classroom management
TRANSCRIPT
CLASS-ROOM MANAGEMENT
The crowded complex nature of the classroom can lead to chaos and problems if the
classroom is not managed effectively. Indeed, such problems are major public concern
about schools. Year after year, the Gallup Poll has asked the public what they perceive to
be the main problem schools face (Gallup Organization, 1996). The reply was
consistently been
“A LACK OF DISCIPLINE”
The most valuable advice I ever received for managing the classroom is to
approach a problem or area of difficulty with three questions in this order:
1. Is it the environment?
2. Is it the teacher?
3. Is it the child?
For example, if the issue of concern is unfocused energy of the group, I would first
ask myself, Is it the environment? Is it over stimulating? Is there not enough to do? Do I
need to rearrange the classroom and create more intimate spaces for quite activity or do I
need to let them have more time outside, and so on?
In many cases, I don’t need to go on to the next question.
Is it the teacher? Am I tired? Nervous? Uninspiring? Have I not taken the time to
demonstrate the activities? Have I not been consistent in presenting, monitoring, and
enforcing basic classroom rules? Have I not paid enough attention to their needs that day?
Is it the child? If I am convinced that the problem is the child’s problem, not the
environment’s or the teacher’s, I explore what might be going on. Is anything happening
in the child’s home that might be causing his or her problems? Is it a time for parent
conference? Does the child need help in bonding with a friend? Is the child afraid of
failure and avoiding meaningful learning for that reason?
This approach is empowering because it is much easier to change the environment
or oneself than change to someone else’s behaviour.
It also is effective because it does not zero in on the problem as the child’s until all
other avenues have been explored.
In educational circles, it is commonly said that no one pays any attention to good
classroom management until it is missing. When classroom are effectively managed, the
run smoothly and students are actively engaged in learning. When they are poorly
managed, they can become chaotic settings in which learning is a foreign activity.
Why classrooms need to be managed effectively
Effective classroom management maximizes children’s learning opportunities
(Charles & Senter, 2005; Evertron et al., 2003; and Larrivee, 2005)
Views about the best way to manage classrooms
Older View New View
1. Emphasize creating and applying rules
to control students beahviour.
1. Focuses more on students’ needs for
nurturing relationships and opportunities
for self-regulation.
2. Orient students toward passivity and
compliance with rigid rules.
2. Places more emphasis on guiding
students to become more proficient at
self-discipline and less on externally
controlling the student.
3. Undermine students’ engagement in
active learning, higher-order thinking
and the social construction of
knowledge.
3. Highlights students’ engagement in
active learning, higher order thinking
and the social construction of
knowledge.
4. The teacher was thought of as a
director.
4. The teacher is more of a guide,
coordinator, and facilitator.
The new classroom management model does not mean slipping into a permissive
mode. Emphasizing caring and students’ self-regulation does not mean that the teacher
abdicates responsibility for what happens in the classroom.
Management Issues in Elementary and Secondary School Class Room
Similarity – At all levels of education, good managers design classrooms for optimal
learning, create positive environments for learning, establish and maintain rules, get students
to cooperate, effectively deal with problems, and use good communication strategies.
However, the same classroom management principles sometimes are applied
differently in elementary and secondary schools because of their different structures.
Differences – In many elementary schools, teachers face the challenge of managing the same
number of children for the entire day. In middle and high schools, teachers face the challenge
of managing 5 or 6 different groups of adolescents for about 50 minutes each day.
Compared with secondary school students, elementary school students spend much
more time with the same students in the small space of a single classroom, and having to
interact with the same people all day can breed feelings of confinement and boredoms and
other problems.
However, with larger number of students, secondary school teachers are more
likely to be confronted with a wider range of problems than elementary school teachers.
Also, because secondary school teachers spend less time seeing students in the classroom,
it can be more difficult for them to establish personal relationships with students. And,
secondary school teachers have to get the classroom lessons moving quickly and manage
time effectively, because class periods are so short.
Secondary school students’ problems can be more long standing and more deeply
ingrained and therefore more difficult to modify, than those of elementary school
students. Also, in secondary schools, discipline problems are frequently more severe, the
students being potentially more un-ruly and even dangerous. Because most secondary
school students have more advanced reasoning skills than elementary school students,
they might demand more elaborate and logical explanations of rules and discipline. And
in secondary schools, hallway socializing can carry into the classroom. Every hour there
is another “settling down” process.
Keep in mind these differences between elementary and secondary school levels.
Looking at present scenario classrooms can be crowded, complex, and potentially
chaotic at both elementary and secondary levels.
The Crowded, Complex, and Potentially Chaotic Classroom
Walter Doyle’s (1986) highlighted six characteristics that reflect a classroom’s
complexity and potential for problems.
1. Classrooms are multidimensional : Classrooms are the setting for many
activities and students have individual needs. Teachers have to keep records and
keep students on schedule work.
2. Activities occur simultaneously.
3. Things happen quickly: Events often occur rapidly in classrooms and frequently
require an immediate response.
4. Events are often unpredictable.
5. There is little privacy: Some teachers report that they are in a “fishbowl” or
constantly onstage. Much of what happens to one student is observed by other
students, and students make attributions about what is occurring.
6. Classrooms have histories: Students have memories of what happened earlier in
their classroom. Because the past affects the future, it is important for teachers to
manage the classroom today in a way that will support rather than undermine
learning tomorrow.
This means that the first several weeks of the school year are critical for
establishing effective management principles.
Getting off to the Right Start
One key to managing the complexity is to especially make careful use of the first
few days and weeks of school.
You will want to use this time to
1. Communicate your rules and procedures to the class and get student cooperation in
following them, and
2. get students to engage effectively in all learning activities.
Taking the time in the first week of school to establish these expectations, rules,
and routines will help your class run smoothly and set the tone for developing a positive
classroom environment.
Some good teaching strategies for the beginning of the school year are (Emmer et
al., 2003) –
1. Establishing expectations for behaviour and resolve student uncertainties: In the
first few days of school, layout your expectations for students’ work and behavour.
Don’t focus just on course content in the first few days and weeks of school.
Be sure to take time to clearly and concretely spell out class rules, procedures and
requirements so that students know what to expect in your class.
2. Make sure that students experience success: In the first week of school, content
activities and assignments should be designed to ensure that students succeed at them.
This helps students develop a positive attitude and provides them with confidence to
tackle more difficult tasks ahead.
3. Be available and visible: Move around the room, monitor students’ progress, and
provide assistance when needed instead of going to your table and completing paper work.
4. Be in charge: Continue to consistently establish the boundaries between what is
acceptable and what is not acceptable in your classroom.
Emphasizing Instruction and a Positive Classroom Climate
Despite the public’s belief that a lack of discipline is the number one problem in
schools, educational psychology has changed its focus. Formerly, it emphasized
discipline. Today, it emphasizes ways to develop and maintain a positive classroom
environment that supports learning. This evolves using preventive, proactive strategies
rather than becoming immersed in reactive disciplinary tactics.
Jacob Kounik’s (1970) Study
You as a teacher, emphasize a vision of students as active learners engaged in
meaningful tasks, who think reflectively and critically and often interact with other
students in collaborative learning experiences.
Today’s effectively managed classrooms is “BEEHIVE OF ACTIVITY”. This
does not imply that classrooms should be widely noisy and chaotic. Rather, students
should be actively learning and busily engaged in tasks that they will be interacting with
each other and the teacher as they construct their knowledge and understanding.
Management Goals and Strategies
Effective classroom management has two main goals:
1. to help students spend more time on learning and less time on non-goal directed
activity, and
2. to prevent students from developing academic and emotional problems.
Help Students Spend More Time On Learning And Less Time On Non-Goal
Directed Behaviour
Be a good time manager – Effective classroom management will help you maximize our
instructional time and your students’ learning time. Weinstine (1997) observed that actual
learning time is only about 62 hours, which is approximately half of the mandated school
time for a typical class.
Teaching Strategies For Increasing Academic Learning Time
1. Maintaining Activity Flow: The activities like “flip-flopping”, “responding to
distractions”, and “over dwelling” can interrupt the classrooms flow.
2. Minimize Transition Time: In transitions from one activity to another, there is
more room for disruptive behaviour to occur. Teachers can decrease the potential
for disruption during transitions by preparing students for forthcoming transitions,
establishing transition routines, and clearly defining the boundaries of lessons.
3. Hold students accountable
Prevent Students from Developing Problems
In poorly managed classrooms, students’ academic and emotional problems are more
likely to fester. The academically unmotivated student becomes even less motivated. The
shy student becomes more reclusive. The bully becomes meaner.
And here comes the importance of
AN EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT
TEACHER
DESIGNING THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE CLASSROOM
When thinking about effectively managing the classroom, inexperienced teachers
sometimes overlook the physical environment which actually involves for more than
arranging a few items on a bulletin board.
Principles of Classroom Arrangement (Evertson et al., 2003)
1. Reduce congestion in high-traffic areas.
2. Make sure that you can easily see all students.
3. Make often used teaching materials and student supplies easily accessible.
4. Make sure that students can easily observe whole class presentations.
Standard Classroom Arrangements
Auditorium style, face-to-face style, off-set style, seminar style, cluster style etc.
Personalizing the Classroom
To personalize classrooms, post students’ photographs, artwork, written projects,
charts that list birthdays (of early childhood and elementary school students), and other
positive expressions of students’ identities. A bulletin board can be set aside for the
“student of the week” or be used to display each students’ best work of the week,
personally chosen by each student.
Creating a Positive Environment for Learning
(I) General strategies
(i) Using an Authoritative Style
Like authoritative parents, authoritative teachers have students who tend to be self-
reliant, delay gratification, get along well with their peers, and show high self-esteem. An
authoritative strategy of classroom management encourages students to be independent
thinkers and doers but still involves effective monitoring. Authoritative teachers engage
students in considerable verbal give and take and show a caring attitude toward them.
However, they still declare limits when necessary. Authoritative teachers clarify rules and
regulations, establishing these standards with input from students.
The authoritative style contrasts with two ineffective strategies: authoritarian and
permissive.
The authoritarian classroom management style is restrictive and punitive. The
focus is mainly on keeping order in the classroom rather than on instruction and learning.
Authoritarian teachers place firm limits and controls on students and have little verbal
exchange with them. Students in authoritarian classrooms tend to be passive learners, fail
to initiate, express anxiety about social comparison, and have poor communication skills.
The permissive classroom management style offers students considerable
autonomy but provides them with little support for developing learning skills or managing
their behaviour. Not surprisingly, students in permissive classrooms tend to have
inadequate academic skills and low self-control.
Effectively Managing the Classroom Activities
Kounin (1970) concluded that effective teachers differ from ineffective teachers
not in the way they respond to students misbehaviours but, instead, in how competently
they manage the group’s activities.
Here is some of differences between effective and ineffective classroom group
managers. Effective classroom managers.
1. Show how they are “with it” – “ withitness”
2. Cope effectively with overlapping situations
3. Maintain smoothness and continuity in lessons.
Avoid fragmentation, flip-flopping, over dwelling
4. Engage students in a variety of challenging activities but not overly hard activities.
(II) Creating, Teaching, and Maintaining Rules and Procedures
Rules focus on general or specific expectations or standards for behaviour. Exp. “Respect
other persons” or “Gum chewing is not allowed in class”.
Procedure, or routines, also communicate expectations about behaviour but they usually
are applied to a specific activity and are directed at accomplishing something rather than
prohibiting some behaviour or creating a general standard Exp. – You might establish
procedures for collecting homework assignments, turning in week late etc..
Rules tend not to change but procedure may change.
Teaching Rules and Procedure
In elementary schools, it is uncommon for students to participate in creating rules,
however, in secondary schools, especially high schools, greater student contribution to
rule setting is possible because of their more-advanced cognitive and socio-emotional
knowledge and skills.
Many effective teachers clearly present their rules to students and give
explanations and examples of them. Teachers who set reasonable rules, provide
understandable rationales for them, and enforce them consistently usually find that the
majority of the class will abide by them.
Principles to keep in mind
(i) Rules and procedure should be reasonable and necessary.
(ii) Rules and procedures should be clear and comprehensible.
(iii) Rules and procedures should be consistent with instructional and learning goals.
(iv) Classroom rules should be consistent with school rules.
(III) Getting Students to Cooperate
Develop a Positive Relationship with Students
Guidelines
o Give a student a friendly “hello” at the door.
o Have a brief one-on-one conversation about things that are happening in the
students’ life.
o Write a brief note of encouragement to the student.
o Use students names in class more.
o Show enthusiasm about being with students.
o Be an active listener.
o Let students know that you are there to support and help them.
o Keep in mind that developing positive, trusting relationships takes time. This
especially is the case for students from high-risk environments who might not
initially trust your motives.
Get Students to Share and Assume Responsibility
Guidelines
1. Involve students in the planning and implementation of school and classroom
initiatives.
2. Encourage students to judge their own behaviour.
3. Don’t accept excuses.
4. Give the self-responsibility strategy time to work.
“Be patient one more time than the student expects – difficult to do, but good
advice”.
5. Let students participate in decision making by holding class meetings.
Reward Appropriate Behaviour
Guidelines
1. Choose effective reinforces
2. Use prompts and shaping effectively.
3. Use rewards to provide information about Mastery, Not to control student
behaviour
Being A Good Communicator
Managing classrooms and constructively resolving conflicts require good
communication skills.
Key Aspects
1. Speaking Skills
(A) Speaking with the class and students
Good Strategies
a. Using grammar correctly
b. Selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the level of your
students.
c. Applying strategies to improve students ability to understand what you are saying
such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing or monitoring students comprehension.
“You” and “I” Messages
Use more of “I” messages than ‘You’ as ‘I’ messages reflect the speakers true
feelings better than judgmental ‘you’ statements.
Monitor your own conversation from time to time to make sure you are using ‘I’
messages rather than ‘you’ messages. Also monitor your students’ conversations and
guide them toward using more ‘I’ messages.
“Being Assertive”
Strategies
i) Evaluate your rights
ii) Express your feelings about the particular situation
Guidelines for making assertive requests
o Use assertive nonverbal behaviour
o Keep your request simple
o Avoid asking for more than one thing at a time
o Don’t apologize for your request
o Describe the benefits of your request
If you feel that your are too aggressive or passive, work on being more assertive
(EI training). As excellent book to read that can help you become more assertive is “Your
Perfect Right” by Robert Albesti and Michal Emmons (1995). When you are assertive
and you help your students become more assertive rather than aggressive, manipulative,
or passive, your class will run more smoothly.
Barrier to Effective Verbal Communication
o Criticizing
o Name-calling and labeling
o Advising
o Ordering
o Threatening
o Moralizing – This means preaching to the other person about what he or she
should do.
(B) Giving An Effective Speech
Guidelines
i. Connect with the audience
ii. State your purpose
iii. Effectively deliver your speech
iv. Follow appropriate conventions – This includes using correct grammar
v. Effectively organize the speech
vi. Include evidence that supports and develops your ideas.
vii. Use media effectively.
2. Listening Skills
Active listening means giving full attention to the speaker, focusing on both the
intellectual and the emotional content of the message.
Strategies for Developing Active Listening Skills
1. Pay careful attention to the person who is talking.
2. Paraphrase
3. Synthesize themes and patterns
4. Give feedback in a competent manner
Non-Verbal Communication
1. Facial expression and eye communication
2. Touch
3. Space
4. Silence
DEALING WITH PROBLEM BEHAVIOUR
Management Strategies
(1) Minor Interventions
a) Use of Non-Verbal Cues
b) Move Closer to Students
c) Provide Needed Instruction
d) Directly and Assertively tell the student to stop
e) Give the Student a Choice
(2) Moderate Interventions
a) Withhold a Privilege or a Desired Activity
b) Create a Behavioural Contract
c) Isolate or Remove Students
d) Impose a Penalty or Detention.
(3) Using Others as Resources
a) Peer Mediation
b) Parent Teacher Conference
c) Enlist the help of the principal or counselor
d) Find a Mentor
DEALING WITH AGGRESSION
Fighting
Bullying