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Chapter 1

The Problem and Its Background

Introduction

As the 21st century approaches, almost all schools in Europe, America and Asia

adapted the 12 year-curriculum and in year 2013, Philippines, being the only remaining

country in Asia which has ten-year education program, finally embraced the Enhanced K

to 12 Basic Education Program (BEP) thus, a great deal of training has been done to

provide learning experiences to teachers and learners and eventually improve the

teaching-learning situations. Teachers never get tired to discover most effective

instructional management and improving their coping behavior and time management to

increase the pupils’ academic achievement because of the revised basic curriculum.

The present study which focuses on the determination of the instructional

management behavior and time management practices of Grade 6 Teachers in enhancing

the pupils academic achievement in the city schools in Division of Meycauayan is just

very timely and important considering that there are still many cases of pupils who has

poor performance and needs intervention to remedy the gap in performance.

The Article 14, Section 2 of the Philippine Constitution and the Governance of

Basic Education Act of 2001 (RA 9155) confirmed the constitutional right to free basic

education among the school-age population and young adults to provide them with skills,

knowledge, and values to become caring, self-reliant, productive and patriotic citizens.

The Republic Act 10533 or the K to 12 Basic Education Program (BEP) that

mandates the government to create a functional basic education system that may develop
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productive and responsible citizens equipped with the essential competencies, skills and

values for both life-long learning and employment were the legal basis of the study.

The K to 12 Basic Education Program (BEP),the flagship program of the DepEd

which at present is on its 4rth year of implementation, aims to produce Filipino graduates

who are holistically developed with twenty-first century skills and prepared for higher

education, middle level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.

Teachers, on the other hand, effectively functions in their roles in teaching Grade

6 pupils in classrooms regardless of age, background, or socio-economic status, as these

pupils must learn to perform well in class in order to be successful in schools.

However, even how brilliant are their prepared lessons if the management of their

instructions, behaviors and their time management were not enough to suffice for a life-

long learning that may cater to slow learners and fast learners of the class, the

performance of the class still suffers to attain its high performing levels.

Key ingredients to increase academic achievement of learners as well as teacher’s

effective instructional management are frequently cited as two of the most influential

factors associated with pupils’ achievement. Research has shown that students with more

effective teachers who provide vast and unlimited teaching-learning experiences in their

daily instructions tend to do better and make larger gains.

Hence, the researcher inspired with presence of learners who are low performers

in academic achievement deemed it necessary to conduct a study which focuses on the

determination of instructional management behavior and time management practices in

the implementation of K to 12 Basic Education Program which is a performance-based

curriculum to improve the academic achievement of Grade 6 students in the City Schools
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Division of Meycauayan. These reasons inspired the researcher to conduct the proposed

study entitled, “The Instructional Management Behavior and Time management Practices

of Grade Six Teachers in Enhancing Students’ Academic Achievement” was

conceptualized.

Significance of the Study

The study which is about the instructional management behaviours and time

management practices of Grade 6 teachers in public elementary schools is deemed

significant to the following stakeholders: curriculum developers, school administrators,

learning institutions, Grade Six Teachers/Students; parents, local government unit and by

other researchers:

Department of Education. The findings of the study may serve as reference to

the agency as what additional revision in the K to 12 BEP in order to fully implement the

entire performance-based content standard in the Grade 6 to enhance the instructional

management behaviours and time management practices of teachers.

Curriculum Developers. The findings of this study may serve as guide to the

curriculum planners in the Department of Education to redesign the content standard as to

what interventions can be added and serve as guide to Grade 6 Teachers in order for them

to achieve high academic achievement among learners in their classes.

School Administrators. The findings of this study may serve as guide to school

administrators in providing in-service training/seminar-workshop to Grade 6 teachers in

improving their instructional management.


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Learning Institutions. The findings of the study may serve as reference of the

dean and staff of learning institutions as to what focus of research or lessons they could

suggest to future researchers and teachers as guide to their undertakings.

Local Government Unit. The findings may serve as baseline of study for the

local government unit in providing and planning for in-service trainings or seminars to

teachers sponsored by them that could lead to offering scholarship in graduate studies to

teachers.

Grade 6 Teachers. The result of the study may enhance more their instructional

management behaviours and time management practices to increase the academic

achievement of Grade 6 pupils.

Grade 6 Students. The instructional management interventions and the

identification of instructional management behaviours and time management practices of

teachers may help improve their academic achievement.

Researchers. The findings of the study may serve as guide to researchers and

acquire insights from the findings and recommendations of this study. Important details

and information of this study can be revealed and be used by researchers as foundation to

their investigation.

Theoretical Framework

The study will be anchored by Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura. The

mentioned theories will be adopted by the researcher because of the practical applications

to the present study. The paradigm of the theoretical framework is shown in Figure 1.
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Social Learning

Theory

Teachers can develop their own innovative performance-task


activities through powerpoint and projector that can be used as an
intervention for the students with low performance and learning difficulties
since they can repeatedly manipulate the information until they understood
and these provides more visual retention to them.
The researcher’s theory postulates that “teachers in identifying first
on what kind of learners they have inside the classrooms through assessing
learners’ behaviors and performance levels or eliciting actual positive or
negative behaviors among them, appropriate coping mechanism interventions
can be provided by them as they manage their delivery of instruction.”

Figure 1- Theoretical Paradigm

Social Learning Theory. The Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura states

that a “viable model for understanding how people learned through observation of models

draw ideas from information processing and describe cognitive processes and mediate

learning.”
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This theory was used in this study since Grade 6 teachers manipulate the different

instructional management, where they allow first the learners to perform all the activities

inside a well –managed classroom then let them process the information, followed by

executing through actions or performance to achieve the desired academic achievement

among the learners.

Behave-Instruct-Manage Theory. The researcher’s theory postulates that

“teachers in identifying first on what kind of learners they have inside the classrooms

through assessing learners’ behaviors and performance levels or eliciting actual positive

or negative behaviors among them, appropriate coping mechanism interventions can be

provided by them as they manage their delivery of instruction.”

The theory used in the study guided the researchers on how she will program the

flow of activities of her study and provide good insights to finish her endeavor.

Conceptual Framework

The study which will be concerned about the instructional management behavior

and time management practices of Grade 6 Teachers in relation to student’s academic

achievement of City Schools Division of Meycauayan as the main focus of the present

study.

Figure 2 shows the paradigm of the conceptual framework composed of the input,

process and output. As indicated in the figure, the inputs are the assessing the
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professional profile of the respondents, their existing instructional management behaviors

and management utilized by teachers in their delivery of instruction to the learners.

THE INSTRUCTIONAL MANAGEMENT BEHAVIOR AND TIME


MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF GRADE 6 TEACHERS IN
RELATION TO STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

 Descriptive-Qualitative-Normative Method
 Survey Questionnaire-Checklist/Interview
 Professional profile of respondents:
a. years in service
b. graduate studies
c. level of training attended

* Instructional Management Behaviors and Time Management


utilized by Teachers along:
a. classroom management
b. learners management
c. behavior management
d. instructional management
e. time management

* Extent of Utilization of 5 Management


* Effective Instructional Management Behavior Identification

* Significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional


management behavior and their time management practices along
the 5 variables

* Problems Encountered by Teachers


* Interventions can Be Recommended

*96 Teachers-Respondents

Intervention to Enhance the Instructional Management


Behaviors and time management of Teachers-Determined

FIGURE 2- The Conceptual Paradigm


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Statement of the Problem

The study will determine the instructional management behavior and time

management practices of Grade 6 Teachers as basis for the development of an

intervention to enhance their teaching skills in improving the academic achievement of

students in City Schools, Division of Meycauayan. Specifically, it will also answer the

following questions:

1. What is the professional profile of teachers in terms of:

a. years in service
b. graduate studies
c. level of training attended

2. What instructional management behavior and time management practices are

being utilized by Grade 6 Teachers along:

a. classroom management
b. learners management
c. behaviour management
d. instructional management
e. time management

3. What is the extent of utilization of teachers of instructional management

behavior along the 5 variables of the study?

4. What specific instructional management behaviours are identified with teachers

in effective schools along the 5 variables of the study?


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5. Is there any significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional

management behavior and their time management practices along the 5 variables of the

study?

6. What are the problems encountered by teachers in instructional management

behavior among learners that needs immediate solutions?

7. What interventions can be recommended to enhance the instructional

management behaviors of teachers based on the findings of the study?

Hypothesis of the Study/Assumptions

The null hypothesis of the study is that there is no significant relationship between

the teachers’ instructional management behaviors and time management practices among

the 4 variables of the study.

Assumptions

This study is premised on the following assumptions that:

1. Teachers follows the performance-based objectives stated in the K to 12 Basic

Education Program Content Standard with no training on handling learners with

difficulty in learning.

2. Vast creative and innovative learning management and practices can be

provided to pupils by Grade 6 Teachers.


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3. There are specific instructional management behaviors identified to teachers in

effective schools.

4. And there are instructional management behavior intervention that can be

prepared to enhance the competencies of Grade 6 teachers in improving the academic

achievement of pupils.

Definition of Terms

Instructional Management Behavior. 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. When classroom-management strategies are

executed effectively, teachers minimize the behaviors that impede learning for both

individual students and groups of students, while maximizing the behaviors that facilitate

or enhance learning. It is the process by which teachers and schools create and maintain

appropriate behavior of students in classroom settings. Establishes and sustains an orderly

environment in the classroom. Increases meaningful academic learning and facilitates

social and emotional growth.

Time Management. is the process of planning and exercising

conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness,

efficiency, and productivity. “Time management” is the process of organizing and

planning how to divide your time between specific activities. Good time

management enables you to work smarter – not harder – so that you get more done in

less time, even when time is tight and pressures are high.
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Respondents. The term refers to the Grade 6 teachers of City Schools Division of

Meycauayan, Bulacan.

Scope and Delimitation

The study is delimited to the determination of the instructional management

behavior and time management practices of Grade 6 Teachers as basis for the

development of an intervention to enhance their teaching skills in improving the

academic achievement of pupils in City Schools, Division of Meycauayan.

It will assess also the professional profile of teachers in terms of: a. years in

service, b. graduate studies, and c. level of training attended.

The instructional management behavior and time management practices that are

being utilized by Grade 6 Teachers along: a. classroom management, b. learners

management, c. behavior management, d. instructional management, e. time management

are also included.

The extent of management of teachers of instructional behavior along the 5

variables of the study will be analyzed also. The specific instructional management

behaviors are identified with teachers in effective schools along the 5 variables of the

study will be identified by the study.

The significant relationship between the teachers’ instructional management

behavior and their time management practices along the 5 variables of the study will be
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analyzed by the researcher as well as the problems encountered by teachers in

instructional management behavior among learners that needs immediate solutions.

An intervention that can be recommended to enhance the instructional

management behaviors of teachers based on the findings of the study will be tried to

determine also by the study.

It will cover Nine (9) public elementary schools in Cluster A, nine (9) schools in

Cluster B and nine (9) schools in Cluster C in the City Schools Division of Meycauayan

as the setting and scope of the present study. The 96 Grade 6 Teachers in the school year

2018 -2019 will be the respondents of the study as source of valuable data.

Other Grades level teachers are not included as the respondents of the study.

Parents and School Heads are not included also as respondents.

Setting of the Study

The setting of the study will be in public elementary schools in the City Schools,

Division of Meycauayan. The Grade 6 Teachers in the public elementary schools will be

the respondents of the study.

The setting of this study is in the City Schools of Division of Meycauayanas

shown in Figure 1. Meycauayan is classified First Class municipality. There were 3

Cluster schools included. Cluster A are composed of Bagbaguin Elementary School,

Perez Elementary School, Bahay Pare Elementary School, Pajo Elementary School,
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Camalig Elementary School, Pantoc Elementary School, Iba Elementary School,

Malhacan Integrated School, and Libtong Elementary School. Cluster B- Langka

Elementary School, Pandayan Elementary School, Lawa Elementary School, Tugatog

Elementary School, Caingin-Bayanihan Elementary School, Saluysoy Integrated School,

Bangkal Integrated School, Bangkal Extension Elementary School, and Liputan

Elementary School. Cluster C- Calvario Elementary School, Banga Elementary School,

Meycauayan West Central Integrated School, Zamora Elementary School, Bayugo

Elementary School, Longos Elementary School and Ubihan Elementary School. Valuable

information and data gathered from these schools will be the source of information of the

present study to answer all the queries of the problem of the study.
Figure 1. Map of Division Of Meycauayan, showing the Public Elementary Schools as setting of the study.
Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

This section of the study presents the review of related literature and studies on

local and foreign sources which will add more relevance and depth of the research study.

Overview of Instructional Management, Classroom Management, Management

Behavior and Time Management

Teachers should understand management of the classroom as well, they play a

prominent role in the teaching and learning process. Moreover, they demanded to handle

the activities in the classroom and make those effective and interesting. Instructional

management helps the teachers to observe the development process of their students.

How one manages the classroom is the primary determinant of how well your students

learn. Conversely, when students are successful and actively engaged in their work, they

tend to be well behaved. Therefore, keep students involved in their work, have students

understand what is expected of them, maximize time on task, prevent confusion or

disruption, and run a work simulated but relaxed and pleasant classroom (Widya, 2017).

Overview of Instructional Management

Tosti and Harmon defined (1972) instructional management as those events and

procedures involved in the decision to initiate a specific activity for an individual student.

Riessman (1968) stated that Classroom management covers all of the things that a teacher

does to organize students, space, time and materials so that instruction in content and
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student learning can take place. The instructional management is process of monitoring

the progress of the pupils and make decisions on the pace of instruction, the grouping of

the children, the sequence of the lesson, and the individualization of instruction (Geddes

and Kooi: 1969).

Jones (2000) has developed a non-adversarial method of creating a classroom that

moves smoothly. In his three books Jones addressed many levels that the method can be

successful on. One book focuses on the classroom as a positive discipline site, another

book looks at how the entire campus can benefit from the positive discipline and the third

book takes those concepts to the everyday/every minute problems faced by a teacher.

There are two important systems that have come from Jones’ research. The first is

Preferred Activity Time (PAT). PAT is a system that can benefit both the students and the

teacher. The students are able to spend time having fun while learning after earning the

privilege. The teacher has an incentive for the students to work hard and then can enjoy

the activity with their students. The second system is simply positive reinforcement. The

teacher can set up simple techniques of their choosing to reinforce behavior from a

student that will teach that student the acceptable way to behave/act. These techniques

can vary from award presentation after set amounts of time, commendations sent home,

point accumulation for buying power of rewards, or any reinforcer (anything that anyone

will work for) that is applicable to the individual student/group.

Dr. Peggy J. George is a strong believer in Jones’ PAT program. She has noticed

that those teachers who have chosen to use his techniques have found them to be highly

effective and very complementary to their existing classroom discipline plans. "PAT is
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one of the techniques that many teachers choose to use because the kids love it and it

works," said George. "In his books, Jones explains that PAT is all about teaching students

time management and responsibility. He suggests that the teacher gains instructional time

by having students be on task during teaching and then gains additional learning time by

selecting PAT activities that are educational but fun, or preferred by students. Obviously

if the PAT activities are not motivational, students will not be willing to work to earn

them."

There might be articles or other theorists who come out and disagree with Dr.

Jones’ positive behavior rewards outright but if so, they are difficult to find. What can be

found are other theorists whose overall theories are opposite of Jones’. One in particular

is Alfie Kohn. Alfie Kohn has a firm belief that motivation to succeed in school and life

must be intrinsically based. A successful person must have self-motivation. Those that

have extrinsic motivation (rewards, praise, commendations, etc.) are at a risk of losing

their intrinsic motivation completely. Additionally teachers that use extrinsic motivation

for behavior and work completion are killing the students’ ability to be self-motivated.

Ginott states, “that good classroom management, like surgery, requires precision –

no random cuts, no rambling comments. Above all, a teacher demonstrates self-

discipline and good manners – no tantrums, no insults, no blistering language. His or Her

management plan is never sadistic. He or She lives by the law of compassion, even when

challenged by children to defy it,” (Ginott: 1972). Managing the learning environment is

both a major responsibility and an on-going concern for every teacher, even those with

years of experience (Good & Brophy, 2002). There are several reasons. In the first place,

a lot goes on in classrooms simultaneously, even when students seem to be doing only
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“one” task together. Twenty-five students may all be working on a sheet of math

problems. But look more closely: several may be stuck on a particular problem, but each

for different reasons. A few others have worked only the first problem or two and are now

chatting quietly with each other instead of continuing. Still others have finished and are

wondering what to do next. At any one moment each student needs something different—

different information, different hints, different kinds of encouragement. The diversity

increases even more if the teacher deliberately assigns multiple activities to different

groups or individuals (for example, if some are doing a reading assignment while others

do the math problems).

Another reason that managing the environment is challenging is because a teacher

can never predict everything that will happen in a class. A well-planned lesson may fall

flat on its face, or take less time than you expect, and you find yourself improvising to fill

class time. On the other hand an unplanned moment may become a wonderful, sustained

exchange among students; so you have to drop previous plans and “go with the flow” of

their discussion. Interruptions happen continually: a fire drill, a quick drop-in visit from

another teacher or from the principal, a call on the intercom from the office. An activity

may turn out well, but also end up rather differently than you intended; you therefore

have to decide how, if at all, to adjust the next day to allow for this surprise.

A third reason for the importance of management is that students form opinions

and perceptions about your teaching that may coincide neither with your own nor with

other students’. What seems to you like encouragement of a shy student may seem to the

student herself like “forced participation.” A more eager, outgoing classmate watching

your special effort to encourage the shy student, however, may not see you as either
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encouraging or coercing, but as overlooking or ignoring other students who are already

more willing to participate. The variety of perceptions can lead to surprises in students’

responses to you—most often small ones, but occasionally more major.

At the broadest, society-wide level, management challenges teachers because public

schooling is not voluntary, and students’ presence in a classroom is therefore not a sign,

in and of itself, that they wish to learn. Students’ presence is instead just a sign that an

opportunity exists for teachers to motivate students to learn. Many students, of course, do

enjoy learning and being in school—but not all. Others do enjoy school, but primarily

because teachers have worked hard to make classroom life pleasant and interesting. They

become motivated because you have successfully created a positive learning environment

and have sustained it through skillful management.

Classroom Managements affecting academic performance.

Room Arrangement. Some room arrangements depend significantly on the grade

level or subject area of the class. If you teach in elementary school, for example, you may

need to think about where students can keep their daily belongings, such as coats and

lunches. In some schools, these can be kept outside the classroom—but not in all schools.

Some subjects and grade levels, furthermore, lend themselves especially well to small

group interaction, in which case you might prefer not to seat students in rows, but around

several small-group tables or work areas. The latter arrangement is sometimes preferred

by elementary teachers, but is also useful in high schools wherever students need lots of

counter space, as in some shops courses, or wherever they need to interact, as in English

as a Second Language courses (McCafferty, Jacobs, & Iddings, 2006). The key issue in
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deciding between tables and rows, however, is not grade level or subject as such, but the

amount of small group interaction you want to encourage, compared to the amount of

whole-group instruction. As a rule, tables make talking with peers easier, and rows make

listening to the teacher more likely and group work slightly more awkward to arrange.

Ironically, some teachers experience challenges about room arrangement without

even having a room of their own, because they must “float” or move among other

teachers’ rooms. “Floating” is especially likely among specialized teachers (e.g. music

teachers in elementary schools, who move from class to class) and in schools that are

short on classrooms overall. Floating can sometimes by annoying to the teacher, though it

actually also has advantages, such as not having to take responsibility for how other

teachers’ rooms are arranged).

Daily Procedures and Routines. Procedures or routines are specific ways of

doing common, repeated classroom tasks or activities. Examples include checking daily

attendance, dealing with students who arrive late, or allowing students to use the

bathroom during class or go to their lockers to get materials which they forgot to bring.

Procedures also include ways of turning in or retrieving daily homework (e.g. putting it

on a designated shelf at a particular time), or of gaining the teacher’s attention during

quiet seat work (e.g. raising your hand and waiting), or of choosing and starting a “free

choice” activity after completing a classroom assignment.

Procedures serve the largely practical purpose of making activities and tasks flow

smoothly and efficiently—a valuable and necessary purpose in classrooms, where the

actions of many people have to be coordinated within limited amounts of time. As such

procedures are more like social conventions than like moral expectations. They are not
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primarily about what is ethically right or ethically desirable to do (Turiel, 2006). Most

procedures or routines can be accomplished in more than one way, with only minor

differences in success at the outcomes. There is more than one way, for example, for the

procedure of taking attendance: the teacher could call the role, delegate a student to call

the role, or simply note students’ presence on a seating chart. Each variation

accomplishes essentially the same task, and the choice among them may therefore be less

important than the fact that the class coordinates its actions somehow, by committing to

some sort of choice.

Classroom Rules. Unlike procedures or routines, rules express standards of

behavior for which individual students need to take responsibility. Although they may

help in insuring the practical efficiency of classroom tasks, they are really about

encouraging students to be personally responsible for learning, as well as for behaving

decently and respectfully with each other.

Most educational experts recommend keeping the number of rules to a minimum

in order to make them easier to remember (Thorson, 2003; Brophy, 2003). Another

feature is that they are stated in positive terms (“Do X…”) rather than negative terms

(“Do not do Y…”), a strategy that emphasizes and clarifies what students should do

rather than what they should avoid. A third feature is that each rule actually covers a

collection of more specific behaviors. The rule “Bring all materials to class,” for

example, potentially covers bringing pencils, paper, textbooks, homework papers, and

permission slips—depending on the situation. As a result of being stated somewhat

generally, rules contain a degree of ambiguity that sometimes requires interpretation.

Infractions may occur, that is, that are marginal or “in a grey area,” rather than clearcut. A
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student may bring a pen, for example, but the pen may not work properly, and you may

therefore wonder whether this incident is really a failure to follow the rule, or just an

unfortunate (and in this case minor) fault of the pen manufacturer.

As with classroom procedures, rules can be planned either by the teacher alone, or

by the teacher with advice from students. The arguments for each approach are similar to

the arguments for procedures: rules “laid on” by the teacher may be more efficient and

consistent, and in this sense more fair, but rules influenced by the students may be

supported more fully by the students. Because rules focus strongly on personal

responsibility, however, there is a stronger case for involving students in making

classroom rules than in making classroom procedures (Brookfield, 2006; Kohn, 2006). In

any case the question of who plans classroom rules is not necessarily an either/or choice.

It is possible in principle to impose certain rules on students (for example, “Always be

polite to each other”) but let the students determine the consequences for violations of

certain rules (for example, “If a student is discourteous to a classmate, he/she must

apologize to the student in writing”). Some mixture of influences is probably inevitable,

in fact, if only because of your own moral commitments as a teacher and because the

school itself is likely to have rules of its own (like “No smoking in the school” or

“Always walk in the hallways”). A classroom set of rules therefore might need to refer to

and honor this broader source of rules somehow, if only by including a classroom rule

stating something like “Obey all school rules.”

Students are most likely to engage with learning when tasks are of moderate

difficulty, neither too easy nor too hard and therefore neither boring nor frustrating (Britt,

2005). Finding the right level of difficulty, however, can sometimes be a challenge if you
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have little experience in teaching a particular grade level or curriculum, or even if a class

is simply new to you and in this sense “unknown.” Whether familiar to you or not,

members of any class are likely to have diverse abilities and readiness, and this fact alone

makes it harder to determine what level of difficulty is appropriate. A common strategy

for dealing with these ambiguities is to begin units, lessons, or projects with tasks or

content that is relatively easy and familiar, and then gradually introduce more difficult

material or tasks until students seem challenged, but not overwhelmed. Using this

strategy gives the teacher a chance to observe and diagnose students’ learning needs

before adjusting content, and gives students a chance to orient themselves to the teacher’s

expectations and the topic of study without becoming stressed or frustrated prematurely.

Later in a unit, lesson, or project, students are then in a better position to deal with more

difficult tasks or content (Van Merrionboer, 2003). The principle seems to help even with

“authentic” learning projects—ones that resemble real-world activities of students (such

as learning to drive an automobile), and that present a variety of complex tasks

simultaneously. Even in those cases it helps for the teacher to isolate and focus on the

simplest subtasks first (such as “put the key in the ignition”) and only move to harder

tasks later (such as parallel parking).


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Managing Transitions. The time between activities is often full of distractions

and “lost” time, and is often when inappropriate behaviors are especially likely to occur.

Part of the problem is intrinsic to transitions: students often have to wait before a new

activity begins, and therefore get bored, at the same moment when the teacher may be

preoccupied with locating and arranging materials for the new activity. From the point of

view of students, therefore, transitions may seem essentially like unsupervised group

time, when (seemingly) “anything goes.”

Teach students as many ways as possible to manage their own behavior during

transitions (Marzano & Marzano, 2004). If students talk too loudly between activities, for

example, then discuss with them what constitutes appropriate levels or amounts of talk

during those times, as well as about the need for them to monitor their own sound level at

that time. Or if students stop work early in anticipation of the end of an activity, then talk

about—or even practice—using a signal from yourself to indicate the true ending point

for an activity.

Maintaining the Flow of Activities. A lot of classroom management is really

about keeping activities flowing smoothly, both during individual lessons and across the

school day. The trouble with this straightforward-sounding idea, however, is that there is

never just “one” event happening at a time, even if only one activity has been formally

planned and is supposed to be occurring. Even if, for example, everyone is supposed to

be attending a single whole-class discussion on a topic, individual students will be having

different experiences at any one moment. Several students may be listening and

contributing comments, for example, but a few others may be planning what they want to

say next and ignoring the current speakers, still others may ruminating about what a
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previous speaker said, and still others may be thinking about unrelated matters, like using

the restroom, food, or sex. Things get even more complicated if the teacher deliberately

plans multiple activities: in that case some students may interact with the teacher, for

example, while others do work in an unsupervised group or work independently in a

different part of the room.

A common mistake of beginning teachers in multi-faceted activity settings like

these is to pay too much attention to any one activity, student, or small group, at the

expense of noticing and responding to all the others. If you are helping a student on one

side of the room but someone on the other side disturbs classmates with off-task

conversation, it tends to be less effective either to finish with the student you are helping

before attending to the disruption, or to interrupt your help for the student until you have

solved the disruption on the other side of the room. Either approach is likely to allow the

flow of activities to be disrupted somewhere; there is a risk that either the student’s

chatting may spread to others, or the interrupted student may become bored with waiting

to regain the teacher’s attention and get off-task herself.

A better solution, though at first it may seem tricky or challenging, is to attend to

both events at once—a strategy that was named withitness in a series of now-classic

research students several decades ago (Kounin, 1970). Withitness does not mean that you

focus on all simultaneous activities with equal care, but only that you are aware multiple

activities, behaviors, and events to some degree. At a particular moment, for example,

you may be focusing on helping a student, but in some corner of your mind you also

notice when chatting begins on the other side of the room. You have, as the saying goes,

“eyes in the back of your head.” Research has found that experienced teachers are much
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more likely to show withitness than inexperienced teachers, and that these qualities are

associated with their managing classrooms successfully (Emmer & Stough, 2001).

Simultaneous awareness—withitness—makes possible responses to the multiple

events that are immediate and nearly simultaneous—what educators sometimes called

overlapping. The teacher’s responses to each event or behavior need not take equal time,

nor even be equally noticeable to all students. If you are helping one student with seat

work at the precise moment when another student begins chatting off-task, for example, a

quick glance to the second student may be enough to bring him back to the work at hand,

and may scarcely interrupt your conversation with the first student, or be noticed by

others who are not even involved. The result is a smoother flow to activities overall.

Communicating the Importance of Learning and of Positive Behavior

Taken together, arranging space, establishing procedures and rules, and

developing withitness about multiple events set the stage for communicating an important

message: that the classroom is a place where learning and positive social behavior are

priorities. In addition, teachers can convey this message by giving feedback to students in

a timely way, by keeping accurate records of their performance, and by deliberately

communicating with parents or caregivers about their children and about activities in

class.

Giving Timely Feedback

Feedback is a term often used by educators to refer to responses given to students

about their behavior or performance. Feedback is essential for students if they are to learn

or if they are to develop classroom behavior that is new or more subtle and “mature.” But

feedback can only be fully effective if received as soon as possible, when it is still
13

relevant to the task or activity at hand which is usually as soon as possible (Reynolds,

1992).[8] A score on a test is more informative immediately after a test than after a six-

month delay, when students may have forgotten much of the content of the test. A

teacher’s comment to a student about an inappropriate, off-task behavior may not be

especially welcome immediately after the behavior occurs, but it can be more influential

and informative then; later, both teacher and student have trouble remembering the

context of the off-task behavior, and in this sense may literally “not know what they are

talking about.” The same is true for comments about a positive behavior by a student:

hearing a compliment right away makes it easier to connect the comment with the

behavior, and allows the compliment to influence the student more strongly. Even though

there are of course practical limits to how fast feedback can be given, the general

principle is clear: feedback tends to work better when it is timely.

Maintaining Accurate Records

Although timeliness in responding to students can sometimes happen easily or

spontaneously, there are also situations where promptness depends on having organized

key information ahead of time. Obvious examples are the scores, marks, and grades

returned to students for their work. With a short quiz (like, say, a weekly spelling test), it

may be possible to return it quite soon after the quiz—especially if you or even your

students themselves can mark it during class. More often, though, assignments and tests

requiring longer processing times: you have to take significant time personally to read,

score, or add constructive comments. The time needed for this work can reduce the

usefulness of a teacher’s evaluations to students when she finally does return assignments

(Black, et al., 2004). During the days or weeks while students wait for a test or
14

assignment to be returned, they are left without information about quality or nature of

their performance; at the extreme they may even have to complete a next test or

assignment before getting any information from an earlier one.

Responding to Student Misbehavior[edit]

Sometimes students do things that disrupt other students or interrupt the flow of

activities. At such moments the challenge is not about long-term planning but about

making appropriate, but prompt responses. Misbehaviors left alone can be contagious, a

process educators sometimes call the ripple effect (Kounin, 1970). Chatting between two

students, for example, can gradually become chatting among six students; rudeness by

one can eventually become rudeness by several; and so on. Because of this tendency,

delaying a response to inappropriate behavior can make the job of getting students back

on track harder than responding to it as immediately as possible.

There are many ways to respond to inappropriate behaviors, of course, and they

vary in how much they focus on the immediate behavior of a student rather than on

longer-term patterns of behavior. There are so many ways to respond, in fact, that we can

only describe a sampling of the possibilities here. None are effective all of the time,

though all do work at least some of the time. We start with a response that may not seem

on the surface like a remedy at all—simply ignoring misbehaviors.

Ignoring Misbehaviors

A lot of misbehaviors are not important enough or frequent enough to deserve any

response from the teacher at all. They are likely to disappear (or extinguish, in behaviorist

terms) if simply left alone. If a student who is usually quiet during class happens to

whisper to a neighbor once in awhile, it is probably simpler, less disruptive, and just as
15

effective to ignore this rare infraction of a classroom rule. And some misbehaviors may

not be worth a response even if they are frequent, as long as they do not seem to bother

others. Suppose, for example, that a certain student has a habit of choosing quiet seat

work times to sharpen her pencil. Yet this behavior is not really noticed by others. Is it

then really a problem, however unnecessary or ill-timed it may be? In both examples

ignoring the behavior may be wise because there is little danger of the behavior spreading

to other students or of become even more frequent. Interrupting your activities—or the

students’—might cause more disruption than simply ignoring the problem. That said,

there can sometimes still be problems in deciding whether a particular misbehavior is

indeed minor, infrequent, or unnoticed by others.

Gesturing Nonverbally

Sometimes it works to communicate using gestures, eye contact, or “body

language” that involve little or no speaking. Nonverbal cues are often appropriate if a

misbehavior is just a bit too serious or frequent to ignore, but not serious or frequent

enough to merit taking the time deliberately to speak to or talk with the student. If two

students are chatting off-task for a relatively extended time, for example, sometimes a

glance in their direction, a frown, or even just moving closer to the students is enough of

a reminder to get them back on task. And even if these responses prove not to be enough,

they may help to keep the off-task behavior from spreading to other students.

Misinterpretation of nonverbal gestures and cues is a little more likely with young

children, who are still learning the subtleties of adults’ nonverbal “language” (Guerrero &

Floyd, 2005; Heimann, et al., 2006). It can also be more likely with students who speak

limited English and whose cultural background differs significantly different from yours,
16

because the students may be used to communicating nonverbally in ways that literally

“look different” from the ways familiar to you (Marsh, Elfenbein, & Ambady, 2003).

Natural and Logical Consequences

Consequences are the outcomes or results of an action. In general research has found

that natural and logical consequences can be effective for minimizing undesirable

behaviors, provided they are applied in appropriate situations (Weinstein, Tomlinson-

Clarke, & Curran, 2004). Take, for example, a student who runs impulsively down school

hallways. By the very nature of this action, he or she is especially likely to have “traffic

accidents,” and thus (hopefully) to see that running is not safe and to reduce the

frequency of running. Or think of a student who chronically talks during class instead of

working on a class-time assignment. A logical outcome of this choice is to require the

student to make up the assignment later, possibly as homework. Because the behavior and

the consequence are connected directly, the student is relatively likely to see the

drawback of choosing to talk, and to reduce how much he or she talks on subsequent

occasions. In both cases, the key features that make natural and logical consequences

work is

1. that they are appropriate to the misbehavior and

2. that the student sees or understands the connection between the consequences and

the original behavior.

The natural and logical consequences is that they can easily be confused with deliberate

punishment (Kohn, 2006). The difference is important. Consequences are focused on

repairing damage and restoring relationships, and in this sense consequences focus on the

future. Punishments, in contrast, highlight the mistake or wrongdoing and in this sense
17

focus on the past. Consequences tend to be more solution focused; punishments tend to

highlight the person who committed the action and to shame or humiliate the wrong doer.

Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving

When a student misbehaves persistently and disruptively, you will need strategies

that are more active and assertive than the ones discussed so far, and that lead to conflict

resolution—the reduction of disagreements that persist over time. The conflict resolution

strategies that educators and teachers advocate and use usually have two parts (Jones,

2004). First, the strategies involve a way of identifying precisely what “the” problem is.

Once this is done, they require reminding the student of classroom expectations and rules

without apology or harshness, but with simple clarity and assertiveness. When used

together, the clarification and assertion can not only reduce conflicts between a teacher

and an individual student, but also provide a model for other students to consider when

they have disagreements of their own.

Ginott (1972) believed that teachers had complete power through communication

to influence classroom situations, whether in a positive or negative way. In order for

teacher to make a positive impact, Ginotts stated three things: (1) the teacher must model

communication that is congruent with student’s emotions and surroundings; (2) the

teacher must include cooperative learning; (3) it is important to use discipline in place of

punishment. By actively doing these three things teachers can create an environment with

“congruent communication.” Ginott’s theories were very popular during the 1970’s and

are still influential today. His congruent communication has had a positive impact on

many classrooms. He helped teachers and parents to better communicate and work

together.
18

At first Haim Ginott’s ideas seem to fit society’s ideal teacher: respectful, open,

non-judging, and caring. In fact, the idea of basing a classroom on good communication

is widely regarded as essential to student learning and self-esteem. Many places around

the country use formalized processes such as reflections, meetings, or progress

evaluations to give students a voice in their own learning that fit nicely into Ginott’s

ideas. Also, many teachers would say that they try to be accepting and respectful of their

students. They try to minimize distractions and they pick their battles in the classroom to

keep the class running smoothly and not alienate a difficult student.

However, there are some criticisms of Ginott’s theories that need to be mentioned

before we jump into a management system based on them. First, Ginott went back to

school as a young man to become a psychologist. He did not become a professional

teacher and did not work himself on a daily basis in the classroom. Fair or not, many

people will say that he had no right to tell teachers what to do if he was so far removed

from the day to day workings of a classroom.

Second, Ginott’s ideas about communication require that the students themselves

know how to communicate their ideas and opinions. Many students do not. This does not

mean just language barriers, which do exist in many places, but children who have never

learned how to have a mature conversation. Some students are brought up not trusting

others and wanting to manipulate. Others are brought up to remain in silence when an

adult is speaking. Still others are encouraged to voice their opinions strongly and loudly

no matter what anyone else says. For example, if a teacher were to say, “Would you like

to pick those papers up and put them back on Jimmy’s desk?” some students might

interpret that as an option, not a direction. This could cause misunderstandings and hard
19

feelings between students and the teacher. Ginott’s classroom positive communication

style would only work in situations where the teacher and students have similar

communication styles and can understand each other.

Third, there are cultural considerations to take into account. Different

communication styles, languages, boundaries, implied knowledge and methods of

discipline in the home can have an impact on classroom behavior. Ginott’s theory

assumes that it will work for all students, but there are many for whom his style of

openness and respect would encourage their taking advantage of other students or the

teacher. Only with prerequisite instruction of communication norms and rules would his

theory work when crossing cultural boundaries.

Other theories to Instructional Management, Time Management

Skinner believed that the goal of psychology should be practical (Lieberman,

2000). As it relates to education, Skinner believed the goal of psychology should be to

find ways to make education enjoyable and effective for all students. His learning theory

relied on the assumption that the best way to modify behavior was to modify the

environment. Skinner was a proponent for many instructional strategies that modern day

“progressive” educational reformers advocate for: scaffold instruction, small units,

repetition and review of instructions, and immediate feedback. Skinner did not approve of

the use of punishments in school, or as a behavioral modification technique in general,

and based these opinions on his own empirical research that found punishments to be

ineffective (Lieberman, 2000). Skinner himself advocated for the frequent use of

reinforcement (i.e. rewards) to modify and influence student behavior.


20

Skinner’s primary contribution to behavioral management philosophy has been

from his research on operant conditioning and reinforcement schedules. An operant is a

behavior that acts on the surrounding environment to produce a consequence. As a result

of the consequence, the operant’s likelihood of reoccurring is affected. The operant is said

to be reinforced if the consequence increases the likelihood of the behavior's occurrence.

For example, an example of an operant in a typical classroom is staying in one’s seat. A

teacher may seek to reinforce this behavior by offering a reward to reinforce student

behavior (e.g. recess or food).

Three characteristics of operant conditioning are particularly important to

behavior management: a) the reinforcer, b) the reinforcement schedule, and c) the timing

of the reinforcement. First, reinforcers have been placed in three categories (Lieberman,

2000). Primary reinforcers are reinforcers that require no special training to be effective.

These include food, water, and sensory stimulation. Secondary reinforcers are reinforcers

whose reinforcing properties have been acquired through experience (typically through

second order conditioning). An example of this is the use of a “token economy.” Many

teachers use extrinsic rewards such as stamps, tickets, tokens, and play (or real) money to

reinforce behavior. These rewards can be redeemed for prizes or privileges. Finally, social

reinforcers are reinforcers whose reinforcing properties are derived from the behaviors of

members of one’s own species. These reinforcers are typically seen as a blend of primary

and secondary reinforcers and include praise, affection, and attention.

In addition to their type, another important characteristic of reinforcers is their

saliency, or degree to which an individual prefers the reinforcement. Reinforcers with a

high degree of saliency are expected to produce a greater response in the frequency of the
21

operant behavior. Using this logic, David Premack developed a principle (the Premack

principle), which argued that operant behaviors of low probability could be reinforced by

using access to high-probability behaviors as a reinforcer (1965). For example, if sitting

quietly during instruction was a low-probability behavior for a student, access to playing

with a preferred toy (a high-probability behavior) could be used as a reinforcer for the

operant behavior. Using similar logic, Timberlake and Allison (1974) developed the

response deprivation hypothesis, which states that if a high-probability (or highly salient)

behavior is deprived, access to that behavior will be reinforcing. In the classroom, this is

often used by the introduction of a game or privilege that students highly enjoy. Access to

the game is restricted, unless certain behaviors (likely low-probability behaviors) are

performed first. A primary conclusion from both of these hypotheses is that teachers

looking to find a highly salient reinforcer should look for activities that students prefer to

do in their free time (i.e. highly-probable behavior).

Skinner's theories have been implemented in school systems in a variety of ways.

Teachers and parents alike rewarded students for good behavior long before Skinner's

theories were developed. However, many behavior management systems used in today's

schools are directly influenced by his work. Skinner advocated for immediate praise,

feedback, and/or reward when seeking to change troublesome or encourage correct

behavior in the classroom.

One major critic of Skinners’ behavioral theories is Alfie Kohn, another

prominent educational theorist. Kohn, noted for his assertions supporting entirely

intrinsic motivation for learning and behavior, feels that the rewards and punishment

system of management so lauded by Skinner is actually a root cause American


22

education’s decline (Kohn, 1993, p. xii). Kohn suggests that rewards and extrinsic

motivation yield compliance, which is not, as Skinner suggests, a natural behavior devoid

of willful choice. Additionally, it trains humans to expect rewards to such a large extent

that they fail to find motivation in the absence of a promised reward.

Kohn does not entirely negate the legitimacy of operant conditioning, but does

stress the ability of humans to make moral and conscious judgments and decisions. What

Kohn sees is a system of “carrot-and-stick” motivation that has permeated education

throughout the United States largely due to the efforts of Skinner and his successors

(Kohn, 1993, p. 15). Yet Kohn criticizes that rewards have become such a natural and

expected part of the American classroom and workplace that citizens here have become

conditioned to expect them. This avoids even the possibility of children learning to find

intrinsic motivation in their educations; the more often rewards are used, the more

humans become used to them and expect them, and the more they are needed.

Kohn acknowledge the history of rewards and punishment in behavioral

psychology, but stresses that the majority of experiments, studies, and practices

contributing to this history involved animals other than humans. Both Ayn Rand and

Noam Chomsky echo this critique, posing Skinner’s disbelief in conscious choice as

preposterous. Rand debases the very suggestion that memory is not influential in human

choice, that humans can simply be “conditioned” to adapt to particular environmental

factors. Chomsky echoes this sentiment and asserts that Skinner’s empirical evidence is

non-transferable to the complexity that exists in human’s ability to communicate and

respond to a variety of environmental influencers.


23

However, many contemporary theorists and psychologists in education adhere to

Skinner’s principles of arranging the classroom environment in a manner most

appropriate for student learning.

Additionally, theorists today point to the history of such methods that predates

Skinner, arguing that if they didn’t work, they would no longer be a part of the

increasingly empirical American education system. The notion that productive

educational environments should precede intervention exists even in the Individuals with

Disabilities Act. This act prescribes accommodations and modifications for students with

disabilities prior to intervention, a law that proponents of functional assessment credit

directly to Skinner (Ervin et al., 2001, p. 177). Skinner’s supporters note that Skinner’s

suggestions for classrooms are not simply systems of overtly proscribed rewards and

punishment; rather, they constitute a well-planned and research-based control of

environmental factors. This control will leave students no options other than learning and

behaving.

There is legitimacy in the classroom management and learning theories of B. F.

Skinner Hannah ). His theories make sense and are familiar to me as a teacher, but I also

agree with arguments against his studies’ reliance upon laboratory experiments with

animals. Skinner relies heavily upon empirical evidence, but in reading his theories of

classroom management specifically, I see little evidence to back his opinions aside from

hearsay and casual observations.

B.F. Skinner's theories are the most widely used and misunderstood of any

psychological theories that have been applied to educational settings (Michael). As

Hannah noted in her own reflection, many critics of Skinner and many developers of
24

reward programs based on his theories, simplify his ideas to superficial systems of

rewards and punishments. They neglect what is, the most revolutionary aspect of his

theory, the influence of the environment on behavior. Skinner did not believe that

elements of the environment do cause behavior (as classical conditioning would have it),

but that they lead to the probability that a behavior may occur. This probability would

depend on previous learning experience and its generalizations to the current

environment, as well as genetics.

According to Thomas Gordon, the basis for a manageable classroom is

developing positive relationships with students. Many other educators support this idea

through the use of I messages and active listening; some have even gone as far as to

include it as part of a curriculum.

Amy Martin, from the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility,

has created lesson plans for teaching the use of I-Messages in the classroom. Martin’s use

of I-Messages supports Gordon’s philosophy in that it provides resources for teachers and

parents to resolve conflicts constructively with their children. Martin focuses on the fact

that I-messages do not put blame on the individual, but rather allow for a strong statement

about one’s feelings while remaining positive. Similar to Gordon, Martin recognizes that

peaceful resolutions help individuals to grow in positive relationships after a conflict. In

addition to using this method in times of conflict, Martin claims it is important to create a

routine where students can practice using I-Messages before hectic times of day such as

recess and other transitions. She states “These are times of the day when strong emotions

can take over and interfere with clear expression. Because our days are usually over-
25

packed with teaching and learning, it is important to really plan this activity into your

schedule” (Martin)

Other curriculum companies such as Success for All have actually created

manuals like Getting Along Together to teach conflict management at the very beginning

of the year in order to create an environment filled with positive relationships. This

manual uses an activity called “The Peace Path” (Success for All, 2005). This activity

supports Gordon’s philosophy of creating positive relationships out of conflict by giving

students specific steps for resolving conflicts. The first step calls for one child to use an I-

Message to express their feelings. At this time, the other student must use active listening

to listen and restate what he or she heard. The next step has the first student suggest a

solution while the other student listens and restates the first student’s solution. Then, the

second student suggests a solution while the first student listens and retells the other

student’s solution. Finally, both students agree on a solution (Success for All, 2005). This

particular activity focuses on Gordon’s primary components of conflict resolution and

supports the building of positive relationships in the classroom.

The ideal classroom, according to Alfie Kohn, is one in which curiosity and

cooperation are emphasized above all else. This is true throughout Kohn’s discussions on

standards, standardized testing, homework, and classroom management. Kohn believes

that the students’ curiosity should govern what is taught inside the classroom; therefore, if

standards are necessary at all, they should be kept very general. Because of this belief,

Kohn is critical of standardized testing. This sort of testing is extrinsic to real learning

and also enforces a strict curriculum that is not flexible to students’ interests and needs.

Again, going back to Kohn’s focus on curiosity and intrinsic rewards of education, Kohn
26

feels that most homework serves to undermine these two goals as opposed to reinforcing

them. Kohn’s most recent book deals with this topic extensively. In addition to these

ideas about curriculum, Kohn has made his thoughts clear on classroom management.

Kohn believes that most traditional methods of classroom management foster extrinsic

motivation rather than intrinsic. Because of this, he is a proponent of what could be

termed a very “hands off” type of management approach. Kohn believes that if the

classroom is run with cooperation in mind, and if the students’ curiosity is being nurtured,

then students will act appropriately and neither rewards nor punishments will be

necessary. Overall, curiosity and cooperation should govern the classroom.

There are many other radical educational theorists, many of which have preceded

Kohn, who would concur with many of his thoughts. Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux, and

Michael Apple are just a few who come to mind and have surely influenced Alfie Kohn.

In addition to this piece of context, it is important to note that Alfie Kohn has been

writing and publishing during a time when there is a strong movement to standardize

education and create more accountability within the system. This has clearly influenced

the focus of much of Kohn’s writing and is important to keep in mind when considering

his contributions to the field of education.

While many early classroom management theorists, like Redl and Wattenburg,

Dreikurs, and Kounin, focused on the psychology behind misbehavior and how to control

it, and many later 20th century theorists like Ginott, Canter, Jones, and Albert, looked at a

mixture of reward, punishment, and environment, to create a certain controlled classroom

setting, Alfie Kohn flies in the face of all of them with his theory of moving beyond

discipline. There is much more to say about theorists who have or would have disagreed
27

with Kohn than those who would agree. The same seems to apply for parents and fellow

educators. However, like any theory, Kohn challenges people’s thinking leading to

growth whether one agrees or disagrees with part or all of his ideas.

Kohn’s ideas, published mostly from the 1990’s on, seem very disconnected from

earlier theories except that they provided a foundation for him to react against. As is

summarized by Charles (1999), Kohn rejects all systems of reward and punishment in

favor of community and student decision-making, saying that all systems of discipline

assume students are troublemakers, learning occurs in quiet controlled places, and the

teacher’s role “is to make students obedient, compliant, and above all quiet”(p. 229).

With Kohn’s dramatic stance on dropping all previous discipline systems, it’s no wonder

that Fried (1998) comments, “I SUSPECT that over the years Alfie Kohn has made a lot

of people angry”(p. 264).

There are many critical or radical theorists, modern and otherwise, who would

agree with Kohn. Barbara Coloroso is one contemporary of Kohn's who shares many of

his principles. Like Kohn, Coloroso gives students a lot of credit. Rather than

approaching students as creatures capable of great destruction, needing to be controlled,

she, according to Charles (1999), aims to treat students with respect and empower them

with their own inner discipline (p. 217). She seems to view the teacher’s role as mentor

and guide. This is a more authoritarian role than the title Kohn might give the teacher as a

mere facilitator. Unlike Kohn, Coloroso also still has faith in “natural and reasonable”

consequences and rewards. Charles (1999) states her principals as, “Natural

consequences are events that happen naturally in the real world… [And] reasonable

consequences are events imposed by the teacher that are related to a violation of rules”
28

(p. 219). An example of the former would be receiving negative feedback from peers

when you didn’t work cooperatively in a group and the latter, apologizing to a classmate

you hurt or offended in some way.

Coloroso’s and Kohn’s greatest area of agreement is their faith in students’

capability to police themselves. However, they still disagree on how to encourage this

and how directly the teacher should be involved. Kohn would say that challenging

curriculum and classroom community are all that is necessary where Coloroso would call

for teacher help in producing good student decision-making and would keep a set of rules

and consequences at hand.

Glasser’s Control Theory/Choice Theory shares what he believes are the Seven

Caring Habits which includes: Supporting, Encouraging, Listening, Accepting, Trusting,

Respecting, and Negotiating Differences and he shares his belief of the Seven Deadly

Habits – Criticizing, Blaming, Complaining, Nagging, Threatening, Punishing, and

Bribing or rewarding to control.

To teach this in elementary schools a teacher could possibly borrow the ideas

from Gail Edelman Small a teacher from Conejo Elementary School near Thousand

Oaks, California. Students made creative representations to show the importance of

choices. Three examples were: creating a “choice flower” – the petals on the flower were

used to describe the things and people the student loved and what things or events made

her feel “powerful and free.” A second example: a student created a book about her

thoughts and feelings surrounding her choices. And a third example was a student who

created posters of magazine cutouts about Glasser's idea of how seven caring and deadly

habits make or break relationships.


29

There are over twenty “Quality Schools” that have implemented William

Glasser’s Choice Theory in their schools (William Glasser Institute, 2006). Many of the

supporters of Glasser’s theory believe his ideas are revolutionary and at the same time

contain a basic common sense philosophy. In Corning New York they have implemented

"the Choice Community Project." Many different segments of this community are

involved in this project: the senior center has a support group for women; the county jail

has workshops for the inmates; one pastor has couples in pre-marriage counseling read

about Glasser's philosophy; and workshops have been offered to community citizens,

promoting their participation the project. Supporters of the community project have

stated, ..."there are signs that Corning -- person by person, household by household -- is

gradually becoming a kinder, gentler place" (Foderaro, 2002, 5). One superintendent

involved with the “Quality Schools” in Corning indicated that his schools have had fewer

suspensions since the project began (Foderaro, 2002). Additionally, despite the claim

Glasser's Choice Theory is not supported by research, educator's research using Glasser's

Choice theory with students has found student's learning and retention is increased as

well as overall student satisfaction in the classroom. (Cooke, 1995; Martin, 1988).

William Glasser has written numerous books of which two are entitled, Defining

mental Health as a Public Health Problem and Warning, Psychiatry Can be Hazardous to

Your Health. These titles seem to directly challenge psychological and mental health

professions. Some of these professionals have countered that Glasser's work has been an

attempt to reinvent theories of other theorists such as “… Erich Fromm, the psychologist

Abraham Maslow and the psychotherapist Carl Rogers“ (Foderaro, 2002, p. 2).
30

Dr. W. Thomas Bourbon, a Perceptual Control Theorist from Rochelle, Texas

wrote a review of Edward E. Ford’s book, Discipline for Home and School, Book Two:

Practical Standards for Schools (revised and expanded edition). In this review, Bourbon

describes a chronological history comparing the work of Ford alongside the work of

Glasser. Throughout his comparison of these theorists Bourbon challenges the credibility

of Glasser's work, Bourbon then refers to a lack of research supporting Glasser’s work, ...

"it is a serious mistake to believe that a particular set of needs has been "scientifically

proved" to be real" (Bourbon, n.d., 98 section, 10).

The main aim of education is to produce human beings who are able to appreciate

the benefits of education and contribute to the development of the community in different

spheres of life be it political, social, economic or technological. Teaching is the process

which always needs new and innovative principles, rules, techniques, methods and

procedure in order to meet the required needs and desires of the learners. Like the

technical and technological changes and developments at global level, the teaching also

needs to change to meet the desired needs. A teacher has to tackle the challenges and

move forward to the future.


31

Chapter 3

Methodology of the Study

This chapter presents the method and techniques, population and sample of the

study, instrument of the study, and the data processing and statistical treatment that will

be applied.

Methods and Techniques Used

The process includes the Descriptive-Qualitative-Normative-Survey as

Methodology used in the study; Questionnaire-Checklist for data gathering, assessing the

practices and behaviors of teachers and pupils in managing their instruction and time

management, identification of effective instructional management behaviors, time

management, addressing the problems encountered and the preparation of instructional

intervention to enhance the competencies of teachers in their delivery of instructional

management behaviors, practices and behaviors of teachers and pupils in managing their

instruction and time management, identification of effective instructional management

behaviors, time management, addressing the problems encountered and the preparation of

instructional intervention to enhance the competencies of teachers in their delivery of

instructional management behaviors.

Respondents of the Study

It will cover Nine (9) public elementary schools in Cluster A, nine (9) schools in

Cluster B and nine (9) schools in Cluster C in the City Schools Division of Meycauayan
32

as the setting and scope of the present study. The 96 Grade 6 Teachers in the school year

2018 -2019 will be the respondents of the study as source of valuable data. Table 1 shows

the distribution of respondents in each corresponding school.

Table 1

Respondents of the Study

Schools Respondents
A 32
B 32
C 32
Total 96

Instruments of the Study

The researcher will be using questionnaire-checklist. It is a 3-part questionnaire-

checklist. First part focused on assessing the professional profile of teachers in terms of:

a. years in service, b. graduate studies, and c. level of training attended. Second Part

focused on the instructional management behavior and time management practices that

are being utilized by Grade 6 Teachers along: a. classroom management, b. learners

management, c. behavior management, d. instructional management, e. time management

are also included. To know the extent of management of teachers of instructional

behavior along the 5 variables of the study. To gather the specific instructional

management behaviors identified with teachers in effective schools along the 5 variables

of the study. The questionnaire-checklist will also give significant relationship between

the teachers’ instructional management behavior and their time management practices

along the 5 variables of the study, it will also solicit problems encountered by teachers in

instructional management behavior among learners that needs immediate solutions.


33

Lastly questionnaire-checklist will gather an intervention that can be

recommended to enhance the instructional management behaviors and time management

of teachers.

Data Gathering Procedure

The questionnaire method was the mode of data gathering. Each of the

respondents was given a structured set of questions. In gathering the data, the researcher

carried out the following procedure:

1. A letter was sent to the Schools Division Superintendent of Bulacan to ask

permission in the conduct of proposed study.

2. With the approval, the researcher distributed the questionnaire to the

respondents personally.

3. The researcher collected the questionnaires personally from the respondents

and checked if all the items were answered.

Data Processing and Statistical Treatment

The data collected were tabulated and processed using Statistical Packages for

Social Sciences (SPSS). In order to analyze and interpret the data gathered, the following

statistical measures were used:

The Instructional Management Behavior and Time Management practices by

teachers may be quantified using the following scale:


34

Rating Scale Range Descriptive Evaluation


5 4.50-5.00 Always Practiced/Very high
4 3.50-4.49 Generally Practiced/High
3 2.50-3.49 Sometimes /Moderate
2 1.50-2.49 Generally not practiced/ Low
1 1.00-1.49 Not always practiced/ Very

Low

The impact of practices Grade VI Teachers of City Division of Meycauyan on

instructional management behavior and time management on students academic

achievement were explored using correlation and regression analyses.

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