rules that I will provide, which will not be
negotiable among members of the class. These rules will include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Raise your hand before speaking

No talking when others are talking
Walk in classroom and hallways
Keep your hands to yourself, and
Respect all people and property at all times

While these rules are non-negotiable, I would have students raise their
hands if they had any questions or concerns about the rules. Students

Management Model

Allie Mendenhall

would then be able to add new suggestions for their own classroom
rules, and we would then vote on weather or not we accepted these
said rules as a class. These general rules serve as guidelines to keep
students on task, safe, and engaged at all times throughout the day. I
want my students to be able to take an active part in the rule making
process because I believe that if students are able to have a voice
within the classroom, they will feel a stronger sense of accountability
towards the overall environment and success of the classroom. In
addition to having a set of classroom rules/procedures, I think it is
important to have a system of consequences set in place as well for
times when rules are not followed. Once the class has taken a vote to
approve all the rules for the classroom, they have committed to a
verbal contract to follow the rules at all times. If students fail to follow
these rules, then this is where the consequences come into play. I want
two different systems of behavior management in place, one, which
affects the entire class, and one, which is individual based. The first
system, the one that affects the whole class, would be a stop light at
the front of the classroom. Everyday the class starts out on green, but
if things begin to move in a bad direction the light might change to
yellow after multiple warnings. If the light reaches red at any point in
the day, students lose free choice at the end of the day and must do a
teacher-picked activity instead for the day (usually a reflection on why
the light turned red). However there would also be an individual

Management Model

Allie Mendenhall

system in place. One idea that I have picked up from my field

experience is a Monsters Inc. chart. Each student has a little cut out
monster with their name on it on a magnetic board in the back of the
room. Then, on a cabinet are six different doors, labeled with six
different steps of action towards correcting misbehavior. The doors
were labeled as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Stop and think about your actions

Write a letter to the teacher
Write a letter to the teacher and conference with teacher
Write a letter home and conference with teacher
Write a letter home and silent lunch
Write a letter home and visit to principals office

The students would then be responsible for moving their corresponding

monster to the identified door if procedures/rules are repeatedly
ignored. I like the idea of having both systems in place because it
keeps the class accountable as a whole by having students begin to
hold one another accountable for their own actions. This interaction
and expectation among peers is a crucial learning feature at this stage
in childrens development. Simultaneously this system does not punish
the class as a whole for one students behavior, which keeps
individuals accountable for their actions as well. These consequences
act as extrinsic motivators for students to follow the rules created in
the classroom contract.

If the situation involves two or more students interacting with one

another in the classroom I believe it is best to use the Restorative
6

Management Model

Allie Mendenhall

Discipline principle described by Dr. Judy Mullet. Mullet describes this

multi-step process as one that provides an opportunity for growth,
development, and community building. (Amstutz and Mullet 2005).
This approach does multiple things to help the situation. The first step
is establishing that there is a problem and identifying what that
problem is. Next students need to discuss how they feel with each
other, and why they feel that way. The reason I agree with this
approach so much is that the final step is discussing and agreeing on a
solution that benefits both parties. This mutually beneficial process
allows students in the wrong to see the light, and students who were
wronged to have a healthy outlet to discuss the situation.

If the student is acting out individually however, then I agree with the
theory of win-win discipline presented by Kagan, Kyle and Scott. Kagan
argued that the best way to stop misbehavior is by determining where
the misbehavior stemmed from; the possible places misbehavior stem
from include seeking attention, letting out anger, seeking control,
being energetic, being bored, being uninformed, or avoiding
embarrassment (Kagan, 2015). Once the teacher can identify why the
misbehavior is occurring then solving the problem becomes much
easier. The consequences for the actions begin to occur when the
problem has been discovered, the situation has been addressed, and
the action is still inconsistent with rules/procedures of the classroom.

Management Model

Allie Mendenhall

Works Cited

Amstutz and Mullet (2005) The Little Book of Restorative Discipline for Schools:
Teaching Responsibility; Creating Caring Climates.
Kagan Publishing & Professional Development. Retrieved April 25,
2015, from
http://www.kaganonline.com/free_articles/dr_spencer_kagan/ASK
15.php

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Allie Mendenhall

Larson, Abby. Fred Jones - Positive Classroom Discipline Model.

Retrieved April 25, 2015.