Chapter 14: Managing the classroom

Bullying

- Children who said they were bullied reported more loneliness and difficulty in making friends, while those who did the bullying were more likely to have low grades and to smoke and drink alcohol. Researchers have found that anxious, socially withdrawn, and aggressive children are often the victims of bullying - Classmates are often aware of bully- ing incidents and in many cases witness bullying. The larger social context of the peer group plays an important role in bullying (Salmivalli & Peets, 2009). In many cases, bullies torment victims to gain higher status in the peer group, and they need others to witness their power displays. -Recently, bullying has been linked to these suicides: An 8-year-old jumped out of a two-story building in Houston; a 13-year-old girl hanged herself in Houston; and teenagers harassed a girl so mercilessly that she killed herself in Massachusetts (Meyers, 2010). Another study revealed that bul- lies, victims, or those who were both bullies and victims also had more health problems (such as headaches, dizziness, sleep problems, and anxiety) than their counterparts who were not involved in bullying (

CREATING, TEACHING, AND MAINTAINING RULES AND PROCEDURES

-Both rules and procedures are stated expectations about behavior -Rules tend not to change because they address fundamental ways we deal with others, ourselves, and our work, such as having respect for others and their property, and keeping our hands and our feet to ourselves. On the other hand, procedures may change because routines and activities in classrooms change. -Many effective classroom teachers clearly present their rules to students and give explanations and examples of them. Teachers who set reasonable rules, provide understandable rationales for them, and enforce them consistently usually find that the majority of the class will abide by them

fighting

-Classroom management experts Carolyn Evertson and Edmund Emmer (2009) recommend the following in dealing with students who are fighting. In ele- mentary school, you can usually stop a fight without risking injury to yourself. If for some reason you cannot intervene, immediately get help from other teachers or administrators. -Generally, it is best to let the fighters have a cooling-off period so that they will calm down. Then meet with the fighters and get their points of view on what pre- cipitated the fight. Question witnesses if necessary. Have a conference with the fight- ers, emphasizing the inappropriateness of fighting, the importance of taking each other's perspective, and the importance of cooperation

Use rewards to provide info about mastery, not to control students' behavior

-Rewards that impart information about students' mastery can increase their intrinsic motivation and sense of responsibility (Vargas, 2009). However, rewards that are used to control students' behavior are less likely to promote self- regulation and responsibility. - However, the student likely will not benefit from being given a reward for sitting still at a desk; such a reward is an effort by the teacher to control the student, and students in heavily controlled learn- ing environments tend to act like "pawns."

Developing positive relationship with students

1. Give a student a friendly "hello" at the door. 2. Have a brief one-on-one conversation about things that are happening in the student's life. 3. Write a brief note of encouragement to the student. 4. Use students' names in class more. 5. Show enthusiasm about being with students (even late in the day, week, or year). 6. Risk more personal self-disclosures, which help students see you as a real person. However, don't cross the line and go too far. Always take into account children's level of understanding and emotional vulnerability in disclosing information about yourself to them. 7. Be an active listener who carefully attends to what the student is saying, even if it is something trivial. 8. Let students know that you are there to support and help them. 9. Keep in mind that developing positive, trusting relationships takes time. This especially is the case for students from high-risk environments who might not initially trust your motives

Standard Classroom Arrangement

1. auditorium style 2. face-to-face style 3. offset Style 4. seminar style 5. cluster style

General strategies

1. authoritative classroom management style 2. authoritarian classroom management style 3. permissive classroom management style

Using others as resources

1. peer mediation 2. parent-teacher conference 3. enlist the help of the principal or counselor 4. find a mentor

auditorium style

A classroom arrangement style in which all students sit facing the teacher

seminar style

A classroom arrangement style in which large numbers of students (10 or more) sit in circular, square, or U-shaped arrangements

cluster style

A classroom arrangement style in which small numbers of students (usually four to eight) work in small, closely bunched groups.

offset style

A classroom arrangement style in which small numbers of students (usually three or four) sit at tables but do not sit directly across from one another

face-to-face style

A classroom arrangement style in which students sit facing each other

active listening

A listening style that gives full attention to the speaker and notes both the intellec- tual and emotional content of the message. -Some good active listening strategies follow: ● Pay careful attention to the person who is talking, including maintaining eye contact. ● Paraphrase. ● Synthesize themes and patterns. ● Give feedback in a competent manner.

withitness

A management style described by Kounin in which teachers show students that they are aware of what is happening. Such teachers closely monitor students on a regular basis and thus are able to detect inappropriate behavior early, before it gets out of hand

permissive classroom management style

A management style that allows students considerable autonomy but provides them with little support for developing learning skills or managing their behavior.

authoritative classroom management style

A management style that encourages students to be independent thinkers and doers but still provides effective monitoring. Authoritative teachers engage students in considerable verbal give-and-take and show a caring attitude toward them. However, they still set limits when necessary.

authoritarian classroom management style

A management style that is restrictive and punitive, with the focus mainly on keeping order in the class- room rather than instruction or learning

Getting off to the right start

At the beginning of school, you will want to (1) communicate your rules and procedures to the class and obtain student cooperation in following them, and (2) get stu- dents to engage effectively in all learning activities.

Barriers to effective verbal communications

Barriers to effective verbal communication include the following (Gordon, 1970): ● Criticizing. Harsh, negative evaluations of another person generally reduce communication. An example of criticizing as the term is used here is telling a student, "It's your own fault you flunked the test; you should have studied." Instead of criticizing, you can ask students to evaluate why they did not do well on a test and try to get them to arrive at an attribution that reflects lack of effort as the reason for the poor grade. ● Name-calling and labeling. These are ways of putting down the other person. Students engage in a lot of name-calling and labeling. They might say to another student, "You are a loser," or "You are stupid." Monitor students' use of such name-calling and labeling. When you hear this type of statement, intervene and talk with them about considering other students' feelings. ● Advising. As used here, the term means talking down to others while giving them a solution to a problem. For example, a teacher might say, "That's so easy to solve. I can't understand why . . ." ● Ordering. Commanding another person to do what you want is often not effective because it creates resistance. For example, a teacher might yell at a student, "Clean up this space, right now!" A calm instruction, "Remember the rule of cleaning things up when we are finished," works better. ● Threatening. Threats are intended to control the other person by verbal force. As an extreme example, a teacher might say, "If you don't listen to me, I'm going to make your life miserable here." Obviously, a better strat- egy is to approach the student calmly and talk with her about the need for listening better. ● Moralizing. This means preaching to the student about what he should do in a condemning fashion, as in, "You know you should have turned your homework in on time; you ought to feel ashamed." Moralizing increases stu- dents' guilt and anxiety. A better strategy in this example would be to avoid words such as should and ought, instead inquiring why the homework was not turned in on time.

Managed instructions

Classroom management involves not only managing stu- dent behaviors but also managing instruction (Jones & Jones, 2010; Savage & Savage, 2009). Ideally, the two go hand in hand—students who are engaged in learning tasks are less likely to develop behavior problems. -Recently classroom response systems have been used as part of classroom management. These systems traditionally consist of each of the following: a set of networked, low-cost handheld devices -Using student response systems, teachers have the ability to pose questions and give practice to whole classes of students, and to gather instant data on all of their students that can be used to quickly assess comprehension. This true, formative assessment enables the teacher to identify students' misconceptions and errors and then correct them immediately.

Why classrooms need to be managed effectively

Classroom management that orients students toward passivity and compliance with rigid rules can undermine their engagement in active learning, higher-order thinking, and the social construction of knowledge - In the current, learner-centered trend in classroom management, the teacher is more of a guide, coordinator, and facilitator

Help Students Spend More Time on Learning and Less Time on Non- Goal-Directed Activity

Effective classroom man- agement will help you maximize your instructional time and your students' learning time. Carol Weinstein (2007) described the amount of time available for various classroom activities in a typical 42-minute secondary school class over the course of a school year.

Management goals and strategies

Effective classroom management has two main goals: to help students spend more time on learning and less time on non-goal-directed activity, and to prevent students from developing academic and emotional problems.

Listening skills

Effectively managing your classroom will be easier if you and your students have good listening skills. Listening is a critical skill for making and keeping relationships - Good listeners actively listen (Lane, 2010; West & Turner, 2011). They don't just passively absorb information. Active listening means giving full attention to the speaker, focusing on both the intellectual and the emotional content of the message

Classroom management and diversity

Engaging in such culturally responsive teaching and demonstrating sensitivity to cultural and socioeconomic variations in students can help teachers to reduce disci- pline problems in their classroom (Gollnick & Chinn, 2009). An increasing number of programs reveal that showing greater cultural sensitivity to socioculturally diverse students benefits these students when they are at risk for academic and emotional problems

Choose effective reinforces

For one student the most effective reward might be praise; for another it might be getting to do a favorite activity. Remember that pleasurable activities often are especially valuable in gaining students' cooperation. You might tell a student, "When you complete your math problems, you can go to the media area and play a computer game

PRINCIPLES OF CLASSROOM ARRANGEMENT

Here are four basic principles that you can use when arranging your classroom (Evertson & Emmer, 2009): ● Reduce congestion in high-traffic areas. Distraction and disruption can often occur in high-traffic areas. These include group work areas, students' desks, the teacher's desk, the pencil sharpener, bookshelves, computer stations, and storage locations. Separate these areas from each other as much as possible and make sure they are easily accessible. ● Make sure that you can easily see all students. An important management task is to carefully monitor students. To do this, you will need to be able to see all students at all times. Make sure there is a clear line of sight between your desk, instructional locations, students' desks, and all student work areas. Stand in different parts of the room to check for blind spots. ● Make often-used teaching materials and student sup- plies easily accessible. This minimizes preparation and cleanup time, as well as slowdowns and breaks in activity flow. ● Make sure that students can easily observe whole-class presentations. Establish where you and your students will be located when whole-class presentations take place. For these activities, students should not have to move their chairs or stretch their necks. To find out how well your students can see from their loca- tions, sit in their seats in different parts of the room

.Giving an effective speech

Here are some guidelines for delivering a speech that can benefit students as well as teachers (Alverno College, 1995): ● Connect with the audience. Talk directly to the audience; don't just read your notes or recite a memorized script. ● State your purpose. Keep this focus throughout the talk. ● Effectively deliver the speech. Use eye contact, supportive gestures, and effective voice control. ● Use media effectively. Certain media can help the audience grasp key ideas and vary the pace of the talk

moderate interventions

Here are some moderate interventions for dealing with these types of problems (Evertson & Emmer 2009, pp. 177-178): ● "Withhold a privilege or a desired activity." Inevitably, you will have students who abuse privileges they have been given, such as being able to move around the classroom or to work on a project with friends. In these cases, you can revoke the privilege. ● "Isolate or remove students." In Chapter 7 we discussed the time-out, which involves removing a student from positive reinforcement. If you choose to use a time-out, you have several options. You can (1) keep the student in the classroom but deny her access to positive reinforcement, (2) take the student outside the activity area or out of the classroom, or (3) place the student in e-out room designated by the school. If you use a time-out, be sure to clearly identify the student's behavior that resulted in the time-out, such as, "You are being placed in time-out for 30 minutes because you punched Derrick." If the misbehavior occurs again, reidentify it and place the student in time-out again. After the time-out, don't comment on how well the stu- dent behaved during the time-out; just return him to the activity that was interrupted. ● Impose a penalty. A small amount of repetitious work can be used as a penalty for misbehavior. In writing, a student might have to write an extra page; in math, a student might have to do extra problems; in physical education, a stu- dent might have to run an extra lap. The problem with penalties is that they can harm the student's attitude toward the subject matter. Students also can be made to serve a detention for their misbehaviors, at lunch, during recess, before school, or after school. Teachers commonly assign detentions for goofing off, wasting time, repeating rule violations, not com- pleting assignments, and disrupting the class. Some detentions are served in the classroom; some schools have a detention hall where students can be sent. If the detention occurs in your classroom, you will have to supervise it. The length of the detention should initially be short, on the order of 10 to 15 min- utes, if the misbehavior is not severe. As when using the time-out, you will need to keep a record of the detention

Nonverbal communication

In addition to what you say, you also communicate by how you fold your arms, cast your eyes, move your mouth, cross your legs, or touch another person. Indeed, many communication experts maintain that most interpersonal communication is nonverbal - Even a person sitting in a corner, silently reading, is nonverbally communicating something, perhaps that he wants to be left alone. And when you notice your students blankly staring out the window, it likely indicates that they are bored. It is hard to mask nonverbal com- munication. Recognize that it can tell you how others really feel.

Defiance or hostility toward the teacher

In extreme and rare cases, students will be completely uncooperative, in which case you should send another student to the office for help. In most instances, though, if you stay calm and don't get into a power struggle with the student, the student will calm down, and you can talk with the student about the problem

The scope of aggression and school violence

In the 2007-2008 school year, schools reported the following (Neiman, DeVoe, & Chandler, 2009): ● The rate of violent incidents per 1,000 students was higher in middle schools (41 incidents) than in elementary schools (26 incidents) or high schools (22 incidents) ● Almost 50 percent of schools reported at least one student threat of physical attack without a weapon, and almost 10 percent of schools had such a threat with a weapon. ● Approximately 13 percent of city schools indicated they have had at least one gang-related crime, a higher percentage than reported by suburban (5 percent), town (5 percent), or rural (3 percent) schools. ● Almost 20 percent of city schools reported that student disrespect for teachers (other than verbal abuse) occurred daily or at least once a week, higher than reported by suburban (9 percent), town (11 percent), or rural (5 percent) schools. ● About 25 percent of schools report that the reason they have difficulty reduc- ing or preventing crime in a major way is the lack of or inadequate alternative placements or programs for disruptive students. Let's now explore different types of aggressive behavior problems and teacher strat- egies for how to effectively deal with them.

arrangement style

In thinking about how you will organize the classroom's physical space, you should ask yourself what type of instructional activity students will mainly be engaged in (whole-class, small-group, individual assignments, and so on). Consider the physical arrangements that will best support that type of activity

Bullying intervention programs

Olweus Bullying Prevention. Created by Dan Olweus, this program focuses on 6- to 15-year-olds, with the goal of decreasing opportunities and rewards for bullying. School staff are instructed in ways to improve peer rela- tions and make schools safer. A large study of 2,500 stu- dents in 42 schools in Norway found that the Olweus program was effective in reducing bullying (Olweus, 1994). Information on how to implement the program can be obtained from the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado (www.colorado.edu/cspv/blueprints). ● Bully-Proofing Your School. This program is tailored for students in kindergar- ten through the eighth grade and offers a school-wide approach and a teacher curriculum for reducing bullying. It emphasizes how to recognize bullying behavior and quickly respond to it and how to develop students' communica- tion skills in conflict situations. Intervention methods are provided, school posters related to bullying are available, and a parent's guide helps involve par- ents in effective ways to reduce bullying. Recent research indicates that this program is effective in reducing bullying (Beran & Tutty, 2002; Plog, Epstein, & Porter, 2004). Information about the Bully-Proofing Your School program is available at www.sopriswest.com. -There is increasing concern about cyberbullying, which occurs when a child or adolescent is tormented, threatened, harassed, or humiliated by another child or adolescent on the Internet (Hinduja & Patchin, 2009). There has been a substantial increase in youth harassment and cyberbulling on the Internet in recent years (Palfrey & others, 2009; Uhls & Greenfield, 2009).

Use prompts and shaping effectively

Remember that if you wait for students to perform perfectly, they might never do so. A good strategy is to use prompts and shape students' behavior by rewarding improvement. Some prompts come in the form of hints or reminders, such as, "Remember the rule about lining up."

Speaking with the class and students

Some good strategies for speaking clearly with your class include the following (Florez, 1999): 1. Selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the level of your students 2. Speaking at an appropriate pace, neither too rapidly nor too slowly 3. Being precise in your communication and avoiding vagueness 4. Using good planning and logical thinking skills as underpinnings of speaking clearly with your class

EMPHASIZING INSTRUCTION AND A POSITIVE CLASSROOM CLIMATE

This emphasis involves using preventive, proactive strategies rather than becoming immersed in reac- tive disciplinary tactics

personalizing the classroom

To personalize classrooms, you can post students' photographs, artwork, written projects, charts that list birthdays (of early childhood and elementary school students), and other positive expressions of students' identities. A bulletin board can be set aside for the "student of the week" or be used to display each student's best work of the week, personally chosen by each student.

dealing with aggression

Violence in schools is a major, escalating concern. In many schools, it now is com- mon for students to fight, bully other students, or threaten each other and teachers verbally or with a weapon. These behaviors can arouse your anxiety and anger, but it is important to be prepared for their occurrence and handle them calmly. Avoiding an argument or emotional confrontation will help you to solve the conflict

Prevent students from developing problems

Well-managed classrooms keep students busy with active, appropriately challenging tasks, have activities in which students become absorbed and motivated to learn, and establish clear rules and regulations students must abide by. -In such classrooms, students are less likely to develop academic and emotional problems. By contrast, in poorly managed class- rooms, students' academic and emotional problems are more likely to fester.

Minor Interventions

When only minor interventions are needed for problem behaviors, these strategies can be effective (Evertson & Emmer, 2009, pp. 188-190): ● "Use nonverbal cues. Make eye contact with the student and give a signal such as a finger to the lips, a head shake, or a hand signal to issue a desist." ● Keep the activity moving. Sometimes transitions between activ- ities take too long, or a break in activity occurs when students have nothing to do. In these situations, students might leave their seats, socialize, crack jokes, and begin to get out of con- trol. A good strategy is not to correct students' minor misbe- haviors in these situations but rather start the next activity in a more timely fashion. By effectively planning the day, you should be able to eliminate such long transitions and gaps in activity. ● Move closer to students. When a student starts misbehaving, simply moving near the student will often cause the misbe- havior to stop. ● "Redirect the behavior." If students get off-task, let them know what they are supposed to be doing. You might say, "Okay, remember, everybody is supposed to be working on math problems." ● "Provide needed instruction." Sometimes students engage in minor misbehaviors when they haven't understood how to do the task they have been assigned. Unable to effectively do the activity, they fill the time by misbehaving. Solving this prob- lem involves carefully monitoring students' work and provid- ing guidance when needed. ● Directly and assertively tell the student to stop. Establish direct eye contact with the student, be assertive, and tell the student to stop the behavior. "Keep your comments brief and monitor the situation until the student complies. Combine this strategy with redirection to encourage desirable behavior." Carolyn Evertson (center, in red, shown in a COMP classroom), a leading expert on classroom management, created COMP, a class- room management program, with Evelyn Harris. COMP includes many of the themes we have emphasized in developing a positive environment for learning. COMP emphasizes supporting students' learning and guiding students in taking responsibility for their own decisions, behavior, and learning. COMP also includes strategies for problem prevention, management and instruction integration, stu- dent involvement, and professional collaboration among teachers. The program is implemented through training workshops, class- room application, and collaborative reflection. Research has revealed that COMP results in positive changes in teacher and stu- dent behavior (Evertson & Harris, 1999). ● "Give the student a choice." Place responsibility in the stu- dent's hands by telling him that he has a choice of either be- having appropriately or receiving a negative consequence. Be sure to tell the student what the appropriate behavior is and what the consequence is for not performing it

Speaking skills

You and your students will benefit considerably if you have effective speaking skills and you work with your students on developing their speaking skills

THE CROWDED, COMPLEX, AND POTENTIALLY CHAOTIC CLASSROOM

● Classrooms are multidimensional. Classrooms are the setting for many activi- ties, ranging from academic activities, such as reading, writing, and math, to social activities, such as playing games, communicating with friends, and arguing. Teachers have to keep records and keep students on a schedule. Work has to be assigned, monitored, collected, and evaluated. Students have individual needs that are more likely to be met when the teacher takes them into account. ● Activities occur simultaneously. Many classroom activities occur simultane- ously. One cluster of students might be writing at their desks, another might be discussing a story with the teacher, one student might be picking on another, others might be talking about what they are going to do after school, and so on. ● Things happen quickly. Events often occur rapidly in classrooms and frequently require an immediate response. For example, two students suddenly argue about the ownership of a notebook, a student complains that another student is copying her answers, a student speaks out of turn, a student marks on another student's arm with a felt-tip pen, two students abruptly start bullying another student, or a student is rude to you. ● Events are often unpredictable. Even though you might carefully plan the day's activities and be highly organized, events will occur that you never expect: a fire alarm goes off, a student gets sick, two students get into a fight, a com- puter won't work, a previously unannounced assembly takes place, the heat goes off in the middle of the winter, and so on. ● There is little privacy. Classrooms are public places where students observe how the teacher handles discipline problems, unexpected events, and frustrat- ing circumstances. Some teachers report that they feel like they are in a "fish- bowl," or constantly onstage. Much of what happens to one student is observed by other students, and students make attributions about what is occurring. In one case, they might perceive that the teacher is being unfair in the way she disciplines a student. In another, they might appreciate her sensi- tivity to a student's feelings. ● Classrooms have histories. Students have memories of what happened earlier in their classroom. They remember how the teacher handled a discipline problem earlier in the year, which students have gotten more privileges than others, and whether the teacher abides by his promises. Because the past affects the future, it is important for teachers to manage the classroom today in a way that will support rather than undermine learning tomorrow. This means that the first several weeks of the school year are critical for establishing effective management principles.