Amber Archdale/Student ID:110093159

Managing Learning Environments/My Approach to Managing Learning

Environments

Introduction

Classroom management is a large portion of what we do as teachers. It

comprises of everything that is necessary to facilitate a positive learning
environment, from the physical space of the classroom to the prevention
and management of unproductive and disruptive behaviours, the
curriculum we teach and the methods we employ to teach it. My focus is
on the methods I will need to become a successful high school visual arts
teacher.

Core guiding principles

While I believe all of the core course principles are necessary, in various
situations and classrooms. I believe the four which are the most relevant
to my visual arts teaching practice are the following:

-Effective teaching practice should respect children's human dignity.

-An educational approach supports the development of pro-social

behaviour.

-Human relationships and the effect of those relationships are the building
blocks of early development.

-Students are most likely to behave pro-socially in learning environments

that involve and engage them through quality curricula.

I encountered one very memorable teacher (whom I will refer to as Mr P)

during my high school education. My contempt for him has only grown
since commencing the Master of Teaching degree and reinforced by the
Managing Learning Environments course. He taught year eleven
mathematical applications and followed the traditional way of thinking
and teaching as outlined by Woolfolk Hoy and Weinstein (2006, p 196-
197) to the letter.

I remember vividly, Mr P yelling at me from across the classroom for

misbehaving with no respectful or polite prior warning or request for me to

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Amber Archdale/Student ID:110093159
Managing Learning Environments/My Approach to Managing Learning
Environments

stop the behaviour. I became defensive and combative with him and Mr P
ordered me out of the classroom for the rest of the day. This event alone
violated my right to dignity and fostered an extremely negative
relationship with him. Both before and after this incident, when I or other
students struggled with a concept, he repeatedly refused to re-teach it,
insisting that we must know the process and that he couldnt show me
differently because it wouldnt be fair to the other students. It was as a
result of this type of answer that I stopped trying in class and just scraped
an overall passing grade at the end of the year. I often either couldnt
(because I didnt know how) or wouldnt (because he gave me no
motivation to) work in class. I usually ended up reading or drawing. I feel
that if I had been given the additional instruction I had asked for, and Mr P
had been acting on a desire or belief that he should teach equitably,
rather than equally; had I been talked to calmly, politely and treated with
the dignity all students deserve, I may have been able to pass with a
higher grade and level of satisfaction rather than just relief for getting out
of his class.

The concept of equity over equality was researched by Fulk and Smith
(1995, p 416, as cited in Woolfolk Hoy and Weinstein, 2006 p. 209) and
found that teachers may be more concerned about equal treatment of
students than students are. Mr P never treated us equitably.

Disciplining students with dignity was also a major topic of discussion and
the focus of many group presentations within our workshops. Charles
(1999) review of Curwin and Mendlers Discipline with Dignity work and
Zeidner (1988, as cited in Woolfolk Hoy and Weistein, 2006) found that the
most severe sanctions in the eyes of the student (regardless of gender,
socioeconomic or cultural backgrounds) was shaming or personally
insulting a student. Public reprimands were also perceived to be
unacceptable. Mr P used these interventions regularly on both me and
other students in the class. None of the intervention or teaching strategies
Mr P employed promoted positive teacher-student relationships or pro

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Amber Archdale/Student ID:110093159
Managing Learning Environments/My Approach to Managing Learning
Environments

social behaviour. The curriculum was disengaging and his public shaming
of students violated our right to dignity. This is why I feel these particular
principles are more important- so I never become like Mr P.

Approach to promoting productive behaviour

I believe that the key to promoting productive behaviour is to form a

positive classroom environment. Bandura (1989) believes that among the
mechanisms of personal agency, none is more central or pervasive than
peoples beliefs about their capabilities to exercise control over events
that affect their lives. This concept is repeated in Curwin and Mendlers
(as cited in Charles, 1999) theories of at-risk students in the form of hope
and dignity and research by Reiss and Ross (1994, as cited in Jones and
Jones, 2010). At-risk students often have little control over other aspects
of their lives and see school as another obstacle for them to fail, so they
either succeed in not trying and therefore succeed in failing, fuelling their
self-efficacy deficit, or succeed in misbehaviour (at varying levels). When
teachers use punitive measures, the teachers are reinforcing their self-
efficacy deficit, increasing anger, anxiety, lack of hope and sense of
alienation. By using an instructional approach to discipline and learning
(Jones and Jones, 2010), students can feel confident in the fact that I will
not give up on them

The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers have a six-point

requirement for the standard Know students and how they learn. This
standard directly relates to fostering positive human relationships and
creating an engaging curriculum that will pique the interest and
motivation in the majority of students.

Research by Curwin and Mendler demonstrates that if students have input

into the academic and behavioural guidelines for the class to follow, they
are more likely to follow these guidelines. The co-creation of these
guidelines lends the students sense of responsibility for their classroom.
This is a part of a larger relationship building strategy, giving students

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Amber Archdale/Student ID:110093159
Managing Learning Environments/My Approach to Managing Learning
Environments

your trust until they lose it, rather than asking them to gain it before you
give it. Kohn (2006) said label a particular child a troublemaker and watch
him become one. By giving trust and responsibility to students based on
the assumption that they will not betray it, I will be (hopefully) preventing
a self-fulfilling prophecy of poor student academic and behavioural
outcomes.

In my classes I want to culture an environment of honesty, where

students are able and feel comfortable to say 'I dont understand this; I
feel you explained it badly' or 'I dont connect with any part of this
assessment as you have explained it, can I interpret it this way?' I want
my students to be able to feel they can assert their opinion and
interpretation upon an assessment and I want to be able to give them the
tools to do this tactfully (Lyons, Ford and Arthur-Kelly, 2014).

One method of engagement that was frequently discussed within our

tutorials and was touched on within several group presentations: to have
a quality curriculum that the students are likely to want to engage with. I
feel I have an advantage in potentially engaging students, as the arts
curriculum is more open to interpretation and experimentation with
concepts and materials. I can negotiate more freely with both individual
students and a whole class to modify sections of their assessment to suit
both the requirements of the curriculum and the interests of each student.
As a high school arts student, I was always told I would never be able to
make a living off of my art and I would have to get a real job eventually. I
know better, as some of my closest friends are living off of their arts
practice, and I want to encourage my students to know better too.

I also have a further advantage of being an artist in a medium that few

arts teachers will be I am a practicing glass maker. I can engage students
with mediums and concepts that few other teachers will be able to speak
with such in-depth knowledge as I will be able to provide.

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Amber Archdale/Student ID:110093159
Managing Learning Environments/My Approach to Managing Learning
Environments

Approach to managing unproductive and disruptive

behaviour

I believe that long term solutions need to be found to misbehaviour issues

(Charles 1999) and to do this, it is necessary to treat students with
respect and dignity, demonstrating to students that you care about their
successes in class and in life (Woolfolk Hoy and Weinstein, 2006; Charles
1999). In order to do this, I will use active listening skills (Jones and Jones,
2010), listening to the student's issues; suggesting and co-creating
strategies with the student for both the student and myself to implement.
Sullivan, Johnson, Owens and Conway (2014) suggest that a focus on
engaging students in quality curricula is likely to result in a more positive
learning environment and better behaviour. This is also using an
instructional approach to discipline (Jones and Jones, 2010) - rather than
apply punitive measures or ignore disruptive or unproductive behaviours, I
will be teaching students how to act and learn successfully. These
students are therefore becoming self-regulated individuals (McDonald,
2013) and are preparing to become successful members of post-high
school society.

One of my personal aims as a teacher is to predominantly work in schools

that have been classified as "disadvantaged" (disadvantaged schools are
schools with below average ICSEA ratings and are generally situated in
low socio-economic areas). Based on my observations from my
placement, as well as reports from other pre-service teachers on
placement in schools with similar or higher disadvantage levels, it was
obvious that there are a higher proportion of at-risk students in these
schools. Curwin and Mendler (1992, as cited in Charles 1999) classify at
risk-students as academically failing, have received and not responded to,
most (or all) of the punitive consequences the school enforces; they have
little to no hope of finding success in school and are generally associated
with other students with similar issues. These students also often do not
see a role for themselves in mainstream society.

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Amber Archdale/Student ID:110093159
Managing Learning Environments/My Approach to Managing Learning
Environments

While on placement, I was warned about a particular year 9 student who

had not handed in a single assessment, who could not read or write, had
been repeatedly suspended and was frequently in detentions and other
such punitive measures; in class was he was frequently unproductive and
low-level disruptive. I was surrounded by teachers who had given up hope
for him and were looking forward to the next time he was suspended (this
was actually verbalised at one point). What I discovered about this
student was that he loved visual arts although struggled with maintaining
focus and appropriate content. At the time, I had been discouraged by my
mentor teachers to modify the assessment for him, however I gave him
my personal materials to work with, told him they were his responsibility
and they meant a lot to me. Each lesson he completed a small amount of
art work that at the end of the assessment I could mark. I also sat down
with him at the end of the unit and he dictated to me the written
component of the assessment which I wrote out and he then copied. Over
all, I managed to get a whole assessment from him where teachers across
the school had managed to get nothing. His behaviour in my classroom by
the end of my practicum had also drastically improved to the point of
minimal classroom disruption (compared to near constant, low-level
disruption every lesson at the beginning of my practicum). In this
instance, I treated the student with respect and dignity, I slowly built up a
positive relationship with him and I modified his project to increase his
engagement in the topic. By using some of the strategies I have indicated
above, this student demonstrated behavioural and academic
improvement.

Conclusion

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Amber Archdale/Student ID:110093159
Managing Learning Environments/My Approach to Managing Learning
Environments

My beliefs about classroom management have not drastically changed

throughout this course, but have instead been reinforced. I have been
given terms for concepts I had yet to articulate. My core beliefs on
classroom management focus around relationship building, teaching
rather than punishing, treating students with the utmost respect and
dignity, and engaging students with the most engaging and flexible
curriculum I can create. I have seen this work and I have seen how
opposite fails repeatedly.

2,000 words.

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Amber Archdale/Student ID:110093159
Managing Learning Environments/My Approach to Managing Learning
Environments

Bibliography

AITSL (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership).

(2014) Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (online). Available:
http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-
teachers/standards/list (Accessed 21st June 2016)

Bandura, A. 1989. Human Agency in Social Cognitive Theory. American

Psychologist, 44(9), 1175-1184.

Charles, C.M. (1999). Richard Curwin and Allen Mendlers discipline with
dignity. Building classroom discipline. New York: Longman

Jones, V. F., & Jones, L. S. (2010). Chapter 8 Responding to violations of

rules and procedures. Comprehensive classroom management: Creating
communities of support and solving problems (9th ed.). Upper Saddle, NJ:
Merrill.

Lyons, G., Ford, M. & Arthur-Kelly, M. (2011). Chapter 3 Relationships

and communication. Classroom Management: creating positive learning
environments (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, Vic: Cengage Learning.

McDonald, T. (2013). Proactive Teacher Behaviours. Classroom

Management: Engaging students in learning (pp. 106-154) South
Melbourne, VIC: Oxford University Press.

Sullivan, A. M., Johnson, B., Owens, L. D., & Conway, R. N. F.

(2014). Punish Them or Engage Them? Teachers Views of Unproductive
Student Behaviours in the Classroom. Australian Journal of Teacher
Education, 39(6), 43-56.

Woolfolk Hoy, A & Weinstein, C. (2006). Student and teacher

perspectives on classroom management, In C. M. Everston & C. Weinstein
(Eds.), Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice and
contemporary issues (pp.181-219). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates

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Amber Archdale/Student ID:110093159
Managing Learning Environments/My Approach to Managing Learning
Environments