Classroom Management Philosophy

Classroom management is students’ learning environment in classroom settings. It
includes the actions that teachers take to create, implement, and maintain a classroom
environment that supports effective learning. In my interactions with my mentor teacher, I
observed his classroom philosophy, expectations he set for students, physical set up of the
classroom, and how he dealt with misbehavior of students. I also examined how all these
factors matched with his classroom philosophy.

A teacher’s classroom philosophy communicates their beliefs about learning process.
The teacher’s philosophy was interventionist. This philosophy holds that a teacher’s primary
responsibility is to modify and shape student’s behaviors. In order to effectively perform this
role, the teacher wields far more power than the students. They use this power to punish and
reward students as a way of motivating them. The manner in which the teacher wielded his
power was authoritative. He guided the students to achieve the best versions of themselves
and behave as he wished through being warm to them and supporting them but also getting
harsh with them when necessary.

The philosophy is reflected in the manner that expectations were set in the classroom.
The teacher set expectations for student behavior at the beginning of the year. The
expectations were expressed in the form of rules and procedures that the students were
required to adhere to. The rules and procedures dealt not only with academic work but also
social tasks (interactions among students). This code of behavior had little student input. In
his interactions with the students, the teacher viewed his role as guiding the students to live
according to this code of conduct in order to excel socially and academically. The code of
conduct was reinforced through a combination of punishment and rewards.

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A key objective of the code of conduct was to ensure that students behaved
appropriately. The teacher used a number of techniques to handle student misbehaviors. For
minor misbehaviors, he simply used eye contact or close physical proximity to the student.
However, for more serious misbehaviors, such as fighting, bullying, rudeness to teachers, and
regular failure to complete classroom tasks, the teacher used more severe measures. The
measures include isolating the student, denying the students some privileges, or summoning
the student’s parent for talks about their child’s misbehaviors. Generally, the teacher always
acted promptly any time a student misbehaved to ensure that the bad behavior does not
become a norm or does not spread to other students.

The teacher’s view of his role as guiding students to be the versions of themselves
could also be seen in the physical set up of the classroom. The desks were arranged in a
manner that prevented classroom congestion so that the teacher could easily move around
from one student to another. The arrangement was also done in a manner that ensured that the
students could easily see the whole-group area of instruction. Learning materials were also
placed where all students could easily have access to. This arrangement not only facilitated
learning but also the teacher’s control of the classroom.

The examination of the teacher’s expectations, their implementation, the manner in
which he dealt with behavioral issues, and the physical set up of the classroom shows that
they closely followed the teacher’s classroom management philosophy. There are many
lessons from my observations of the teacher that I will use as a professional teacher. Like the
teacher, I believe that a teacher’s role is to guide students to excel in different spheres of their
lives. I also believe that the best style to employ to effectively play this role is authoritative.
Authoritative style fosters a strong sense of responsibility which helps students to be great
achievers in life. A concern I have is whether the teacher’s classroom management

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philosophy was specific to that class based on the characteristics of the students or whether it
is a philosophy that is effective in all classroom settings.