- The sources of management problems
- Appropriate interventions for various types of management problems
- The cognitive and behaviorist theoretical approaches to management
- The characteristics of assertive discipline
Management problems in the classroom include a variety of behaviors ranging from disruptive conversations to fighting among students. The sources of these problems can be described as emotionally caused, teacher caused, or student caused. Emotionally caused problems, such as frequent fighting, can often be prevented if the students clearly understand what the teacher expects of them and the teacher is consistent with these rules. Teacher caused problems, such as student daydreaming, can also be prevented with good lesson planning (i.e. active learning, group activities, questioning strategies, etc.) Student caused problems, which might also be described as the �kids will be kids� type of problems, are usually the ones that teachers have the most trouble with.
Teachers who can effectively intervene in various management problems possess �withitness.� That is, they know what is going on at all times in their classroom so they are able to stop minor incidents before they erupt into larger ones. Additionally, effective managers are also able to do more than one thing at a time (overlapping.) An example of this is when the teacher stops to remind a student to keep his hands to himself while continuting on in the lesson. When dealing with problems, it is important that the teacher remain consistent with his or her rules, show firmness when dealing with students, and follow through with any disciplinary action that may result from a student�s inappropriate behavior. Finally, teachers should avoid arguments. If a student feels that he or she is being treated unfairly, then the teacher should encourage the student to discuss the matter with him or her after class/school.
There are both cognitive and behaviorist approaches to management. A cognitive approach focuses on students� thought processes and assumes that students will �accommodate minor inconsistencies because they understand the differences� between what would be considered acceptable and non-acceptable behavior. For example, if a teacher asks her students to work silently on an assignment, students would know that they might get in trouble if they talk to their peers. However, students also know that it would be okay to ask their neighbor for an extra pen, if they needed one to work on the assignment. Factors that help students make sense of what the teacher expects of them includes congruent communication, �I� messages, and logical consequences. Congruent communication is communication that �makes sense� to the student and provides him or her with a reason for the requested action. For example, instead of telling two students who are talking during class to simply, �Stop talking and pay attention,� the teacher who uses congruent communication says, �Jennifer and Carla, when you talk during the lesson, I have to stop the lesson, other students get disrupted, and I get frustrated.� In this example, another factor, �I� messages, also helps students make sense of what the teacher is wanting from them. �I� messages describe things from the teacher�s perspective, so it is less accusatory/threatening to the student. Additionally, effective �I� messages describe the behavior, identify the consequences of the behavior, and allows the teacher to state his or her feelings about the behavior. Logical consequences are those that link back to the problem/unacceptable behavior. For example, if student was talking excessively during class time, even after the teacher gave the student a warning, then a logical consequence would be to have the student come in after class and talk (continuously, without breaks) to the teacher, as opposed to having the student come in and write the sentence, �I will not talk in class,� 100 times.
Unlike a cognitive approach, a behaviorist approach focuses on rewarding students for acceptable behavior and punishing them for unacceptable behavior. In order for punishment to be effective, it should be given immediately following the unacceptable behavior, it should be logical (i.e. linked to the behavior), and should only be used as a last resort. Behavioral management systems involve creating a rules based on observable behaviors, such as the rule, �When I talk, you listen. When you talk, I listen.� These rules should be established at the start of the school year and posted in a visible location within the classroom. Consequences for breaking the rules, as well as reinforcers (i.e. praise, awards, special privileges, prizes) for acceptable behavior, are explained to the students and both are consistently applied when appropriate. I found that one of the points in this section, �explain the consequences to the students (p. 295),� conflicted with what I learned in my EDUC 5329 class. In EDUC 5329, I was told to keep things positive and not mention the consequences until you need to apply them.