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Introduction to the Foundations of American Education, Thirteenth Edition, by James A. Johnson, Diann Musial, Gene E. Hall, Donna M. Gollnick, and Victor L. Dupuis.Published by Allyn and Bacon. Copyright © 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Education in the NewsScientists Explore the Molding ofChildren’s MoralsBy Susan Gilbert, New York Times, March 18, 2003

ALONG WITH THEIR ACADEMIC EDUCATION, STUDENTS IN

kindergarten through 12th grade in the MetropolitanSchool District of Lawrence Township in Indianapolishave another field of study: character education.

Each school displays a poster listing what thedistrict has identified as the “life skills for buildingcharacter,” including honesty, fairness and trustwor-thiness. Teachers look for ways to reinforce thesetraits each day.

Classroom discussions focus on the moralstrengths and weaknesses of characters in the booksthat students have read. Students make quilts andwrite songs celebrating the life skills. They get buttonsand other rewards for putting the skills into practice.

While the Lawrence Township schools are excep-tional in the scope of their initiative, they are notalone in their effort to calibrate the moral compassesof their students. Over the last few years, schools in 48states have introduced character education programsin the hope of bolstering students’ resolve to resist thetemptation to lie, cheat, bully, use drugs and behaveimmorally in other ways. The Department of Educa-tion has promoted these efforts by giving $27 millionin character education grants since 1995.

Many of the programs draw on some recent re-search showing that although all children are bornwith the capacity to be moral, it needs to be nur-tured by parents, schools and the community atlarge. Otherwise, its development is stunted.

Without a firm sense of right and wrong, someexperts say, children tend to become cynical, alien-ated and extremely selfish. They cheat to getahead, rationalizing that “everybody does it.” Theylack the social obligation to control their angerwhen they feel that they have been wronged. Inthe extreme, tragedies happen, like the massacre atColumbine.

Much of the impetus for character education inschools is a perception that the moral fiber of chil-dren as well as adults is unraveling. Two-thirds ofAmericans think that society is less honest and moralthan it used to be, according to Bowling Alone, pub-lished in 2000, by Dr. Robert Putnam, a professor ofpublic policy at Harvard.

Last year, a poll of 12,000 high school studentsby the Josephson Institute of Ethics, a nonprofit orga-nization in Marina del Rey, Calif., found that 74 per-cent admitted cheating on a test in the previous year.

But some researchers—while not denying thatthere is considerable room for improvement—say children today are no less moral than their par-ents, grandparents and great-grandparents were aschildren.

Dr. Elliot Turiel, the author of The Culture ofMorality, published last year, says cheating is just ascommon today as it was in the 1920’s. He comparedsurveys of students done then with the findings ofrecent surveys like those of the Josephson Instituteand found that the percentage of students who ad-mitted to cheating was roughly the same.

“It may be that kids today are fresh and disobe-dient in fairly large numbers,” said Dr. Turiel, a psy-chologist at the University of California at Berkeley,“but was it really different in the past? It wasn’t withcheating.”

Dr. Turiel and other researchers criticize many ofthe character education programs in schools for be-ing superficial and ineffective. “Morality isn’t traits ofcharacter but a complicated set of judgments,” hesaid.

Dr. John M. Doris, a philosophy professor at theUniversity of California at Santa Cruz, goes as far as toquestion whether there is such a thing as a moralcharacter. He says that the existence of moral char-acter, described by philosophers as far back as Aris-totle, is not supported in the scientific literature today.

Copyright © 2003 by the New York Times Co. Reprinted with permission.

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C H A P T E R

11Building an EducationalPhilosophy

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Introduction to the Foundations of American Education, Thirteenth Edition, by James A. Johnson, Diann Musial, Gene E. Hall, Donna M. Gollnick, and Victor L. Dupuis.Published by A llyn and Bacon. Copyright © 2005 by Pearson Education, Inc.

This chapter helps you to clarify your role as a teacher in society and iden-tify effective classroom practices. It offers a number of big ideas or key conceptsthat will challenge your image of what constitutes a good teacher. Ideas such asclassroom environment or climate, voice and space, community of learners,and teacher as leader are presented to help you clarify your own approach to ed-ucation. Which type of environment is best for today’s students? How muchteacher control is needed? Whose voices are predominant and whose voices aremuted in today’s classrooms? These questions are examined and shown to beimportant to the development of a classroom climate that is either open and au-thentic or directed and didactic.

The possibility of developing a community of learners in a world ofstandards-based education is also explored in this chapter. Should teachers bechange agents, should they attempt to bring about a better society through theirrole as teacher, or should they help to emphasize the positive aspects of societyand encourage students to be law-abiding citizens? What types of leadershipqualities are implicit in today’s teacher profession? These questions strike at thevery heart of what it means to be a teacher, and this chapter helps you wrestlewith them and assess your personal philosophy of education.

Extensive surveys of modern views of learning—as expressed in philoso-phy, psychology, and education journals and studies—reveal a seemingly end-less and divergent range of views. Therefore, today’s classroom teachers mustidentify their own beliefs about educating young people. Although labeling theclassroom practice of any one teacher is not easy, we recommend that you, as aprospective teacher, carefully identify a personal set of operational principleswith regard to classroom techniques.

Educational trends such as the back-to-basics movement and direct teachingare related to certain philosophies of education. The back-to-basics movement

362 Chapter 11 Building an Educational Philosophy www.ablongman.com/johnson13e

Learning Outcomes

After reading and studying this chapter, youshould be able to:

1. Describe the influence of classroom practiceson motivation. (INTASC 2: Development &Learning; INTASC 4: Teaching Methods;INTASC 5: Motivation & Management)

2. Analyze underlying differences among disci-pline practices. (INTASC 2: Development &Learning; INTASC 5: Motivation & Manage-ment)

3. List the characteristics of teachers as changeagents. (INTASC 9: Reflection; INTASC 10:Collaboration)

4. Provide examples of teacher leadership be-haviors. (INTASC 6: Communication & Tech-nology; INTASC 9: Reflection; INTASC 10:Collaboration)

5. State the components of a personal philoso-phy of education. (INTASC 2: Development &Learning)

School-Based Observations

You may see these learning outcomes in actionduring your visits to schools:

1. While you are visiting different classrooms aspart of your practicum experiences, record thevarious classroom planning and disciplinaryactivities that you observe. Next, classify thevarious styles you have observed and identifythe classroom philosophies the teachers areemploying. Seek out opportunities to discussthese findings with each teacher you observe.

2. Select a teacher who has a classroom organi-zation approach that matches your own. Inter-view the teacher and use probing questions toclarify the underlying reasons why the teacherset up the classroom as he or she did.

INTASC

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and direct teaching focus on clearly prescribed subject matter and are in therealms of essentialism and perennialism, whereas the concepts of free schoolsand problem-based learning are experience based and focus on student activityas identified in progressivism and constructivism. Figure 11.1 illustrates the as-sociation of these primary educational theories with teacher-centered authority,

Building an Educational Philosophy 363

FIGURE 11.1 Teacher-Centered Authority versus Student-Centered Authority Classroom Approaches

EDUCATIONAL THEORIES

Rigid/fixed; highlyorganized fromfurniture to lessons

Open; flexible classroomfurniture arrangementand teaching

Nurturing teachervoice; communityof on-task learners

Teacher encouragesstudent voices;community of inquiries

Convergentthinking; focusedsubject matter

Divergent points of view;diverse subject matter

Extreme amountsof teacher talk;directed learning

Considerably less teachertalk, more learner talk;discovery-based learning

Teacher is primaryauthority sourceand evaluator

Teacher is model ofparticipatory authorityand evaluation

External controls Internal incentives

High teachercontrol

Equal teacher andlearner control

ClassroomClimate

LearningFocus

TeachingStyles

LeadershipStyles

Motivation

Discipline

ClassroomOrganization

Teacher-CenteredAuthority

• Essentialism• Perennialism• Behaviorism• Positivism

Student-CenteredAuthority

• Progressivism• Reconstructionism• Humanism• Contructivism

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which stresses convergent thinking, and student-centered authority, whichstresses divergent thinking. Note that the terms teacher-centered authority andstudent-centered authority are meant to denote overall philosophical stances orperspectives with regard to the student and subject matter, not to imply strict orpermissive classroom management.

USING PHILOSOPHY IN THE CLASSROOM

A philosophy of education is not a set of written words. It is a platform onwhich decisions are made and life is led. A teacher’s practices in the classroomreflect his or her personal philosophy. The best goal for beginning educators isto become comfortable with a variety of classroom practices that address theneeds of learners. It is not a matter of selecting one methodology over anotherbut rather of understanding these different approaches and using them respon-sibly. We believe that a sound preparation for teaching addresses the need to de-velop a workable classroom philosophy—one that incorporates the larger role ofteaching in a complex society as well as the microrole of the teacher workingwith students in the classroom setting.

CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION

All teachers must be able to organize the classroom in such a way that it is con-ducive to teaching and learning. In fact, many school principals are quick to as-sert that the easiest way to predict the success of a beginning teacher is toevaluate his or her ability to organize the classroom. A common misconceptionis that good classroom organization means maintaining a controlled atmosphereand refusing to allow any behavior that even looks ungoverned or unplanned.Actually, classroom organization is a multifaceted dimension of teaching thatincludes the content, methods, and values that infuse the classroom environ-ment. It is a dimension of teaching that requires analysis and selection similar


A teacher’s practices in the classroom reflect his or her personalphilosophy.

classroom organizationA multifaceted dimension ofteaching that includes thecontent, method, and valuesthat infuse the classroom en-vironment, planning, anddiscipline practices.

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to that used in the identification of a pre-ferred teaching philosophy. Figure 11.1shows how closely one’s teaching philoso-phy affects the different components of class-room organization.

LESSON PLANNING

Careful lesson planning is mandatory if ef-fective teaching and learning are to follow. Ifthe learners are considered to be passive, thelesson plan might emphasize students’ ab-sorption of the factual content of the subjectmatter. Adherents of teaching styles that con-sider the learners to be active participants(student-centered authority) would tend toemphasize processes and skills to be mas-tered and view the factual content of the sub-ject matter as important but variable.

Regardless of the expectation for thelearner, active or passive, the teacher needsto plan sound lessons. Every lesson should be built from a basic set of generalobjectives that correspond to the overall goals of the school district. This is notto suggest that every third-grade classroom in a school district should have thesame daily learning objectives for the students. Daily lesson objectives can varyfrom classroom to classroom depending on the particular needs of the studentsbeing served. However, if those daily teaching objectives are closely related tothe overall objectives of the school district, then cross-district learning will re-flect the school district’s overall goals.

Lessons should be tied to some form of teaching units. These units shouldbe planned in detail to include suggestions for teaching the lessons, types ofmaterials to be used, and specific plans for evaluation. Initially, these are allphilosophical questions for the classroom teacher. The way the teacher ap-proaches these questions says a lot about his or her classroom philosophy.

THE PHYSICAL SETTING

The mere arrangement of classroom furniture and the use of classroom materi-als may be predicated on the teacher’s perception of the learners as passive oractive. Traditionally, the classroom has tended to be arranged in rows andcolumns at the elementary and secondary levels of schooling. This type of class-room arrangement has often been thought to be the best for classroom controland supervision. Often, however, the elementary teacher will rearrange theclassroom into a series of small circles for special groupings in reading, mathe-matics, and other specific subjects.

Student-centered authority theories tend to support more open classrooms.The teacher intends learning for the students to be divergent in nature, and thestudent is expected to be more active in the learning process. This is not to sug-gest that one type of classroom arrangement is better than another or that onetheory is superior to another; but we do suggest that the teacher in training ex-amine classroom theory as it relates to the physical environment for learning.

STUDENT ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION

In assessing student progress and assigning grades, most teachers use a varietyof techniques including examinations, term papers, project reports, group dis-cussions, performance assessments, and various other tools. If the subjectmatter is treated as a bundle of information, teacher-made tests will tend toseek certain facts and concepts as “right” answers, suggesting emphasis on

Using Philosophy in the Classroom 365

Teachers need to build sound lessons from a basic set of generalobjectives that correspond to the overall goals of the school district.

We not only want studentsto achieve, we want them tovalue the process of learningand the improvement oftheir skills, we want them towillingly put forth thenecessary effort to developand apply their skills andknowledge, and we wantthem to develop a long-termcommitment to theirlearning.

Carole A. Ames

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convergent thinking. However, if the subject matter is treated as big ideas thatare applicable to problem solving, and if students are expected to engage inprocesses and develop skills to arrive at several “right” answers, teacher-madetests will tend to allow for divergent thinking.

How you develop your classroom philosophy will also dictate the empha-sis you place on a student’s academic performance. You must decide whether astudent is to be compared with his or her peers or with a set of expectationsbased on individual needs and differences. Generally, teachers who supportstudent-centered authority and look for divergence in learning will tend toplace less emphasis on group norms. Teachers who favor teacher-centered au-


D E B A T E

Are Uniforms a Good Way to Improve StudentDiscipline and Motivation?

Pat Morse-McNeely retired two yearsago after 26 years as a secondaryschool language arts, social studies,health, and special education teacherand guidance counselor in San Anto-nio, Stockdale, and Dallas, Texas. She also writes poetry.

Dave Oland teaches social studies andis the peer coaching coordinator atWyandotte High School in Kansas City,Kansas, where he has worked for tenyears. He wrote this essay with PattyKamper and Brian Dolezal, members ofhis teaching team.

In the late 1950s, South Houston Middle School insti-tuted a very detailed dress code, although not exactlyuniforms.

The kids could not come to school in their usualpersonal style. Girls wore dark skirts and light blouses.Hose and high heels were banned, as were extremehairstyles like the beehives that were then becomingthe big thing. Makeup was out except for light lipstick.Earrings had to be small and inconspicuous.

Boys wore dark pants and white shirts tucked inneatly, with loafers or lace-up shoes. No sneakers. Nojewelry. Nothing to distract or compete for attention atthe school.

Discipline improved drastically—fewer fights. Kidswere not worrying about how they looked. They wereon task 90 percent of the time. By the end of that year,the student body as a whole had jumped two grades,from Cs to As, Ds to Bs.

Since that time, I have read a lot of research bothin favor of and against uniforms, and it appears to methat the preponderance of evidence is in favor. Catholicand other parochial schools have long used uniformswith success.

The American spirit is not about conformity. It is aboutallowing individuals the opportunity to think outsidethe box. The ingenuity of individual thought has madethis country great, and public education has fostered thistype of thinking.

As we work to change our schools, we must focuson real issues like building relationships with parents,students, and colleagues while improving the quality ofinstruction. Let’s not resort to quick fixes and Band-aidslike uniforms. We want to encourage our students todevelop better attitudes on life, society, their future,and themselves. Let’s engage them in a dialogue aboutwhat clothing is appropriate for school, rather thanregulating what they must wear. Are we afraid to dothe real work of changing the culture of our schools?

As our students come to the metal detectors in themorning, let’s not greet them with, “Good morning.Do you have your uniform? No? Well, go home then.No education for you today.”

Last year, our principal asked a committee toresearch this issue. We found no hard evidence that

Y E S N O

Requiring students to wear uniforms is a practice that may or may not improvediscipline and motivation. It also raises questions about student voice and schoolclimate. Does restricting the way a student dresses also restrict individual expres-sion? Your philosophy of education will help you determine your personal posi-tion concerning this debate.

(continued)

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thority for the classroom with a stress on convergence in learning will be moreapt to favor student evaluation strategies that are based on group norms.

MOTIVATION

The concept of motivation is derived from the word motive, which means anemotion, desire, or impulse acting as an incitement to action. This definition ofmotive has two parts: First, the definition implies that motivation is internal be-cause it relates to emotions, desires, or other internal drives; second, it impliesthat there is an accompanying external focus on action or behavior. Organizing


D E B A T E

Parents find that buying two or three uniforms isultimately cheaper than buying clothes to follow thefads, and it stops arguments at home about whatJohnny or Mary will wear to school on this day or that.Uniforms “level” the student body because one cannottell the “haves” from the “have nots.”

While kids say they hate uniforms, they can hardlywait to join some school group that wears one: ROTC,spirit club, band. They seek pins, necklaces, sashes,jackets—all uniforms—that state something about theperson and identify them as “belonging to. . . .”

Uniforms build school spirit because they foster thissense of belonging. They enhance school loyalty andpride since the students are recognized wherever theygo in the uniform as belonging to that particularschool. They represent their whole student body.

In fact, I don’t think it would hurt anybody if teach-ers were also required to wear uniforms! That wouldcut down on teachers’ expenses and make them clearlyidentifiable to the student body.

Individualism does not depend on your hairdo oryour dress, but upon your spirit, your personality, andyour self-discipline. We are in real trouble if we dependon our mode of dress to express our individuality.

The only real freedom is freedom of thought. Con-formity lives in rules and laws and all the other demandsof living in large groups. Without conformity, therewould be chaos.

When we adopt uniforms, we send a clear message:School is for learning, not showing off.

uniforms had any significant impact on improvingachievement, only scattered anecdotes. In all the edu-cational conferences we have attended over the years,we have never seen one session touting the power ofschool transformation through uniforms.

We support our district’s general clothing guidelines.But creating and maintaining a new uniform policywould reduce the time spent on instructional improve-ment and increase divisiveness, both among staff andbetween staff and students.

Do we choose to run our public schools in themanner of prisons, boot camps, and parochial schools?Should we in public education place such a premiumon forced conformity? We should celebrate our stu-dents’ individuality, which gives us the opportunity toopen a significant port of entry into their lives and builddeeper, more authentic relationships with them.

Since redesigning our school into “Small LearningCommunities” four years ago, we have had fewer fightsand discipline problems, higher scores, and a muchhigher graduation rate. We didn’t need uniforms to ac-complish this.

Some say it is more economical for families to buyuniforms. But kids who want nice clothes will wantthem regardless of a uniform policy, so parents mayneed to buy both uniforms and the clothes kids reallywant to wear.

Do we want to risk alienating kids who may alreadybe on the edge? Are we okay with losing even one childwho may quit school if uniforms are mandated? No.

Source: “Are Uniforms a Good Way to Improve Student Discipline andMotivation?” NEA Today (April 2002), p. 20.

Y E S N O

W H A T D O Y O U T H I N K ? Are uniforms a good way to improve student discipline and motivation?

To give your opinion, go to Chapter 11 of the companion website (www.ablongman.com/johnson13e) and click on Debate.

motivationInternal emotion, desire, orimpulse acting as an incite-ment to action.

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a learning environment so that it re-lates to student needs and desires(internal) and also permits activeparticipation in the learning process(external) is important to studentmotivation.

Teachers want students to be mo-tivated to do many things: completehomework, be responsible, be life-long learners, be on time, have fun,care about others, become indepen-dent. However, it is not always clearhow one sets up a classroom envi-ronment that ultimately promotesthese desired outcomes. For exam-ple, in a teacher-dominant orienta-tion, control is primarily in thehands of the teacher. In such an au-thoritarian setting, motivation tendsto come in the form of rules and reg-ulations. Students are given clear


The physical setting of the classroom tends to reflect whether the teacherfollows a directive or nondirective theory of education.

R E L E V A N T R E S E A R C H

The Three C’s of Safe Schools: Cooperation,Conflict Resolution, and Civic Values

STUDY PURPOSE/QUESTIONS: Whether the schoolis urban, suburban, or rural, students report frequentproblems involving physical aggression (being punchedand kicked and seeing teachers being slapped or hit bystudents), property damage, and incivility (profanity,vulgarity, etc.). Highlands Elementary in Edina, Min-nesota, chose to combat these problems by institutinga three-pronged program based on the three C’s: co-operative community service, conflict resolution, andcivic values. During the 1996–1997 academic year,David and Roger Johnson, Laurie Stevahn, and PeterHodne conducted a study to determine the impact ofthe three C’s program on Highlands Elementary.

STUDY DESIGN: The study focused on the pro-gram’s impact on students, faculty, and community.The researchers employed three data collection meth-ods: on-site observation of classrooms, analysis of in-structional materials, and a review of journals andrecords related to the three C’s program.

STUDY FINDINGS: The researchers reported posi-tive findings. Almost 100 percent of students’ parentswere involved in establishing mutual goals, participat-

ing in a division of labor, and sharing resources. Theschool developed a strong sense of community inwhich members actively seek to resolve conflicts andsolve problems together. All students learn to engagein problem-solving negotiations and how to mediateschoolmates’ conflicts. Caring, respect, and responsi-bility values are posted in every classroom; and facultyand staff report that these values guide decision mak-ing about curriculum, instruction, and resources.

IMPLICATIONS: The positive results of this study im-ply that schools may need to incorporate cooperation,conflict resolution, and civic values into the regular in-structional program. This notion challenges the ex-treme versions of realist philosophy and essentialisteducational theory—for example, the argument thatschools should focus solely on academic growth. Towhat degree schools should become involved in thedirect instruction of values and attitudes is a difficultquestion. But research results such as these support thistype of instruction.

Source: David W. Johnson, Roger T. Johnson, Laurie Stevahn, and Pe-ter Hodne, “The Three C’s of Safe Schools,” Educational Leadership55(2) (October 1997), pp. 8–13.

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directions concerning their responsibilities;and they are expected to follow these direc-tions because the teacher is in charge. Forsome students, this clarity of expectationsand rules is comfortable. Students achieve be-cause they must; in such a setting, the secondhalf of motivation (external action) isachieved, but not the first (internal desire).The reason students’ internal motivation maysuffer is that they recognize that both the taskof teaching and the responsibility for theirlearning belong primarily to the teacher.

In a learner-dominant setting, the re-sponsibility for learning is primarily borneby the students. The teacher attempts to pro-duce a climate of warmth and mutual re-spect. Students are encouraged to achievespecific outcomes, but ultimately, they arefree to select those that most interest them. Inthis type of setting, the first aspect of motiva-tion (internal desire) is achieved, in that students select the learning outcomesand processes that interest them; however, the second aspect of motivation (ex-ternal action) is not as clearly achieved, in that students act according to theirpersonal desires and these desires do not always match those of the teacher.

As a teacher, you should arrange the classroom environment so that itmatches your personal philosophy. Your task here is to consider carefully the“sources of power” that best reflect your philosophy of education. Figure 11.2illustrates as many as five different power sources that relate to five differentlevels of motivation.1 Power can be coercive when the motivation is “to obey.”Power can take the form of rewards when the motivation is “to get.” Power canbe seen as legitimate when motivation is “to respect.” Power can be in the formof charisma when the motivation is “to cooperate.” Finally, power can beknowledge when the motivation is “to understand.” Your philosophy of teach-ing could include all of these sources of power. All of them might be necessaryat one time or another. On the other hand, it is important to assess how you setup your classroom rules and environment and make certain that they matchyour personal understanding of where power should lie in the teaching andlearning process.


Motivation of learners consists of two aspects: internal desire andaction.

FIGURE 11.2 Sources of Power and Types of Motivation Responses

To obey To get To respect To cooperate To understand

SOURCES OF POWER

MOTIVATION RESPONSES

Teacher-centered Student-centered

Coercion Rewards Legitimacy Charisma Knowledge

In every real man a child ishidden that wants to play.

Friedrich Nietzsche

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DISCIPLINE

The attention given by the national media to disruptive behavior in the class-room has rekindled conflicting views regarding discipline. Polls of parents andteachers alike list discipline among the top issues confronting the schools. Themain source of dissatisfaction for nearly two-thirds of today’s teachers is their in-ability to manage students effectively. Teachers also are concerned about the ef-fect disruptive behavior has on learning. The discipline dilemma—how toachieve more teacher control in the classroom while adhering to a more openphilosophy that advocates less teacher control—precludes the development of aschool discipline policy that would satisfy both views. Depending on the schooldistrict’s expectations, the teacher might be caught between conflicting demands.Whatever the personal philosophy of the teacher, he or she must address thewishes of the district when establishing classroom management schemes. The di-vision of views on classroom discipline has inspired numerous books to assistteachers with discipline problems, and many special courses and workshopshave been developed to deal with classroom discipline strategies. But becausevery few beginning teachers are given extensive exposure to discipline strategiesin teacher preparation programs, the vast range of alternatives makes the choiceof strategies difficult for teachers who have yet to develop their own styles.

Carl Glickman and Charles Wolfgang have identified three schools ofthought along a teacher–student control continuum (Figure 11.3).2 Noninter-ventionists hold the view that teachers should not impose their own rules; stu-dents are inherently capable of solving their own problems. Interactionistssuggest that students must learn that the solution to misbehavior is a reciprocalrelation between student and teacher. Interventionists believe that teachersmust set classroom standards for conduct and give little attention to input fromthe students.

As you prepare to be a teacher, you need to identify your own beliefs re-garding discipline in the classroom. The goal is to keep disruptive behavior ata minimum, thus enhancing the students’ potential for learning as well as yourown job satisfaction. Where maintenance of discipline is the primary concern,one might choose from among the entire range of possibilities along theGlickman–Wolfgang continuum regardless of one’s own teaching style prefer-ence. Figure 11.4 illustrates how the major theories and behaviors of classroommanagement relate in terms of control issues along the teacher–student controlcontinuum. It is the professional responsibility of each classroom teacher to un-derstand how each behavior can be used to support his or her preferred teach-ing philosophy.


FIGURE 11.3 Teacher–Student Control Continuum

Noninterventionists Interactionists Interventionists

TEACHER CONTROL

STUDENT CONTROL

Low Teacher Control

High Student Control

Equal Teacher Control

Equal Student Control

High Teacher Control

Low Student Control

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CONTROL OR CHOICE THEORY

The psychiatrist William Glasser has advanced control theory as a requisite forclassroom discipline practices. He suggests that a person’s total behavior iscomposed of feelings, physiology, actions, and thoughts. How a person managesthese aspects of behavior makes up an operational definition of control theory.Glasser asserts, “Control theory contends that we choose most of our total be-haviors to try to gain control of people or ourselves.”3

Over time, Glasser realized that the term control theory was subject to mis-interpretation, so he retitled his theory choice theory. He felt that the termchoice reflected a better understanding of his ideas. Glasser states that peopleare driven by six basic needs. All of our choices and behaviors are based on theurgency for survival, power, love, belonging, freedom, and fun. If there is an un-balance in any of these six basic needs, people act out.

As a beginning teacher thinking about classroom discipline, you will findthat choice theory encourages you to realize that it is somewhat natural and hu-man for students not to take responsibility for disrupting class or deviatingfrom classroom norms. As a matter of fact, even teachers often find it difficultto take responsibility for some of their own behaviors that deviate from thenorm. Choice theory requires teachers to consider the many factors that can ac-count for problem behaviors: physiology, feelings, urges, and so forth. Finally,teachers are encouraged to seek the assistance of counselors, social workers,and parents to fully understand what is causing the problem behavior and onlythen design an appropriate response.

Choice theory is one of the most difficult management approaches for a newteacher to implement. The majority of discipline problems in the classroom


FIGURE 11.4 Teacher Behavior Continuum

NONINTERVENTIONISTS

Thomas Gordon,Teacher Effectiveness Training

Thomas Harris,I'm OK—You're OK

Louis Raths, Merrill Harmin, and Sidney Simon,

Values and Teaching

INTERACTIONISTS

Robert E. Slavin,Cooperative Learning:Theory, Research, and Practice

William Glasser,Schools without Failure

INTERVENTIONISTS

Saul Axelrod,Behavior Modification for the Classroom Teacher

Lloyd Homme,How to Use ContingencyContracting in theClassroom

James Dobson,Dare to Discipline

Visuallylooking on

Nondirectivestatements

Directivestatements

Modeling Reinforcement Physicalinterventionand isolation

Questions

High Student Control

Low Teacher Control Equal Teacher Control

Equal Student Control

High Teacher Control

Low Student Control

control theoryA theory of discipline thatcontends that peoplechoose most of their behav-iors to gain control of otherpeople or of themselves.

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derive from the misguided efforts of students to achieve control. Unfortunately,many teachers think they must have complete control over the classroom. Thistype of classroom management allows no room for other individuals to havetheir need for control met. Consequently, student acting out behaviors increase.The first challenge to a new teacher is to evaluate the inappropriate behavior ex-hibited by the student, determine which need the student thinks is being met bythat behavior, and think of appropriate replacement behaviors. The next step,according to choice theory, is to help the student identify the inappropriate be-havior and the natural consequences of that behavior. This is done through a se-ries of questions:

What are you doing?What are you supposed to be doing?What is the rule?Are you making the best choices?

It is important for teachers not to impose artificial consequences. The final chal-lenge is to get students to design a plan on their own. This can be accomplishedby follow-up questions such as:

What is your plan?What choices do you need to make?What are you going to do to bring your plan into action?

As a prospective teacher, you will need to evaluate whether control orchoice theory is compatible with your view of human nature. If you believe thatproblem behavior is a natural consequence of our need to balance and fulfillnatural urges for survival, power, love, belonging, freedom, and fun, then con-trol theory will fit your philosophy of education. If, however, you believe thathumans are blank tablets who simply need to be directly taught the properways of acting, this approach probably won’t be for you. You may find the nextdiscipline approach more conducive to your beliefs.

ASSERTIVE DISCIPLINE

Assertive discipline is a teacher-in-charge, structured classroom managementapproach designed to encourage students to choose responsible behavior. De-veloped by Lee Canter over twenty years ago, this discipline approach is basedon consistency, follow-through, and positive relationship building. The under-lying tenet of this approach is that teachers have a right to teach and pupils havea right to learn.

Assertive discipline contends that the teacher has the right to determinewhat is best for students and to expect compliance. No pupil should prevent theteacher from teaching or keep another student from learning. Student compli-ance is imperative in creating and maintaining an effective and efficient learn-ing environment. To accomplish this goal, teachers must react assertively, asopposed to aggressively or nonassertively.

Assertive discipline requires teachers to develop a clear classroom disci-pline plan. The classroom plan must clarify behaviors that are expected of stu-dents and clarify what students can expect from the teacher in return. The aimof the plan is to have a fair and consistent way to establish a safe, orderly, pos-itive classroom in which teachers teach and pupils learn. The plan consists ofthree parts:

rules that students must follow at all timespositive recognition that students will receive for following the rulesconsequences that result when students choose not to follow the rules

According to assertive discipline, students cannot be expected to guess how ateacher wants them to behave in all situations. If students are to succeed in theclassroom, they need to know, without doubt, what is expected of them. When


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students are not given the limits they need, they will act up in order to make theadults around them take notice. A student’s disruptive behavior is often a pleafor someone to care enough to make him or her stop.

Assertive discipline is not without critics. Some contend that assertive dis-cipline is undemocratic. It conveys a message that only those with power havethe right to make rules. Some teachers have responded to this criticism by al-lowing students to enter into the rule-making process. However, in the end, theassertive discipline teacher makes the final decision.

Other critics of assertive discipline claim that it is simplistic. Assertive dis-cipline does not get at the root of some discipline problems. It assumes that bysimply setting up clear rules and consequences along with providing positivefeedback, all problem behaviors can be expunged.

In addition, some critics contend that children should obey rules becausethat is the right thing to do, not because there is some reward associated withobeying or some punishment for not obeying. The long-term implications of re-warding behavior as suggested by the assertive discipline model is that childrenobey because of positive feedback or because they are told to obey by an author-ity figure. Real discipline, according to the critics of assertive discipline, shouldbe internal. Responsible behavior should be based on doing what is right.

As a prospective teacher, you will need to assess to what degree assertivediscipline fits your philosophy of education. If your philosophy tends to be fo-cused on the teacher’s responsibility to control students, assertive discipline iscompatible. If your philosophy is focused on students’ authority, you wouldneed to modify some of the assertive discipline tenets or not use this discipline.

DISCIPLINE WITH DIGNITY

Richard Curwin and Allen Mendler suggest that it is not enough to simply “con-trol” students. Educators on all levels must help students learn to become de-cision makers and critical thinkers about their own actions. Their approach, aprogram called Discipline with Dignity, provides a method for teaching stu-dents to take responsibility for their own behavior. The approach offers essen-tial skills and strategies for dealing with angry, disruptive behavior whilepositively affecting the lives of students. The students learn to manage them-selves as stress and pressures mount. The program emphasizes prevention byfostering a positive classroom environment and sensitive communication. Stu-dents are viewed as partners in the process of ensuring positive, productiveclassroom environments.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Another approach to discipline, conflict resolution focuses on the process ofteaching students how to recognize problems and then solve them construc-tively. Students are taught to be conflict managers and are trained to deal withdifficulties on the playground, in the hallways, and in the classroom. The stu-dent “managers” learn specific skills that enable them, for example, to guide adiscussion about a problem between two people who are fighting. There are avariety of ways to train the students, but the underlying benefit is that the stu-dents solve their own problems with minimal assistance of adults. Advocates ofconflict resolution contend that permitting students to share in the structureand even the enforcement of discipline policies helps them learn to contributeto the school and to society as a whole.

PEER MEDIATION

Peer mediation programs are closely associated with conflict resolution ap-proaches. The focus of peer mediation is not so much the resolution of conflictbut rather the proactive cultivation of a climate of peace. In these programs, stu-dents receive training in empathy development, social skills, and bias awareness.


The mediocre teacher tells.The good teacher explains.The superior teacherdemonstrates. The greatteacher inspires.

William Arthur Ward

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The overall goal of peer mediation training is to help students develop a socialperspective wherein joint benefit is considered over personal gain.

RULES FOR DISCIPLINE

There is no cookbook formula for classroom discipline rules and procedures.There are, however, some general guidelines that will help the beginningteacher to establish some operating rules that will be accepted and practiced bystudents. These guidelines are as follows:

1. Students and teachers need to learn the importance of considerate behaviorand communication.

2. Students need to be treated with respect. Students who are treated with re-spect develop strong self-esteem.

3. Teachers need to apply critical thinking skills when creating disciplinaryrules or analyzing needed disciplinary action.

4. Teachers need to examine how their actions of a social or instructional na-ture may have helped trigger misbehavior.

The way the teacher introduces and uses these general principles for estab-lishing rules for discipline will set the tone for classroom interactions, creatingan environment that is conducive to learning and that minimizes classroominterruptions.

Classroom discipline strongly reflects the teacher’s operating classroomphilosophy. As you examine the educational philosophy that wins your inter-est and support, search for its applications to discipline in your classroom.

CLASSROOM CLIMATE

John Goodlad, in his observation of more than one thousand classrooms, foundthat differences in the quality of schools have little to do with teaching prac-tices. Differences come from what Goodlad called an overall classroom cli-mate.4 Classroom climate is not a simple set of rules or ways of acting; it is aholistic concept, one that involves a set of underlying relationships and an un-derlying tone or sense of being and feeling.

Different types of classroom climate have been found to be successful.Goodlad’s research showed that successful schools are ones with favorable con-ditions for learning, parent interest in and knowledge of the schools, and posi-tive relationships between principals and teachers and teachers and students.S. M. Johnson identified school climate as one of the most important compo-nents contributing to effective learning and high levels of student motivation.5

In The Schools We Deserve, Diane Ravitch defined a positive school climate asrelaxed and tension-free. Teachers and students alike know that they are in agood school, and this sense of being special contributes to high morale.6

Vito Perrone set out to uncover the underlying characteristics of a classroomclimate that could be linked to increased student achievement. After examininghundreds of studies, Perrone determined that a successful learning climate wasone in which (1) students have time to wonder and find a direction that inter-ests them; (2) topics have an “intriguing” quality, something common seen in anew way; (3) teachers permit—even encourage—different forms of expressionand respect students’ views; (4) teachers are passionate about their work;(5) students create original or personal products; (6) students do something—they participate in activities that matter; and (7) students sense that the resultsof their work are not predetermined.7

The problem with establishing a certain type of school climate is that cli-mate is not something that can be developed artificially. Climate arises from theinteractions of all the things that teachers do in the classroom. There are twoconcepts, however, that can help you examine climate a little more closely:voice and space.


classroom climateA holistic concept that in-volves a set of underlyingrelationships and a tone orsense of being and feelingin the classroom.

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VOICE

Voice is a term brought to education by Henry Giroux.8 Giroux’s concept ofvoice refers to the multifaceted and interlocking set of meanings through whichstudents and teachers actively engage in dialogue with one another. Each indi-vidual voice is shaped by its owner’s particular cultural history and prior ex-perience. Voice, then, is the means that students have at their disposal to makethemselves “heard” and to define themselves as active participants in theworld. Voice is an important pedagogical concept because it alerts teachers tothe fact that all learning is situated historically and mediated culturally and de-rives part of its meaning from interaction with others.

Teacher voice reflects the values, ideologies, and structuring principlesteachers use to understand and mediate the histories, cultures, and subjectivi-ties of their students. For instance, teachers often use the voice of commonsense to frame their classroom instruction. It is often through the mediation ofteacher voice that the very nature of the schooling process is either sustained orchallenged. The power of teacher voice to shape schooling is inextricably re-lated not only to a high degree of teacher self-understanding but also to the pos-sibility for teachers to join together in a collective voice for social betterment.Thus, teacher voice is significant in terms of its own values as well as in rela-tion to the ways it functions to shape and mediate school and student voices.

Teachers need to be aware of the voices of their students as well as theirown voice. Too often the teacher’s voice is the only voice that counts in a class-room. Teachers must analyze the interests that different voices represent less as


P R O F E S S I O N A L D I L E M M A

How Do I Teach for Critical Thinking?

Teaching for critical thinking is an important compo-nent of education, and many schools have adoptedcritical thinking as a specific district outcome. Whenyou enter the teaching field, you will be challenged toconsider how you can effectively develop your stu-dents’ ability to think critically. A dilemma arises be-cause there are a variety of thinking models to choosefrom. These models are quite different from one an-other and selection is not simple. Even cognitive scien-tists do not agree on the proper way to conceptualizecritical thinking. For many years, two educators haveinvestigated how schools can effectively develop stu-dents’ critical-thinking skills.

Robert Ennis, from the University of Illinois, contendsthat critical thinking is a set of skills. He has concludedthat teachers who clarify a precise set of critical-thinkingsteps can effectively develop critical thinking in stu-dents. On the other hand, Richard Paul from SonomaState University emphasizes the development of a setof critical thinking dispositions or attitudes. He has con-cluded that critical thinking emerges when studentsare encouraged and taught to think from another per-

son’s perspective. He calls this the dialogue/dialecticthinking process.

As a prospective teacher, you will need to resolvethis dilemma. Is critical thinking a set of skills or is it morea set of attitudes? Based on your decision, you will dodifferent things with students. If you go with the skill de-velopment approach, much of your class time will in-volve developing a set of critical-thinking skills, includingsuch skills as logical reasoning, inference, clarifying as-sumptions, evidence analysis, and so forth. If you chooseto think of critical thinking as a disposition, you willspend more time encouraging discussion, listening todifferent points of view, and discussing why people thinkdifferently. Your philosophy of education can guide youin determining your response to this dilemma.

What does your philosophy of education say aboutyour view of critical thinking?Is it reasonable to expect a teacher to instill critical-thinking attitudes?Why are critical-thinking skills linked to attitude development whereas otherskills are not?

To answer these questions on-line and e-mail your answers to your professor, go to Chapter 11 of thecompanion website (www.ablongman.com/johnson13e) and click on Professional Dilemma.

You can teach a student alesson for a day; but if youcan teach him to learn bycreating curiosity, he willcontinue the learningprocess as long as he lives.

Clay P. Bedford

voiceThe multifaceted interlock-ing set of meanings throughwhich students and teachersactively engage with oneanother.

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oppositional components and more as amedley that shapes the individual meaningsof all participants in the learning process.

SPACE

“Authentic public space” is a concept devel-oped by Maxine Greene.9 She contends that aclimate consists of spaces between andamong people. The manner in which thisspace is maintained and the type of spacethat is created determine the climate. Spacethat permits students to explore, take risks,make mistakes, and take corrective action isan authentic space—one in which people donot have to engage in pretense. Space that re-quires perfection, does not tolerate divergentresponses, and is limited is a space that re-stricts freedom.

As Greene sees it, educators must at-tempt to climb into the consciousness of thelearner and see the world as it is presented toand experienced by the learner. By trying to

understand the world through learners’ eyes, teachers are enabled to intuit thekinds of experiences and explanations that will help the students in their cur-rent developmental stage. Ultimately, such an approach creates authentic pub-lic space in which students “may be empowered to think about what they aredoing, to become mindful, to share meanings, to conceptualize, to make variedsense of their lived worlds.”10

Another way of creating space is by developing a “community of inquiry.”This phrase, coined by Charles Sanders Peirce, has come to mean an environmentin which students listen to one another with respect, build on one another’s ideas,challenge one another to supply reasons for their opinions, assist one another indrawing inferences, and seek to identify one another’s assumptions.11 Teachersask questions and students answer them without either party’s feeling the least

twinge of embarrassment, because the processof such thinking and rethinking is natural. Anongoing dialogue ensues and a community ofinquiry forms.

Ultimately, classroom climate arisesfrom the beliefs and values held by teachersand students. Your understanding of yourown views and beliefs is critical to the cli-mate that will ultimately emerge in yourclassroom. Your clarity about your mostdeeply held views on the nature of knowl-edge, the nature of reality, and the impor-tance of teacher-led versus student-ledactions will ensure that your classroom cli-mate authentically represents you.

LEARNING FOCUS

As you consider the components of your per-sonal philosophy of education, you will facethe question of student learning. What con-stitutes your vision for a learned person? Is itlearning about the acquisition of knowledge?


Each individual voice is shaped by its owner’s particular culturalhistory and prior experience. Voice is the means students have tomake themselves “heard” and to define themselves as participantsin the world.

By creating an environment in which students listen to each otherwith respect and build on one another’s ideas, a teacher helpsstudents build a community of inquiry.

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Is it concerned with good thinking? Or is it concerned with good character? Aneasy answer, of course, is that learning includes all these things: knowledge,thinking, and dispositions. However, as a teacher you will need to determinewhat is the proper mix: how much learning time should be spent on knowledgeacquisition, how much time should be devoted to practicing skills, and howmuch time should be spent on the development of character traits or values. Tomake this question even more difficult, you will need to consider what types ofknowledge, skills, and dispositions are appropriate. Unfortunately, you will notfind easy answers to these questions in your district’s curriculum guide or text-books. These tools provide only a set of opportunities for learning; your phi-losophy of education will be the force that guides you in determining which ofall these things you wish to emphasize in your teaching.

USING PHILOSOPHY BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

The way you manage your classroom and the content, teaching methods, andvalues you stress will be based on your personal view of the proper role of theteacher in society. A classroom philosophy must incorporate this larger soci-etal view into other views that relate to student learning and behavior in theclassroom.

Schools play a role within the larger society. This role is determined by anumber of factors: the expectations of society’s leaders, economic conditions, theideologies of powerful lobbying groups, and the philosophies of teachers. It is es-pecially important for educators to examine the role of the school in terms of thelarger society—because if such reflection does not occur, schools will merely re-flect the status quo or the needs and desires of a single powerful group.

TEACHERS AS CHANGE AGENTS

An age-old question about the role of schools in societyconcerns the proper role of the school and the teacherin relation to change. Should teachers be change agents,actively working for changes in the existing scheme ofthings? Or should they reemphasize eternal truths andcultural positions? This question of change versustransmission of ongoing values has been articulated ina variety or ways.

CHANGE AS ADAPTATION

Isaac L. Kandel (1881–1965) was a leader in the essen-tialist movement who advocated change as a process ofadaptation. The adaptation approach emphasized theimportance of promoting stability in schools and en-abling the individual to adapt to the larger environment.The school should provide students with an unbiasedpicture of the changes that occur in society. But schoolscannot educate for a new social order, nor should teach-ers use the classroom to promote doctrine. Change oc-curs first in society. Schools follow the lead.12

CHANGE AS RATIONAL PROCESS

John Dewey believed that schools have a part in socialchange. He contended that change continually occurs,often without a clearly defined direction. Schools needto assume a leadership role in this change because

Using Philosophy beyond the Classroom 377

Teachers make their decisions about student outcomes,discipline procedures, instructional methodologies, andassessment methods based on how they view themselvesas change agents in the school.

change agentA person who actively en-deavors to mobilize changein a group, institution, orsociety.

adaptationIn the context of socialchange, an educational ap-proach that favors the pro-motion of a stable climate inschools to enable studentsto obtain an unbiased pic-ture of changes that are oc-curring in society and thusto adapt to those changes.

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educators have the time to study newer scientific and cultural forces, estimatethe direction and outcome, and determine which changes may or may not bebeneficial. Schools need to provide an environment in which students can learnthese analytic skills and participate in helping society determine the directionthat is of most worth.13

CHANGE AS RECONSTRUCTION

The reconstructionist Theodore Brameld contended that every educational sys-tem should help diagnose the causes of world problems. Schools need to domore than assess scientific and technological change; they should be placeswhere teachers and students alike can reconsider the very purpose of schoolingand study new ways of formulating goals and organizing subject matter. Schoolsand society alike need to be reconstructed according to a set of human goalsbased on cross-cultural, universal values.14

CHANGE AS DIALECTIC

Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis15 call for a dialectical humanism throughwhich teachers can help students explore the tension between the individualand society. They identify a conflict, or dialectic, between the reproductiveneeds of society and the self-actualizing needs of the individual. Bowles andGintis claim that entities such as schools, churches, peer groups, and townmeetings attempt to mediate this tension between individual freedom and re-sponsibility for the community. The problem schools face is that they are oftenunaware that they are mediating this underlying tension, and teachers are oftencaught in the middle of the dilemma. Teachers are asked to respond to theunique needs of the individual while simultaneously answering to the con-flicting needs of society. Bowles and Gintis call on teachers to develop a par-ticipatory democracy in which all interested parties learn both to pursue theirinterests and to resolve conflicts rationally. Educators must develop a dialecti-cal educational philosophy that seeks a new synthesis between the individualand the community.

As a teacher, you will become part of the educational system. As part of thissystem, you will be asked to make decisions about student outcomes, disciplineprocedures, instructional methodologies, and assessment methods. Your deci-sions regarding these educational issues will be greatly influenced by how youperceive teachers as change agents. You will make different decisions depend-ing on whether you determine that teachers need to help schools adapt, ratio-nally change the social order, reconstruct, or participate in a dialectic. Your taskis to consider carefully each of these change paradigms and select the one thatmatches your personal system of beliefs.

TEACHERS AS LEADERS

Teachers serve as leaders for their students. Evidence of this can be found in thetestimonials that are offered by former students when they have become adults.Most students, whether they have achieved graduate degrees or have followedvocational pursuits immediately after high school, report remembering teacherswho had a personal impact on their lives. These students will usually discussthe leadership and modeling behaviors of the teachers they remember.

The idea of teachers as leaders suggests that the new teacher should beaware of the need to develop a beginning repertoire of leadership qualities towhich students can look for guidance during their developmental years. Theseleadership qualities—and the practice of them—are highly dependent on theclassroom philosophy that the new teacher puts into practice. Some beginningconcepts for teacher leadership are vision, modeling behaviors, and use ofpower.


A good teacher is first of alla good human being—someone who in personality,character, and attitudeexercises a wholesome andinspiring influence on youngpeople.

Norman Cousins

dialecticA conflict between oppos-ing forces or ideas; inchange theory, this conflictis the one between individ-ual needs and the needs ofsociety.

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VISION

Classroom leadership behaviors begin when a teacher possesses both a visionand the intent to actualize that vision for the students. How a teacher actuallyputs his or her vision into practice depends wholly on the teacher’s philosoph-ical convictions. A vision is a mental construct that synthesizes and clarifieswhat you value or consider to be of highest worth. The clearer the vision ormental picture, the easier it is for a leader to make decisions or persuade or in-fluence others. Formulating a vision requires reflection concerning what youbelieve about truth, beauty, justice, and equality. It is important to considerthese issues and formulate a vision about how schools and classrooms shouldbe organized and what ideas should be implemented.

Linda Sheive and Marian Schoenbeit offer five steps to help leaders puttheir visions into action:16

1. Value your vision.2. Be reflective and plan a course of action.3. Articulate the vision to colleagues.4. Develop a planning stage and an action stage.5. Have students become partners in the vision.

If teachers reflect on their vision, they can plan the course of action theyneed to use with their learners. Articulation provides teachers with an oppor-tunity to share their vision with colleagues. Inservice or staff development ses-sions are excellent times to articulate a classroom vision. Visions require aplanning stage and an action stage if they are to become reality. Planning andaction stages should involve the students who are intended to be the receiversof this vision. For example, if a teacher wishes students to be reflective in theirlearning environment, then the teacher needs to help the students understandthe benefits of reflectiveness and become partners in the planning. The teachermight engage the students in free and open discussions of the vision and its im-portance to the learning environment in the classroom.

MODELING

If teachers hold certain expectations of learner behaviors in the classroom, it isimperative that they model those behaviors with the students. If the classroomteacher is rigid and fixed in his or her classroom practices and creates an au-thoritarian atmosphere, then the studentswill probably respond accordingly. On theother hand, if the teacher provides a moredemocratic classroom, the students will re-spond similarly in their classroom encoun-ters. We would caution that a laissez-faireenvironment will probably produce a class-room where learners have little or no direc-tion. Teachers should consider the modelingeffect on the classroom environment and ex-hibit behaviors consistent with their philoso-phy of education.

EMPOWERMENT

The concept of power in the classroomshould not be considered good or bad;power in itself has no value structure. Theuse of power, however, gives it a good, poor,or bad image. All leaders have power that isassociated with their position, but the suc-cessful leader is judicious in its use. The

Using Philosophy beyond the Classroom 379

Teaching can be looked at in a variety of ways, ranging fromhelping students create their own meaning to taking a deliberatestand and arguing for social change.

visionA mental construction thatsynthesizes and clarifieswhat a person values orconsiders to be of highestworth.

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nature of the teaching position entrusts a teacher with power both within andoutside the classroom. How a teacher uses power in the classroom or in theschool building is wholly determined by the classroom philosophy the teacherwants to project.

Teachers’ use of power can be classified into two different styles: teacher-dominant and learner-supportive. Past and present practices in schools tend tolean heavily on the teacher-dominant style. Therefore, although many teachersin training study both categories of teaching styles, they tend to see only onemajor type in practice when they visit schools. We suggest that you continuallystudy both major styles so that you can apply either one as needed on the basisof your classroom objectives for students and your classroom philosophy.

A teacher-dominant power style is based on an authoritarian construct forthe classroom. Learners are not expected to be active verbally in the learningprocess but are generally expected to be receivers and practicing users ofteacher-given information. Learning is very convergent. It is selected and givento the learner in the particular way in which the teacher wishes the student toacquire it.

A learner-supportive power style views the learner as someone who is ver-bally active and who seeks divergence in learning. Learner-supportive powerstyles encourage the active participation of the learner in exploring learning andhelping to determine the extent to which he or she will engage in alternative ap-proaches. Learning is very divergent. These power styles tend to recognize dif-ferences in learning, individual interests, and higher-order learning.

Teachers’ use of power extends beyond the classroom. Teachers, by theirvery occupation, are empowered with both rights and responsibilities. Theyhave a unique obligation to advocate for the needs of children, to remind soci-ety of its obligations to coming generations, to look beyond material wealth, andto consider the spiritual wealth of knowledge. Teachers, by virtue of their oc-cupation, are given certain rights to speak and be heard. The greater societylooks to teachers for guidance concerning the future health of the world.

GLOBAL PERSPECT IVES

The World as a ClassroomThis chapter encourages you to examine your beliefs and assumptions in an ef-fort to develop a personal philosophy of education. It is also important, how-ever, to consider the limitations that such a philosophy can impose. Forexample, to what degree does your philosophy of education incorporate thelarger world of thinkers? Does your philosophy affirm or disaffirm variedthinking schemes, varied beliefs, and varied ways of arriving at answers? Re-lating to global neighbors is no longer a matter of respecting differences. If ed-ucators are truly to relate and work collaboratively, their thinking schemesneed to intermingle with those of other educators, educators who may havevastly different ways of thinking. Yet a personal philosophy implies the de-velopment of a cohesive set of views about knowledge and the nature of theworld. Teachers must balance this need to intermix against the importance ofclarifying an individual point of view; this is the challenge the world class-room presents to every teacher. How might you present you own views aboutwhat knowledge is of most worth to another teacher? What can you do if youare asked to team teach with another educator who views knowledge differ-ently than you do?


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The characteristics of classroom philosophy discussed inthis chapter help you become comfortable with your ownpreferences for teaching. Prospective teachers, whether ornot they have had educational philosophy coursework intheir preparation programs, should find this practical class-room philosophy treatment a useful way to examine teach-ing behaviors and to identify trends and preferences relatedto a teaching style or philosophy of education. The types ofphilosophies that infuse different approaches to classroomorganization, student motivation, and discipline were de-scribed so that you can select those approaches that bestmatch your own philosophy of education. Remember thatthere are no perfect teaching styles or teaching methodolo-gies. For this reason, we encourage an eclectic approach—an approach that draws on many different sets of ideas.

As a new teacher, you need to know how to minimizethe negative effects and weaknesses associated with anyparticular teaching style. The styles that emphasize con-vergent thinking, for example, tend to reward students forgiving an answer that is the exact phrase the teacher wants.These teaching styles also affect student voice and class-room climate. Teachers using such methods must be care-ful with their responses to students, or students will not

risk participating in discussion unless they are absolutelycertain they have the exact answer. This can limit class-room climate and student voice.

Divergent types of teaching styles may, in contrast, re-quire students to participate in interesting activities butnot make them fully aware of why they are participating orwhat they are learning. If students are not required to jus-tify the generalizations they make and are not made to seethat they are learning many facts and skills, they may endup feeling that all answers are so relative that problem-solving processes are not worthwhile. Teachers who knowenough about themselves and their teaching styles to showstudents how to succeed with both convergent thinkingand divergent thinking are well on their way to reachingthe ideal of being healthy eclectics.

Finally, to perceive a philosophy is one thing; to liveaccording to the philosophy is another. In teaching, onemust exhibit behavior that is compatible with a personaleducational philosophy. In life, one must consider the im-plications of a philosophy of education for acting respon-sibly in society. What types of societal change match yourphilosophy of education, and what type of responsibleleadership does your philosophy compel you to assume?

S U M M A R Y

Portfolio Development 381

1. What is your vision of democracy in the classroom? Towhat degree should students be permitted to decidewhat they will study, when they will study, and howthey will study? Why?

2. What characteristics or practices can you identifyin a former teacher whom you would label yourfavorite?

3. Teachers must be able to manage the classroom insuch a way that the environment created is conduciveto teaching and learning. How do you plan to organizeyour classroom to set up such an environment?

4. Identify some significant beginning classroom prac-tices that a new teacher should try to develop if he orshe wants to be judged a successful teacher.

D I S C U S S I O N Q U E S T I O N S

1. Think about the different student seating arrange-ments in various classrooms. Sketch each seatingarrangement and describe the types of student interac-tion and the types of learning that each seatingarrangement supports. Draw the seating arrangementthat you prefer, and describe the types of student in-teraction and learning that it encourages.

2. Choose and write down a metaphor for each of the ed-ucational theories you have studied; for example,“constructivism is a shared voyage into new and un-charted territory.” Then design a metaphor for yourpersonal educational theory and clarify how it com-pares to the other educational theory metaphors.

J O U R N A L E N T R I E S

1. Prepare a synopsis of your overall philosophical per-spective. Include your views about classroom organiza-tion, motivation, discipline, and climate. Try to developa graphic that clearly shows how all these componentsconnect and are consistent to your overall perspective.

2. Develop a statement that depicts how you intend tofunction as a teacher/leader within the larger society.Describe one position you support related to a politi-cal action.

P O R T F O L I O D E V E L O P M E N T

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TEACHING AND LEARNING CLIMATES

1. Several topics in the Praxis II Principles of Teachingand Learning (PLT) test relate to the contents of thischapter, including “structuring a climate for learning,”developing “strategies to maintain discipline to pro-mote student learning,” and becoming skilled in “allo-cation of time for instructional activities, includingtransition time.” Review the Classroom Climate sec-tion of this chapter. How will you build on John Good-lad’s findings about positive classroom climate, HenryGiroux’s conception of voice, and Maxine Greene’sconception of space in your own classroom?

2. Answer the following multiple-choice question,which is similar to items in Praxis and other state cer-tification tests. If you are unsure of the answer, reviewthe opening section of this chapter and Figure 11.1.

Which of the following activities would mostclearly be an inappropriate activity to encouragedivergent thinking in a mathematics lesson onpatterns and shapes?

(A) Children will identify and match pictures ofthree-dimensional shapes while playing aboard game with peers.

(B) Children will create patterns using differentshapes of pasta noodles and write how manypieces are in their designs.

(C) Children will use an online program in whichthey correctly identify shapes.

(D) Children will search for shapes in the class-room and make a chart listing the types andnumbers of shapes found.

3. Answer the following short-answer question, which issimilar to items in Praxis and other state certificationtests. After you’ve completed your written response,use the scoring guide in the Test at a Glance materialsto assess your response. Can you revise your responseto improve your score?

The Jefferson Elementary School staff is debatingthe merits of the assertive discipline program de-veloped by Lee Canter. One of the teachers, LeslieBrown, is strongly in favor of the program. An-other teacher, Robin James, strongly opposes theprogram. What arguments might Leslie make in fa-vor of the assertive discipline program? What ar-guments might Robin make against the program?

P R E P A R I N G F O R C E R T I F I C A T I O N

www.criticalthinking.org/university/default.html The Foundation for CriticalThinking is dedicated to providing educators, stu-dents, and the general public with access to infor-mation about critical thinking, theory and practice,

concepts, techniques for learning and teaching, andclassroom exercises.

www.theteachersguide.com The Teachers Guide is aweb-based company that provides information, profes-sional articles, resources, books, virtual field trips, andeducational software related to classroom management,educational psychology, special education, and so on.Click on Class Management for more information.

www.aft.org/lessons/two/elements.html TheAmerican Federation of Teachers website offers anoverview of classroom management with details aboutdiscipline codes and practices. The site also discusses theimportance of parental involvement.

teacher2b.com/discipline/discistr.htm The Eng-lish Teacher website details philosophies underlying dis-cipline, the cause of discipline problems, and usefulstrategies for dealing with discipline problems.

falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/disciplinebib.htmSchool Discipline Classroom Management: A Bibliographycovers the publications of authors of some of the majordiscipline programs. The Internet School Library MediaCenter is a meta-site for librarians, teachers, and parents.

www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/5/cu9.html The SchoolImprovement Research Series website provides introduc-tions, definitions, and research on discipline practices.Discussions include research findings, teacher training inclassroom management, discipline of multicultural stu-dents, specific discipline programs, and ineffective disci-pline practices. The site also includes a summary ofresearch perspectives on improving school and class-room discipline.

W E B S I T E S

Campbell, D. M., Cignetti, P. B., Melenyzer, B. J., Nettles,D. H., and Wyman, R. M. Jr. (1997). How to Develop aProfessional Portfolio: A Manual for Teachers. Boston:

Allyn and Bacon. This booklet provides a comprehen-sive look at what is needed to develop a professionalportfolio for education professionals.

F U R T H E R R E A D I N G ISB

N: 0-536-27961 -6


Carlson, Richard. (2003). The Don’t Sweat Guide for Teach-ers: Cutting through the Clutter so That Every DayCounts. New York: Hyperion. How to deal with the de-mands of teaching and still enjoy the job. Gives strate-gies for creating surprise, modeling respect, and beinga talent scout.

Clark, Ron. (2003). The Essential 55: An Award-WinningEducator’s Rules for Discovering the Success in EveryChild, New York: Hyperion. The winner of the 2001Disney Teacher of the Year Award presents some rev-olutionary ideas for classroom industriousness andaccountability.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1994). The Dreamkeepers: SuccessfulTeachers of African American Children. San Fran-

cisco: Jossey-Bass. A reflective look at different teach-ing strategies in terms of their effectiveness withAfrican American students.

MacKenzie, Robert J. (2003). Setting Limits in the Class-room. Roseville, CA: Prima. Offers up-to-date alterna-tives to punishment and permissiveness beyond theusual methods. Also offers special tools for handlingthe “strong-willed” student.

Martin, Jane Roland. (1995, January).“A Philosophy of Ed-ucation for the Year 2000.” Phi Delta Kappan, 77(1),pp. 21–27. This article describes the work of an exis-tentialist and how to develop a philosophy of educa-tion that is consistent with existential principles.

Notes 383

Expand your knowledge of the concepts discussed in this chapter by reading current andhistorical articles from the New York Times by visiting the Themes of the Times! section ofthe companion website (www.ablongman.com/johnson13e).

T H E M E S O F T H E T I M E S !

1. R. Schmuck and P. A. Schmuck, Group Processes inthe Classrooms. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown, 1983.

2. Carl D. Glickman and Charles H. Wolfgang, “Conflictin the Classroom: An Eclectic Model of Teacher–ChildInteraction,” Elementary School Guidance and Coun-seling 13 (December 1978), pp. 82–87.

3. William Glasser, Control Theory in the Classroom.New York: Harper & Row, 1986, p. 47.

4. John Goodlad, A Place Called School: Prospects forthe Future. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984.

5. S. M. Johnson, Teachers at Work: Achieving Success in Our Schools. New York: Basic Books, 1990,pp. xvii–xix.

6. Diane Ravitch, The Schools We Deserve: Reflectionson the Educational Crisis of Our Times. New York: Ba-sic Books, 1985, p. 303.

7. Vito Perrone, ed., Expanded Student Assessment forSupervision and Curriculum Development. Alexan-dria, VA: Association for Supervision and CurriculumDevelopment, 1991.

8. Henry Giroux, Ideology, Culture and the Process ofSchooling. Philadelphia: Temple University Press,1981.

9. Maxine Greene, The Dialectic of Freedom. New York:Teachers College Press, 1988.

10. Maxine Greene, “Curriculum and Consciousness,” inWilliam Pinar, ed., Curriculum Theorizing: The Recon-ceptualists. Berkeley, CA: McCutchan, 1975, p. 12.

11. C. S. Peirce, “The Fixation of Belief,” in Justus Buch-ler, ed., Philosophical Writings of Peirce. New York:Dover, 1955, pp. 5–22.

12. Isaac L. Kandel, Conflicting Theories of Education.New York: Macmillan, 1938, pp. 77–88.

13. John Dewey, “Education and Social Change,” TheSchool Frontier III (1937), pp. 235–238.

14. Theodore Brameld, “Imperatives for a ReconstructedPhilosophy of Education,” School and Society 87(1959), pp. 18–20.

15. Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Cap-italistic America. New York: Basic Books, 1975,pp. 18–20.

16. Linda Tinelli Sheive and Marian Beauchamp Schoen-beit, “Vision and the Worklife of Educational Leaders,”in Leadership: Examining the Elusive. Alexandria, VA:Association for Supervision and Curriculum Develop-ment, 1987, p. 99.

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