Teaching Philosophy

A teaching philosophy is the approach and beliefs someone has about the process and

approach to teaching that someone has. I will be exploring my own teaching philosophy and

what I believe makes a good teacher, drawing on points on influence and theoretical

frameworks that have helped shape my teaching approach. My teaching philosophy will look

at my beliefs about what makes a good teacher, how to engage students, approaches to

behavioural management, classroom organisation, reflexivity and incorporation of the

curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. I believe good teaching is about being able to engage

students, making them want to learn. This can be done through planning and implementing

different approaches before reviewing them and being reflective making adjustments as I go.

My approach to teaching is one that keeps the students at the forefront and to work with them

in order improve their learning.

Communication between students and staff are key to help manage and build

relationships and safe learning environments for the students. I believe that good

communication between teacher and student is vital to a positive classroom climate.

Communication can be taking in different ways by different people, to address this I intend to

use both verbal and non-verbal communication processes such as eye contact, positioning,

open questions and active listening (Lyons, Ford and Slee, 2014). Teacher personal beliefs

affect the way we create Positive Learning Environments by Changing the way we perceive

things, the teacher comes into the classroom with beliefs and expectations, these impact on

the way we perceive and communicate with different students and can have both a positive

and negative effect. By acknowledging what we as teachers bring into the class, we can be

reflective of our practice and take an active approach to improving our communication.

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 The classroom environment is an important factor that needs to be considered with

teaching, it is after all the place where learning takes place, so it should be a place that

facilitates learning. In order to do this we must consider the structure of the classroom

including the rules and expectations, as well as the students approach to it. I believe the

classroom should be a place to display students work so they can be proud of their learning

environment. This can help students show respect to their classroom because it is ‘their’

learning space. The classroom rules dictate the climate of the learning space, these rules and

expectations should not only focus on the bad behaviours but also on the good behaviours

offers both reward and consequence. The process of establishing rules should be discussed as

a class at the start of the term, having the students contribute to the creation of the rules, as

long as it is within reason. The communication process is key when exploring classroom

management and plays a large role in the goal centred theory and the talk sense to yourself

program. Students should feel safe within the classroom environment, able to ask questions

and not feel as though they are dictated to but are part of a team that works with the teacher to

learn.

The curriculum and assessment are key parts of teaching and they control some of the

approaches we take. I find that through apply the plan-implement-review (PIR) cycle and

different forms of assessment, I can effectively address these areas. By establishing clear

lesson goals, ensuring the students understand the importance and relevance of the lesson,

provide a task with room for personal choice and growth and consolidate learning through

collaboration before reviewing the process and reapplying it (Lyons et al, 2014). Assessment

is important because it can be used to gage success, failure, areas of improvement and stating

levels. It allows both the teacher and student to know where improvements can be made and

areas which have been successful. It also can be used as a reflective approach to improve

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pedagogy. Though I have had the opportunity to apply some informal assessment approaches

throughout my practical, I still need to work on developing my baseline assessment skills,

formative assessment and summative to better understand the students learning process. Each

student can learn in a different manner, and as a teacher the approaches we choose has an

impact on this. In order to address this we need to know our students and how they learn, and

it is worth drawing on all of the professional standards for teacher’s to help with this (APST,

2011). Though the professional standards are great guidelines you need to put it into practice,

this can be done in a number of ways, from building rapport, establishing rules and many

more. Due to this I will use a variety of approaches such as differentiation, the Think-Pair-

Share Model, feedback, expectations, clear learning goals and lesson content (advance

organiser), developing social skills and rapport.

Behavioural management theories that I believe would be affective for me to apply

within my classroom include goal-centred theory (Dreikurs, Gmnwald and Pepper, 1998) and

the Talk Sense to Yourself program (Wragg, 1989). Both of these programs can be

implemented alongside each other and work towards providing choice to the students and

building their social and emotional learning skills to self-manage emotions and actions.

Different ways to do this could be to hold lessons specifically around developing these skills

and through questioning that provides choices to the students. My approach to behavioural

management is one that is student based, though it is still important to have boundaries and

rules established I do not believe control through being a dictator is the correct approach. The

teacher is learning alongside the students, not the content but about the teaching and learning

process. With this it is important be become reflective, improving on practice and teaching

methods, applying action research in the classroom and keeping records of the results. Even

though you may not be successful, you should never give up, as something will work and it is

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the process that will improve you as a teacher. Through all of these approaches I still believe

that students should be given a choice and the skills to self-manage, not only their actions but

their emotions building their resilience and wellbeing.

Therefore, my approach to teaching is one that is about the student as a learner, my goal is to

improve the learning environment to help students achieve. The lives of many students can be

hard and the school should be a safe environment to learn, not only content but social and

emotional competencies. My role as a teacher is to provide these opportunities through my

approaches. These approaches include behavioural management plans, reflexive practice,

classroom organisation and rapport building. I wish to always strive for the success of the

students.

Acknowledgements:

APST, (2011). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. Retrieved from

http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/apst-

resources/australian_professional_standard_for_teachers_final.pdf

De Jong, T. (2005). A Framework of Principles and Best Practice for Managing Student

Behaviour in the Australian Education Context, School Psychology International,

26(3): 353–370.

Dreikurs, R., B. B. Gmnwald, and F. C. Pepper. 1998. Maintaining sanity in the classroom:

Classroom management techniques. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis.

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Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and

emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of

Educational Research, 79(1), 491–525.

Killu, K. (2008). Developing effective behavior intervention plans: Suggestions for school

personnel. Intervention in School and Clinic, 43(3), 140-149. Retrieved from

https://search-proquest-

com.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/docview/211749857?accountid=36155

Lyons, G., Ford, M., & Slee, J. (2014). Classroom management: Creating positive learning

environments (4th ed.). South Melbourne, Australia: Cengage

Mrs Patricia Maidens – Teaching me to develop classroom management approaches and

demonstrating good teaching practice.

Mrs Tori Rothery – Supporting my desire to improve education through the wellbeing of

students’ mental health.

Mrs Jessica Mazzolini – First mentor teacher who provided me with a great example of

classroom management and how to build rapport with students.

Quality teaching in NSW public schools: A classroom practice guide. (2003). Retrieved from

http://www.rqt.edu.au/files/5514/1774/9895/NSW_DET_2003-

Quality_Teaching_Guide.pdf

Wragg, J. (1989). Talk sense to yourself: A program for children and adolescents.

Melbourne: ACER

Zins, J. E., Bloodworth, M. R., Weissberg, R. P., & Walberg, H. J. (2007). The Scientific
Base Linking Social and Emotional Learning to School Success. Journal of
Educational and Psychological Consultation, 17(2-3), 191-210.
doi:10.1080/10474410701413145

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 Developing your philosophy of classroom
management
John De Nobile
School of Education, Macquarie University
With adaptations by Roberto H Parada, School of Education, University of Western Sydney

This resource consists of a series of linked activities chapter-by-chapter to Lyons et al.

Classroom Management: Creating positive learning environments 4E. These activities enable
you to progressively work on and develop your own philosophy, plan and style of classroom
management.

A classroom philosophy, simply put, is a statement of what you believe about how to best
manage a class and how you will go about achieving that vision. This resource will help you
build it bit by bit. Complete the activities linked to each chapter of the text and by the end
of chapter 10 you should be able to bring your work together to form your classroom
philosophy.

(Week 1) Chapter 1: Modelling classroom management

In this chapter you have gained a small insight into the hectic world of teachers starting out,
and have been exposed to the bases of a good classroom management plan through the
Lyford Model. The following activities are designed to get you thinking about your own
model of teaching and classroom management.

1.1 What is a ‘good teacher’? Think about the teachers from your days in primary and
secondary schooling. What qualities did they have that made them ‘good’? Make a list
in the box below.

A good teacher is someone who can engage the students making them want to learn.
They need to be approachable, kind, caring, fair and motivated.

1.2 Using the Lyford Model as a starting point, what do you think are the key considerations
when a teacher is planning their strategy for classroom management? After making some
rough notes, pick out the most important ones and list them below.

They need to be reflective, they need to consider many different aspects not only one.

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 It’s not just about classroom management but planning and reviewing the process.

1.3 With your responses to the last two activities as a source of ideas, complete the
sentence in the box below.

I believe good teaching is about being able to engage students making them want to
learn. This can be done through planning and implementing different approaches before
reviewing them and being reflective making adjustments as they go.

(Week 2)Chapter 2: Classroom management theory

In this chapter you have been introduced to some theories of behaviour/classroom
management. More are presented in the online companion. Some of these might have
caused you to react in some way, either negatively or positively. Of the ones you developed
a positive feeling about, was there a particular theory that stood out? Was there a theory or
approach that you felt might fit your view of how children should be treated and how
teaching happens? Think about this before responding to the activities.

2.1 In the box below, list the theories that you think are ‘not for you’ under the heading
‘Not me’, and the theories that you think are more favourable under the heading ‘More
like me’.

Not me More like me

Canters Assertive Discipline Carters Cognitive Behavioural Theory
Applied Behaviour Analysis Goal Centered Theory
Glasser’s Choice Theory

2.2 Now take a closer look at the theories you placed in the ‘More like me’ column. Read
the suggested readings provided in this chapter and the online companion. Get to know
the theories more intimately. Use this new knowledge, specifically the key philosophies
behind the theories (or theory), to develop your own statement of belief about the sort
of places classrooms should be. Complete the following sentence and perhaps add
another to accompany it.

I believe classrooms should be places where students are placed on the same level as the
teacher, it should not be a dictatorship within the classroom, but students still need to
respect the teacher. The approach should keep the students best interest at mind and
work with them in establishing boundaries that can be built upon together as a class.

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(Week 3)Chapters 3 & 6: Relationships, communication & Professional
reflexivity
Effective communication is a key component of effective classroom management, and
quality teaching depends on it. This chapter describes some very useful skills for dealing
with inappropriate student behaviour in a non-confrontational and positive way. Being
aware of non-verbal cues will lead a teacher to be more sensitive to how their messages are
being received as well as how to send messages and provide feedback more effectively.
Active listening allows teachers and students to interact with minimal interference from
underlying emotional factors. I-messages provide the teacher with a tool to convey to
students how their behaviour is affecting the class in a non-submissive, informative and
positive manner.

Teaching philosophies often describe the way a teacher will interact with their students and
this, in turn, provides a window into the classroom climate that a teacher is trying to
establish. The following activities should help you to identify your preferred way of
communicating with the class generally as well as in dealing with inappropriate behaviour.
After completing them you should have a better idea of how your classroom philosophy will
describe your communication style in the classroom.

3.1 After reading this chapter and doing some of your own follow-up reading, list in the
boxes below which communication methods you are most attracted to, and which ones
you have not tried but would not mind practising to see if they might work for you.

My preferred communication style Things I’d like to try out

Active listening Non-verbal communication
Gesture, posture and positioning Facial expression and eye contact
Proximity
Negotiating

3.2 You will need to pre-empt the communication paragraph in your philosophy with a
sentence or two underpinning or justifying it. Using your readings of the chapter, in
particular the Relationships and communication, Interference, Communication process
and Non-verbal communication sections, complete the sentence in the box below. You
might need to add a second or even a third sentence.

I believe that good communication between teacher and student is vital to a positive
classroom climate because effective communication is needed in order for the teacher to
portray what they want the students to do. It can also be important with the process of
classroom management. Through the different interferences that are present on both
sides in the communication process, such as gender, age, race family, opinions,
experiences and expectations it can change the communication process. This means that
what is being said or communicated in a non-verbal manner may have a different
meaning for the receiver as they have a different set of interferences that are impacting
on them. In order to combat this, finding both verbal and non-verbal communication

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 processes such as eye contact, positioning, open questions and active listening, to make
sure that both the sender and receiver are on the same page with what is being asked.
This is useful to help avoid confusion and help to improve rapport and instructions
between teachers and students.

3.3 To complete your paragraph on communication you will now need to identify the key
strategies you will use. Take another look at the lists in 3.1 and pick the most suitable of
these to complete the section below.

Therefore, I will apply a wide range of communication process within the classroom
including both verbal and non-verbal cues and approaches, so that what I am asking or
what the student is asking can be understood appropriately. This will help avoid confusion
and misunderstanding, help build rapport and help with classroom management.

This week you also looked at how personal beliefs can help or hinder in your relationships
and communication with students.

3.3 Briefly outline your understanding of how beliefs can help or hinder your ability to
create positive learning environments:

Teacher personal beliefs affect the way we create Positive Learning Environments by
Changing the way we perceive things, the teacher comes into the classroom with beliefs
and expectations, these impact on the way we perceive and communicate with different
students and can have both a positive and negative effect. By acknowledging what we as
teachers being into the class we can be reflective of our practice and take an active
approach to improving our communication.

Chapter 6: Professional reflexivity

The last of the four positive practices is professional reflexivity. Good teachers reflect on
what they do frequently, during lessons as well as afterwards. Examining how well things
worked, or how things didn’t work as well as planned, helps teachers to inform their future
teaching and consequently improve their practice. This chapter discusses at length an action
research model that can be used to encourage professional reflexivity. There are, of course,
other models to consider as indicated in the reference list at the end of the chapter.

Your teaching philosophy should describe how and for what purpose you might engage in a
cycle of professional reflexivity, be it through critical analysis using various perspectives or
an action research model, or both.

6.1 Why should teachers engage in professional reflexivity? By reading this chapter you will
get a clear idea about the benefits of reflection on and in action. Once you have given
this some thought and done some further reading, complete the following sentence.

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 I believe professional reflexivity is important to my teaching because this allows you to
look inward at personal beliefs and values about behaviours. Being reflexive in my
practice also provided me opportunities to make improvements both in my interactions
with the students but also my approach to teaching, management techniques and my
overall philosophy.

6.2 Having thought up a justification for it, how will you go about engaging in reflection
about your practice in your teaching career? Once you have thought this out, think of
some practical and achievable ways you can engage in professional reflexivity and
complete the next sentence.

As a consequence of this belief, I will engage in reflective practices such as diary writing,
record keeping, surveys and action research. The most important step in this process is
the action research, this is because it takes my personal thoughts and reflection of the
lesson and turns it into something practical. Action research is all about making changes
reflecting, reviewing and making changes again. Through this process you can establish
what does and does not work, because not everything will work but it’s the process that
will improve me as a teacher. To know and establish a starting point thorough research in
the field should be undertaken and then continued personal research should be
undertaken in the revision of lessons. Ways to apply this would be things such as finding
and working alongside a mentor, normally a senior in the field who has a wide range of
experiences.

(Week 4)Chapter 4: Classroom organisation and Curriculum, assessment and

pedagogy
Classroom management is not just about managing behaviour. At the heart of teaching and
learning are the curriculum taught, the pedagogy used and the assessment designed to
measure how well that curriculum was taught and how well the pedagogy worked. This
chapter takes you through these three areas one at a time.

The next part of your teaching philosophy will be about how you will deliver curriculum and
assess student achievement/growth. After reading this chapter, please reflect on the
following:
 What will you take into consideration when planning your teaching program?
 How will you know what to teach and where to start?
 What are the many ways in which your students could demonstrate achievement other
than tests and quizzes?
 What teaching approaches will you use and what philosophical views will your
pedagogies reflect?

4.1 Using the PIR Cycle as a stimulus, explain how you will go about planning your teaching
program in the box below.

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 Firstly I would need to establish clear goals and expectations of the learning outcomes for
the lesson. Ensuring the students understand the importance and relevance of the lesson.
Once this is establish students should be given the task, the question should have room
for growth so that they can take the question in a direction they want, keeping to the
overall goal. Opportunities for independent activities and peer based activities should be
used to help consolidate learning. This process should be reviewed and learning goals
reassessed and changes made to improve the learning process.
q

4.2 Why is assessment important? What types of assessment will you develop and why?
Answer these two questions below.

Assessment is important because it can be used to gage success, failure, areas of

improvement and stating levels. It allows both the teacher and student to know where
improvements can be made and areas which have been successful. As a teacher
assessment is important so that the information being taught draws on pre knowledge
whilst keeping the content at the correct level. It also can be used as a reflective approach
to improve pedagogy. I will be developing my baseline assessment skills, so that I can
establish the correct starting level for the students. Formative assessment so that I can
keep track at the progression of learning content and that students are understanding
and summative to ensure that all content was understood.

4.3 Pedagogy refers to how you will teach the curriculum. Usually, the type of pedagogy
you implement is influenced by a basic belief about how students best learn. After
considering your pedagogical approach and strategies, complete the sentences below.

I believe that students best learn through engagement in the classroom, this can be from
relevant content, clear structure and instructions and activities being explored and
explained appropriately. Each student can learn in a different manner, and as a teacher
the approaches we choose has an impact on this, in order to combat this we need to
know our students and how they learn. Through this approach we can accomidate the
differing needs of the students.

Therefore I will use a variety of approaches such as differentiation, the Think-Pair-Share

Model, feedback, expectations, clear learning goals and lesson content (advance
organiser), developing social skills and rapport.

Chapter 5: Classroom organisation

As explained in this chapter, there are several dimensions to classroom organisation. Each of
these put together become the manifestation of your classroom culture. Your classroom
culture is, simply put, the way your class operates and incorporates:

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 rules and procedures
 organisation of the physical space.

It is now time to think about how your teaching philosophy will describe these two aspects
and explain them in terms of an overarching set of beliefs or approaches. After reading this
chapter, complete the next two activities.

5.1 What values do you hold as important to establishing an orderly, productive and
positive classroom? Answer this question below, then list the key rules/expectations
you think flow naturally from those values and which you want to stress in your class.
Complete the section by explaining how rules and consequences will be established in
your classroom.

Expectations should be clear, this includes behavioural rules, and consequences work and
learning expectations are also included.
My approach includes at the start of the term, establish a set of classroom rules which
should be created alongside the students establishing and agreeing on reasonable
consequences for each of the good and bad behaviours. There should not be a focus on
only the bad and wrong behaviours but should consider positive and good behaviours and
how they should be rewarded. At the start of every lesson we should touch on
expectations and how students have been performing in these either with positive
comments or by re addressing key areas of improvement.

5.2 What should your classroom look like to visitors entering it. Why? Think about this then
answer the question and explain how you might organise:
 seating
 classroom space (displays, colours, furniture, etc).

I believe a seating plan is good to use within the classroom, it can take time to find what
works well but it helps give order to the classroom. Students should have the consistency
when they enter the class, the class should also be entered in a calm and collected
manner or it should be repeated until this is achieved. This can be one of the rules set and
established alongside the students. Within the classroom environment I want the
students to be able to display their work and be proud of their learning environment
know it is their environment. This can help students show respect to their classroom
because it is ‘their’ learning space. The space will have a variety of things displayed on the
walls from techniques to interesting facts to students work. Students should know that
they are required to raise their hand before speaking.

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(Week 5).Chapter 7: Interventions & Evaluation
Interventions bring the focus of your philosophy back to the behaviour management aspect
of classroom management. The first part of this chapter explains intervention as something
that is done to one or more aspects of the classroom milieu to improve a situation that is
getting out of hand (or has the potential to), usually as a result of inappropriate behaviour
that threatens the stability of the learning environment. The chapter presents approaches
to intervention according to the three theoretical orientations introduced in chapters 1
and 2.

7.1 After reading this chapter ask yourself the following questions and record your answers.

Which approach am I most Why? How would I use this in

comfortable working with?
(You can chose more than 1)
Goal-centred theory Because students do require
attention and at times play
up due to their needs not
being met, this approach
allows teacher to stop the
interaction before it
escalates through asking
appropriate questions and
finding out the needs.
Talk sense to yourself Giving students the skills to
program self-manage emotions and
behaviour is key as it is
required throughout life.
practice?
When something starts to
become an issue, find the
cause, then work through
meeting the need working
with the students and
offering choices to achieve
this outcome
Introduce the students to
the approach, provide a
chart on the wall where
students can place
themselves into a level of
engagement at that time
and work through
approaches to improve or
maintain these levels. Help
students create cue cards to
establish approaches and
ways for students to deal
with this for example
meditation.

7.2 Did you list more than one approach? If so, how might the two (or more) approaches
work together as a behaviour management strategy (or sequence of strategies in a
plan)?

I believe both the goal centred theory and the TSTY program will work well together, it
allows you to work with an issue as it arises giving the student choices to combat this,

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 whilst building on this through the use of self management, the TSTY program will assist
students in making choices in the goal centred theory, and depending on the choices the
TSTY approach can improve and help manage these feelings.

7.3 Having thought through the approaches and how you would apply them, it is time to
nail down your intervention strategy. First, write about the approach (or approaches)
you believe will work best and why.

If intervention for behaviour management is needed, I believe that working on

approaches created by the student to combat their own approach will work best, also
guidance from the teacher through choices instead of direct discipline will assist the
student in calming down or going back on task.

7.4 Now write about how you would put the above into practice.

In line with this thinking, I will create a lesson where we discuss the choices we making
and ways of dealing with emotions, this can be done through creating cue cards for
different emotions such as anger, excited, bored and happy. They will have on them
approaches they can use to bring themselves back to the classroom, or the teacher can
offer them guided choices to manage the situation based on the different behaviours.

7.5 Having written an overview of your intervention plan, go back to your earlier
statements, particularly your responses to 1.3, 2.2, 3.3 and 5.1. In light of 7.3 and 7.4 do
you need to modify any of these? If so, make the changes now.

This week we also discussed the importance of considering evaluation for interventions

7.6 Briefly outline below how you would go about documenting and monitoring an
intervention with a student(s) or class for effectiveness.

Taking into consideration the need to have objective measures of effectiveness of an

intervention I will monitor student progress in the following ways I will organise meeting
for discussion and review of the approaches, review cue cards and offer support for those
who need more, I will constantly need to improve on my choice questioning skills and
skills for noticing and intervening in behaviours before they get out of control.

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(Week 6) Chapter 8: Stories from the field (Personal Reading)
In this chapter there are 10 stories where teachers and others describe an aspect of their
experience with classroom management in the real world. The online companion website
presents even more. To complete the activity below please read between three and five of
these. They will provide you with a variety of models of practice in classroom management
and might trigger new ideas to include in your philosophy of teaching.

8.1 After reading some of the case studies (E.g., 8 in the text Lisa, 9 Andrew, 10 Wendy and
16, 19, 20 etc online), what would you add about aspects of your classroom
management that have not been mentioned so far in your philosophy? Add these in the
box below in rough draft form. You can refine them later in 10.1.

Time limits, teachers wellbeing in the classroom and approach to the ‘job’. The approach
teachers take to the students, their beliefs, avoid raising voice, don’t be stuck to the front
of the room!

(Week 7) Social Emotional Learning in Schools. Cohen, J. (2006) & Zins, et al

(2007).
Social and Emotional Learning brings your attention to focus efforts on promoting students’
social and emotional competencies. Many leaders in the field underscore the importance of
skills-based teaching and learning to properly address this important facet of teaching the
whole child.
8.1 After reading Cohen and Zin and reflecting on the lecture content what would you add
about aspects of your classroom management that have not been mentioned so far in
your philosophy? Add these in the box below in rough draft form. You can refine them
later in 10.1.

The classroom should include approaches of social and emotional learning for all students
to help prevent bullying, this should be done by making clear rules that are constant and
by promoting inclusivity within class tasks. The teacher also need to be considerate of
splitting language used to ensure the teacher does not engage in bullying themselves
when interacting or commenting on a student in front of the class.

(Week 8) Principles of Behaviour Modification. Zirporli T.J. (2012). Ch10 and

Killu, K. (2008)

This week we looked at fundamental aspects of behaviourism and learning. Ziporli and Killu
provide examples of the application of such theory and research to classroom management
and behaviour change. Important concepts such as reinforcement, functional purpose of
behaviour and behaviour shaping are discussed

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7.1 After reading Ziporli and Killu and reflecting on the lecture content what would you add
about aspects of your classroom management that have not been mentioned so far in
your philosophy? Add these in the box below in rough draft form. You can refine them
later in 10.1.

In order to help with behaviour modification it is important to consider a balance

between authority and care. In the process it is best to have a structured approach which
should include building rapport, set expectations which are taught and modelled, positive
praise should be demonstrated when students are doing the right thing! Visualise success
and have high expectations of the students. The approach taken should be proactive, and
should include effective communication, teaching effectively, promoting development
and intervening constructively when needed.

(Week 9) Chapter 9: Your theory into practice

Early in the chapter you are asked to write up a statement of your theoretical approach to
classroom management. You should read the rest of the chapter, as it takes you through the
steps of constructing a philosophy of teaching. You already started this process in activities
relating to chapters 1 and 2, but now you have a chance to refine it by altering your
responses in 1.3 and 2.2. This may require changes to sentences or even some considerable
rewriting, but as the authors say, if a job is worth doing, it is worth doing it well.

9.1 Now that you have reviewed your overarching philosophy and settled, more or less, on
your approach to teaching and classroom management, it is time to combine the bits
that you have been working on into your first (draft) teaching philosophy. It is simple
now. All the hard work has been done. Simply cut and paste your responses in the order
suggested below, into the box.

Cut and paste in the following order leaving a line space between each section:
1.3 > 2.2 > 3.2 > 3.3 > 5.1 > 5.2 > 4.1 > 4.2 > 4.3 > 7.1 > 7.3 > 7.4 >8.1> 6.1 > 6.2

My personal reflection/teaching philosophy (Draft 1)

I believe good teaching is about being able to engage students making them want to
learn. This can be done through planning and implementing different approaches before
reviewing them and being reflective making adjustments as they go.
I believe classrooms should be places where students are placed on the same level as the
teacher, it should not be a dictatorship within the classroom, but students still need to
respect the teacher. The approach should keep the students best interest at mind and
work with them in establishing boundaries that can be built upon together as a class.
I believe that good communication between teacher and student is vital to a positive
classroom climate because effective communication is needed in order for the teacher to
portray what they want the students to do. It can also be important with the process of

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 classroom management. Through the different interferences that are present on both
sides in the communication process, such as gender, age, race family, opinions,
experiences and expectations it can change the communication process. This means that
what is being said or communicated in a non-verbal manner may have a different
meaning for the receiver as they have a different set of interferences that are impacting
on them. In order to combat this, finding both verbal and non-verbal communication
processes such as eye contact, positioning, open questions and active listening, to make
sure that both the sender and receiver are on the same page with what is being asked.
This is useful to help avoid confusion and help to improve rapport and instructions
between teachers and students.
Teacher personal beliefs affect the way we create Positive Learning Environments by
Changing the way we perceive things, the teacher comes into the classroom with beliefs
and expectations, these impact on the way we perceive and communicate with different
students and can have both a positive and negative effect. By acknowledging what we as
teachers being into the class we can be reflective of our practice and take an active
approach to improving our communication. Expectations should be clear, this includes
behavioural rules, and consequences work and learning expectations are also included.
My approach includes at the start of the term, establish a set of classroom rules which
should be created alongside the students establishing and agreeing on reasonable
consequences for each of the good and bad behaviours. There should not be a focus on
only the bad and wrong behaviours but should consider positive and good behaviours and
how they should be rewarded. At the start of every lesson we should touch on
expectations and how students have been performing in these either with positive
comments or by re addressing key areas of improvement. I believe a seating plan is good
to use within the classroom, it can take time to find what works well but it helps give
order to the classroom. Students should have the consistency when they enter the class,
the class should also be entered in a calm and collected manner or it should be repeated
until this is achieved. This can be one of the rules set and established alongside the
students. Within the classroom environment I want the students to be able to display
their work and be proud of their learning environment know it is their environment. This
can help students show respect to their classroom because it is ‘their’ learning space. The
space will have a variety of things displayed on the walls from techniques to interesting
facts to students work. Students should know that they are required to raise their hand
before speaking. Firstly I would need to establish clear goals and expectations of the
learning outcomes for the lesson. Ensuring the students understand the importance and
relevance of the lesson. Once this is establish students should be given the task, the
question should have room for growth so that they can take the question in a direction
they want, keeping to the overall goal. Opportunities for independent activities and peer
based activities should be used to help consolidate learning. This process should be
reviewed and learning goals reassessed and changes made to improve the learning
process. Assessment is important because it can be used to gage success, failure, areas of
improvement and stating levels. It allows both the teacher and student to know where
improvements can be made and areas which have been successful. As a teacher
assessment is important so that the information being taught draws on pre knowledge
whilst keeping the content at the correct level. It also can be used as a reflective approach
to improve pedagogy. I will be developing my baseline assessment skills, so that I can
establish the correct starting level for the students. Formative assessment so that I can

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 keep track at the progression of learning content and that students are understanding
and summative to ensure that all content was understood. I believe that students best
learn through engagement in the classroom, this can be from relevant content, clear
structure and instructions and activities being explored and explained appropriately. Each
student can learn in a different manner, and as a teacher the approaches we choose has
an impact on this, in order to combat this we need to know our students and how they
learn. Through this approach we can accomidate the differing needs of the students.

Therefore I will use a variety of approaches such as differentiation, the Think-Pair-Share

Model, feedback, expectations, clear learning goals and lesson content (advance
organiser), developing social skills and rapport.

In order to help with behaviour modification it is important to consider a balance

between authority and care. In the process it is best to have a structured approach which
should include building rapport, set expectations which are taught and modelled, positive
praise should be demonstrated when students are doing the right thing! Visualise success
and have high expectations of the students. The approach taken should be proactive, and
should include effective communication, teaching effectively, promoting development
and intervening constructively when needed.
Goal-centred theory Because students do require attention and at times play up due to
their needs not being met, this approach allows teacher to stop the interaction before it
escalates through asking appropriate questions and finding out the needs. When
something starts to become an issue, find the cause, then work through meeting the need
working with the students and offering choices to achieve this outcome
Talk sense to yourself program Giving students the skills to self-manage emotions
and behaviour is key as it is required throughout life. Introduce the students to the
approach, provide a chart on the wall where students can place themselves into a level of
engagement at that time and work through approaches to improve or maintain these
levels. Help students create cue cards to establish approaches and ways for students to
deal with this for example meditation.
If intervention for behaviour management is needed, I believe that working on
approaches created by the student to combat their own approach will work best, also
guidance from the teacher through choices instead of direct discipline will assist the
student in calming down or going back on task.
In line with this thinking, I will create a lesson where we discuss the choices we making
and ways of dealing with emotions, this can be done through creating cue cards for
different emotions such as anger, excited, bored and happy. They will have on them
approaches they can use to bring themselves back to the classroom, or the teacher can
offer them guided choices to manage the situation based on the different behaviours.
The classroom should include approaches of social and emotional learning for all students
to help prevent bullying, this should be done by making clear rules that are constant and
by promoting inclusivity within class tasks. The teacher also need to be considerate of
splitting language used to ensure the teacher does not engage in bullying themselves
when interacting or commenting on a student in front of the class.
I believe professional reflexivity is important to my teaching because this allows you to
look inward at personal beliefs and values about behaviours. Being reflexive in my
practice also provided me opportunities to make improvements both in my interactions

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 with the students but also my approach to teaching, management techniques and my
overall philosophy.
As a consequence of this belief, I will engage in reflective practices such as diary writing,
record keeping, surveys and action research. The most important step in this process is
the action research, this is because it takes my personal thoughts and reflection of the
lesson and turns it into something practical. Action research is all about making changes
reflecting, reviewing and making changes again. Through this process you can establish
what does and does not work, because not everything will work but it’s the process that
will improve me as a teacher. To know and establish a starting point thorough research in
the field should be undertaken and then continued personal research should be
undertaken in the revision of lessons. Ways to apply this would be things such as finding
and working alongside a mentor, normally a senior in the field who has a wide range of
experiences.

(Week 9) Chapter 10: Contemporary issues (Personal Reading)

This chapter describes some of the current issues and trends that schools and wider school
systems are dealing with. After reading the chapter, you should consider if any of these
movements require ‘presence’ in your teaching philosophy. For example, once you have
visited the AITSL website and examined the national teaching standards, do you feel the
need to address any of these standards in your teaching philosophy? After reading about
time outs, exclusion and expulsion, do you feel your classroom management intervention
approach needs to change or is it OK as it is? These are just two example of areas where
wider issues that teachers might want to address in their philosophy.

Ask yourself these questions after reading your draft philosophy from 9.1:
1 Have I covered everything I want to cover in my philosophy and if not, what do I need to
add? This might be from chapter 10, but don’t forget about things you might have
written in 8.1. Now is the time to consider how they will fit into your draft.
2 Does the philosophy read right to me? If not, then make your changes. Move sections
around if you feel they sit better.
3 Do I need an opening quote/sentence and do I need a conclusion to round things off? If
so, jot down some rough notes.

10.1 After considering questions 1, 2 and 3 above, edit your teaching philosophy. It would
be a good idea to leave the draft you had in 9.1 alone, cut and paste that here and
make the changes here just in case you need to refer back to your original draft.

My personal reflection/teaching philosophy (Draft 2)

A teaching philosophy is the approach and beliefs someone has about the process and
approach to teaching that someone has. I will be exploring my own teaching philosophy
and what I believe makes a good teacher, drawing on points on influence and theoretical
frameworks that have helped shape my teaching approach. My teaching philosophy will
look at my beliefs about what makes a good teacher, how to engage students, approaches to

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 behavioural management, classroom organisation, reflexivity and incorporation of the
curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. I believe good teaching is about being able to
engage students, making them want to learn. This can be done through planning and
implementing different approaches before reviewing them and being reflective making
adjustments as I go. My approach to teaching is one that keeps the students at the forefront
and to work with them in order improve their learning.

Communication between students and staff are key to help manage and build
relationships and safe learning environments for the students. I believe that good
communication between teacher and student is vital to a positive classroom climate.
Communication can be taking in different ways by different people, to address this I intend
to use both verbal and non-verbal communication processes such as eye contact,
positioning, open questions and active listening. Teacher personal beliefs affect the way we
create Positive Learning Environments by Changing the way we perceive things, the
teacher comes into the classroom with beliefs and expectations, these impact on the way
we perceive and communicate with different students and can have both a positive and
negative effect. By acknowledging what we as teachers bring into the class, we can be
reflective of our practice and take an active approach to improving our communication.

The classroom environment is an important factor that needs to be considered with

teaching, it is after all the place where learning takes place, so it should be a place that
facilitates learning. In order to do this we must consider the structure of the classroom
including the rules and expectations, as well as the students approach to it. I believe the
classroom should be a place to display students work so they can be proud of their learning
environment. This can help students show respect to their classroom because it is ‘their’
learning space. The classroom rules dictate the climate of the learning space, these rules
and expectations should not only focus on the bad behaviours but also on the good
behaviours offers both reward and consequence. The process of establishing rules should
be discussed as a class at the start of the term, having the students contribute to the creation
of the rules, as long as it is within reason. The communication process is key when
exploring classroom management and plays a large role in the goal centred theory and the
talk sense to yourself program. Students should feel safe within the classroom
environment, able to ask questions and not feel as though they are dictated to but are part
of a team that works with the teacher to learn.

The curriculum and assessment are key parts of teaching and they control some of
the approaches we take. I find that through apply the plan-implement-review (PIR) cycle
and different forms of assessment, I can effectively address these areas. By establishing
clear lesson goals, ensuring the students understand the importance and relevance of the
lesson, provide a task with room for personal choice and growth and consolidate learning
through collaboration before reviewing the process and reapplying it. Assessment is
important because it can be used to gage success, failure, areas of improvement and stating
levels. It allows both the teacher and student to know where improvements can be made

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 and areas which have been successful. It also can be used as a reflective approach to
improve pedagogy. Though I have had the opportunity to apply some informal assessment
approaches throughout my practical, I still need to work on developing my baseline
assessment skills, formative assessment and summative to better understand the students
learning process. Each student can learn in a different manner, and as a teacher the
approaches we choose has an impact on this. In order to address this we need to know our
students and how they learn, and it is worth drawing on all of the professional standards for
teacher’s to help with this (reference). Though the professional standards are great
guidelines you need to put it into practice, this can be done in a number of ways, from
building rapport, establishing rules and many more. Due to this I will use a variety of
approaches such as differentiation, the Think-Pair-Share Model, feedback, expectations,
clear learning goals and lesson content (advance organiser), developing social skills and
rapport.

Behavioural management theories that I believe would be affective for me to apply

within my classroom include goal-centred theory and the Talk Sense to Yourself program.
Both of these programs can be implemented alongside each other and work towards
providing choice to the students and building their social and emotional learning skills to
self-manage emotions and actions. Different ways to do this could be to hold lessons
specifically around developing these skills and through questioning that provides choices
to the students. My approach to behavioural management is one that is student based,
though it is still important to have boundaries and rules established I do not believe control
through being a dictator is the correct approach. The teacher is learning alongside the
students, not the content but about the teaching and learning process. With this it is
important be become reflective, improving on practice and teaching methods, applying
action research in the classroom and keeping records of the results. Even though you may
not be successful, you should never give up, as something will work and it is the process
that will improve you as a teacher. Through all of these approaches I still believe that
students should be given a choice and the skills to self-manage, not only their actions but
their emotions building their resilience and wellbeing.

Therefore, my approach to teaching is one that is about the student as a learner, my goal is
to improve the learning environment to help students achieve. The lives of many students
can be hard and the school should be a safe environment to learn, not only content but
social and emotional competencies. My role as a teacher is to provide these opportunities
through my approaches. These approaches include behavioural management plans,
reflexive practice, classroom organisation and rapport building. I wish to always strive for
the success of the students.

Ready to roll …
Now that you have made the changes, read it to yourself. How does it read now?

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If you are happy with the result, you have your first teaching philosophy. Congratulations!
You have done it! Now it’s time to prepare your final submission. Look at the Unit Learning
Guide and now write your own personal reflection and philosophy Ability to clearly and
coherently reflect on specific learnings in this unit and their implications for their personal
philosophy in relation to the management of student’s challenging behaviour, learning and
wellbeing in a positive learning environment.

Into the future!

However, please be aware that your philosophy may well change as you gain experience in
teaching and are exposed to other ideas from your ongoing professional development, your
interactions with peers and other sources of inspiration. It will be an interesting task for you
to go back to this philosophy you have just completed in 10 years’ time and compare it to
the one you have then. Will it have changed much? How have your approaches evolved?
What kind of teacher have you become?

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