Alex Abbott 3212048 EDUC253

Classroom management plan essay

What a teacher believes about both teaching and learning can have a major impact on the

classroom environment. The teacher’s own personal philosophy of teaching and learning will be

the backbone of their classroom management model and will provide the basics of how they

want their classroom to be structured and perform. This essay will look at my own personal

philosophy of teaching and learning, it will explore how it will be the framework, in which I will

use to build a classroom management model that would work to reflect these beliefs. The essay

will demonstrate this by using a hypothetical scenario, where I need to present my own

personal classroom management plan to the principal on my first week of teaching at a new

school. My classroom management plan will be aimed at the upper primary years 5-8 and will

discuss major concepts and teaching techniques that are relevant to this age group. The essay

will begin by addressing two key concepts that I hold vital to my philosophy of teaching and

learning. The first it will look at is the concept of ako and child centred learning; the second is

the importance I place on developing intrinsic motivation to behaviour and learning in my

students and why I hold these teaching concepts central to my philosophy. The essay will them

move on to a more in depth look at my personal view on classroom discipline, looking at which

disciple technique reflects my personal philosophy and how I will integrate them into the

classroom and my management plan. It will end by returning to the concepts of internal vs.

external motivation of behaviour and learning, child centred learning, ako, as well as

introducing the concept of whanāungatanga that is closely related to the values of Ako. This

essay’s aim is to demonstrate the ideas and concepts that I hold to be necessary in formulating a

personal classroom management plan that creates a stimulating and challenging learning

environment for my students and reflects my personal philosophy on teaching and

learning.          

 My own developing philosophy of teaching and learning is based around the question of “what

do these children need and how can I meet those needs?” I acknowledge that the classroom is a

diverse place that is made up of individuals from different cultural, social and economical

backgrounds and who will in turn have different needs. I have used the word ‘developing’

because I believe that a successful classroom management plan needs to naturally evolve, while

remaining consistent to it’s core goals. For my classroom management plan to remain static,

would mean that it does not accurately reflect my key belief of reciprocal learning between

students and their teacher. I feel that teachers should use and learn from their students and to

have a concrete classroom management plan, which does now allow room for change and

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influence would go against this philosophy. The concept of Ako mirrors these personal beliefs.

Alton-Lee (2003) states as cited in (Ministry of Education, 2009) “The concept of ako means

both to teach and to learn. It recognises the knowledge that both teacher and learner bring to

learning interactions, and it acknowledges the way that new knowledge and understandings can

grow out of shared learning experiences”. By incorporating the concept of Ako into my teaching

philosophy, I will show the children respect and demonstrate that I hold their contributions to

the learning environment in high esteem. Child centred learning helps to create a sense of self

worth and confidence in the child which creates motivation for the child to learn and behave in

fashions that contribute to the class. I believe that when the teacher and student can work

together to reach their goals, a deeper, richer learning experience for both parties will be the

result.

Another key element to my own personal philosophy of teaching and learning is helping to

create intrinsic motivation for the children in their learning and behavioural motivation. As I

discussed above my key goal as a teacher is to establish ways to help the students in meeting

their learning needs. The problem that arises with this is that some children lack learning

motivation or my preferred learning motivation. Hoover and Kindsvatter (1997) state that “the

very heart of teaching is creating the conditions that elicit motivation within students” (p.139).

My aim as a teacher is to help the students who have difficultly becoming motivated enough to

become fully stimulated by the curriculum. By using the concept of ako and the child centred

learning approach, the discovery of learning what the student’s interests and needs are, will be

far more attainable in comparison to a teacher centred approach. By listening to what the

student’s direct needs are, I will hope to begin the process of enabling a desire to engage in

learning and good behaviour for no reason other the sheer enjoyment, challenge, pleasure,

genuine interest and wanting to make the classroom a productive environment. I hope to help

the students move away from extrinsic and performance orientated goals, although these

methods are productive, my personal feeling are that intrinsic motivation and mastery goals are

the most productive to life long learning. As Seifert and Sutton (2008) explain “mastery goals

tend to be associated with enjoyment of learning the materiel at hand” (p.111). Staying

consistent to ones own core beliefs is fundamental to achieving a successfully managed

classroom, to be a successful teacher, I believe that it is important not to be closed minded of

teaching strategies that are foreign to your previous style of teaching. The imperative goal

should always be what are the needs of my students and what is the best way I can meet them in

order to run a classroom that encompass both healthy learning and the chosen form of

discipline strategies.

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It is my belief that a democratic style of discipline is most suitable to my philosophy of teaching

and learning. Choosing the appropriate discipline strategy is of vital importance to running a

classroom. Teachers do not need to be exclusive to one discipline technique but do need to be

consistent when putting forth classroom boundaries to the students. Edwards (2004) states that

“an improper learning environment strikes at the very heart of the schools purpose” and that

“because good learning conditions are critical and because discipline problems are a constant

threat to learning, classroom discipline is very important” (p.1). The option of democratic

discipline reflects my belief of a child centred learning environment. Edwards (2004) explains

that democratic disciple in the classroom relies on the teacher providing firm guidance but also

“students are allowed to participate in making decisions about what is studied as well as in

formulating rules”(p.94). Democratic disciple helps the students to assume responsibility for

their actions, behaving well is an intrinsic motivation not an extrinsic fear of being punished.

“Allowing students more leeway is the best way for to help them become self governing”

(Edwards, 2004, p.94). As I will explain later in more detail in this essay, when teaching children

at the level of years 5-8, the students quite possibly will have already have been exposed and

conditioned to a more autocratic discipline style that relies on firm guidelines and refusal to

tolerate any deviation from the rules(Edwards,2004, p.93). It may be difficult for them to adjust

to the freedom that democratic discipline offers without them pushing the boundaries of what is

acceptable behaviour. I believe, as I will also go into more detail later, behaviour modification

through the process of techniques such as ako, and tuakana-tenia relationships will help the

students past conditioning to become extinct, making way for democratic child centred learning

that focuses on self mediation for the students. A concept that I also find favourable is the zone

of proximal development that was developed by Soviet psychologist and social constructivist

Vygotsky. It is comparable to these other learning concepts, in the way that it focuses on

teachers working closely with students, scaffolding on top of what they already know (Seifert

and Sutton, 2008, p.33). This constructivism approach when looking at disciple, will only have

merit if I want to build upon what the child has already learnt, this is why I believe behaviour

modification is necessary for the student to be able accommodate the new concepts that make

up my personal classroom management plan. I will work closely with the students to put

together the rules and regulations of the classroom, using a democratic approach; I will take

into consideration ideas from all the students. We will work out what as a class unit we believe

to be unacceptable behaviour and what punishments should be put in place if people

misbehave, while keeping within the guidelines of school policy. As I stated above, my preferred

discipline approach is for the students to be self-governed and monitor their own discipline,

however, I feel that it is important to still have guidelines of what is acceptable behaviour to

help them accomplish this.

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The development of creating appropriate and effective teaching strategies to use in a teachers

management model is of vital importance. My own personal philosophy on teaching and

learning is of great importance and essential to how I will and want perform as a teacher. I

believe that it is imperative to hold true to these beliefs, however, in reality they will most likely

be met with factors from within and outside the classroom that will put server strain on how

well I can employ them. My own key belief of meeting individual student’s needs, will not suffer,

as it recognises the fact that all students are individuals and will have different unique needs. It

is the other concepts, such as intrinsic motivation and child centred learning that might be put

under pressure. Seifert and Sutton (2008) state that “for a variety of different reasons, teachers

in most classrooms cannot be expected to meet all students basic needs at all times” (p.123).

Many factors such as classroom size, student’s backgrounds and the teacher’s responsibility to

the curriculum will need to be taking into careful consideration when implicating and

integrating them into the classroom environment. When looking at the introducing of

techniques of the development of intrinsic motivating and democratic discipline, factors such as

the students backgrounds with previous teachers and how they have become accustomed to

learning will be highly influential to how successfully it works. In many classrooms across the

country, extrinsic rewards have often been used as a motivational tool to help engage students

in their work and control their behaviour, the student, if they have performed well will be giving

an external reward, such as a sticker or a grade. When developing a classroom management

plan for the upper primary years 5-8, it is highly likely that some students will have been solely

exposed to this style of teaching and may find it difficult to adjust to an internal motivation and

democratic discipline approach. Through a child centred learning approach, I hope to get to

know the student’s on a level where they will teach me how, when and what they like to learn.

An important outcome of this approach will be that I will discover what motives and difficulties

individual student have in different areas of their learning and what influences their classroom

behaviour. I would suggest that the best option in this scenario would be to introduce elements

of positive respondent conditioning to their learning and behaviour. Although the behaviour

modification theory holds the assumption that “human beings have no will and respond

exclusively to external stimuli” (Edwards, 2004, p.252). I believe that this belief stems directly

from the first studies on involuntary stimuli and response in the early twentieth centaury by the

Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov’s theory was based upon the case study of his dog’s

behaviour changing after being conditioned to previously unconditioned stimuli. The dog would

originally salivate only after tasting its meal, this unconditional response after a period of time

would change into a conditioned response when the dog eventually learnt that hearing noises

associated with feeding or even seeing Pavlov would trigger salivation (Seifert and Sutton, 2008,

p.23). My belief of the merit in students being motivated by internal reward might seem at odds

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with this teaching method. However, I believe that the teacher’s role is not just to influence

student’s conscious thoughts and words; it is also to help them to enjoy and become excited by

leaning, therefor, learning will become the reward. This is the arena in which I feel respondent

conditioning would be effective to help introduce intrinsic motivation and democratic discipline

into the students cognitive framework. Because the students will already be conditioned from

their previous teachers at the level of years 5-8, they will already have set subconscious

associations with certain areas of the classroom environment. My strategy will be to recondition

the student’s response’s to any negative conditioned stimuli, which they may already attribute

to certain areas of the school day, thus previous conditioning will become extinct. I will achieve

this by letting the children have a say in how they want learning and behaviour to happen

within their classroom. We will develop clear outlines of appropriate behaviour that will result

in all students and myself receiving respect from the class body. I will also try to engage all

students by planning lessons that will arouse their natural curiosity and provoke critical

thinking skills; I would do this by means of relating material to what interests the students may

have. I would like to always close my lessons leaving my students with a question to ponder on

dealing with the subject material that was taught. I will also develop and implement an engaged

pedagogy that honours and recognizes their abilities, as well as challenges their constantly

expanding minds. I believe that by implicating this approach in the classroom and by focusing

on stimulating lessons as a reward, the students will develop an intrinsic motivation to do and

behave well in all aspects of their lives, in and out of school.

The concept of ako and child centred learning, as I stated above is a key component of my

philosophy on teaching and learning. When integrating this teaching style in the classroom at

the beginning of my time with a new class, I will be faced with the same challenges that the

students may have already been conditioned either positively or negatively to elements of

classroom stimuli. My procedure and techniques to introducing the students to my new

teaching strategies will be similar to how I introduced elements of respondent conditioning to

their learning and behaviour. I believe that ako and child centred learning to be central in

helping me to construct a management plan that enables my classroom expectations on

appropriate behaviour and effective, cognitive productive learning. Another concept that I in

trust will be beneficial to reaching this goal is whanāungatanga. As New Zealand is a bicultural

society, I acknowledge the importance of integrating the cultural heritage of Māoridom into my

teaching practice. In contemporary Māori culture, whanāungatanga is defined as Pere (1982)

explains, as “the practices that bond and strengthen the kinship ties of a whānau” (p.26). These

kinship ties include values that are considered to be vital to whanāungatanga, these include,

stability, unity, spiritual and physical protection, trust, care, respect, Whakapapa, leadership,

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love and mana. The importance of these qualities within whanāungatanga is so that members of

the whānau can feel an allegiance to their tribal group, which results in a strong sense of pride

and belonging within their whānau. The concept of whanāungatanga is of importance in the

classroom, it deals with kinship, leadership, the strengthening of relationships and caring, all of

which are vital to running a successful classroom. “Success in learning depends on teachers and

school building productive relationships with students’ whānau and communities, as well as

with the students themselves” (Ministry of Education, 2009, p.29). This can be achieved by

incorporating the values of whanāungatanga to help create a culturally safe environment for all

involved. There are many ways to create this environment; one may be to put in place an open

door policy for students’ whānau within the school. This will help create and strengthen the ties

between the school and whānau and show that the school values their support and input.”Kyle

and Rogien (2004) state that “communicating with, connecting with, and collaborating with

parents are essential elements in a comprehensive management program” (p.257). By

incorporating the values of whanāungatanga into the classroom, I think that the students will

become conditioned to this stimulus and will benefit from its use of creating respect for fellow

classmates. Discipline will still need to be administered but if the values of whanāungatanga are

followed correctly, students should be able to apply self governed discipline that corresponds to

these values.

In conclusion, this essay has provided the key concepts and techniques that I believe are

fundamental to establish a successful classroom management plan that accurately reflects my

philosophy on teaching and learning. It has sought to explain what, why and how I will use these

key concepts within the teaching environment. Most of all, I hope that its shows the importance

I place on developing positive teacher-student relationships that will allow the students to

appreciate the significance of learning and respectful behaviour, and that will hopefully lead to

them cherish and value learning throughout their lives.

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