Week+2

Week 2 - Classroom Management

Classroom management is of fundemental importance to the foundation of turning out productive, positive members of society. Disciplining through expectation; when you as a teacher expect a higher level of behaviour, as a rule the children will want to reach higher and meet that. However even if the children fail to meet it on every level, their behaviour generally will be significantly higher than if there was a low level of behaviour expected. Similarly your expectations as the teacher will in turn alter the student’s expectation of themselves thus creating a positive member of society.

Behaviour can also be attributed to a child's belief in their ability and their confidence to find their place within the group. According to Dreikurs' theory, there is no need for misbehaviour if they are able to function co-operatively within the classroom and are able to manage their school demands. Some children will adopt negative behaviour in order to gain recognition and status within the group.

When teaching there are different approaches to managing behavioural problems, and depending on the child or situation one or a combination might be more effective in dealing with the situation. A brief over view of some of the different discipline techniques teachers might implement include:

Legitimate power – Authoritarian like the police man. Coercive Techniques – Comprised punishment and aggression (yelling in anger, sarcasm, group punishments, etc) Expert Power – Knowledge and skill like the surgeon Referent Power – Relationship based, comprising of Discussion, Hints, Recognition, Involvement and Punishment Reward Power – An incentive based learning arrangement

It is essential that teachers not only manage the poor behaviour but also deal with it in such a way that it warns future destructive students that it will simply not be tolerated. Interestingly a group of three and a half thousand students were surveyed about the way their teachers discipline and the students could clearly divide their teachers into two discipline styles: 1. “Coercive” discipline and comprised punishment and aggression (yelling in anger, sarcasm group punishments, etc). 2. Discussion, Hints, Recognition, Involvement and Punishment was called “Relationship based discipline”.

Miller et al (2000) believes that “Relationship based discipline” often achieves the most successful results in classroom management. The children respect you and want to maintain that relationship by not disappointing you thus responding to the use of relationship based discipline. A study by Lewis and Lovegrove, King, Gullone and Dadds (1990) found that students also rated a discussion between teacher and student as the most desirable form of behaviour intervention. Interestingly, the students in that particular study wanted the teacher to consistently intervene when a student had misbehaved in order to follow clear rules and order in the classroom. It was preferred that the teacher speak to the student in a calm manner without embarrassing the student to help change their behaviour by letting them know the effect that their behaviour is having. This form of discussion requires referent power.

Classroom discipline is a well ‐ documented source of teacher stress. (Kyriacou, 1987; Borg et al, 1991; Blase,1986; DeRobbio and Iwanicki, 1996;Friedman, 1995; Keiper and Busselle, 1996).

It is suggested that the stress many teachers feel as a result of dealing with disruptive children are feeling this as a direct product of their lack of ability in classroom management. Is this a fair conclusion to draw?

There are four main types of students ranging from a type A to type D. Type A students are able to manage themselves in order to learn the curriculum. These students typically do not require the discipline techniques that other types do. Type B students are those who may occasionally be disruptive but do not need to be isolated from the group or referred to others. Type C are students who cannot be managed as part of a group and need to be separated from the group or referred to others to discipline. For these children, referent, reward and expert powers of discipline seem to have the greatest impact on reducing misbehaviour in the classroom. Type D students are typically beyond hard to manage and are often given the title of ‘unmanageable.’ These children have often given up on their schooling and do not feel as though they have much to offer and consequently act out with negative behaviour.

CASSIDY HEWITT