Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW 2 1

Student-Centered and Teacher-Centered Classroom Management

Dr. Jeffrey Spanogle

Sarah Paramita

Universitas Pelita Harapan

Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW 2 2

Student-Centered and Teacher-Centered Classroom Management:

A Case Study of Three Elementary Teachers

Summary:

The case study that the writer had been dealing with was a study for three different

elementary teachers who have different strategies and procedures in their teaching career.

Each teacher has their own goals in using the different methods. Two teachers appeared with

a strategy that involves the students more which called a student-centered or humanistic

orientation and another one appeared with a traditional strategy where the teacher highly

controls the classroom with specific procedures, which called teacher-centered or custodial

orientation.

According to Garrett (2008), student-centered/humanistic orientation has descriptions

which are maintain a classroom climate in which active interaction and communication,

close personal relationship with the students, mutual respect, positive attitudes, the flexibility

of rules, with student self-discipline, self-determination, and independence (p.35). On the

other hand, Garrett (2008) describes in her article that teacher-centered/custodial orientation

is an orientation where the teacher is highly controlling, moralistic perceptions, highly

impersonal relationship with students, general mistrust, and a major focus on maintenance of

order (p.35).

To sum up everything, the writer does not conclude which method are better that the

other. She leaves a room for discussion and encouragement so that other teachers would

continue to seek for the more effective strategy that could help the students to learn better and

to improve their socio-emotional intelligent at the same time.

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Evaluation:

As I read the article, I was having a hard time to find the main claim of the writer.

However, I learned that each teacher would have the tendency to apply both modes but still

could consider one over the other, depending on what the teachers goals are for the students.

From this article, I learned that the teachers need to have the goals before they decide which

methods they would use inside the classroom. The possible goals that I found from the article

are classroom pace that runs orderly and a development of student socio-emotional intelligent

(p. 43).

Since the goals are related to each other, I would like to evaluate it all together.

Running the class orderly is the ultimate goal of all the teachers and we all know that the key

to maintaining the pace of the learning process is highly control the classroom as best as we

could so that all the students will obey the procedure. However, the teachers cannot apply the

teacher-centered mode just for the sake of maintaining the pace of the learning process,

without thinking what would be the result of having the teacher works all the time to manage

the classroom. I believe that all the teachers would like their students to grow socio-

emotionally and not just academically. I do believe by having this goal for each student, the

teachers are trying to accomplish the Great Commission in disciplining and training the

students to the way they should go (Proverbs 22: 11).

In addition, I do agree with the writers saying that the teachers will never be able to

measure the students social-emotional skills or even their intelligence quotient through

certain classroom methods and strategies. The school is not the only source that could shape

the students. Thus, it is unwise and inappropriate to use the result in the students behavior

(from using two different classroom methods) to measure how the students grow.

Consequently, it is good to understand the goals that we have for the students before

we apply the certain method and strategies to deal with them because the teachers are all

accountable to help the students grow in their socio-emotionally and academically.

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Reference

Garrett, Tracey. (2008). Student-Centered and Teacher-Centered Classroom Management: A

Case Study of Three Elementary Teachers. The Journal of Classroom

Interaction, 43(1), 34-47. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23869529