Classroom Management

Classroom Management

What is classroom management? • Advocating positive student behaviors • Teaching self-discipline • Promoting physical and psychological safety • Progressing events in an orderly fashion during the school day • Creating the most effective learning environment possible

Environmental Factors • Arrangement of room • Seating chart • Readily available and logically placed supplies • Expectations and consequences clearly posted • Displays that support instruction • Safe and fun environment

SUGGESTIONS • Plants • Non-fluorescent lighting • Comfortable decorations (with student input) • Examples of student work and success • Positive reminders

Once students enter • Have procedures developed and prepared to present to students for most scenarios involving movement, including: • Entering the room • Getting out supplies • Individual, small group, and large group instruction/work • Exiting the room • Turning in work • Sharpening pencils

Expectations (rules) • Reasonable • Positively stated • Clearly and concisely defined • Limit rules to 7 or less (3 is ideal) • Positive Consequence Examples • Tangible rewards (candy, toys, etc.) • Activity time • Computer time • Student/Class created rewards • Negative consequences for not meeting expectations • Appropriate for the behavior (major and minor infractions) • Also clearly and concisely defined • Keep things consistent

Ways to monitor positives/negatives • Pencil and paper • Create charts for students • Check intermittently at fixed intervals • Point Sheets (Daily/Weekly) • Classroom Dojo Ideally, this should be a school-wide discipline system that is consistent with all teachers

Various Behavior Management Theories • Behavioral Approaches • Focuses on changing observable behaviors such as talking • Requires teachers to identify desired and undesired behaviors without looking for causes • Relies heavily on the work of B.F. Skinner • Positive and negative reinforcement • Ecological Approaches • Based on the research of Jacob Kounin and Paul V. Gump • Focuses on the physical “habitat” of the classroom and how it effects student behavior • Examines the rules, routines, and procedures of the environment • Examines the activities conducted in the environment • Classroom consists of segments (tests, group work, ind. work) • Each segment has its own routines depending on the activity • Focus is on consequences of actions to educate after misbehaviors • Builds on the ideas of social and emotional learning (SEL)

Various behavior management theories (cont.) • Self-Regulating Approaches • Focuses on self-awareness • Helps students with goal setting and motivation • Makes students aware of being in control and things they are unable to control • Examines student participation in their own learning through: • Behavior Management • Cognitive Reflection • Environmental resources

Various behavior management theories (cont.) • Process-Outcome Approaches • Examines the “events, including teacher and student behaviors and interactions, the teaching and learning process. They also examine the ‘outcomes of instruction, such as achievement, attitudes, or classroom behavior’” (p.123) • Importance is placed on the teacher creating a positive environment that promotes academic and social skills • Examines critical beginning of the year activities that set the tone for the rest of the year • Cooperative learning; students are held accountable for their own performance • Smooth transitions, learning time, monitoring of student progress • Strong communication between student and teacher

Various behavior management theories (cont.) • Community Approaches • Focuses on building a community with students in the classroom • Emphasizes the students fostering their community in ways that drive their learning forward • Teacher is not in control of the classroom, but is more of a promoter of the community • Rewards and consequences are not important but educating students to have increased internal motivation and self-control is • Lessons appeal to students’ intrinsic learning motivation -“Bribes, threats, rewards, and punishments are deemed coercive, should be restricted or eliminated, and should be placed with explanation and persuasion.” (p.170) • Supportive Approaches • Classrooms and teachers serve to support appropriate social interactions, a positive learning climate • Promotes knowledge construction appropriate for developmental levels of students • Keeps negativism to a minimum • No use of negative language such as sarcasm or ridicule

Index card intervention • Did you fill in six out of the six spaces? • Targeted intervention – Single student, not a whole class • The question at the top can be any behavior that needs to be addressed (blurting out, lack of focus, off-task, etc.) • Should be carried over to multiple days so that it’s not a major infraction if a student misses one of the squares • Pair with a well-behaved student to lessen stigma of it being only for “bad” behaviors • Lessens the stakes – Get to reset every X minutes

Resources cited • Strategies for Addressing Behavior Problems in the ClassroomMary Margaret Kear, C. Michael Nelson • Student Teacher to Master TeacherMichael S. Rosenberg, Lawrence O’Shea, Dorothy J. O’Shea • Classroom Management: Models, Applications, and CasesM. Lee Manning, Katherin T. Bucher • Matt Collier the coolest dude in the universe

Classroom Management