She had started a set of discussions that were presented in class in a very organized way. The discussions she presented in class have empowered my classroom management philosophy. .
One of the most interesting discussions that affected my classroom management philosophy is Kounin's withitness. Kounin (1970) "defined withitness as: A teacher's communicating to the children by her actual behavior, that she knows what the children are doing, or has the proverbial eyes in the back of her head" (as cited in Daniels, 2009, p. 20). By displaying withitness in my class, I can earn the respect and trust of my students. Thus, my students are much more likely to support my expectations and procedures in the classroom. They know well that I am always monitoring their work and concerned to have them accomplish their tasks very seriously and successfully. . .
Dr. Maureen added additional discussions that are more interesting. She motivated me to create a professional learning environment in my classroom. After these discussions, my classroom has become very guided and organized. My students are trained to pick their own responsibilities, and preserve respect to their teachers and to each other. Classroom chores are equally shared and perhaps rotating. In addition, my students have become aware of the consequences of their behaviors, and they rather work on solving some problems rather than blaming each other. .
Another discussion, we held in class, was so cultivating. Punishment vs Logical consequence; I used to use punishment/reward strategy to solve some behavioral problems. The scenarios we had read in class had a powerful impact on the way I solve such problems. These scenarios had empowered me with a new insight to deal with some negative attitudes and how to make benefit out of them instead of just punish or reward.
Articles.
In addition to these discussions, we had a set of very remarkable articles to read and explore that have enriched my classroom management philosophy.
