CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY 1

Classroom Management Philosophy

Kylee Duitsman

California State University, Chico

EDTE 255: Introduction to Democratic Perspective in K-12 Education

David L. Teja, Ed.D

November 27, 2022

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Classroom management is a very important aspect of teaching. On the very first day of

school, teachers should, “define the standards and purpose of your community and set

expectations” (Alber, 2015). Depending on the grade you teach, these expectations will probably

look different. Younger kids probably still need rules such as, “keep hands and feet to

yourselves”. Once kids get older, that becomes an unspoken rule, so you could keep that one out.

I like the idea of having a large discussion and brainstorming rules for the classroom. At the end

of the discussion, we can consolidate and keep three main rules. Whatever the purpose of your

classroom is, whether that be learning new things, making friends, etc., classroom expectations

should be able to link to that. The expectations set at the beginning of the year should be

repeated multiple times throughout the year, and should be followed by everyone.

In the classroom I’ll also use attention signals. I think it’s important to keep student

engagement, and if I ever need to regain engagement, attention signals can be a great way to do

that. There are a lot of different attention signals I’ve seen used. There are a lot of verbal signals

that can be used as attention grabbers, as well as silent ones. Hand gestures, such as holding up 1,

2, 3, fingers can also be used as attention grabbers. The verbal signals are extremely effective in

my experience. Sometimes you might have to repeat it a few times, but once a few kids realize

what’s happening, they’ll participate and the whole class is paying attention. There are a lot of

fun attention signals, and when I was in school, some of my teachers let us give them attention

signals to use with the class. There’s a large variety of signals and you can definitely make them

fun for the students.

Another important part of classroom management is providing routines and structure to

the students. It’s extremely important to make your classroom a safe environment. “Students will

be more likely to meet your expectations, follow your routines, and respond to your redirection if
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they feel cared for and valued in your classroom. Express interest in your students, notice their

strengths, and reinforce positive behavior” (Lissy, 2013). Routines should be established early

on. That could be a specific order students turn things in, a specific order you do things in a

lesson, and so much more. “Routines are all about saving time, managing expectations, and

making behavior choices easy for students” (Roush, 2021). I think that routine and structure are

one of the keys to creating a safe environment for students, along with classroom expectations.

Managing misbehavior is a huge part of classroom management. There are a lot of ways

to do this, but I think proximity control is extremely beneficial. With proximity control, you

would need to be able to be in constant motion, walking around the classroom, so this might not

always be something that can be done. When you are able to do it, students will be more

engaged. Students will be more willing to raise hands to ask questions or provide answers if the

teacher is right next to them. Taking these chances and raising hands builds student confidence.

It also allows the teacher to give instant feedback and make sure they know what all the students

are doing. If the teacher is standing right next to them, students are way more likely to be

engaged and doing their work. Even outside classwork, proximity can solve problems. If two

students are arguing, they’re much less likely to continue in the presence of an adult or teacher.

There are so many ways to manage a classroom, and there are too many to add to my

philosophy right now. I already know my small list will be ever-changing. Once I gain more

experience in the classroom, this philosophy will evolve, and I’ll add more and probably remove

things as well.
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References

Alber, R. (2015, August 21). 5 quick classroom-management tips for novice teachers. Edutopia.

Retrieved November 24, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/classroom-

management-tips-novice-teachers-rebecca-alber

Lissy, R. (2013, August 1). September strategies to foster a successful classroom community.

Better Classroom Management from Day One, 8(22). Retrieved November 25, 2022.

Roush, A. (2021, September 22). Why classroom routines are important. TechNotes Blog.

Retrieved November 25, 2022, from https://blog.tcea.org/classroom-routines/