Classroom Management

1. Classroom Management Effective Management Ineffective Management Scenarios 1. 4. 2. 3. Press pictures for youtube scenes, and then the numbers for my reactions to each of them. Click home when the button appears.

2. Prevention #1 • In this lesson, Mr.Smith we’ll call him, is addressing the specific topic of Kamikaze pilots during WWII. Aspects of this war have been taught thousands of different ways, in all sorts of history classes. This particular teacher has initiated a creative and energetic plan to get his points across. I think of Costa and Kallick’s habits of mind watching this video. In particular, I think Mr.Smith exhibits both responsible risk taking, and bringing humor into the classroom. We don’t know where he went with this lesson afterwards, and we don’t know how the students did on their assessment. I’m willing to bet that they understood the lesson and give Mr.Smith their full attention right from the start.

3. Action #1 • As a social studies major, and a student of historical topics such as this one, I know that the topics of WWII have been taught over and over using a straight lecture technique. The actions taken by this teacher to capture the attention of his students is captivating. I am assuming that this energetic method and demeanor of his, isn’t just used up during this small lesson, but also brought about in other lesson plans. Some of the risk I see in his management style however has to do with Linderoth’s Affordance Theory. Mr. Smith runs the risk of creating a learning environment that becomes more distracting for his students. So although I think his creativity, and energy are two of his greatest assets, it’s possible that they’re also culprits of learning distraction.

4. Resolution #1 • As a habit of mind, finding humor and bringing it into the classroom is a valuable solution to repetitive teaching methods. We can’t underestimate the effects it can have on our classes. Costa and Kallick write about laughter that it’s “positive effects on psychological functions include a drop in the pulse rate, the secretion of endorphins, an increased oxygen in the blood”. This to me describes a energy boost that sounds almost illegal. It’s a solution that grabs a hold of fading attention spans, and sparks interest. I personally may tone it down one notch, but I will choose this style over a monotone lecture any day of the week.

5. Prevention #2 This video starts out with the students listing off the 5 rules of their classroom, they were, • 1.Follow directions. • 2. Respect others, respect yourself, and respect your school. • 3. Be safe • 4. Raise your hand for permission to speak. • 5.Be honest. Right away we can point out Maslow’s needs being met for these children. Their safety needs are boldly represented by rule #3, but all the other rules provide for esteem needs, belonging, and social needs. These student’s are being taught to respect their peers both in their classroom and as they venture out into the school. They are being taught to communicate with each other honestly and respectfully by raising their hands and waiting their turn. Even if this is just a good day in her classroom, these students are buying into her program and it’s exciting to watch.

6. Action #2 To your right is Ms. Nircher’s school principal. She believes this young teacher’s success comes from the young teachers willingness to be different. Lippman’s Practice theory states “The opportunity for learning is created by the environment that is created inside the classroom not the physical space itself”. One of her management techniques that created a useful, quiet, and respectful learning environment, was when instead allowing the students to shout out an easy answer, she developed her own special answering technique. She had them hold their breath, blow the answer into their hands, and then raise them high in the air, pausing for the count of three, where they then all shared the answer together. It bottled up all their energy and put it towards the same goal together, which was the answer she was looking for.

7. Resolution #2 If Dr. Mel Levine and Mrs.Nircher were ever to join forces the combination would surely produce at least 3 astronauts, 4 published writers, a president or two, and host of others who would go through life full of self-esteem, eager to learn, with a spark of creativity and genuine kindness. Now of course I don’t know this and I don’t have direct evidence. However, on this video I can see a professional who shines through genuinely, with her caring relationship toward her students, She breaks into small groups when needed, as we see a picture of to the right. This is her adapting to certain children’s needs, possibly “attention control issues”(Levine) that can be overlooked in the full class layout. When she’s waiting for an answer at one point during the video she’s saying, “One of my friends has the answer, there’s another, I’m still waiting for one more friend to answer.” As they write on their dry erase boards. These exact examples aren’t perfect solutions for an older class, but the themes of care, flexibility and respect will go a long way in creating a positive learning environment for every learner.

8. Prevention #3 This is what the example shown here is not. This environment is not conducive to learning. This teacher is not trying to show respect to his students, and in return the students are not showing respect towards him. They’re showing fear, but this takes them far away from feeling at all safe, or comfortable. Which according to Maslow, and relating closely to Glasser’s “Choice Theory,” will keep these students from accomplishing anything in class that day. We looked at an article called “Discipline with Dignity”(Curwin&Mendler), one of their basic principles is, “be a model of what you expect.” We can probably guess that this class period didn’t start out as the teacher expected it to. Maybe there was a lot of chattering and goofing off. Even so, a teacher would never want students to lash out at peers to handle an argument, so what does that mean when the teacher does? What example is that providing? If he would have been respectful of his students, by addressing them as people from the beginning, and also respecting their space, he would have had a different scenario play out, one with mutual respect, and a better understanding of expectations.

9. Action #3 In this particular part of the scene, the teacher becomes completely ineffective after he invades his student’s space. This student was disobeying his violent orders to stand during the National Anthem. We need to ask, “Why was he disobeying?” It’s because of the environment that was created from the first moment the teacher raised his voice at them. This student felt he was disrespected and therefore felt no obligation to return respect. This lead to the teacher pulling the stool out from under his student, which is completely unsafe, especially when they’re in a shop class that probably focuses a lot on shop safety. It also crossed physical boundaries that shouldn’t be touched. This scene ended with the student verbally showing a compete disregard for this teacher. Unless this altercation was addressed by the teacher with a sincere apology to the whole class, I feel further lessons will not hold value for the students, as no respect exists between teacher and student. Also, a personal meeting with the one particular student, his parent(s), and an administrator would give the teacher a chance to explain his actions, but much more importantly apologize to these people specifically, because he let them all down.

10. Resolution #3 Skinner explained that, “Learning is a response to events (stimuli).” So from the start, the students in this classroom are not learning anything about the lesson plan for the day. The learning they’ve accomplished for the day came in response to this teacher’s outburst in the first few minutes of class. His solution for the next day of class is to apologize for his disrespectful behavior. He needs to own up to everything he did wrong in that situation--not only to get his classroom back, but to teach his class that his way of handling that situation is not an example they should follow. The next time he gets worked up like that, he needs to just breathe and give himself 10 seconds or a couple minutes to think things out before he reacts. This teacher has done a lot of damage, and his very next move will be the determining factor for classroom management for the rest of their school year.

11. Prevention #4 This is Mr. Panimino, I feel for this guy right away when I watch this video. He’s a new teacher whose ability to effectively discipline and create order in the classroom has not surfaced yet. When the time comes, I imagine I will have some of these same problems. I think it stems from an idea that we want to treat the students as equals, and we think that having order means being strict. And somehow that means the same as being cruel. Order and management in the classroom are good for everybody’s learning experience. The distractions in this video show an environment that is completely unsuitable for anyone actually trying to learn. Prevention for Mr. Panimino lies within boundaries. These students don’t respect his boundaries as a person, let alone as teacher and authority figure. Discussing individually with some of the students in the video, that this behavior is unacceptable, and telling them why, could be useful in creating a common ground for them to build an appropriate student-teacher relationship on.

12. Action #4 His actions were initially to try and ignore distractions. He sat at his desk, glanced through paperwork, and pretended to write stuff down. Maybe thinking something along the lines of, “Ring bell, please ring!” When he tried to get everyone’s attention, the behavior only continued, and so did his easy going demeanor that the kids felt free to trample all over. At one point the young lady we see in the picture here, tells him that she’s going to punch him on the arm. She went on to tell him 3 more times before actually punching him. It was playful and caused no physical harm, but now no one is taking him seriously, and the class has no intention of settling down when they see such little reaction--rather than an assertive one.

13. Resolution #4 Looking once again at the article “Discipline with Dignity,” Curwin & Mendler say that as a basic principle, teachers need to make “long term changes, not quick fixes.” This situation is not going to resolve itself if he simply sends the three main instigators down to the principal’s office. Instead, he needs to form a contract with the students, decided on by both student and teacher, that lays out proper rules for the class (C & M). This social contract can create mutual respect and trust within this student-teacher relationship. Once established, and desirably made into a visual in the classroom, the rules will be there for everyone to know when things are going as planned and when it’s becoming out of control. At this point they should be able to agree on what is needed to be done to better the situation for learning.

14. ReferencesCosta, Arthur., and Kallick, Benna. “Describing 16 Habits of Mind.” 2000. Course handout.Curwin, Richard L., and Allen N. Mendler. "Discipline with Dignity." 7 Oct. 2007 <http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Discipline_with_Dignity>.Gibson, J J. "Affordance." 1979. 7 Oct. 2007 <http://www.ioe.ac.uk/cdl/CHAT/jlinder.html>.Glasser, William. "Choice Theory." Wikipedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice_theory>.Levine, Mel. “A Mind At A Time.” 2003. New York: Simon and Schuster.Lippman, Peter C. "Practice Theory, Pedagogy, and the Design of Learning Environments." The American Institue of Architects. 7 Oct. 2007 <http://www.aia.org/cae_a_20031101_justathought>."Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." Wikipedia. 7 Oct. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs>.