Developing a Personal Approach to Classroom

Practices My Philosophy
My time spent at Royal Vale School during my third field experience has truly promoted
thoughtful reflection on my place, role, and purpose as a teacher. What I often hear about
schooling is that the education system, in its current state, aims to diminish creativity and
promote one single way of thinking on behalf of students that falls within the expectations of the
curriculum. In my experience, I have seen students from all walks of life coming together and
bringing their own personalities and ways of thinking into the way they learn, which is what I, as
a teacher, am striving to promote. As an educator, it is my job to encourage students to think
independently. Providing children with the opportunity to consider meaningful big ideas and
make important connections and discoveries, all within the walls of a classroom, is something
students will carry with them through their entire lives. The connections students make while
thinking independently ignite an important quality in students: passion. The ability for students
to think on their own and with their peers about important themes discussed in the classroom is
an engaging way for students to learn. If a student can reflect on a topic and establish a
meaningful connection to it, their passion for learning will grow. Ultimately, students learn best
when they are given the tools to develop independent thoughts. I will consider how choice,
cooperation, and questioning are promoted by three different theorists in order for me to
effectively achieve a classroom in which young minds are developing their own thoughts and
views on a topic.
The ultimate goal in education is providing students with the tools to become
independent thinkers; learning is most meaningful when students are making discoveries on their

own. The question is, how can students develop these thoughts within the classroom?
Psychiatrist William Glasser has conducted extensive research in classroom management and
promoting a choice-based classroom. Ensuring students are responsible for their own behaviour
and success in the classroom is key in order to develop independent thinking. If students are
being given the opportunity to choose what they study, they are more likely to establish their
own independent views on the subject because it is something they are passionate about or
deeply interested in. Moreover, allowing students the power of choice creates internal feelings of
independence on behalf of the student. Being in control of their learning allows them to feel as
though their role and place in the classroom is significant and meaningful. If a student feels as
though they are playing a huge role in the course of their education, they will be more willing to
open their minds to new ideas and make new discoveries. Glasser provides several strategies for
teachers to promote choice and independence in the classroom. Although I have not implemented
all of Glassers strategies, I have focused on abandoning the boss management technique,
which essentially points to the futility of attempting to force students to behave in ways that are
contrary to their natural inclinations (Charles, 2016, p. 54). In contrast, lead management
means using methods that encourage students and draw them out, rather than trying to force
information into them (Charles, p. 56). If students are interested in the lesson, they are more
willing to learn as a result. In turn, this interest allows students to want to learn about the subject
and submit quality work without me, the teacher, having to force it out of them. If children are
passionate about a topic, they will develop their own independent thoughts about it. In order to
ensure students are passionate about a topic, they must be given some choice and control over
what they are learning. My grade ten students have recently begun to take part in literature
circles in English Language Arts class. Students are divided into groups of three and each group

is assigned a specific book. Each group and corresponding book were assigned based on personal
interests and reading level. Prior to being assigned a group, students completed a short
questionnaire that was based on what genres they enjoyed reading, the speed at which they read,
as well as the average length of the books they typically read. After having sorted through the
questionnaire and establishing which students preferred a certain genre over another, I was able
to assign students to a group of three and select a novel for each group to read, depending on
their answers to the questionnaire. Ultimately, this allowed students to work with texts they
expressed a genuine desire in pursuing. Rather than covering all these different books one at a
time with the entire class in a shorter time period throughout the term, students will spend weeks
studying the specific book assigned to their group. Glasser states that learning about a smaller
number of topics in depth is always preferable to covering many superficially (Charles, p. 55),
and that one of the criteria needed to ensure quality teaching is that information is something
that students express a desire to learn about (Charles, p. 56). Naturally, when a student is more
fully engrossed in the learning, not only are they more likely to develop independent thoughts on
the subject, they are less likely to misbehave (Charles, p. 59). Students who are deeply engaged
in the lesson and in the learning focus more intently on their own work and less on disrupting the
class. Students in my grade ten English Language Arts class were so deeply engrossed in their
literature circle books and reflection questions that they did not feel the need to chit chat with
their peers and misbehave. Ultimately, the deeper the connection is between a student and the
content being studied, the more the information becomes a valuable tool for developing
independent thought.
Another important tool for establishing independent thought in the classroom is allowing
students to learn cooperatively. In order to have a valuable learning experience in the classroom

and develop beliefs and ideas surrounding a topic, students must first learn from the ideas of
others. John Shindler, author of Effectively Managing the Cooperative Classroom (2009), a
chapter in his book Transformative Classroom Management, has developed insightful strategies
and ideas on how to manage a classroom that is based on learning cooperatively. Shindler first
defines cooperative learning quite generally, stating that cooperative learning includes any form
of instruction in which students are working together for a purpose (Shindler, 2009, p. 120). As
teachers, we often assume that when students are engaging in group work they are automatically
learning cooperatively. One of the main differences that were addressed both during the lecture
as well as in Shindler's article is the idea that cooperative learning is focused more on the process
in which our students learn, whereas in a group work based activity, emphasis is placed on the
final product. That being said, in order for students to gain meaningful understanding of the
work being done in class, focus should be placed on the process of learning, rather than the final
product. Once teachers place emphasis on the how aspect of student learning, meaningful
independent thoughts will emerge from the classroom. One activity I enjoy practicing in my
classroom is the Socratic Circle. When preparing for a Socratic Circle activity, students are
required to read a text, usually a short article, and create ten discussion questions pertaining to
said text. In class, students sit in a large circle and answer their discussion questions through
conversation with their peers. A student will begin the discussion by firing out a question, and
other students will answer and discuss together, while the teacher simply facilitates, rarely
speaking. With my grade eight students, we were reading S.E. Hintons novel The Outsiders, and
completed a chapter that talks about heroes. In order to assess the students understanding of
heroes and the important role they play both in their own lives as well as in the text, they were
given an article on heroism and created ten discussion questions about the article. In class, the

students engaged in powerful, passionate discussions on heroes and learned so much from each
other. Meanwhile, I, the teacher, seldom had to interject to keep the conversation flowing.
Rather, I had to interrupt to ensure each student was speaking one at a time and ensuring all
voices were being heard. After the discussion in the Socratic Circle is complete, students are to
choose five of the questions discussed and provide an in-depth, individual answer to said
questions for homework. Ultimately, Socratic Circles are designed for students to learn through
questioning one another and developing their own independent thoughts in the process. Shindler
calls this cooperative learning activity collaborative content processing (Shindler, p. 123), and
quotes Slavin (1994), stating that the quality of thinking is better as a result of having more
perspectives and the opportunity to process verbally rather than just mentally (Shindler, p. 123).
The text Becoming a Teacher (2010), written by Forrest Parkay, Beverly Stanford, John
Vaillancourt, Heather Stephens, and James Harris, further outlines the necessary elements
required in becoming an effective educator that promotes independent thinking. In the seventh
chapter of the text, the authors outline the importance of classroom dynamics and the
environment in which the students are placed in. In order to improve classroom dynamics, the
text emphasizes strong and positive interactions among students: "In addition to engaging in
positive, success-oriented interactions with their students, effective teachers foster positive,
cooperative interactions among them. As a result, students feel supported by their peers and free
to devote their attention to learning." (Parkay et al., 2010, p. 206). Although independent
thinking is based on the students developing thoughts and beliefs on their own, collaborative
content processing is an excellent tool to enhance the students knowledge on a subject while
creating a positive group dynamic with their peers. Students who feel more comfortable in the
space in which they are learning are more likely to engage in higher level independent thinking.

In contrast, students who feel unsafe will not be actively engaged in the learning process. In sum,
cooperative learning through the Socratic Circle promotes a positive sharing of knowledge
among students, and later allows them to reflect on how this knowledge has shaped their thinking
through individually answering their own questions.
Moreover, the practice of questioning further promotes strong independent thinking in the
classroom. Doug Lemov, author of Teach Like a Champion (2010), suggests incredible strategies
that challenge students to think critically in the classroom. Although students are often thinking
critically about a variety of subjects, my aim is to get them thinking about things in a meaningful
way by themselves. Questioning in the classroom serves several purposes; the one I practice and
focus on is to push students to do a greater share of the thinking (Lemov, 2010, p. 236).
Ultimately, Lemov provides a strategy in his text called Simple to Complex, which promotes
higher level independent thinking. Simple to Complex is a strategy in which the teacher asks
questions that continuously increase in difficulty. Lemov expands on this idea, stating that
effective questions initially engage students thinking about a topic in contained and concrete
ways and then push them to think more deeply and broadly (Lemov, p. 239). The idea of simple
to complex questioning is similar to a staircase. Slowly, students easily make their way through
the simple questions and begin to climb up towards high-level thinking. As they climb, their
confidence builds due to having correctly answered the previous simpler questions. As they
make their way closer to the top of the staircase, they have acquired the confidence and
willingness to answer deeper, more reflective questions, after having seen themselves succeed at
answering the previous ones (Lemov, p. 239). In my classroom, this type of questioning occurs
during class discussions. As previously stated, this term, my grade eight students were reading
S.E. Hintons The Outsiders. As they continued to read through the book, I would dedicate half a

class period once a week on chapter summaries in which I facilitated a class discussion on the
key ideas in the last few chapters the students read. The purpose of these chapter summaries was
so that students could clearly understand more difficult concepts and ideas from the chapter that
may not have been clear upon their first reading of the text. I usually began these class chapter
summaries by asking students to tell me one important event that occurred in the chapter. This
question prompted several students to raise their hands; all they had to do was name an important
event, after all. As they volunteered their answers, I would note them on the board so everyone
would be following along. Next, I would ask them why they believed this event to be important.
Students made broad connections to the knowledge they had about certain characters or events at
this point in the novel. Though I knew students could push further with their answers to this
question, I realized it was up to me to lead them to a deeper reflection and understanding of the
events in the text, this was simply the first step. When later asking them how these events in the
chapter led to the main characters development, their answers were more thoughtful and
demonstrated a deeper understanding of the issues presented in the chapter. Ultimately,
implementing the simple to complex strategy guided my students towards developing higher
level independent thinking through questioning. If students feel like they can answer the
question, they are more likely to answer, as Lemov states more insightfully, and, having seen
themselves succeed at initial questions, more confidently and with the willingness to take on
greater risk. (Lemov, p. 239). Pushing students to reflect more deeply on their answers is an
important tool when fostering independent thinking. Students are capable of digging deeper and
getting to the core of important ideas discussed in class, however, it is my responsibility as the
teacher to provide students with the necessary steps needed for them to develop reflective,
independent thoughts on their own.

All in all, fostering independent thinking for my students is a crucial part of learning. As
a teacher, my role is to provide students with the tools to think independently. Implementing
choice, cooperation, and questioning into my classroom promotes an environment in which
students learn best. If they develop the willingness to think deeper and reflect more insightfully
on issues discussed in the classroom, their passion for learning will grow. This idea is what fuels
my values as a teacher. If one does not develop the skills to think independently and develop
their own thoughts about a subject, have they really taken anything away from my class? As I
continue on in my field experiences, I further understand and develop my place and role as a
teacher. My third field experience has taught me more about the role I wish to play in my own
classroom, and how I, as both an educator and a learner, wish to promote independent thought
among my students.

References
Charles, C. M. (2015). Fred Jones on Keeping Students Willingly Engaged in Learning.
In Pearson Custom Education: Characteristics of Positive Classroom Practices Building
from Positive Teacher-Student Relationships (pp. 25-49). Boston: Pearson.
Lemov, D. (2010). Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to
college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Parkay, F. W., Stanford, B. H., Vaillancourt, J. P., Stephens, H. C., & Harris, J. R.
(2010). Becoming a Teacher (4th ed.). Toronto, Canada: Pearson.
Shindler, J. (2009). Effectively managing the cooperative classroom. In J. Shindler, Ed.
T
Transformative Classroom Management. San Francisco: Wiley.