ED4425 Item 1: Reflective writing on Classroom Management

Reflection 1. Codes of Conduct:
So why do I have to write a code of conduct for Parents or Caregivers?.I suppose the most fundamental issue here is that schooling and educating is really a group effort, we are trying to be wholistic, as to how we go about raising these young people, into positive aware people who have the capacity to reach out and achieve outcomes that will give them some satisfaction in life. I qualify that statement with the word 'some', because I can't gaurantee outcomes with what happens for the rest of someones life, I can only control my own actions and thoughts, therefore strive to do my best for the students I am teaching.
So the first place I start with codes of conduct is myself,because I know as an adult that to function relatively well in the society that surrounds us, we all follow unseen and many times unwritten codes as to how we should behave. Many years ago if a parent smacked a misbehaving child while in the street no-one would have considered that out of place or inappropriate. Today the parent who physically disciplines a child publicly or even privately is running the risk of being thrown in jail.The imbalance of this societal shift plays out in the classroom constantly for teachers everyday. I'm not advocating brutality in any way but I do feel that the boundary setting that once was quite clear has been wrenched from adults and they havn't been given alternative strategies to support them or the children they are trying to raise.
So this reflection is a good one to have a go at establishing in my own mind a lovely fiction of how it would be if I had a school where the teachers and parents worked together and were not antagonistic or appathetic to one another and created a pro-active school and home life.
Firstly this not only involves teachers parents or caregivers its primary focus is to give the responsibility of behaviour to the students. If you were teaching a primary school group it would be wonderful to have a meeting with the parents of the year coming up and you work together to create a draft of conduct expectations prior to the new school year begining. Then when when you start the new year, you the teacher have discussion with the students establishing clear classroom expectations eg, we do not interupt when someone else is talking we raise our hand and wait till we are selected to speak. you might like to have specific positive values attached to some of these rules so that the children learn fundamental values of respect love patience caring giving etc.
Secondly creating a contract that can then be taken home for the parents and students to read together, agree upon and signed, would be a great undertaking for the student to tangibly undertake the management of their own behaviour with the support of their parents/caregivers. The reason I would use this approach is that everyone is in the loop, we are all trying to achieve the same outcomes and be as positive and supportive towards the students, with the aim of investing them with their own responsibilities and creating valuable awareness and self esteem which of course goes on to help with all areas of learning.
Thirdly consistency and clear parameters are essential for the developing student to feel safe in their lesarning environment, if they are feeling back up in their home life and not confusing messages then some of the elements of Glassers theories are being met and the chances of these kids going of the rails completely is a little less likley.
Safety, Love, power, Freedom and Fun these are the basic needs that Glasser lays out, not only students, but we all need to fulfill and only when these are met can real learning ensue. So through the implementation of a contract of behaviour guide lines that we might establish with student's and caregivers hopefully we are creating that feeling of safety and love, we are investing the students with power to choose good behaviour over disruptive behaviour, this in turn invests them with power over their engagament of learning this helps the teachers to create fun learning activities as they are not continually trying to manage misbehaviour. the students then really do have fun when they come to school so it is a positive experience and leads to further positive outcomes further down the life pathway.

Reflection 2.2, Essential Elements
I think that one of the most essential elements for all the students and teacher is that the students know where they stand, they understand what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behaviour in the classroom and as a group. they understand the rights and responsibilities of the whole group as well as the individual and the responsibilities are applied consistently, by the group and the teacher.
I specificly have used the word responsibilities instead of rules, as in my opinion students today still have the view that school is a prison, designed to contain and restrain them. With this negative view that many students reveal to me through discussion i wonder how I could construct a better way to manage misbehaviour. Reading Glassers Choice Theory and R.T.P. Responsible thinking Process by ed Ford and Bill Rodgers Positive Leadership have helped me to have a better understasnding of what I see needs to be in a well structured discipline model.

Glassers' states that " all we do is behave, that almost all behaviour is chosen and that we are driven by our genes to satisfy five basis needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom and fun". If we implement the Seven Caring Habits from his Choice Theory we are replacing the external control psychology that is predominant in the world today and in a similar vein Ed Fords Responsibile Thinking Process, helps to develope a thoughtful aware person, who is reflective apon themselves and others around them, analyses their behaviour and works out strategies to improve difficulties. Bill Rodgers also supports the idea that we develope young people that become responsible for how they act and the effect their actions have on those around them.
Through the process of implementing these theories the teacher is growing and developing themselves and developing a much deeper understanding of how they "tick" as well. I think the major outcome of adopting a discipline that incorporates these ideas is that everyone is learning about "Respect". Learning to respect others and yourself is in my mind a pathway to fulfilling the five basis needs of Glasser and the personal ideal of Ford and the strong leadership of Bill Rogers.


Reflection 2.3, Reflection onTwo Theories:

The development of psychological theories in teaching or rather how we learn and what are the main underlying fundamentals that need to be met in order to achieve a reasonable learning outcome, are the basis of many of the theorists that we have been studying this semester. We have looked at the the theories that support total teacher centered control, with our examination of Skinner and the Behaviouralists, right through to the other end of the equation where we have student centered learning with the ideas of Ed Ford , Patrick Connor and Thomas Gordon.
An important aspect of maintaining effective classroom management is that we build workable relationships between the teacher and students, to this end we may need to employ a number of theorists' strategies at any one time in the classroom. Although Billy who has ADHD, and his special support person has implemented a behaviouralists based program where they use stimulus and response based theory to support his learning, you as a teacher must be familiar with the theory behind this learning process so that you will have the skills at your finger tips to give that added and complete support to Billy in your classroom and in so doing, create that safe, fun, empowering rewarding environment for that student.
Therfore, even though you may not favour the Skinner approach of theories, you must still have the competency to understand the individual needs that will pertain to each individual student.
After looking at a variety of theories of how we can manage student behavior in the classroom, the approach of Bill Rogers and Ed Ford are two interesting processes to examine.
The Positive Behaviour Leadership Model of Rogers, which sits in the middle ground on the scale of teacher centered to student centered managment theories, supports not only the student but the behaviour of the teacher as well. I feel guidance for teachers is vitaly important, because, firstly as teachers the main emphasis has been on our approach to managing students. Fair enough, but I feel we must manage our behaviour before anything eles and this relates back to Glassers point that, "all we do is behave, and all behaviour is chosen". When we have an awareness of our own behaviour then we can remedy any traits or re-actions that need adjustment. In my view-point it is through self development that we become cognisant of how to explain the eventual benefits of self discipline and self control to students, that through the Rogers model we are trying to atttain. His model focuses on respect, rights and relationships, that extend from teacher to student, student to student, parent and student and school, school and community. The point I would like to make is that he is also aware of the teachers responsibility to themselves in having a deep understanding of respect for themselves, how we think impacts so profoundly on the students, school and parents. It is from this inner development that we can develop a strong loving platform from which to implement our management process. From this positive behaviour model the students can identify clearly positive behaviour outcomes, but Rogers is not so naive as to suggest that this is all we need, he also supports preventative strategies in the form of very clear rules that are stated posistvely and the establishment of consequences for the breaking of those rules. "The authoratitative, democratic or decisive teacher knows their rights as a teacher and calmly goes about claiming their rights. they have a clear plan for responding to students' inappropriate behaviour. They have established clear rules and students know what behaviour is expected of them". ( Classroom Discipline and Management, p223) we are aimimg at student co-operation. He also focuses on body language and vocal language as a very important tool, to be consciously trained by the teacher to achieve student awareness and co-operation.
Another model that could compliment Rogers positive Leadership is the Ford model Responsible thinking Process. This model celebrates that we are all individuals whose schema is formed by the environment that we grow up in. it challenges us to help the student develop thier own idea of who they wish to develop into and sets them on a course to achieve this. to achieve this they need to be able to establish values and beliefs systems and understand the principles that go with these values. having got this far they then work out the behavioural boundaries thsat they feel will help them to achieve the support of the principle they wish to adopt. Again this is a sophisticated model that I think could only be attempted once the teacher has that competent understanding of the works of Glasser Rogers Dreikurs and the behaviouralists like skinner. It has merit in the way it invests the responsibility back onto the student in a aware and constantly developing way and provides a positive structure of learning self respect and respect for others as well as a realistic acceptance of the fact that we can fail but we assess and then find new approaches and we then learn new strategies for our individual needs.
As I mentioned at the begining of this piece I feel I would use many models all at once but it is through practice and the process of "Praxis" that Iwill develop that calm assertive confident teacher that I wish to become. Praxis= action then reflection upon the action, identification of flaws and the assessing how you can improve the process and then putting it into action once again, then assessing the results once again. As you can see a life long tool to create the best you can be at a given moment and always aimimg at improvement and positive output.




Bibliography:
Clifford H. Edwards & Vivienne Watts. Classroom Discipline & Management an australian perspective. John Wiley & Sons Australia, 2004.

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