Task 2 Academic Writing

Classroom 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 class (Manning, M. L., & Bucher, K. T., 2013). It is a
term teachers use to describe the process of ensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly
despite disruptive behaviour by students. The term also implies the prevention of disruptive
behaviour. 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
speaking, effective teachers tend to display strong classroom-management skills, while the
hallmark of the inexperienced or less effective teacher is a disorderly classroom filled with
students who are not working or paying attention.

Teachers play vital roles in the lives of the students in their classrooms. Teachers are
best known for the role of educating the students that are placed in their care (Wolfgang, C.
H., 2004). Beyond that, teachers serve many other roles in the classroom. The most
common role a teacher plays in the classroom is to teach knowledge to children. Teachers
are given a curriculum they must follow that meets state guidelines. This curriculum is
followed by the teacher so that throughout the year, all pertinent knowledge is dispensed to
the students. Teachers teach in many ways including lectures, small group activities and
hands-on learning activities.

Teachers also play an important role in the classroom when it comes to the
environment. Students often mimic a teachers actions. If the teacher prepares a warm,
happy environment, students are more likely to be happy. An environment set by the teacher
can be either positive or negative. If students sense the teacher is angry, students may react
negatively to that and therefore learning can be impaired. Teachers are responsible for the
social behaviour in their classrooms. This behaviour is primarily a reflection of the teachers
actions and the environment she sets. Teachers typically do not think of themselves as role
models, however, inadvertently they are. Students spend a great deal of time with their
teacher and therefore, the teacher becomes a role model to them. This can be a positive or
negative effect depending on the teacher. Teachers are there not only to teach the children,
but also to love and care for them. Teachers are typically highly respected by people in the
community and therefore become a role model to students and parents.

Mentoring is a natural role taken on by teachers, whether it is intentional or not. This

again can have positive or negative effects on children. Mentoring is a way a teacher
encourages students to strive to be the best they can. This also includes encouraging

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students to enjoy learning. Part of mentoring consists of listening to students. By taking time
to listen to what students say, teachers impart to students a sense of ownership in the
classroom. This helps build their confidence and helps them want to be successful. Another
role played by teachers is a protector role. Teachers are taught to look for signs of trouble in
the students. When students behaviours change or physical signs of abuse are noticed,
teachers are required to look into the problem. Teachers must follow faculty procedures
when it comes to following up on all signs of trouble.

A student who intentionally creates a disturbance in class that directly interferes with
the teacher's ability to instruct the class and with other students' ability to learn is considered
disruptive. Disruptive behaviour can have negative effects on not only the classroom
environment, but also on the school experience as a whole. Based on the situation stated,
too many students in a classroom lead to discipline cases because teacher often loses the
control to the class. Therefore, students who show less interest in studies will misbehave by
making noises, moving around in the class as well disturbing their friends and this will
disturbs the teaching and learning session in the class (Bos, C. S., & Vaughn, S., 2002).

Disruptive students interfere with the teacher's ability to teach effectively. The
behaviours require large amounts of the teacher's time and attention. The teacher must stop
the lesson or discussion to address the behaviour and this takes away from the valuable
time needed to instruct the rest of the class. If the disruptive behaviour is threatening, it may
challenge the teacher's authority and can create tension in the classroom, which pushes
learning to the background. Disruptive behaviour by one student also encourages other
students to do the same, which compromises the teacher's authority and ability to control the
group.

The learning process for other students is affected when one or more students
behave in a disruptive manner. Constant interruptions can interfere with focus. Students are
forced to wait while the behaviour is addressed, or they are side tracked by the disruptive
student's attempts to be noticed. This can result in lower grades and behavioural issues with
other students as well as with the student who is causing the interruption. Peers tend to have
a significant influence over each other, and if one student is disruptive, it may encourage
similar behaviour in other classmates who might not have had trouble otherwise.

Often schools must focus time and resources that could be used elsewhere on trying
to stop disruptive behaviour in students. This takes away from the educational mandate of
most schools, which is usually to provide a safe, effective learning environment for all
students. Teachers are often not equipped to deal with some types of extreme disruptive
behaviours, and as a result, the student is either sent out of class or the school must enlist

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the aid of outside professionals to try to intervene. This takes resources and funding, which
could be better used to improve the educational environment for all students instead of just
one.

Teachers concerned with classroom management typically need help with two issues
which are preventing discipline problems and dealing with current discipline problems. To
address these concerns, models of classroom management discipline being implemented to
curb discipline problems among the students (Edwards, C. H., & Watts, V. J., 2010). Kounin
group management model focuses on preventative discipline by using techniques and
strategies to prevent and misbehaviours from occurring. Good classroom behaviour depends
on effective lesson management, especially on pacing, transitions, alerting, and individual
accountability.

Kounin's key ideas is when teachers correct misbehaviours in one student, it often
influences the behaviour of nearby students. This is known as the ripple effect. Kounin
coined the term withitness to describe teachers' knowing what was going on in all areas of
the classroom at all times. Kounin determined that this trait is communicated more effectively
by teachers' behaviours than by their words, and further, that it is effective only if students
are convinced that the teacher really knows what is going on. The ability to provide smooth
transitions between activities and to maintain consistent momentum within activities is crucial
to effective group management. Teachers should strive to maintain group alertness and to
hold every group member accountable for the content of a lesson, which allows optimal
learning to occur. Student satiation can be avoided by providing a feeling of progress and by
adding variety to curriculum and classroom environment ( Kounin, J. 1977).

Kounin found that if students perceive that teachers are with it in that they
immediately choose the right culprit and correct misbehaviour, they are less likely to
misbehave, especially in teacher-directed lessons. Handling the correct deviant on time is
more important to classroom control than is firmness or clarity of a desist. Kounin also states
that overlapping is the ability to attend to two issues at the same time. Overlapping loses its
effectiveness if the teacher does not also demonstrate withitness. If students working
independently know that the teacher is aware of them and able to deal with them, they are
more likely to remain on task.

Kounin's research revealed an important relationship between student behaviour and

movement within and between lessons. He did not mean physical movement of students or
teachers. He meant - pacing, momentum, and transitions. Teachers' ability to move
smoothly from one activity to the next, and to maintain momentum within an activity has a
great deal to do with their effectiveness in controlling behaviour in the classroom. In smooth

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transitions, student attention is turned easily from one activity to another, thus keeping
student attention on the task at hand.

The techniques advocated by Kounin for class control are all intended to create and
maintain a classroom atmosphere conducive to learning. By keeping students busily and
happily engaged, behaviour problems are reduced to a minimum. In order to function as
Kounin suggests, teachers must be able to deal with the entire class, various subgroups and
individual students, often at the same time. Kounin does not believe that teachers'
personality traits are particularly important in classroom control. What is important, he insists,
is teacher's ability to manage groups and lessons. To reiterate, teachers must learn to know
what is happening in every area of the classroom at all times and communicate that fact to
students and be able to deal with more than one issue at a time. Teacher should correct the
appropriate target before misbehaviour escalates and have to ensure smooth transitions
from one activity to another (Manning, M. L., & Bucher, K. T., 2013).

There is no doubt of the value of Kounin's suggestions in maintaining a good learning

environment, one that also prevents misbehaviour. For that reason his suggestions fit best
into the preventive facet of discipline. As an entire system of discipline, however, teachers
find that Kounin's suggestions are of less help in supportive discipline and almost no help at
all in the techniques of corrective discipline, where misbehaviour must be stopped and
redirected positively.

An intervention is a combination of program elements or strategies designed to

produce behaviour changes or improve health status among individuals or an entire
population (Hoy, A. W., & Weinstein, C. S., 2006). One of the suggestions on interventions
that can be used in dealing with problematic behaviour is behaviour modification techniques.
It assumes that observable and measurable behaviours are good targets for change. All
behaviour follows a set of consistent rules. Methods can be developed for defining,
observing, and measuring behaviours, as well as designing effective interventions.
Behaviour modification techniques never fail. Rather, they are either applied inefficiently or
inconsistently, which leads to less than desired change. All behaviour is maintained,
changed, or shaped by the consequences of that behaviour (Charles, C.M.,1996).

Modeling, which is also called observational learning or imitation, is a behaviourally

based procedure that involves the use of live or symbolic models to demonstrate a particular
behaviour, thought, or attitude that a client may want to acquire or change. Modelling,
observation, and then imitation, children develop new behaviours (Wolfgang, C. H. 2004). By
watching the good model, a child can learn a new behaviour, inhibit behaviour or strengthen
previously learned behaviour. For instance, teacher shows correct modelling on how to talk

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with students, this will affect the students to follow teachers action. To use modeling
effectively, teacher however must determine whether a child has the capacity to observe and
then imitate the model. In classroom settings, a student's response to modeling is influenced
by three factors: the characteristics of the model; the characteristics of the observer; the
positive or negative consequences associated with the behaviour. Children are more likely to
respond to teacher modelling when they view their teachers as competent, nurturing,
supportive, fun, and interesting. Children are also more likely to imitate behaviour that results
in a positive consequence.

Modeling is a powerful tool, often underutilized by teachers. When teachers are

cheerful and enthusiastic, their attitudes are contagious. When they are respectful of
students, students respect each other. When teachers are patient, fair, consistent, and
optimistic, their students exhibit these traits as well. Teacher behaviour sets the tone for the
classroom environment (Emmer, E. T., & Stough, L. M., 2001).

The effective use of behavioural strategies in the classroom may appear daunting
even to experienced teachers. However, changing the behaviour and strategies is often the
most efficient and effective means of improving all types of classroom behaviours, both
disruptive and non-disruptive. Through practice comes proficiency. The building block of
emotions and behaviour likely contains the largest and most diverse set of problems
encountered in the classroom. By first understanding these problems and seeing the world
through the eyes of the students, and, by then developing and using a set of intervention
strategies on a regular basis, problems of emotions and behaviour can be effectively
managed and changed in the classroom.

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References

Bos, C. S., & Vaughn, S. (2002). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior
problems. Allyn & Bacon, A Pearson Education Company, 75 Arlington Street,
Boston, MA 02116.

Charles, C.M. (1996). Building classroom discipline (5th ed.). New York: Longman.

Edwards, C. H., & Watts, V. J. (2010). Classroom discipline & management.

Emmer, E. T., & Stough, L. M. (2001). Classroom management: A critical part of educational
psychology, with implications for teacher education. Educational psychologist, 36(2),
103-112.

Hoy, A. W., & Weinstein, C. S. (2006). Student and teacher perspectives on classroom
management. Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice and
contemporary issues, 181, 222.

Kounin, J. (1977). Discipline and group management in classrooms. New York: Holt,
Rinehart, and Winston.

Manning, M. L., & Bucher, K. T. (2013). Classroom management: Models, applications, and
cases. Pearson.

Wolfgang, C. H. (2004). Solving discipline and classroom management problems: Methods

and models for today's teachers. Jossey-Bass, An Imprint of Wiley. 10475 Crosspoint
Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46256.

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