READER RESPONSE #9
Domain II, Competency 006
Subcompetencies 1, 3
Reading Response #9
Kathy Hainey
Effective classroom management can be the difference between loving your job and viewing it as combat duty every day. When my kids were growing up I was a substitute teacher, and combat duty is what the sub faces because the students don’t know them and try to break all the rules they can. This was an important chapter for preparing teachers for the classroom.
On page 259, Jacobsen, et al., defines classroom management as "teachers’ strategies that create and maintain an orderly learning environment". If a teacher can do this, the students will have increased achievement and increased motivation (Pg. 260). Much like the other aspects of teaching we have discussed in this book, effective management depends, in part, on knowing your students and them knowing you. The authors mention classroom climate, teacher characteristics, and the relationship between management and instruction. I believe that the dynamics of the relationship between the students and teacher should be included in that list. The classroom climate must be a positive one which shows genuine caring for each student. The phrase "I can’t" is not allowed in my classroom. Students are welcome to say their "having a hard time", or "don’t understand", or "haven’t gotten it yet", but all these statements leave room for student improvement. After awhile, students come to believe these more positive statements, also. It’s important to show confidence in their abilities no matter how many times they ask to have the same concept explained or shown to them. Show only patience, caring and confidence in them.
Being caring, firm, democratic, enthusiastic, and conveying high expectations are important teacher characteristics (pgs. 261 – 263). For each of these things a teacher is not, more students will lose interest in the class. I believe that ALL of these are critical in the classroom. The characteristic I think is in the shortest supply from ‘authority figures’ is firmness. Everybody wants to be the students’ friend. Unfortunately, this includes the students’ parents, too often. The students need the firmness not only to prevent chaos in the classroom, but to learn personal responsibility and accountability for what they do, and don’t do, for the remainder of their lives. I believe that is the most important lesson people need to learn. If you accept responsibility for you mess ups, you are more likely to learn and grow from them. A few years back, there was quite an uproar over the results of a study which showed that teachers treated higher achievers differently from lower achievers. Shoot, I knew that as a kid in class! Poor kids were treated differently, too. It really isn’t hard to treat everyone the same; you just need to be aware.
Instructional factors that contribute to classroom order are organization, use of time, focus, feedback, and review and closure (pg. 264-269). Some specific strategies were named, as were times when it is harder to reduce the chaos in the classroom. Of course, the day before a vacation is one. Up north where I grew up, the first real day of springtime weather was the rowdiest day of the school year. Much like a movie or TV show grabbing the viewer’s attention from the first moment of watching, the classroom needs to provide something to focus on when the students arrive. I have a word, saying, or idiom of the day on the board for them to read and copy. A brief outline of the plan for that day is on another board as a reminder of what they should be looking over before we begin. Sometimes I have listed the specific reference material they should have out when class starts. These small things help a lot in setting the mood of quiet study and allow the student to shift their focus from outside the classroom to inside.
Feedback is very important. College courses are often the worst in giving timely feedback (not this class) to the students, but it is unrealistic to expect any students to modify how they are doing their assignments without immediate feedback. The undergraduate university courses I have taught have had a turn around time of less than 7 days on all tests, assignments, and term papers. Sometimes it was hard to have them all done, but how could I demand another, similar assignment be done if they’d had no feedback from the prior one yet? Another example of when immediate feedback is needed in the classroom is in learning math. If the student is doing it incorrectly, you want them to learn it correctly before they do too much of the assignment wrong.
Consistency, not only in monitoring conformance with rules but also in interaction with students, will be one of the best things a teacher can do. It clearly shows the students you mean what you say; that you don’t change your expectations willy-nilly. If you want compliance from others, keep the expectations as concise as possible. I was a Girl Scout leader for 7 years. If you were not consistent with sixteen 15 year old girls, you were in trouble!! Keeping the rules sweet and simple was important when I was the Hockey Mom for my sons’ ice hockey team. Taking twelve 10 year old boys out of state to play a hockey tournament not only smelled horribly in the motel rooms, it was the definition of organized chaos! (I wonder why I was the only mother willing to make the trips with the teams!!) But I did learn that keeping things straightforward and being consistent was much easier than the alternative of a free-for-all. It is the same in the classroom. Students will generally misbehave or stay off task or be disruptive to others if the behavior is not extinguished with caring consistency and describing what the appropriate behavior would be for them. Always let the student know what they should be doing; don’t focus on what they are doing wrong. Just remind them of the expectation and that you have confidence in them to be able to do it. Having input from the students in setting classroom expectations shares ownership of the expectations among all the students and teacher. If someone has a stake in something, they will be more conscientious in meeting that expectation.
The physical configuration of the classroom and furniture seems to be more important for younger students. I could be wrong on this, and please let me know if I am. Teenagers generally want their own space and to not be assigned to sit next to the same people all the time. Occasionally, students who like to sit near each other need to be separated because of being disruptive. (Yes, even adult learners need to be asked to move sometimes!) The classroom I have for GED classes is very small, so we only have one choice of desk and table arrangement. Even those seats need to be arranged somewhat closely together in order to maintain perimeter egress from the classroom in case of fire. I’d appreciate some input from someone who has taught in high school about seating arrangements and what works best for the students and teacher.
Working with the parents of students may end up being my least favorite part of teaching. My work with delinquent adolescents included family therapy, which more often than not provided an idea of why the adolescent was in therapy. Some families are very dysfunctional and encourage that dysfunctionality to permeate all they are involved with. I think I’ll enjoy working with the vast majority of the parents, but sometimes I will need to rely on my social work skills to interact with difficult parents. I do intend to have a website for homework and long term assignments so the parents and students can have that information available to them all the time. I know, as a parent, I would have benefited from having that information available to me, and my sons would not have been grounded so much during high school for not completing work!
Usually, classroom management of time and behavior should not be too difficult. I think the best things a teacher can do to set the mood in the classroom is to be consistent, keep the behavioral expectations straightforward, and have student input as much as possible in the management of the classroom.