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Management Goal 6 Weebly Link

The document discusses the author's classroom management philosophy and research on creating a positive learning environment. It emphasizes establishing clear expectations, routines, and engaging student-centered activities. The research showed that when procedures and engaging workshops were implemented, students were more focused, conversations were more academic, and work completion increased. The author's philosophy balances structure with student motivation to shift interactions from monitoring to participating.

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38 views4 pages

Management Goal 6 Weebly Link

The document discusses the author's classroom management philosophy and research on creating a positive learning environment. It emphasizes establishing clear expectations, routines, and engaging student-centered activities. The research showed that when procedures and engaging workshops were implemented, students were more focused, conversations were more academic, and work completion increased. The author's philosophy balances structure with student motivation to shift interactions from monitoring to participating.

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ERICKSON MASTERS PORTFOLIO 1

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Any learning community is a complex, fluid, and multi-faceted environment, where both

the instructor and the learners play a part in its growth. Through a well-defined classroom

management strategy, one can create a learning environment where students feel that they are

safe, empowered, and capable learners. My study of student engagement in cooperative learning

centers, entitled “Why is Everybody Talking?: Integration of Cooperative Learning Activities

into First Grade Literacy Centers” highlights how my classroom management practice

establishes a positive environment and engages learners. The project offers a reflection into

how clearly stated, routinely practiced, and consistently implemented expectations must be

coupled with student motivation, engaging experience, and authentic teacher interaction.

The first pillar upon which my classroom management rests is to establish a predictable

environment with routinely practiced procedures, clear expectations, consistent implementation,

and appropriate feedback. At the beginning of each year, classroom procedures outlining student

expectations are explicitly taught and practiced, thus building routines and procedures that

facilitate learning (Wong & Wong, 2009). In addition, I utilize positive behavior support

systems such as CHAMPS (Sprick, 2009) classroom management strategies to communicate

behavior expectations, which are displayed and discussed throughout the school day. While these

artifacts are not explicitly included as an initial component of my research project, the project

brought to light the importance of this practice, and how routines supported students in reaping

the benefits of the workshop experience.

The second pillar of my classroom management philosophy, and that which is the

highlight of my research project, focuses on student engagement. Through this research, I

developed an environment in which students are motivated to participate, have a positive outlook
ERICKSON MASTERS PORTFOLIO 1

on their classroom experience, see themselves as learners, and engage in learning activities. The

topic of my research focused on cooperative learning experiences, which have shown to be

positively correlated with intrinsic motivation, student enjoyment, and positive feelings of

community (acceptance and support of peers and teachers) (Johnson, Johnson, Johnson, &

Anderson, 1976). The content of the activities was designed with students in mind, including key

factors that support the creation of student-centered experiences that facilitate learning. These

include grounding (personal relevance), funds of knowledge (schema), and cognitive load

(knowledge processing demands of the task). (Walkington & Bernacki, 2018). Through student

centered activities in the workshop model, my research shows an increase in student preference

for workshop time, greater focus on task, and an increase in student work completion.

There is an inherent challenge to maintaining the classroom learning environment during

independent work activities, and this is where the two pillars of my classroom management

philosophy are illuminated. Developmentally, students may be inclined to participate in off-task

behaviors, or may naturally default to passively receiving information rather than actively

building their understanding when not directly monitored by the instructor (Gilles &

Asaduzzaman, 2008). To support students in making positive learning choices, it is imperative

that the teacher play an active role in engaging with small groups, maintaining close proximity to

learners, and supporting positive behavior choices during independent learning time (Gilles &

Asaduzzaman, 2008, Worthy, et al., 2015). The importance of this practice was made clear to me

in this research project. My students knew the classroom routines with regard to independent

work (voice level, movement, and objective), and they were provided with engaging, student-

centered learning experiences. As a result, with students focused on task, their conversations and
ERICKSON MASTERS PORTFOLIO 1

interactions became more academically focused, with fewer off-task excursions from the

classroom expectations.

In conclusion, this artifact highlights how procedures, routines, and student engagement

integrate to build a learning community. My classroom management philosophy is one that

honors a need for structure and organization without compromising student engagement and

enthusiasm for learning. Through a consistent adherence to this philosophy, I find that my

interactions with students shift from “monitoring and correcting” to “participating and

questioning”.

REFERENCES

Gilles, R. & Asaduzzaman, K., (2008) The effects of teacher discourse on students’ discourse,

problem-solving and reasoning during cooperative learning. International Journal of

Education Research, 47, 323-340.

Johnson, DW., Johnson, RT., Johnson, J., Anderson, D. (1976) Effects of cooperative versus

individualized instruction on student prosocial behavior, attitudes toward learning, and

achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 68(4), 446-452.

Sprick, R. (2009) CHAMPS: A proactive and positive approach to classroom management.

Eugene, OR: Ancora Publishing

Walkington, C., & Bernacki, ML. (2018) Personalization of instruction: Design dimensions and

implications for cognition The Journal of Experimental Education, 86 (1), 50-68,

DOI: 10.1080/00220973.2017.1380590
ERICKSON MASTERS PORTFOLIO 1

Wong, H.K., & Wong, R.T (2009). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher.

Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications.

Worthy, J., Maloch, B., Pursley, B., Hungerford-Kresser, H., Hampton, A., Jordan, M.,

Semingson, P. (2015) What are the rest of the students doing? Literacy work stations in

two first-grade classrooms. Language Arts, 92 (3), 173-186

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