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Philosophy of Classroom Management

I have seen many teachers and professors who follow a proactive philosophy of

classroom management in public schools and in college, and who were successful in the

engagement of their students toward the possibilities of learning. To me, a teacher’s classroom

management stance should follow five intriguing concepts. They should be respectful, be

prepared, be responsible, be communicative, and have a positive attitude. I will go into greater

detail on these five principles of classroom management and how they can be reinforced into my

classroom as a future educator.

The first principle of classroom management is being respectful to colleagues, students,

and property. In my opinion, one of the goals teachers should strive for is keeping the classroom

a positive and respectful place, both for themselves and for students. In Fred Jones’s “Positive

Classroom Discipline”, he states that “staying positive in the classroom will help students respect

one another.” If students handle themselves with dignity and give others respectful attention,

teachers will have a more structured classroom so as not to have to constantly deal with

behavioral issues. In high school, especially around the band hall, I saw students respecting each

other and school property all the time. An example of this is when a senior percussionist in the

second band was helping a freshman and a sophomore learn how and where to put back the

percussion equipment at the end of rehearsal in the first week of concert band season. Our band

director was able to teach students how to respect property in the band hall, which then created a

chain reaction of student after student teaching younger percussionists how to respect property so

as not to damage highly valuable equipment every year.

Being prepared is another important concept of classroom management that, in my

opinion, should be implemented in all classroom for a teacher to really have a structured and
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effective class rehearsal. To be successful, band directors need to have their lesson plan for each

class structured in such a way that each student in the classroom is accounted for, and each

student can reach some sort of success in rehearsal. In “Positive Discipline in the Classroom” by

Nelsen, Lott, and Glenn, one message that resonated with me about preparation is that, as a

teacher, I should know what I need for each individual student to succeed in my class. Here is an

example of being unprepared for assessment in the music classroom: a trombone student

working on a section of music in class. When testing time comes around and each student is

passing off the playing portion of the test, this student is worried because he didn’t work on the

music that much. Band directors have been working on students being more prepared for tests

and performances such as this because of the outcome of this particular student’s, and other

students’, performances.

As a teacher, I am responsible for keeping some sort of structure and rules in every class

setting. I believe that setting rules in the classroom on the first day is crucial for a teacher to be

successful in the effective learning that their students need, and teachers need students to

understand what they are looking for in a successful class rehearsal. It is a teacher’s

responsibility to make a plan of action when problems come their way in the classroom, and to

maintain control and care in the classroom so that students have a high level of achievement in

learning, according to Marvin Marshall in “Discipline through Raising Responsibility”. In high

school, my band directors would pass out the syllabus on the first day of school and would

explain in high detail what was expected of us students, and what rules were set in place for us to

follow throughout the year. In doing this, the directors would take responsibility for student

actions for the rest of the year because they explained their plan of action and how the structure

of the classroom environment would be.

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Something else that teachers should incorporate into their classrooms to aid in good

classroom management is communication. In my opinion, teachers need to be open and honest

with parents and students with highly effective communication. Managing the classroom is not

only about sticking to the rules and everyone looking out for each other in the room. An effective

teacher needs to cooperate with parents about the needs of students. In “Beyond Discipline”,

Alfie Kohn states that there should be a connection with students and the teacher. I believe that

teachers need to have a direct line of communication with every student so that each student can

maximize their success academically, and so the student can leave the classroom every day with

a positive attitude and mindset. I also think that the message a teacher gives to students should be

clear, and student understanding should be at a very high level. I know some teachers of mine

who were not able to handle the disciplinary offenses in some classes in middle and high school.

For this reason, the classes were not set up to be successful because students would behave in

unruly ways, acting out and disrupting the teacher’s lesson.

The last principle of good classroom management that a teacher should rely on is giving

off their best attitude every day. In “Assertive Discipline” by Lee and Marlene Canter, there is

talk about the teacher possessing their best attitude in every classroom setting, no matter how

their day is going. If you follow this, discipline in the classroom will also likely become more

manageable. I had only a couple of teachers in all my school years who seemed to have a

negative attitude in most of the days I saw them. The problem that came up was that they didn’t

care about students getting referrals or bad things that were said about them by this teacher. In

the end, class discipline fell short throughout the year and students didn’t care about what the

teacher was doing to try to get the class to focus and settle down to learn. The way I can combat

a lack of discipline in the classroom is by keeping my head up during those days that bring many
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more struggles than expected. I can also ask for guidance from colleagues of mine in the

workplace if they have gone through what I have, and can ask for tips to help bring more

positivity in my attitude so that effectiveness of classroom learning doesn’t dwindle due to

mental obstacles that I face.

In conclusion, to have the most effective classroom management plan, I need to keep a

structured environment for myself, my colleagues, and my students so that the success of every

rehearsal and class is the highest that it can be. To do this, I need to focus on being respectful, be

prepared, be responsible, have open communication, and have a positive attitude.

Bibliography

Fred Jones – “Positive Classroom Discipline”, Chapter 4

Nelsen, Lott, and Glenn – “Positive Discipline in the Classroom”, Chapter 7

Marvin Marshall – “Discipline through Raising Responsibility”, Chapter 6

Alfie Kohn – “Beyond Discipline”, Chapter 14

Lee and Marlene Canter – “Assertive Discipline”, Chapter 3