Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Comparison Paper
I think it would be unfair to say over the course of 5 weeks, my entire teaching
philosophy has changed or miraculously altered in some way. I wouldn’t even go so far as to use
the word “changed”; maybe solidified is more apt in this scenario, but even so I came into the
class with a rather solid world view of who I was as both a person and as a future teacher. A lot
of the theorists presented in this class were refreshers for me, and even one of them I have had as
a professor during my tenure at the Univeristy of Houston. However, I will concede the fact that
in working closely with my fellow graduate students, being introduced into various classrooms
of learners, and through group presentations, I have been able to have a more concrete mastery of
the skills I have been working towards in my Master’s degree, and I have garnered more clarity
My personal philosophy of education aligns closely with Glasser’s Choice Theory and
Freiberg’s CMCD model of classroom management. Choice Theory postulates that student
choice can be a powerful motivational tool by helping fulfill five basic human needs: survival
and security, love and belonging, power through cooperation and competency, freedom, and fun.
By understanding and attending to those needs, I hope to customize and manage a classroom
environment where students learn to motivate and monitor themselves. The CMCD approach
has ties to Choice Theory in that it sets the student up as active participants, or citizens of the
classroom, rather than tourists. As the teacher, my aim is to create a consistent but flexible
learning environment in conjunction with the students, establishing a cooperative plan for the
rules and procedures that govern the classroom. By expanding leadership roles towards students
and allowing them to semi-self-govern, I recognize the student as a mature adult, which leads to
students feeling more respected and showing more consistency in their behaviour. In essence, I
Comparison Paper 3
believe in treating students like human beings, who have a voice and are able to have an outlet to
During lecture throughout the semester, I put asterisks next to information I deemed vital
to my future classroom; most of these were ideas and ideals that I had never considered before:
If you’re feeling bad about a decision you’ve made [in the classroom], make more
decisions
These bullets are things that I feel are detrimental to certain scenarios within the classroom,
and things that I feel are often overlooked or totally ignored by teachers. Through my literature
review, I found that research supported most of these ideas, especially the idea that your mood
does not need to dictate the mood of the classroom. I realize that as a teacher, if my mood
controls the classroom, it can be detrimental to the overall community mental health if I am
So after this course, what does effective classroom management look like to me?
Inspiring
Consistent
A flexible and adaptable teacher who promotes creativity and innovation through a
collaborative classroom
I think my strengths for teaching lie within my ability to empathize with students,
choosing to be an affective teacher who is ready and willing to listen, but at the same time as
someone who is an effective disciplinarian that can separate my relationship with the student
goals to strive to be a teacher who fosters a collaborative classroom that institutes student choice
over tradition, treats students as leaders rather than a body in a seat, and provide an environment
where students can feel respected, valued, and loved. I believe teachers have a duty to their
students and to themselves to attempt to be the best role model, mentor, and educator that they
can be. Fulfilling this duty requires that a teacher never stops learning and continues to evaluate
their performance among colleagues and students, leading by example inside and outside of the
classroom. But the key to my educational philosophy still rests on the fundamental idea that
students should actively be involved in the classroom, working with the teacher to create a