Classroom Management Techniques

1. Classroom Management Techniques Educ 650 Dr. Tito M. Demafiles Therese B. Aguil and Baita T. Sapad

2. LESSON 1 Rules and Procedures Probably, the most obvious aspect of classroom management involves the design and implementation of classroom rules and procedures. Rules and procedures help in dealing with various types of learners especially during the teaching-learning process.

3. Rules and procedures vary in different classrooms, but all effectively managed classrooms have them. Rules and procedures, although used interchangeably, have some important differences. Both refer to stated expectations regarding behavior. However, a rule identifies general expectations or standards, and a procedure communicates expectations for specific behaviors.

4. Setting rules and behaviors involves two actions: • Identifying specific rules and procedures for your classroom • Involving students in the design of rules and procedures.

5. General classroom behavior commonly addresses the following areas: • Politeness and helpfulness when dealing with others • Respecting the properties of others • Interrupting the teacher or others • Hitting or shoving others

6. Beginning of the school day or beginning of the period The manner in which class begins sets the tone for what happens next. The way the day or period ends leaves students with an impression that carries over to the next time you meet.

7. Rules and procedures that pertain to the beginning and ending of the school day commonly address the following areas: • Beginning the school day with specific social activities • Beginning the day with the pledge of allegiance • Doing administrative activities • Ending the day by cleaning the room and individual desks • Ending the day by putting away materials

8. Transitions and interruptions Inevitably, students will have to leave and enter the classroom for a variety of reasons. These transitions and interruptions can cause disorder if there are no relevant rules and procedures.

9. Rules and procedures that pertain to transitions and interruptions commonly address the following areas: • Leaving the room • Returning to the room • Doing administrative activities • Using the bathroom • Using the library and resource room • Going to the canteen • Using the playground

10. Materials and equipment Materials and equipments are critical to a variety of subject areas. Rules and procedures apply to the following areas: • Distributing materials • Collecting materials • Storage of common materials • The teacher’s desk and storage areas • Student’s desks and storage areas • Use of drinking fountain, sink, and pencil

11. Cooperative learning groups Cooperative learning groups have positive impacts on student achievement, interpersonal relationships, and attitudes about learning. Rules and procedures address the following areas: • Movement in out of the group • Expected behavior of students in the group • Expected behavior of students in the group • Group communication with the teacher

12. Seatwork & teacher-led activities • Usually involves the expectation that students will remain in their seats. Rules and procedures apply to the following areas: • Student attention during presentation • Student participation • Talking among students • Obtaining help • Out-of-seat behavior • Behavior when work has been done

13. Involving students in the design of rules and procedures The most effective classroom managers do not simply impose rules and procedures on students. Rather, they engage students in the design of the rules and procedures.

14. Summary: Classroom rules and procedures are important, but they may vary from one teacher to another. Rules and procedures typically fall into several categories including: general expectations for behavior; beginning and ending the day or period; transitions and interruptions; materials & equipments; group work; and teacher-led activities. In all cases, it is important to involve students in the design of classroom rules and procedures.

15. LESSON 2 Disciplinary Interventions The lack of discipline is the most serious problem facing schools today. The higher the grade level, the more disciplinary problems occur in public schools.

16. What are the action steps you are encouraged to follow?

17. Action Step 1 Employ specific techniques that acknowledge and reinforce acceptable behavior and acknowledge and provide negative consequences for unacceptable behavior.

18. Five categories of disciplinary interventions can be used to provide a balance of positive and negative consequences: • teacher reaction • tangible recognition • direct cost • group contingency • home contingency

19. Teacher Reaction Verbal and physical teacher reactions are the simplest ways to acknowledge and reinforce acceptable behavior and to acknowledge and provide negative consequences for unacceptable behavior.

20. Emmer, Evertson, and Worsham (2003) list a variety of teacher reactions that include the following: • Make eye contact with an offending student by moving closer to him or her. • Use physical signal to indicate that a given action is inappropriate. • If a student is not following a procedure, provide him/her with simple verbal reminder. • If a student is “off task” but not misbehaving, state the desired appropriate behavior. • If a student does not respond to more subtle interventions, simply tell the student to stop the inappropriate behavior.

21. Tangible Recognition • involves the use of some concrete symbol of appropriate behavior. It is important for any system of tangible recognition to be accompanied by a thorough discussion of the rationale behind it. Care should be taken to ensure that tangible recognition is not perceived as some type of bribe or form of coercion relative to student behavior.

22. Direct Cost • are more oriented toward negative consequences for student behavior. These strategies involve explicit and direct consequences for inappropriate student behavior.

23. Isolation Time out • refers to the removal of a student from the classroom reserved for disruptive students. It requires that students have a clear understanding as to the specific behaviors that will lead to its use. Students should be aware that isolation time out would be used only when other attempts to correct the disruptive behavior within the regular context of the classroom have been exhausted.

24. Overcorrection • is a procedure that is used when a student has misbehaved in a way that destroys or alters some objects in the classroom. Student would be asked to overcompensate for the behavior.

25. Group Contingency Group contingency techniques operate in a fashion similar to concrete recognition techniques except that they apply to a group of students as opposed to individuals

26. Interdependent Group Contingency Techniques • require every student in the group to meet the behavioral criterion for the group to earn credit.

27. Dependent Group Contingency Technique • requires a specific individual or a specific set of individuals in the group to meet the criterion for the group to earn credit.

28. Home Contingency Home contingency involves making parents aware of the positive and negative behaviors of their children. This is done in the form of a short note, a letter, a phone call, or a visit to the parents of the student.

29. Action Step 2 Establish clear limits for unacceptable behavior and an effective system to record these behavior.

30. To use positive and negative consequences effectively, you must establish limits. Setting limits is a perfect opportunity to involve students in their own management. Rather than you establishing the limits in isolation, the class could do so after discussing with them why the target behavior is important and what are fair expectations regarding that behavior. The limit established by consensus approach would be the best limit for the class.

31. Summary: The guiding principle for disciplinary interventions is that they should include a healthy balance between negative for inappropriate behavior and positive consequences for appropriate behavior. Specific techniques that involve both positive and negative consequences include teacher reaction, tangible recognition, direct cost, group contingency, and home contingency. Whatever the approach, it is important to establish behavioral limits and a record-keeping system that allows you to keep track of student behavior efficiently and unobtrusively.

32. LESSON 3 Communicating with Students Everyday you communicate with your students using different forms of communication, verbal or non-verbal. Though ability to communicate is inherent to all human beings, the skill to communicate properly must be learned.

33. Communicationis a two way process. If one is speaking, somebody should be listening. There is no communication if both parties are speaking.

34. Communicating with students involves the following aspects: • Using descriptive rather than judgmental language; • Teaching students to listen to you; • Listening to students; • Using supportive Replies; • Avoiding Unintended Messages; and • Professional confidence and student’s rights.

35. Using descriptive rather than judgmental language Research studies indicate that students feel less threatened, less defensive, and more willing to engage in learning activities when working with teachers who consistently use descriptive language than they are when working with teachers who use a more judgmental language style.

36. Descriptive languageverbally portrays a situation, a behavior, an achievement, or a feeling. Judgmental languageverbally summarizes an evaluation of a behavior, achievement or person with a characterization or label. Judgmental language that focuses on personalities is particularly detrimental to a climate of cooperation.

37. The consequences of judgmental language Judgmental language makes pupils uncomfortable in the teacher’s presence because they believe that their teacher has little respect for them. Pupils develop a disruptive behavior pattern as they live up to what they perceive to be their teacher's expectation.

38. How would you avoid using judgmental language • Avoid labels. • Learn to distinguish between a student’s accomplishments and the value of the student. • Do not view a student’s display of off-task behavior as a reflection of character flaws.

39. Be responsible for teaching each student to be on task and to achieve learning objectives. • Do not include judgment of student’s characters among your responsibilities. • Do not hesitate in communicating your feeling about specific behavior or achievements of students. However, do not allow those feelings to influence the degree to which you respect, care for and value students.

40. In order to consistently use a descriptive language style, you must resist event silent thoughts that characterize students with labels such as, “smart”, “slow”, “good reader”, “well behaved”, “problem child”, “honest”, “intelligent”, “under achiever”, and the paradoxical “overachiever”. Instead of thinking of students according to labels, you should focus on learning tasks, circumstances, and situations.

41. Teaching Students to Listen to You There are at least seven ways how you could teach your students to listen to you: Use descriptive language. Use words judiciously. Think before talking. Avoid useless words. Speak only to intended listeners. Be aware of your body languages. Speak only to the attentive.

42. The Judicious Use of Words In general, students are likely to pay attention whenever you speak if they know that whenever you speak you really have something to say. By judiciously using words that inform and by avoiding inane talk, you leave your students with the idea that they miss something by not hearing you whenever you speak to them.

43. Thinking Before Talking Rather than immediately reacting with the first word that comes to mind, it is usually wise for a teacher to pause and carefully frame words before speaking to students. Often, adults send inane messages to children because they immediately react to circumstances before they get more relevant information.

44. More and More Useless Words Students begin to learn to ignore teacher-talk when teachers act as if they are initiating a self-initiating behavior. Students may begin tuning a teacher out when that teacher makes judgments that only the students can make.

45. Speaking Only to Intended Listeners When the situation warrants, teachers should make it clear that what she has to say is meant only for a particular pupil. Other pupils don’t have to stop their work only to find that the teacher’s message does not apply to them.

46. Body Language How you position your body when speaking to students has a major impact on what messages students receive. Teachers sometimes make the mistake of saying one thing to students, but communicating another as a consequence of their body language. Your voice sometimes provides a hint of stress and indicates to your pupils that you are not really in control.

47. Speaking Only to the Attentive Speak to people only when they are ready to listen. Sometimes students may not be ready to listen to you because they do not think you understand them well enough. Hence, you would not tell them anything that they would consider important. In other case, they are preoccupied with thoughts with which they must dispense with before attending to your message.

48. Listening to Students A reasonably accurate understanding of your students’ thoughts and attitudes is vital to your ability to identify student’s needs, decide learning goals, design learning activities, and evaluate how well learning goals are achieved. You also need to understand students’ thoughts and attitudes in order to decide what messages you should communicate and when and how each message should be communicated. By listening to them, you will discover how to get students to listen to you.

49. Using Supportive Replies This includes accepting feelings, relieving frustration and defusing conflicts.

50. Accepting Feelings Expressions of feelings receive a support when the listener indicates that the expression has been understood and accepted.