My Philosophy 

 

The discipline I most align with is the Cooperative Discipline philosophy by Linda Albert. In this model, the teacher works hand in hand with students to solve discipline issues in class. This puts the teacher and the students on the same page meteorically. Albert believed that the teacher and students can work cooperatively to make a positive community that is centered on learning and belonging. This can discipline ensures that more teaching and learning can take place in the classroom in my opinion. I want my future class to be one of love and learning, and this fits with Cooperative Discipline as Albert believed in showing affection and encouragement in the classroom.  I also want to establish a behavior code with my students together. I want to have teacher-student-parent cooperation in my class. I plan to turn misbehavior into a chance for students to learn to behave better, instead of punishing students, getting rid of them, or belittling them.I perceive the development of procedures and rules to occur over time. Children need to practice procedures to become familiar with them. When it comes to rules, children need to experience them and learn why they are in place. This will help them understand them and follow them because they will know why. 

​

I believe a big part of the first day/first week of school should be focused on introducing rules and procedures to the students. The First Six Weeks of School textbook gives wonderful tips for starting off the year on a positive note in regards to rules and procedures. I plan to use this book to establish them in my classroom. Moving on, each day in the classroom my CT has her students go over the classroom rules. Each time the students line up, students go over the 4 line rules so they know the exceptions. I believe that making sure students understand the rules and procedures is essential to success when it comes to classroom management. I want to follow as my CT does and do this with my future students. My beliefs also comes from my education and being in classrooms that run well with rules. Rules and procedures influence behavior management as they encourage students to be role model students and they tell them the exceptions. Without rules and procures, I think the classroom would be highly unorganized. 

​

The type of authority base that fits with my personal teaching philosophy is referent. In this authority base the students have motivation to behave because they like the teacher as a person, this is also a requirement for the use of this base. This fits with my beliefs of rules/procedures as it builds positive relationship with students. I value students as people and their own unique experiences, and I want my students to value me the same. This base works with my philosophy as it focuses on uniting the class and not breaking down the students. The second type of authority base that fits in my philosophy is expert. This is not very useful at a primary level because the students need to value the teacher and knowledge. Moving on, I do not have as positive views on the legitimate and reward/coercive bases. A downfall to these bases is that needs to be a high level of teacher management for the student's behavior, unlike the other two.  

My beliefs aline with student directed theories, as I think that students must have the primary responsibility for controlling their  behavior, and students are capable of controlling their behavior. This fits in with the authority bases I prefer. I want my classroom to be like a democracy, where students have choices and freedom of expression. I want my classroom to be student directed where the classroom is caring and students know how to self-direct. This differs from teacher directed theories. 

​

I am learning a lot of myself from the readings ,class discussions/activities, and my field experience.  I am finding out what type of educator I am. I want to be the type of teacher who creates a loving classroom where learning is valued. I plan to value all my students and their experiences. I want my students to respect me because they enjoy learning and like me. I do not want to force my students to behave right, I want them to do it on their own. In addition, I want to reward my students for things they do right; however, I believe they should do the right thing because it is the right thing, not for the reward.