EDUP3043 BEHAVIOUR AND CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

1. Introduction
The role of a teacher today is much different than it used to be. Being
a teacher is much more than just executing lesson plans. In today's world a
teacher's role is a multifaceted profession yet they carry the role of a
surrogate parent, class disciplinarian, mentor, counsellor, book keeper, role
model, planner and many more. Their job is to counsel students, help them
learn how to use their knowledge and integrate it into their lives so they will be
valuable member of society. Teachers are encouraged to really tune into how
each individual student learns, and try to really challenge and inspire them to
learn.

2. Redefining teachers role.

Traditionally, teaching was a combination of information-dispensing,
custodial child care and sorting out academically inclined students from
others. The underlying model for schools was an education factory in which
adults, paid hourly or daily wages, kept like-aged youngsters sitting still for
standardized lessons and tests.
Teachers were told what, when, and how to teach. They were required
to educate every student in exactly the same way and were not held
responsible when many failed to learn. They were expected to teach using
the same methods as past generations, and any deviation from traditional
practices was discouraged by supervisors or prohibited by countless
education laws and regulations. Thus, many teachers simply stood in front of
the class and delivered the same lessons year after year, growing gravy and
weary of not being allowed to change what they were doing.
Many teachers today, however, are encouraged to adapt and adopt
new practices that acknowledge both the art and science of learning. They
understand that the essence of education is a close relationship between a
knowledgeable, caring adult and a secure, motivated child. They grasp that
their most important role is to get to know each student as an individual in
order to comprehend his or her unique needs, learning style, social and
cultural background, interests, and abilities.
3. Addressing disciplinary problems in the classroom.
Student misbehaviours such as disruptive talking, chronic avoidance
of work, clowning, interfering with teaching activities, harassing classmates,
verbal insults, rudeness to teacher, defiance, and hostility, ranging from
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infrequent to frequent, mild to severe, is a thorny issue in everyday
classroom. Teachers usually reported that these disturbing behaviours in the
classroom are intolerable and stress-provoking, and they had to spend a
great deal of time and energy to manage the classroom. Obviously, student
misbehaviours retard the smoothness and effectiveness of teaching and also
impede the learning of the student and his or her classmates. Moreover,
research findings have shown that school misbehaviour not only escalated
with time but also lowered academic achievement and increased delinquent
behaviour. To lessen these immediate and gradual adversative effects of
student misbehaviours, it is of primary importance to identify what exactly are
these behaviours inside classroom.
Based on the perspective of teachers, this discussion attempted to
generate a list of categories of students' problem behaviours in Malaysia
primary school classroom, and to identify the most common, disruptive and
unacceptable student problem behaviours. Some of the breaking news
highlighted in the mass media has portrayed the school with students of
misbehaving characters. Some even goes to the extent of considering the
case of misbehaviours as criminal problem.
3.1 Truancy
One of the most dominant disciplinary problems in Malaysia is truancy.
A surprising findings shows that, most students who habitually play truant
actually want to go to school but are turned off by bad experiences. The
Universiti Malaya Educational Psychology and Counselling Department head
said truants felt that they could not change what happened at school so they
chose not to go. According to a report by New Straits Times on August 2005,
an average of seven school children are arrested everyday and three of them
on average of between 13 and 15 years. This numbers are almost to the level
of juvenile delinquents who are school dropouts. Based on the report school
children constituted almost half of all under 18 who were arrested for crimes
since 2003 and were involved in almost one per-cent of all criminal cases in
2002 and 2003 (NUTP,2005).
However, Lim Kit Siang, the opposition leader in parliament quoted in
New Straits Times on April 04, 2004 as Truancy is a school and not criminal
problem- Hishamuddin should not pass the buck to police on what is basically
a test of the success of education system.
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3.2 Disrespecting teachers
Secondly, unacceptable problem behaviour was disrespecting
teachers in terms of disobedience and rudeness, followed by talking out of
turn, and verbal aggression. Teachers would consider these behaviours as
intolerable when they disrupt teaching, affect student learning adversely, or
suggest the fact that students do not have proper values and attitudes.
3.3 Bullying
As reported by Dawn, five Year Three pupils are involved in the
bullying of a schoolmate who was forced to cut the tip of his tongue at a
school in Bukit Tinggi on Thursday. Klang Selatan OCPD Assistant
Commissioner Azman Abdul Razak said the incident took place in a
classroom when there were no teachers or other pupils around. "The victim,
in a police report lodged by his mother, said he was told by the five nine-yearolds to cut his tongue if he did not want to be punched by them. Out of fear,
he cut his tongue using a pair of scissors himself. The school informed his
mother of the incident and they brought the boy to a hospital where he
received outpatient treatment," said Azman. The boy had previously
complained of being bullied by several schoolmates. The case is under
investigations under Section 506 of the Penal Code for criminal investigation
after the boy's mother made a report a day after the incident.
4. Concept of effective classroom and behaviour management.
Today, we know more about teaching than we ever have before.
Research has shown us that teachers actions in their classrooms have twice
the impact on student achievement. We also know that one of the classroom
teachers most important jobs is managing the classroom effectively.
Of all the variables, effective classroom and behaviour
management has the largest effect on student achievement. This makes
intuitive sense-students cannot learn in a chaotic, poorly managed classroom.
It is very important that there is a balance between teacher actions that
provide clear consequences for unacceptable behaviour and teacher actions
that recognize and reward acceptable behaviour.
Effective classroom and behaviour management refers to the wide
variety of skills and techniques that teachers use to keep students organized,
orderly, focused, attentive, on task, and academically productive during a
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class. When classroom-management strategies are executed effectively,
teachers minimize the behaviours that impede learning for both individual
students and groups of students, while maximizing the behaviours that
facilitate or enhance learning. Generally, effective teachers tend to display
strong classroom-management skills, while the feature of the inexperienced
or less effective teacher is a disorderly classroom filled with students who are
not working or paying attention. While a limited or more traditional
interpretation of effective classroom management may focus largely on
compliance which are consist of rules and strategies that teachers may use
to make sure students are sitting in their seats, following directions, listening
attentively and many more. A more encompassing or updated view of
classroom management extends to everything that teachers may do to
facilitate or improve student learning, which would include such factors
as behaviour like a positive attitude, happy facial expressions, encouraging
statements, the respectful and fair treatment of students, environment for
example, a welcoming, well-lit classroom filled with intellectually stimulating
learning materials thats organized to support specific learning activities,
expectations such the quality of work that teachers expect students to
produce, the ways that teachers expect students to behave toward other
students, the agreements that teachers make with students, materials such
as the types of texts, equipment, and other learning resources that teachers
use, or activities such the kinds of learning experiences that teachers design
to engage student interests, passions, and intellectual curiosity.
Given that poorly designed lessons, uninteresting learning materials,
or unclear expectations, for example, could contribute to greater student
disinterest, increased behavioural problems, or unruly and disorganized
classes, classroom management cannot be easily separated from all the
other decisions that teachers make. In this more encompassing view of
classroom management, good teaching and good classroom management
become, to some degree, indistinguishable.
In practice, classroom-management techniques may appear
deceptively simple, but successfully and seamlessly integrating them into the
instruction of students typically requires a variety of sophisticated techniques
and a significant amount of skill and experience.

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References
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Case, F. S. (2016). Retrieved from www.nst.com.my:
http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/03/135263/five-students-involvedtongue-cutting-bully-case
Chan, C. (2014). Redefining Role of Teacher. Retrieved from www.edutopia.org:
http://www.edutopia.org/redefining-role-teacher
Derville, T. (1966). The Use of Psychology In Teaching. Longman Group Limited.
Emma. (2015). Effective Classroom Management. Retrieved from www.rug.nl:
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Spykerman, N. (2015). Students play truant because school is hell to them.
Retrieved from www.thestar.com.my:
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2013/09/20/study-students-playtruant-because-school-is-hell-to-them/

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