Effective Strategies for Classroom Management

1. Effective Strategies for Classroom Management A Staff Development Presentation Karen Kidwell National University September 30, 2007

2. Why have this presentation? • The number one concern of educators in the United States involves students’ emotional and behavioral problems in the classroom (Akin-Little et al, 2007). • Teachers are working with a different kind of student. • Some parents admit they cannot control their children • Many students act as free agents (Shin & Koh, 2007)

3. More Reasons • In teacher opinion polls, safe schools and effective classroom management are primary concerns (Akin-Little et al, 2007). • Valuable time is lost if teachers spend excessive time managing student behaviors.

4. Teachers benefit from strategies • Lack of classroom discipline leads to higher levels of teacher stress and burnout (Akin-Little, 2007). • A survey of teachers found managing student behavior was the second leading cause of stress (Akin-Little, 2007).

5. Quick! Give us some ideas! • Praise • Instructional Communication • Social Training of teachers and students

6. Why Praise?? • It does not require extra • Resources • Time • Support • It helps establish a positive environment • It is easy to use

7. Praise • Activity: • On a piece of paper write down praise statements that you have used in your classroom

8. Praise • Look at your paper • Put a check by statements that you think are behavior specific • Behavior specific means a teacher uses a praise statement about a particular behavior that he or she is trying to reinforce.

9. Praise • Examples of Behavior specific praise: • I like the way you do . . . • I’m glancing at your work right now and I see you solved all these equations correctly. That’s great! It won’t be long before you’re able to do even more complicated equations. • Thank you for sitting down so quietly and getting right to work. • Now write down some behavior specific praise related to your subject matter and class.

10. Does it come naturally? • Maybe . . . for some people. • You can improve on praising your students • Methods: • Peer-coaching • Self-evaluation • Self-monitoring • For a time, keep track and record them every 10 minutes. • Make a conscious effort to use behavioral specific praise.

11. Effective? • A teacher in a study who tried the self-monitoring said that she was pleased with the results the use of praise had on students’ behavior. • She was going to quit, but she reported feeling “empowered, more skilled, more successful and a desire to continue teaching” (Kalis et al, 2007) • I’m curious to hear your stories. Try it!!

12. Instructional Communication • What is that? • “A teacher’s motivation, knowledge and skill to select, enact and evaluate effective and appropriate, verbal and nonverbal, interpersonal and instructional messages filtered by students’ perceptions” (Worley et al, 2007).

13. Say that again. . . • Teachers have three different tensions they juggle in the classroom: • Affect and instrumentality • Judgment and acceptance • Freedom to be dependent and the freedom to be independent

14. Affect vs. Instrumentality • Affect is created by: • Personal questions • Concern for student learning • Knowing students’ names or nicknames • Instrumentality is: • Use of rules • Taking control through lecture

15. Judgment vs. Acceptance • Judgment: • Stereotypes • Harsh criticism • Condescension • Subjective grading • Acceptance: • Praise • Listening • Responding to students with thoughtfulness

16. Freedom of Independence vs. Dependence • Students are independent: • Give their own opinions • Take leadership roles in projects • Take initiative for their learning • Student depends on teacher for: • Clear information • Profound knowledge of subject matter • Academic support • Organization • Structure

17. The Balancing Act • Affect and Instrumentality are both important. Award winning teachers use both. • Avoid judgment and embrace acceptance. • Give students opportunities of independence, while still keeping your role as teacher. • “The classroom is a complex communication environment, where a teacher must act, as a ‘producer’ managing all the people, props, and technology, while using immediacy, humor and clarity” (Worley, 2007).

18. More Research • “Good communication skills and being a good listener, as well as a good speaker, can help in preventing problems in the classroom” (Pedota, 2007). • “One clear finding (from research) is that all the most used management strategies are intended to prevent or interfere with problem behavior at an early stage. Most of these are communication approaches such as establishing rules and routines, verbally encouraging and modeling appropriate behavior, and giving attention to desired behavior” (Kaff et al, 2007).

19. Social Skills Training • What is it? • “Social skills training promotes social competence by teaching students how to interact more effectively with peers and adults through enhanced conflict resolution, problem solving, negotiation, and friendship building abilities” (Luiselli et al, 2005).

20. International Institute of Restorative Practices • An institute that was founded over 25 years ago. • Worked with the toughest delinquent and at risk kids in southeastern Pennsylvania. • Trained teachers on restorative practices • Changing relationships by engaging people • Doing things WITH students, not TO or FOR them • Students held accountable with support (Mirsky, 2007)

21. Teachers Use of Social Skills • Affective statements • Question-sharing • Eliciting emotions to help students understand their responsibility for their own success • Interventions • One-on-ones • Group meetings with kids (Mirsky, 2007)

22. Comments from students • “We’re a big family.” • “We’re all so different but we all work together.” • “If two people are arguing, a group of us will get together and talk to the people and try to work it through.” • “As a group we’ve managed to make ourselves more mature.” (Mirsky, 2007)

23. Example: One-on-ones • Teacher-student conversation • Use open-ended questions (not yes or no questions, which are closed-ended) • Document the conversation • Guidelines to help you get started • Link from business can be used for education: • http://www.marininstitute.org/action_packs/community_org4.htm#who (Scroll down to Role Play Exercise for One-on-ones)

24. Review • Praise • Instructional Communication • Social Skills Please fill out the survey.