Classroom Management

Mrs. Estapa's students are incredibly well-behaved - quiet, compliant, and friendly. They have learned their teacher's rules and procedures and rarely exhibit misbehavior of any kind, though their work is often incomplete or sloppily done. When you observed Mrs. E's class, you noticed that students worked slowly and somewhat apathetically. At lunch one day, you hear another teacher say, "That Mrs. Estapa is a genius. I am so impressed by her ability to manage her classroom; I want to learn to monitor the classroom as effectively as she does." You think to yourself,

"Having students comply with your expectations is only half the monitoring battle. Mrs. Estapa seems to be overlooking the fact that student involvement in learning activities is critical to student mastery of new material."

Classroom management has both planning and interactive aspects. List the 5 planning aspects of classroom management.

1. Organizing the physical space of the classroom. 2. Identifying expectations for students behavior. 3. Developing incentives to promote students good behavior. 4. Arranging consequences for bad behavior in order to discourage such behavior. 5. Organizing instructional activities to promote student involvement and engagement.

Statement of Purpose

A statement of purpose clearly and positively conveys the major goals or mission of classroom activities. It lays the foundation for the rest of the comprehensive behavior management plan and holds together the plan's various components. It should be focused, direct, clearly understood, and free of teacher jargon.

Positive and Negative Consequences

Consequences can be divided into two major types, positive and negative. A positive consequence, often referred to as reinforcement, is a means by which teachers can increase the probability that a behavior will occur in the future. A negative consequence is a means by which the teacher can decrease the probability that a behavior will occur in the future. Consequences should be age appropriate. Also they should be:Clear and specific, Directly related to rules and proceduresArranged in levels of intensity, and Natural and logical

Classroom management is largely unaffected by the characteristics of the students making up the class.

False-Students' individual needs will play an important role in classroom management issues.

According to Wong, effective teachers manage their classrooms while ineffective teachers discipline their classrooms. Explain what you think this means and why it is important to know the difference.

Discussion Board:

Do you believe that classroom design has an impact on student engagement? Why or why not? What should you consider to provide a "virtual" classroom for students? How can this be accomplished?

Discussion Board:

Explain the procedure and routines you are implementing in your classroom for beginning a lesson/day and ending a lesson/day. If you are in an elementary situation, you can share about starting and ending the school day. If you are in a secondary situation, you can share about starting and ending the class period. Do you think routines are important for students? Why or Why not? Provide examples in your in answer.

Discussion Board:

Action Plan

List the materials needed for an action toolkit, Explain how you would teach the plan to the students and share the plan with others.

Choose the statement below that does NOT support that learning about classroom management is important in order to simplify a complex environment.

Everyone in the classroom has the same perspectives, goals, and agendas.

If a student's parent refuses permission for the child to use the Internet at school, the best action a teacher can take is to excuse the student from the assignment.

False

Making the classroom an inviting space should be the first consideration when arranging the classroom.

False

Mr. Marks has a procedure requiring students to write in pen, except in mathematics, where he has them use pencils. Mr. Marks is inconsistent in his expectations and should require either pen or pencil all the time.

False

Poor classroom management does not create conditions that interfere with desirable educational outcomes.

False

Praise should be avoided because it is an extrinsic motivator and thus can reduce intrinsic motivation.

False

It's Friday of the first week of school, and Mr. Ruiz's students just finished a fairly intensive literacy lesson. There are about seven minutes left before the class is supposed to leave for lunch. In what way might you recommend he spend the time?

Lead them in a low-pressure but engaging activity, like reading to them or playing a simple game.

Which of the following examples reflects a statement that might be made by a student with a realistic perspective on the causes of good and poor performance?

Lynette says, "I brought my grade up this time because I made sure to do the homework every night."

A teacher who doesn't establish clear boundaries in student relationships might end up in some problematic situations. Which of the following concerns is least reflective of a boundary concern?

Mr. Perkins knows that Ahmad's parents can't go to his soccer game, so he goes to watch Ahmad play once during the season.

Rules

Rules are classroom expectations. They should be specific, observable and measurable, stated positively, and convey the expected behavior. Rules should be age appropriate.

Shanelle, one of your students, is loud and prone to leading the other students in minor misbehavior - chatting, dawdling, or passing notes. She's like a rain cloud...whatever students she's around are likely to be unhappy or engaged in some sort of conflict. By comparison, Eldon, another student in your class, seems "easy" to manage... he is extremely quiet and helpful and generally gets along well with people, although he does seem to do a fair amount of daydreaming and sometimes avoids his work. Sometimes you even forget he's in your class. In terms of management concerns,

Shanelle and Eldon both present reasons for concern, and, as their teacher, you must address both Shanelle's misbehavior and Eldon's work avoidance.

Ms. Carmel hangs a "Do not disturb" sign on her door so she won't be interrupted by the school messengers during the time she teaches reading. Ms. Carmel would probably rate high in

Smoothness

Procedures and Routines

Specific steps students should take to complete a task or during a transition. Procedures could include the following: how to enter and leave the classroom, participate in classroom discussions, pencil sharpening, going to the restroom, completing and turning in work, travel in hallways, locker access and use, and use of cell phones. Should be grade specific to your Pre- Residency Placement (Elementary or Secondary).

Mr. Blackmore says, "I've heard the term 'active eyes' before with regard to monitoring student behavior, but I'm not sure exactly what it means. What does it mean?"

Teachers monitor behavior by seating themselves where they can see all students and then make a conscious effort to scan the room frequently, checking each student's behavior and task engagement.

All of the following statements reflect goals for teachers who teach in urban settings. Which goal is likely to be most difficult for a teacher to attain?

Teachers should establish trusting relationships with students and their family members.

What do effective teachers do to guide their own and students' behavior?

They develop and teach routines and procedures.

A good starting point for developing your floor plan is to decide where you will conduct whole-class instruction.

True

A potential drawback of individualized instruction is that a teacher can get so busy with recordkeeping and monitoring students that little interactive instruction occurs.

True

Adjustments in management and instructional organization practices are sometimes needed to meet the needs of different groups of students.

True

Consistency in enforcing rules and procedural expectations is key in avoiding the development of inappropriate behavior.

True

When seeking information from a child's previous teacher, one should be careful not to become overly invested in that teacher's impressions of the child. Instead, a teacher should base his/her instructional and management decisions on his/her own observations and interactions with the child.

True

Mr. Li's pencil sharpener is located near the aquarium and the garbage can. This arrangement is likely to be

a poor one, since students may spend more time than is desirable in the area as they watch the fish.

"When you finish the worksheet, leave it on your desk so that I can check it when I comearound." This direction by the teacher to a class is an example of

accountability

Good classroom management has mutually supporting relationships

and includes all of the other answer choices.

As so often happens during the early part of the school year, you receive a new student. You greet her and talk quietly for a few moments while your students are working independently, but inside you're thinking, "Oh, great. I just got to a place where my procedures are running pretty smoothly, and now I need to get Elisha up to speed with regard to what I expect." The most effective way to do this would be to

assign a friendly, responsible student who has learned the procedures well to help Elisha get acclimated to your expectations.

Mr. Marquez seems morose at lunch. When you ask him why he's so down, he says, "Because after lunch, I have 3 hours left to teach! Mr. Marquez would benefit from

being careful that his own lack of enthusiasm doesn't spill over onto his students or keep him from teaching the material thoroughly.

What term refers to a broad concept that encompasses the behaviors and strategies that teachers use to guide student behavior in the classroom?

classroom management

It's summer and Ms. Decatur is getting ready to start her first teaching job. She excitedly enters her classroom for the first time, thinking about all the different decisions she'll need to make before school even gets started. It's overwhelming, but she decides to simply start from the most logical point for establishing a well-managed classroom. Which one of the following activities would you expect to see her do first?

considering the physical space and her instructional expectations, then working to arrange the furniture and supplies

Marcie is a student in your class, and her best friend Tara is in the classroom directly across the hall from yours. Marcie often gets up and goes to the doorway to ostensibly use the pencil sharpener, which is located near the door, or to throw something away in the garbage can (also located near the door), but you know she's hoping to catch a glimpse of Tara. You suspect that Tara is doing the same thing in her room because you see her at the classroom door frequently. This is an issue of

distractibility.

Which of the following teacher traits is least likely to be associated with desirable cognitive and affective student outcomes?

efficiency

Room arrangements communicate clues about (Click all answers that apply.)

expectations for the way the teacher expects students to participate in class. the teacher's philosophy of teaching and learning.

Ms. Lee has decided to use an incentive system to improve behavior in her class, which has become noisy, rowdy, and frequently off-task. Ms. Lee tells her students that she will give each of them a card to keep at their desks and that each day that they do not yell, leave their seats without permission, or push and shove each other while entering the room, they will each earn 5 points. However, whenever they engage in one of these behaviors they will lose one point. Students who accumulate 15 points per week will be allowed to participate in special Friday activities, such as viewing a movie, a popcorn party, or free time activity. An advantage of Ms. Lee's system is that

inappropriate behaviors are easy to identify.

Students who are slower to respond when called on to answer a question may benefit from

increased time between the moment the teacher asks the question and the time that he/she calls on someone to answer it.

Mr. Washington allows his lesson times to "go with the flow;" that is, he simply begins teaching in the morning and lets each lesson last as long as it needs to last. He also varies the order of his content presentations, doing math first on some days and reading first on other days; he may allocate an hour to science on Monday, not teach it at all on Tuesday, and give it a half-hour on Wednesday. His system is

ineffective because his model deprives children of helpful structure and may result in over- or under-emphasis of certain curricular areas.

Research on the effects of extrinsic rewards on student intrinsic motivation indicates that

intrinsic motivation for interesting activities is reduced by extrinsic rewards.

Teachers who fail to attend carefully to relationship development in their classes are most likely to experience which of the following?

lessened effectiveness

Facework is more than establishing and maintaining a public identity; it also includes

managing one's actions and communications in ways that show sensitivity to others' identities.

All of the following are part of a set of highly interactive, realtime teacher behaviors and strategies EXCEPT

not working with students to stimulate interest, involvement, and cooperating.

Mia is the quietest student in your class. She never volunteers to answer questions you ask during lessons, and she rarely interacts with the other children unless they approach her first. You are going to begin using regular discussions to help your students understand concepts in social studies. You know that Mia will not be a willing participant. You decide to

occasionally ask Mia for her opinion or to paraphrase another student's comments.

Which one of the following recommendations is most consistent with the suggestions for room arrangement given in the text? In most classrooms,

plan instructional areas to maximize the teacher's ability to monitor students.

When good relationships are established, students know their teachers are (Click all that apply.)

receptive to their questions. supportive of their potential. concerned for their welfare.

What term refers to the generalized personal meaning students and teachers attach to their interactions with each other?

relationships

Researchers of student motivation have emphasized the need for teachers to create classroom systems that do all of the following EXCEPT

satisfy the need for variety.

Teachers organize the classroom environment in order to

to facilitate activities and prevent problems before they occur.

You want your students to get into the habit of using the restroom only at scheduled times throughout the day unless it is an emergency. You explain that the class will have regular breaks and that everyone should take advantage of them. Right after your social studies lesson on the third day of school, Tia, a very quiet girl, comes up to you and asks you if she can go to the restroom, despite the fact that the class took a break not long ago. The best thing to do in this case is

to let Tia use the restroom, but to pay attention during subsequent class bathroom breaks, encouraging her to go then

Mr. Gonzalez is working with a small group of students while the rest of the class works independently. During the lesson, he notices that Jessie and Tian are off task, and are having a conversation. When he checks a little later, they don't seem to be getting back on task. He should

try to make eye contact with them or call their names once.

You are teaching a science lesson and notice that Desiree has her hairbrush out. You just know she's going to begin using it at any minute, so you give her "the look," silently communicating that she should put it away. You have handled the situation without interruption to your lesson. Which of Kounin's classroom management skills have you exhibited?

withitness

Madeline turns in a paper to you that is sloppy and halfway done. You call her over to ask her about it, and she says, "Well, I finished it on the school bus on the way home yesterday, and that's why it's messy." The best response on your part would be to say,

"I can see why you'd want to do your homework on the bus - it saves time and shows that you're being responsible in completing your work. Unfortunately, this work is of poor quality, and you'll need to revise and resubmit it; remember, I am looking for strong effort in your homework."

Miss Loudermilk is hired to teach 8th grade and sets up her classroom accordingly. She finds out at the last minute that, because of fluctuating enrollment numbers, she is actually going to be teaching 4th grade. Fortunately, the room to which she is assigned is not changing; she does not have to pack up all her stuff and move. She knows she'll have to change materials, books, and wall displays. With regard to her room arrangement, what advice would you give her?

"This might be a good time to re-evaluate your room arrangement. I bet some things can stay where they are, but you may need to reconsider the furniture and its placement."

Crisis Plan

A Crisis Plan is a set of strategies for obtaining immediate assistance in the event of severe behavioral situations, such as when a student is out of control, potentially self-injurious, or possibly harmful to others. By developing preplanned and well-thought-out strategies for dealing with a behavior crisis, teachers can: 1) Increase the likelihood that they would respond effectively 2) Make it easier to gain control of a situation. 3) Reduce the anxiety, fear, or frustration related to handling a crisis.Who will seek assistance? Who will be notified? What do you do with the rest of the class during the crisis? What will do after the crisis is over?

How are you building relationships with your students in your Residency Placement? What are some things you plan to do to continue to strengthen the relationships with your students? Be specific. Are you building relationships virtually or in-person? If you are not in a current placement, write about how you will build student relationships.

Discussion Board:

Since most of you are currently in a residency situation, explain the procedure and routines you are implementing in your classroom for beginning a lesson/day and ending a lesson/day. If you are in an elementary situation, you can share about starting and ending the school day. If you are in a secondary situation, you can share about starting and ending the class period. Do you think routines are important for students? Why or Why not? Provide examples in your in answer.

Discussion Board:

What classroom management system is being utilized in your placement classroom/virtual learning class? What rules and procedures have you observed thus far. Are they successful? If yes, why? If no, why not? Which routines and procedures do you see making a difference in managing student behavior? Please begin your discussion with the grade level of the students in your placement and give a brief description of your class. For example, are you teaching face-face, hybrid, or virtually. What subjects does your host teacher teach? IF you are not currently in a placement situation, write about a system that you would like to use for your class.

Discussion Board:

Students' cultural and experiential backgrounds, language skill levels, financial means, and other demographic characteristics are of little import in classroom management system design.

False

The most important thing to remember when placing small-group instruction areas is making sure that all students in the class have adequate personal space.

False

Traffic patterns in a particular room arrangement cannot be predicted ahead of time; instead, teachers must simply wait until students arrive, note problem areas, and rearrange as necessary.

False

Students' interests and backgrounds should have no impact on the planning and implementation of instructional goals and activities.

False- Utilizing information about students' interests and backgrounds when planning is a way of building motivation into lessons and helping students make connections.

Once you have taught students what is expected of them, you can assume that they will behave appropriately.

False-Students sometimes misbehave regardless of how clear and consistent the teacher's expectations are.

Ms. Bryson has, for the most part, worked to develop healthy and supportive relationships with her students. However, today she is having a frustrating day, and her own emotions are running high. When Seong Wook is, for the third time in the lesson period, out of her desk, Ms. Bryson says, "What is wrong with you? Are you so immature that you absolutely cannot do what even a much younger student could do - staying in a desk? I mean really, sometimes I don't know what's wrong with your brain, but something is very, very off." Based on what you've learned in this chapter, which of the following statements best describes the situation?

Ms. Bryson has failed to attend to a facework issue, and her relationship with Seong Wook and the rest of the class may deteriorate as a result of this interaction.

If inappropriate behavior is not disruptive and is of limited duration, a teacher may choose to ignore it until a time when he/she can address it without interrupting the lesson.

True

Issues with classroom management can develop so gradually that a teacher may not notice that problems are developing until they interfere with activities.

True

Placement of the teacher's desk is critical and must be done in such a way that the teacher can see all students at all times; it is not necessary, however, for all students to be able to see the teacher when he/she is seated at his/her desk.

True

Student attention is directly related to lesson flow.

True

Ms. Wise uses a tall partition to separate the writing center from the main part of the classroom. When she asks you what you think about this arrangement, you

b. suggest that she remove the partition because it will interfere with her ability to supervise the children.

Which of the following is LEAST likely to facilitate classroom visibility?

d. placing large, heavy books near the bottom of the shelving

Joanne is sitting quietly at her desk; other students are out of their seats. You decide to address the issue by pointing out Joanne's good behavior. You say, "Joanne, I appreciate what a good student you are." Your strategy is

ineffective because your praise does not specify what positive behavior has drawn your attention.