A Personal Teaching Philosophy and Learning Environment Organization

Imagine walking into a Pepto-Bismol pink-pained room, walls lacking pictures and posters, and a teacher at their desk with a frown on their face, with a list of rules behind them long enough to touch the floori. More than likely spending eight months trying to learn in this environment would not be a pleasant time for most children. In the following I will explain my teaching philosophy, including how I will arrange the learning environment, my classroom rules and regulations, and what discipline and reward strategies 1 plan to use. I believe that the learning environment is an important thing in the student’s ability to learn. First, I plan to keep the room well lit, colorful, and fun. First, it is important to the room well lit so students do not have to strain their eyes to read in the dark, but not directly into strong light that a strain would create tension and make concentration difficult.

Second, I would keep my room organized, fun, and colorful With what bulletin board space is available in my classroom I plan to fill it with student work, current events, festive decorations, etc. Decorate the rest of the room with student art work or material on which is being covered in class. I am a very organized person so I also expect my future classroom to be very well-kept and organized With desk arrangement I plan on arranging the desks in either semi-circle, clusters, or in rows so that all children are able to see the chalkboard and me feasibly, I think cooperative learning is a great way for students to interact with others and learn from one another, so I think that the cluster set-up is one of my favorite desk arrangements.

With this type of learning environment, I think that the students will be more eager to learn compared to a dull and cluttered room. When creating the rules for the classroom I plan to first consider rules with my students as procedures, since the word rules had more of a negative connotation than the word procedures. Also, rather than using the term punishment I intend to use consequences I plan to have the students help draft the classroom rules on the first day. Students can suggest their opinions for the procedures and I can hint on desired attitudes and behaviors that are appropriate in a positive learning environment. After a final draft of the rules is done it should be posted in the room where everyone is able to see it.

Classroom discipline is one area where I think every teacher differs from one another on. Some teachers are very lenient and others are very strict, I hope to find a happy medium between the two, I think you need to have control of the room, but not be so controlling that the students are scared of you. I favor certain aspects of Rudolf Dreikurs and Fredric Jones discipline approaches. Dreikurs idea that teachers and students should collaborate in setting up classroom procedures that establish order, limits, firmness, leadership from the teacher, freedom to explore, and frequent opportunities for students to choose their own acceptable behavior.

This is a great way to get input from the students and allow them to have a part in the classroom. Fredric Jones has a strategy that begins by implementing skills in body language> incentive systems, and efficient help. All these things if used right in the classroom are very helpful for both students and the teacher. There are many things that go into putting together a classroom. Many people do not realize how much time and effort is put into a classroom. I think that it is important to have a learning environment that the students are able to be comfonable learning in, important aspects of it being the classroom set-up, classroom rules, and student discipline.