Education in a Classroom

Introduction
Education or at least the attainment of scholastic pursuit accounts for at least 50% of an average individuals lifetime (Jean et al., 1980). In the competitive work environment that we currently live in, most people reach postgraduate status with at least a masters degree or sometimes a post graduate diploma to boot. This means that from age 5 to around
30 most peoples time is taken up by school work. Given the fact that a typical class schedule begins in the morning and ends at around 3 pm on average, the typical individual will spend most of their day at school. Add on to this the fact that in a year, a student spends at least 8months in a year in class and we then have a full picture of the influence that an academic environment has on the total life of an individual (Trevarthern, 1995).
Question One
The fact that one spends 50% of their lifetime in a classroom environment and at least 80% of their productive life within the same context indicates the importance of maintaining a proper classroom management ideology from a personal as well as a professional point of view. The onus should not only be on the student to ensure that they spend quality time in school but also on the teaching faculty and administration on providing the right environment is in place to ensure students study in a conducive and comfortable environment. It is the school administrations responsibility to ensure that students are well taken care of while under their care. This duty of care extends to the students physical, mental and social wellbeing (Woodhead, 1994). It is the parents responsibility to ensure their children receive the best education that their money can afford as well as providing a conducive environment at home to synchronize well with the enabling environment in school. Finally, it is the teachers responsibility to ensure the students develop into knowledgeable and respectful individuals. For the teacher to do this, they will have to engage the students as well as build a quality relationship with them.
Engagement
Engagement within the confines of a teacher-student paradigm means that the teachers work will involve the students input. The teacher has to ensure the student is part and parcel of the teaching process through a variety of processes, the most important being a question and answering mechanism. A question and answer mechanism works due to the fact that students learn at virtually the same speed and level, and one learners question will reflect the same confusion on almost all the others, or at least a majority of the others. Apart from the question-answer mechanism, there are various other aspects of student engagement that a teacher can employ. In Matts case, he used fun class activities such as the creation of an egg protection device that would be tested by the entire classroom and whose management involved the students parents. This form of collaborative activity is quite useful in establishing a working classroom management ideology that is both tried and tested.
Relationship building
The mere fact that students spend their most productive hours within the confines of a classroom means that it is upon the teachers to foster a quality work relationship with the learners. It is a fact that most students spend more time with their teachers than their parents, and likewise the teachers spend more time with their students than with their children. The degree of expectations from both parties differ than their expectations in the home environment, and this radically changes the relationship paradigm in the classroom. The teacher has to care instinctively about the wellbeing of the students, and the learner has to be aware of the teachers aspirations to see them succeeding. This dynamic is not any different than the individual family situation for both parties. For both sides to reap maximum utility from the classroom situation a balanced relationship has to be in place, and the onus is on the teacher to ensure such a conducive environment is in place to ensure the students are comfortable enough to approach them with pressing needs, whether academic or otherwise.
Matts claim of loving his students is a very legitimate premise on which a teacher can base his teaching career on. It seems absurd that people can like things ranging from pets to sports teams and even bars, but this sentiment be denied their students. A teacher who loves his learners in a genuine, nonsexual manner is better placed to assist them to be responsible adults and can even go well beyond their means to ensure their students needs are met. In some situations, budgetary constraints hinder students from receiving a quality education and some teachers have been known to step in and use their money to ensure this gap is bridged. A teacher who genuinely cares about the well-being of their students will find it easy to sacrifice their money on such a noble endeavour. This is the epitome of loving ones career as well as genuinely being aware of the needs of the students and meeting them where possible.
Question Two
Matt mentions seven distinct classroom management strategies that he employs to ensure there is order and a seamlessly free and conducive classroom environment. These policies are informed by key obstacles that face many teachers. The main obstacle is usually the students attention span that switches on and off erratically thereby leading to one minute of silence concentrated followed by several other moments of noisy interruptions (McDowall, 2013). Matt, therefore, devised several methods of ensuring students do not get sidetracked by peripheral conversations but concentrate wholly on his lesson plan. Strategies such as counting down from 5 to give the students ample time to finish off what they were trying to communicate with each other or speaking to the disruptive students individually makes it easier for the students to see the disruptive excesses of talking in class whilst the teacher is teaching.
The strategies mentioned earlier are all quite effective in ensuring the right environment is maintained for the students to benefit fully and effectively from the lessons. In my opinion however the most important strategy out of all the ones Matt employs, is that which involves consulting with the parents, other teachers as well as the principle and his deputy. This strategy is quite useful in that it includes all the key adult figures in a students life. Any decisions made will positively impact the student since the teacher will be aware of the parents general disposition and ability to steer the student in the right direction. The parent will also be conscious of the teachers competencies in imparting knowledge to his or her children (Abidin & Robinson, 2002). In situations where the teachers and the parents do not communicate the child can get caught up in the confusion and even play truant thereby jeopardizing their capacity to benefit from the lessons.
Question Three
In any teachers experience, there are several horror stories of student insolence that could drive many teachers insane (Abidin & Robinson, 2002). On Matts career, this student happened to be Lance, whose behaviour bordered on downright pathological to insubordinately insolent. Most teachers would have easily requested the student to be transferred or in the most extreme situations call their parents to schools before expelling the students. Matt used a pretty ingenious means of reining Lances behaviour, and this form of ingenuity and innovation is what is typically demonstrative of great teachers. The card system seemed pointless at first because Lance would tear it up any chance he got, and this showed his disdain for the card system. When Matt decided to include the deputy principle in his conflicts with Lance, it elevated the risk factor for Lance and eventually his behaviour began to tone down.
Lances behaviour is demonstrative of a chaotic growing environment at home. The lack of respect combined with the insolence shows that Lance had grown comfortable with the notion of complete disregard of authority figures. This could be an indication of a similarly disruptive home environment probably caused by a father or mother who also do not respect authority (Safran, 2003). The card system began to disentangle Lances core belief system in that it indicated to him that there were other modes of communication that did not involve shouting or grandstanding. The cards also firmly stated to Lance that there was indeed a leader in the classroom, and any efforts to sidestep this authority would result in disastrous consequences.
Though Matts method was indeed quite useful, I believe a combination of other efforts would have yielded better results. The fact that Lances behaviour was abnormal meant that the best indicator of the genesis of such conduct would have been to arrange a sit down with his parents. I would have arranged for Lances parents to have a glimpse of his routine without Lances awareness of their presence. This way the parents would be better placed to offer working solutions to deal with the problem. In some situations, some students act way differently at home as compared to when they are in school (Carr et al., 2002). Perhaps Lance was a quiet boy at home, absorbing the latent chaos only to come to school and unleash it. My prerogative would, therefore, have been to first of all ensure that Lances parents were aware of his behaviour in school.  Sourcing for solutions together with the guardians on the most efficient mode of addressing his behaviour will go a long way. There is a very high likelihood that his conduct is probably sanctioned against at home, and therefore school became the best opportunity for him to run wild with it. In such a scenario, his parents clearly had a solution and by sharing such gems of wisdom with the teacher, disaster could be averted far quicker.
Question Four
The five sayings that Matt gives out at the beginning of the semester may sound pretty idyllic at first upon scrutiny they form the very locus around which a quality educational experience is founded upon. The need for an enabling environment for learning means that schools ought to focus mostly on ensuring students are at their most comfortable before they undertake an exercise as important as learning. Sometimes students argue that most of what they are learning do not seem to have any actual practise in real life. Subjects such as algebra and trigonometry make such arguments seem even more accurate. Matts aphorisms stress on the fact that every titbit of information gained in the classroom will be instrumental later on in life and that learning such facts and skills/information is useful and fun.
I find nothing wrong with the aphorisms that Matt stresses upon his students. In fact, I find them to be helpful tools in establishing a solid mental foundation for the students with respect to what they should expect from their learning experience. Most students rarely have any expectations when joining a new school or undertaking a course (Barnett, 1995). A lot is however expected of them. It is upon this premise that I wholeheartedly endorse Matts method of establishing the five aphorisms at the very beginning of the course.
Question Five
The commentary justifiably sees Matts methods as being very useful in managing the classroom environment. Matts methods, though not new are well and efficiently implemented through constant supervision and consistency. I, however, disagree with the commentarys assertion that Matt should have been more consistent with his methods in spite of realising that they were not working on the onset. It is clear that Matt did try his level best, and it is for this reason that when his method did not prove successful he immediately sought to modify it. That ability to realise when a stop-gap measure is not working and being able to implement another one is the hallmark of a good teacher and a great educationist.























References
Abidin, R.R., & Robinson, L.L (2002). Stress, biases or professionalism: What drives teachers referral judgements of students with challenging behaviours? Journal of Emotional and Behavioural Disorders, 10, 204-212
Barnett, W. S. (1995). Long-term effects of early childhood programs on cognitive and school outcomes. The future of children, 25-50.
Carr, E. G., Dunlap, G., Horner, R, H., Kpegel, R, L., Turnbull A. P., Sailor, W., et al. (2002). Positive support: Evolution of an applied science. Journal of Positive Behaviour Interventions, 4-16, 20.
Feeney, S. (2010). Who am I in the lives of children? An introduction to early childhood education (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Merrill.
Jean M. Mandler, Michael C, Scribner S., (1980) Cross-cultural invariance In Story Recall,  pp. 19-26.University of California, San Diego
 McDowall Clark, R (2013). Childhood in Society. London: Learning Matters.
Safran, S.P., & Oswald, K. (2003).Positive behaviour supports: Can Schools reshape disciplinary practices? Exceptional Children, 69, 361-373.
Woodhead, M. (1998). Cultural worlds of early childhood. London: Routledge.