Classroom Management Philosophy

 

     Jim Fay and David Funk's "Teaching with Love & Logic" has opened my eyes to a whole new avenue of classroom management. Prior to reading this book, I was that teacher who was very assertive, and would nip discipline problems in the bud and have "heart-to-heart" chats with my classes almost weekly about my expectations in the classroom and how they have failed to reach these expectations. It was always the same, week after week. ANd then Fay and Funk introduced me to concepts that reached to me as a student, rather than a teacher. Their four key principles of love and logic are exactly what I wish my high school teachers had utilized when I was a student, struggilng with my self-image and self-worth. I have realized now that more traditional forms of discipline are likely to turn students away, and hurt rather than help their development.

     The first principle of Love & Lovgic is the enhancement of self-concept. At the secondary level, so many students are struggling with their self-worth, and often don't have anyone to help feed them a healthy dose of confidence. My natural instinct is to feed them compliments and tell them how important they are, but, as Fay and Funk say, this only leads students to rely on outside sources to tell them what their worth is. My job as an educator, when disciplining, is to get my students to see their own self-worth, and be confident in themselves so when they are struggling they don't have to outsource to someone else to validate them. I wish I had this encouragement and reinforcement when I was in school, so I want to utilize it in my classroom. I have started telling students that they should feel proud, or disappointed in their performance, rather than me stamping a label on how they performed. This allows them to begin to take responsibility for their actions and their feelings about themselves.

     The second principle of Love & Logic is shared control. I believe it is important for my students to help in some of the decision making that occurs in the every day classroom. They are more likely to engage with the assignments or abide by the rules if they have a part in creating them and coming up with the consequences for failing to follow directions. Once I begin establishing my own classroom, I want to utilize this tool and give my students some say in what our class rules are, and what the consequences may be for disregarding the rules. I want to give them as much power and control as I can, within reason, because I want them to actively engage with their learning and their environment.

     The third principle of Love & Logic is consequences with empathy. I believe this principle is effective only if I have firmly implemented the first principle, because if I have not worked to internally build my students up, then my attempts to separate my feelings of the student and the disciplinary action will only encourage them to outsource once again for validation, or on the contrary, learn to despise their elders and authority figures because they will assume my feelings of the student and the discplinary action are related. With that said, I believe it is important that I strive to keep the two separated. If the student knows that I care about them and that the disciplinary action does not affect how I see them as a student, they will be less likely to act out in class. 

     The fourth, and final, principle of Love & Logic is shared thinking. This principle is crucial for me as an educator, because it will keep me from getting burned out too early into my career. I need to ensure that my students are putting in just as much effort as I am, so that I don't get tired too soon. I believe that if I offer my students opportunities to be involved and share in the thinking process, then I will be able to serve my students longer. Also, this will ensure that my students are truly gaining something from their experience, and not just being strung along for the ride or the "easy A."

     I am still practicing many of these principles, and I am far from consistency or perfection, but I want to implement these four principles in my own classroom because I think they are the keys to establishing a classroom environment based on mutual respect between me as the teacher, my students, and even their peers. Teachign with love and logic is my desired classroom mangement plan, and I will strive to build these relationships with my students.