Running head: CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR AND MANAGEMENT

Classroom Behavior and Management

Jessie Caprio
Regent University

CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR AND MANAGEMENT

Classroom Behavior and Management

In an ideal world all children would listen to everything adults said. They would
sit at their desks reading, writing, or doing whatever is required of them at the moment. They
would never talk out of turn, never fight with their peers, and never roll their eyes at the teacher.
Of course, this is more than an ideal, it is an impossibility. Children are individual people. Each
has a different background, different experiences, and different genetics shaping who they are.
Much like adults, children will get distracted, disobey the rules, and rebel. In fact, due to their
lack of experience in dealing with situations, they often have more difficulty than adults in
handling both simple and complicated situations. This is only exacerbated when the social
pressures of school are added to the mix.
As a teacher, one is expected to mitigate the irrationality of the classroom and transform
it into a productive environment for all of the children. They are expected to not only understand
their children, but to be the model figure and set the example for the class. They are expected to
be both the peace keeper and the disciplinarian. Although accomplished in many different ways,
this can be summed up as classroom behavior and management.
Rational
Both artifacts this week demonstrate the classroom management I used in my fifth grade
class. I chose these artifacts because of their stark contrast to each other. One of them is focused
on rewarding good behavior while the other addresses misbehavior. Their contrast, however, did
not diminish their effectiveness in the classroom.
The first artifact is a behavior tally chart. Students were grouped together based on the
table they sat at. As the week progressed the table would earn tallies for good behavior. Tallies
could be earned from individuals at the table or the entire table together. Tallies could also be

CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR AND MANAGEMENT

lost if negative behavior was observed. At the end of the week, the table with the most tallies
was invited to watch cartoons in the classroom during lunch.
The second artifact is a behavioral reflection letter. If a student failed to turn in
homework two days in a row or exhibited poor behavior in class, they would earn silent lunch.
During lunch they were required to sit in the classroom silently and write a reflection note. In
the note they were required to write why they had silent lunch and what they planned to do to
avoid ever earning it again.
Reflection
My education at Regent continually asserted and reasserted the importance of character
development in education. I had classes on Christian leadership, character, and virtue as well as
classes on adolescent development and behavioral management. Through all of these classes I
found a common thread, that a classroom should be a safe place for all students. A classroom
should be caring. Creating a caring classroom requires that a classroom be established in such a
way that the whole nucleus is one of caring and in many aspects replicates elements of what we
would consider a successful family (Selig, 2009, p. 3). This, of course, starts with me. My
attitude, willingness to connect to the students, and Christian virtues directly translate to my
students. If I approach them with anything other than love, I cant expect love back from them.
I feel as though a classroom should be a family for all the students in it. Learners sense
of self is largely based on how they believe other people regard them (Bergin, 2015, p. 557). If,
as the teacher, I develop a classroom where all students support, care for, and uplift each other,
each students confidence and ability to learn will greatly increase. This starts with my ability to
connect with the students. If they dont trust me and see that I trust them they will not trust each

CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR AND MANAGEMENT

other. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing (1
Thessalonians 5:11, ESV)

CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR AND MANAGEMENT

References
Bergin, D. A., & Bergin, C. A. (2015). Child and adolescent development in your classroom.
Selig, G., & Arroyo, A. (2009). Handbook of individualized strategies for Building Character.
Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Services.
Beach. Adjunt Professor