Introduction
My educational philosophy is fairly evenly spread across everything but Essentialism, and in terms of dicipline approaches, I favor those that empower the student to some degree, either sharing responsibility with the teacher, or in some case, such as “Discipline with Self-Control”, being more student centered (Thomas Gordon). In particular I am drawn to Existentialism, Reconstructionism, and Progressivism. School is about the student first and foremost, not about training good workers. Learning the content and changing society are secondary, and can only be achieved if you have students whose share those goals to some degree. You first have to convince students that what they are doing is worthwhile, and to their benefit, otherwise you just have an involuntary captive audience. We may be able to make students show up to class (most of the time) but we can’t make them learn biology, let alone do the work to pass, if they don’t want to.
Prevention Approach
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is especially true with some of my students who want to give up if they aren’t doing well rather than take action to change their behavior to pull their grade up, even though we accept late work at a minimum penalty, so that students can dig themselves out. In order to avoid that situation in the first place we have classroom norms in place that encourage students to get the easy points during bell work and labs. We also provide time for students to do classwork in class so that homework is really only a last resort. Each period has their own crate, in which each student has a folder to keep their work, so that anything they don’t specifically take home will be around when we grade it, this helps prevent unnecessary late turn-ins or 0’s for missing assignments. It also help the students learn strategies for organization. Furthermore, we often allow students to do work with others so that they can make social connections while learning to collaborate with others, but it has been suggested, and the students agreed in an effort towards a more democratic classroom, that students who have trouble finishing their work when working with classmates would lose the privilege so that they don’t distract themselves or their friends. They still will do labs with others, but they have shown they will only hinder other’s ability to learn if they choose their own partner. I view this as being similar to Barbara Coloroso’s “Inner Discipline” approach with Mendler and Curwin’s “Discipline with Dignity” as a plan b.
Support Approach
My primary support strategy is circulating to answer questions and provide assistance when the class is working individually or in groups. I also try to seek out students who are struggling or have special needs to make sure they are on the same page as the rest of the class. Additionally, I will provide more assistance and answer questions (or at least help the student learn to figure out the answer) if they come in during lunch or after school.
Intervention Approach
My main intervention strategy is reiterating classroom expectations on an individual basis and asking the student to meet those expectations. In cases where grades are the issue, I try to discuss where the student is at, what it would take to get to a passing grade or even an A or B. Then I ask where certain assignments are, the student response is often a good indicator of whether the student wants to do well and is making mistakes, or whether they don’t care about school. I can then tailor the discussion to their attitude.
My educational philosophy is fairly evenly spread across everything but Essentialism, and in terms of dicipline approaches, I favor those that empower the student to some degree, either sharing responsibility with the teacher, or in some case, such as “Discipline with Self-Control”, being more student centered (Thomas Gordon). In particular I am drawn to Existentialism, Reconstructionism, and Progressivism. School is about the student first and foremost, not about training good workers. Learning the content and changing society are secondary, and can only be achieved if you have students whose share those goals to some degree. You first have to convince students that what they are doing is worthwhile, and to their benefit, otherwise you just have an involuntary captive audience. We may be able to make students show up to class (most of the time) but we can’t make them learn biology, let alone do the work to pass, if they don’t want to.
Prevention Approach
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This is especially true with some of my students who want to give up if they aren’t doing well rather than take action to change their behavior to pull their grade up, even though we accept late work at a minimum penalty, so that students can dig themselves out. In order to avoid that situation in the first place we have classroom norms in place that encourage students to get the easy points during bell work and labs. We also provide time for students to do classwork in class so that homework is really only a last resort. Each period has their own crate, in which each student has a folder to keep their work, so that anything they don’t specifically take home will be around when we grade it, this helps prevent unnecessary late turn-ins or 0’s for missing assignments. It also help the students learn strategies for organization. Furthermore, we often allow students to do work with others so that they can make social connections while learning to collaborate with others, but it has been suggested, and the students agreed in an effort towards a more democratic classroom, that students who have trouble finishing their work when working with classmates would lose the privilege so that they don’t distract themselves or their friends. They still will do labs with others, but they have shown they will only hinder other’s ability to learn if they choose their own partner. I view this as being similar to Barbara Coloroso’s “Inner Discipline” approach with Mendler and Curwin’s “Discipline with Dignity” as a plan b.
Support Approach
My primary support strategy is circulating to answer questions and provide assistance when the class is working individually or in groups. I also try to seek out students who are struggling or have special needs to make sure they are on the same page as the rest of the class. Additionally, I will provide more assistance and answer questions (or at least help the student learn to figure out the answer) if they come in during lunch or after school.
Intervention Approach
My main intervention strategy is reiterating classroom expectations on an individual basis and asking the student to meet those expectations. In cases where grades are the issue, I try to discuss where the student is at, what it would take to get to a passing grade or even an A or B. Then I ask where certain assignments are, the student response is often a good indicator of whether the student wants to do well and is making mistakes, or whether they don’t care about school. I can then tailor the discussion to their attitude.