Philosophy of Classroom Management

Philosophy of Classroom Management in K-12 Schools Le cadre, literally meaning “the frame” in French, is a conceptualization of Jean-Jacque Rousseau’s educational philosophy that has guided my behavioral management approach for several years. From my perspective, the mutual respect and support at the core of all productive relationships are most effectively engaged by choice over authority; learned through modeling rather than dictation, and reinforced through affirmative social experiences rather systems of rewards or punishments.

In my studio, students are respected as artists and rational beings capable of making thoughtful choices and regulating their own behavior. My role as a teacher is to intensively guide the classroom culture and to provide consistent reference points for the procedures, attitudes, and behaviors of a successful and productive art studio. To be effective in my curriculum, I need to function as an exemplar of patience, perseverance, and resourcefulness. The goal of my classroom management philosophy is to create an environment of trust and thoughtfulness where students can develop their own artistic voice and learn the behaviors needed to pursue a variety of creative practices.

My classroom management goals and my art curriculum are symbiotically linked – the success of the latter is dependent on the former and the former is inherent in the latter. In order to create a choice based environment that teaches for artistic behavior, I must show trust in my students. Further, there must exist a level of mutual respect and

shared responsibility among all of us in the studio environment that extends to our arts materials, daily systems and our interactions as a community.

Le Cadre (the frame) is a perfect metaphor for the tightly organized studio art environment and the carefully planned technical procedures that will make a culture of vast individual choice possible. There is a phrase in France to the effect of, “education is a firm cadre, and inside is liberty.� The highest aim of my visual arts classroom is for students to experience the level of freedom that prepares them to act with self-efficacy and to trust in their own ability to resolve a range of creative challenges.