STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE CLASS ROOM MANAGEMENT AND TEACHING Introduction Classroom management is a term used by many teachers

to describe the process of ensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly despite disruptive behavior by students. The term also implies the prevention of disruptive behavior. It is possibly the most difficult aspect of teaching for many teachers and indeed experiencing problems in this area causes some to leave teaching altogether. In 1981 the US National Educational Association reported that 36% of teachers said they would probably not go into teaching if they had to decide again. A major reason was "negative student attitudes and discipline" - Wolfgang and Glickman Classroom management is a gestalt, dependent upon several interdependent components1 An engaging curriculum Working with anger, projection, and depression; Students as responsible citizens; The teacher as a self-knowing model; Classroom management skills; Working with resistance, conflict, and stress; and Robust instruction. If even one of these components is neglected, the whole process is compromised. Compromise results in the need for discipline. Classroom management is closely linked to issues of motivation, discipline and respect. Methodologies remain a matter of passionate debate amongst teachers; approaches vary depending on the beliefs a teacher holds regarding educational psychology. A large part of traditional classroom management involves behavior modification, although many teachers see using behavioral approaches alone as overly simplistic. Many teachers establish rules and procedures at the beginning of the school year. They also try to be consistent in enforcing these rules and procedures. Many would also argue for positive consequences when rules are followed, and negative consequences when rules are broken. There are newer perspectives on classroom management that attempt to be holistic. One example is affirmation teaching, which attempts to guide students toward success by helping them see how their effort pays off in the classroom. It relies upon creating an environment where students are successful as a result of their own efforts. Educators need a balance between discipline theory and its practice in the classroom. This is especially important in today's education climate, with its increased demands for teacher accountability. The following set of organizational practices should help to establish effective control of the classroom by the teacher-2 Get off to a good start. 1

Learning School Policies. Establishing Rules. Over planning Lessons. Learning Names. Be Firm and Consistent.

Promoting Positive Self-Esteem 3 Many of the things teachers do to promote, or inhibit, positive self-esteem, comes from unintended actions. There are obvious things teachers do, such as who is called on in the class, who's papers are posted on the bulletin boards...but there are less obvious things that are done; actions which directly affect the students positive self-esteem. The most frequent area where this is the case is with marking student papers. The following are some quick tips which any teacher can immediately use in improving the positive self-esteem in the classroom: Never Grade In Red Ink. Red is a "negative" color. Think: stop signs and lights, warning labels, poisen, etc. Our society has conditioned us to immediately view red as something negative. Subconsciously, (and often conscientiously), a paper that is handed back full of red marks tells the student that he or she is a "dummy". A "self-fulfilling prophesy" often results with these students! Use Green or Blue Ink. Green, on the other hand, is a "positive" color, as is blue to a lesser extent. When green is used, corrections, or markings, become more of a "constructive criticism" type of comment. Use A Slash "/" Rather Than An "X" When Marking A Wrong Answer. Again, for the same reasons one does not use red ink. The "X" is a negative symbol. Mark Number Right Out Of the Total, Versus Minus the Number Wrong. Do you accentuate the positive, or the negative? 2/20 still looks better than -18. An Effective Classroom Management Context (these four things are fundamental) 4

Know what you want and what you don't want. Show and tell your students what you want. When you get what you want, acknowledge (not praise) it. When you get something else, act quickly and appropriately.

Elements of classroom management vary. In researching this topic, it is clear that a common understanding for the term management might be useful. For this purpose, management refers to issues of supervision, refereeing, facilitating, and even academic discipline. Not all student behaviors require intervention or confrontation while some are serious enough in nature to warrant formal disciplinary action. Rest assured that while there are current studies in higher education literature that suggest a 2

growing trend of rudeness and even overt animosity towards faculty by students, the vast majority of classroom experiences are not dramatic. Since many professors teach for years without encountering some of the management instances we discuss here, our intent is to move beyond identification of classroom problems to suggest preventative strategies and practical solutions. For some faculty, teaching comes quite naturally and the notion of management in the classroom is irrelevant. But situations within the classroom do occasionally occur that lead us to seek out advice in order to maintain the learning environment for students not to mention our personal sanity. Typical classroom management topics are listed in faculty handbooks to reflect pragmatic concerns such as policies on classroom breaks, adds and drops, disruptive and dangerous students, emergency procedures including weapons and drugs in the classroom, location of phones, etc. Keeping essential records is a component of this topic and is addressed in the previous Read section. A rule of thumb for faculty is to keep current on policies regarding student and faculty interactions as well as the role of your teaching assistants, if you have one. Know your college and state policy on student conduct. As a new faculty member, I was terrified that I would not know how to handle students who were older than I. I wanted very much to hear "for instances" from other faculty. Serendipitously, our campus Staff Learning Department instituted an online discussion forum where faculty could seek collective advice on issues of classroom management. Your campus may use the services of the 4faculty discussion forums. If your campus doesnt utilize the 4faculty system, you might encourage them to do so or ask if you might work with your Professional Development Office or Information Technology to establish this valuable communication forum on your campus. Some common conduct issues identified by Gerald Amada in his research for Coping with Misconduct in the College Classroom (1999) are listed in the table below. In discussing what constitutes problematic classroom behaviors with colleagues, I have decided to add to Dr. Amadas list. While his approach does not necessarily align with learner-centered teaching, his work does cover many sticky issues of navigating the uncomfortable situations that occur from time to time and suggests several strategies for working with student services and other administrators to remedy situations

Main Issues in Class Room Management 5 Undermining the instructors authority Leaving class too frequently "Spacing Out" or Sitting With Back to Instructor Poor hygiene (possible cultural considerations) Verbal or physical threats Gum, Food, Pagers, and Cell Phone Disruption Monopolizing Discussions Sleeping in class Repeated Tardiness: Refusal to Participate or Speak Sexual Innuendo, Flirting, or Other Inappropriate Suggestion Sharing/Copying Work Plagiarism or Lying Too Much Chit Chat Disrespectful Behavior

Guiding Principles of Effective Classroom Management Explicitly defined desired behaviors Integrated management strategies within instruction Students are active participants in the learning environment Being proactive, not reactive

Promoting Academic Engagement Edwards & Chard (2000) Teacher engagement = student engagement Recommendations Plan instruction with high levels of teacher engagement Actively work with students on whole class or group projects Monitor independent work Cue appropriate behavior Frequent Opportunities to Respond (OTR) to academic requests 5

Strategies to Limit Behavioral Acceleration (Walker, Colvin, & Ramsey, 1995) Avoid escalating behaviors Maintain o o o calmness respect detachment

Crisis-Prevention Strategies Establish negative consequences beforehand Follow through

Main strategies for effective class room management 6 Annoying classroom distractions Antagonism with authority Argumentative student Behavior problems Boastful, attention-seeking student Calling out in class response #l Calling out in class response #2 Class clown Demanding students Failure to ask for help Hyperactivity shift in attention Hyperactivity and distractability Lack of motivation response 1 Lack of motivation response 2 Lack of respect Negative response to requests and rules

Creating interest through innovative Technology Management Strategies 7

Use a kiosk for delivering instructions to students. Train a team of software/hardware experts in your classroom. Use Each-One Teach-One for software questions. Publish according to groups - not everyone publishes every project! Get a scan converter for whole group instruction. These small boxes connect to your computer and to a regular TV and show whats on your monitor on the TV. They cost about $200. Demonstrate what students will be doing in the lab BEFORE you go to the lab! This preparation time allows for more efficient use of the lab. Schedule the computer lab for whole group projects. Do NOT permit students to go publish their assignment until their storyboard is complete! Use centers in your classroom--with the computer as one of them. 6

Use the Class Timer Web Site to keep the class on task! Use the Random Number Generator Web Site to select students randomly, but with a personal touch! Use templates in your classroom to complete computer activities faster. Use an egg timer for quick tasks at the one computer workstation. Use parent and community volunteers to provide assistance at the computer station. Establish computer rules!!! Rules prevent problems. Acrostic Computer Rules:

CDs must be handled with care! Operate the equipment properly. Make sure you understand your assignment. Print in color only with permission. Use a quiet voice when working collaboratively. Tell the next student on the chart when you're done. Eating and drinking near the computer is not allowed. Read All the Screen (RATS) before asking questions.

7.Kim, Bowon; Park, Sangsun, Optimal education management, Indian Journal of Vocational Education, , Bhopal, Issue24, Jan2004, pp34

Ask your Technology Specialists to set up student folders on the server for storage purposes. This eliminates the need for diskettes and the students can save to their folder from any location within the school - classroom, lab, media center, etc.

Increase the size of the display font so that you can more easily view the content on your students screens. (This is also helpful by allowing you to answer quick questions from a considerable physical distance.) o Internet Explorer: Click on the View menu. Select Text Size and choose the desired size. o Netscape: Click on the View menu. Select Increase Font until the desired size is selected.

Effective Teaching Strategies 8 Strategies for Direct Instruction

Specify clear lesson objectives Teach directly to those objectives Make learning as concrete and meaningful as possible Provide relevant guided practice Provide independent practice Provide transfer practice activities 7

Strategies for Students with Disabilities *

Sequence -- Break down the task, step by step prompts. Drill-repetition and practice-review -- Daily testing of skills, repeated practice, daily feedback. Segment -- Break down targeted skill into smaller units and then synthesize the parts into a whole. Direct question and response -- Teacher asks process-related questions and/or content-related questions. Control the difficulty or processing demands of a task -- Task is sequenced from easy to difficult and only necessary hints or probes are provided.

8.Brady, Mairead; Fellenz, Martin R.; Brookes, Richard, Researching the role of management in Education, Journal of Education, 2008, Vol. 23 Issue 2, p108-114

Technology -- Use a computer, structured text, flow charts to facilitate presentation, emphasis is on pictorial representations. Group Instruction -- Instruction occurs in a small group, students and/or teacher interact with the group. Supplement teacher and peer involvement -- Use homework, parents, or others to assist in instruction. Strategy clues -- Reminders to use strategies or multisteps, the teacher verbalizes problem solving or procedures to solve, instruction uses think-aloud models. Outlined below are some effective teaching strategies that are mostly practiced in teaching both undergraduates and graduates.

1. Variety: A key aspect of my teaching is that I try to build variety into almost every aspect of the course designassessment methods, class activities or learning tools. 2. Giving students the voice:While most teachers have a lot of knowledge to share with their students, I find that it is often useful to step back and give the floor to the students. The teachers typically grade the participation on a very strict curve (this is communicated to the students during the first class), thus providing incentives to participate actively. 3. Shorter assessment methods: The nature of my subject (e.g. MBA 5104, Global Strategic Management) doesnt lend itself well to two-hour exams since most substantial strategic problems cannot be solved in two hours. From my experience, some of the liveliest and most enjoyable discussions are those with my Executive MBA students who are mature students with substantial industry experience. 4. Challenge the mind: Over the course of the last several years, I find that counter-intuitive situations have the greatest appeal for students. The students to think about how Singapore Airlines is able to achieve better levels of service than Malaysian Airline, China-based airlines or Air India despite drawing from 8

essentially the same labour pool. In this way, the researcher can bring in the importance of training and recruitment. To complete the story, researcher introduce other issues such as the importance of the top managements vision, commitment to training (not cutting training budgets during lean times) and having a lucrative incentive and reward system. 5. Debate and discussion rather than information transmission: The researcher believes the way issues are framed or posed to students will determine their responses. This often sparks debate and interaction among students. Through such a teaching approach, students are more likely to imbibe the key points rather than a one-way (teacher to students) transmission of information. 6. Discussion forums: For business courses, online discussion forums are invaluable tools. I use the discussion forums on the IVLE for a variety of purposes. Firstly, for exploring issues that is related yet somewhat distinct to the class. Conclusion While many of the above teaching strategies have worked well in practice. Most of them emphasize that their effectiveness may be context-specific. Most of the strategies mentioned in this article would probably work well in sectional teaching, especially for disciplines (social sciences) where there is room for the students to offer their perspectives on an issue. `The studies reviewed above illustrate how researchers have call for examining student management programs that extend beyond the classroom. Overall, these studies reveal that strategies used in the school-wide system are also appropriate in the specific, classroom, and individual systems. Successful programs for establishing and maintaining order in all systems include four proactive principles: Develop a coherent list of expected behaviors (usually only four or five rules). Equip students with the skills needed to execute appropriate behavior. Continually assess the success of an implementation. Create and sustain a positive environment in which all of this can take place.

Since these studies conclude that teaching students social skills is key, these findings would be more useful for administrators and teachers if researchers revealed examples of these lessons. For the most part, these studies utilized adequate methodologies; yet, their lack of rich description concerning how teachers adhere to these proactive principles.

References: 1. J. R. Hanson "Developing a Classroom Management Repertoire,"1998, Classroom Management. 2. Tony Murphy, Catholic Boys High School Dublin City, Ireland, Education review, Volume XXI, Jan2004, pp12-14. 3. Dr. Scott Mandel, Pacoima Middle School ,Pacoima, Education plus, Issue No.32, JJune2007, pp44-45. 4. Dr. Robert Kizlik, University of Phoenix, press release, issue no.59,Jan2005,pp22-23 5. Lisa Rodriguez, Ph.D., Classroom Management, New Pearson publication, 2004, pp78-79. 6. Frigo, Mark L. Focusing Strategy on Fulfilling Education Needs, American Journal of Education, Penn State University, USA, Issue45, March,2005,pp26-27 7. Kim, Bowon; Park, Sangsun, Optimal education management, Indian Journal of Vocational Education, , Bhopal, Issue24, Jan2004, pp34 8. Brady, Mairead; Fellenz, Martin R.; Brookes, Richard, Researching the role of management in Education, Journal of Education, 2008, Vol. 23 Issue 2, p108-114

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