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