Discipline Without Anger: A New Style of Classroom Management - Research Paper Example

Classroom Management Introduction Classroom management constitutes the process of ensuring classroom lessons are performed smoothly despite widespread disruptive behaviours by students. Campbell (2012) argues that it is difficult for teachers to regain control of the classroom once they lose it. Classroom management has gained additional attention because teachers without proper skills spend too much time correcting misbehaviour, leading reduced rate of academic engagement in the classroom. The components of effective classroom management include a cooperative learning environment characterised by proper communication of behavioural and academic expectations (Scrivener & Thornbury, 2012). Classroom management is considered a process because it requires the teacher to perform particular actions and techniques to create an environmental that supports and facilitates social-emotional learning. Despite the recognisable importance of classroom management, some teachers do make common mistakes that halter the process of classroom management. Techniques of Classroom Management Maintaining Focus The first step in classroom management constitutes ensuring that the teacher has full attention before the commencement of the lesson. The teacher should not attempt to teach over a group of students who are not focusing their attention on the teacher. Beginning the lesson without students’ attention is detrimental because they may think that the teacher wants to compete with them, or is willing to complete the lesson in the existing status of disorganisation (Yisrael, 2010). This will create an idea that the teacher can teach even with their inattention, and that it is permissible to continue talking while the teacher is presenting the lesson. The technique focusing implies that the teacher will demand the attention of students before beginning the lesson. The cure to students’ inattention is speaking with lower than normal voices because this will make them keen because they want to hear. Direct Instruction Uncertainty is the primary cause of excitement in the classroom. Excitement causes students to begin misbehaving since they are not sure what is in store for them. Direct instruction is the best cure for classroom uncertainty. This technique involves the teacher telling the students the classroom activities prior to lesson commencement. The teacher sets limits for tasks through outlining the role of both the teacher and students in classroom. An effective way for direct instruction involves including time at the end of the lesson for students to do activities of their choice (Campbell, 2012). Promising a free time, however, may bring disorganisation towards the end of the lesson when students realises that the more the teacher wants their attention, the less the free time they will have at the end of the period. Teachers can solve this problem by specifying and observing the exact free time they intend to allow for students. Positive Discipline Positive discipline using rules that describe expected behaviours instead of listing things that students are not supposed to do. For example, rapid movements in the classroom are examples of poor management. Instead of saying, “no running allowed in the classroom”, the teacher can say, “move through the room in an orderly manner.” The teacher can refer to these rules as expectations and inform the students that the rules define the expected behaviours in the classroom. Positive discipline also involves recognition through methods such as praise, tokens and student of the period awards that are critical in reinforcing behaviour (O'Neill & Stephenson, 2012). Students view teachers who do not use positive discipline as imposing rules on them; they may not be ready to follow those rules. Positive discipline makes students to develop positive attitudes towards expectations and follow them to the latter. Environmental Control The teacher has the responsibility of ensuring that the classroom is warm and a cheery place. The relaxed environment brought about by proper classroom environment reduces chances of restlessness among the learners. Making a study centre filled with pictures and colourful paintings invite enthusiasm for a particular subject. Young people are always interested to know more about interests of their teachers. As learners continue to understand further details about the teacher’s social life, the teacher will begin experiencing problems with discipline (Nissman, 2009). Thus, classroom environment needs to feature moderate professionalism for purposes of instituting discipline. The teacher, however, should not create a too formal environment because students may develop dislike for that teacher and begin repelling. The classroom should have a quiet section without materials, pictures and paintings. This will provide a place of doing class work before learners begin enjoying the materials in the rest of the room. A quiet room will reduce distractions and enhance the spirit of quiet concentration. Role Modelling The proponents of the social learning theory posit that role modelling is one of the best classroom management approaches. Role modelling concentrates on the fact that values are caught, not taught. The way learners behave in the classroom is determined by the way they view their teachers. Teachers are required to be courteous so that learners can regard them with respect in order to pay attention during classroom lesson. Students always develop disrespect for teachers who are not courteous, leading to widespread indiscipline in the classroom (Nissman, 2009). The teacher should also be prompt, enthusiastic, patient and organised in order to provide emulative examples for their learners through their own behaviour. Commanding students to do what teachers themselves cannot do cause them to receive mixed messages that confuse students and consequently inviting misbehaviour. Teachers desiring learners to use quiet voice in classroom while doing class work should also use quiet voices as they move through the room to help youngsters. Monitoring Monitoring involves moving around the classroom while students are working. The aim of circulating is to check their progress. Effective teachers pass through the whole classroom about three minutes after the students have started writing their exercises. To check if each student has began working on the assignment. Additionally, the teacher can use this opportunity to ensure that each learner is opening the right page because misbehaviours ones could be reading their own likes. Managing the classroom through monitoring helps the teacher to handle learners’ problems at early stages in order to ensure timely completion. Students who have not began answering the questions will quickly get going as they see the teacher’s approach (Yisrael, 2010). During monitoring, the teacher should not interrupt the class by making general announcements unless several students are making similar mistakes or have difficulty with the same thing. Unnecessary announcements cause disruptions and make learners to begin murmuring; this leads to lose of classroom control. An effective classroom manager uses soft voice that makes learners to appreciate their personal and positive attention. Corporal Punishment Corporal punishment has always been used as a means of controlling disruptive behaviours in classroom. However, corporal punishment is no longer fashionable although it is advocated in some specific contexts. Corporal punishment is critical in contexts where students misbehave repeatedly. Under these contexts, the teacher may be forced to inflict moderate pain in those learners in order to stop repeating the mistake. According to the theory of operant conditioning, a behaviour that is associated with painful experiences is usually suppressed. This implies that inflicting pain into students who fail to observe the rules of classroom control, the degree of discomfort that occurs causes the students to stop misbehaving. Corporal punishment, however, has been widely criticised across time and place. Most countries have illegalised corporal punishment citing infringement of both human and children’s rights. The pain associated with corporal punishment may make learners develop aggression and fear against the teacher, leading to withdrawal from school (Campbell, 2012). Critics of corporal punishment argue that learners may be used to corporal punishment; this may limit its potential for correcting behaviour. When used moderately at correct intervals, corporal punishment can achieve great benefits in correcting behaviour. Importance of Proper Classroom Management Effective classroom management is important in several ways. Fist, a teacher who is able to control the class saves time for learning. One of the problems caused by poor classroom management is wasting a lot of time trying to make the students keep quiet. Teachers equipped with proper strategies of classroom control avoid spending time telling students to keep quiet and punishing class disrupters. This leads to saving of more time for leaning. Second, effective classroom control reduces conflicts between the teacher and students (Campbell, 2012). If learners are not properly managed, they may begin engaging in indiscipline activities. The teacher is sometimes forced to punish them. Punishment makes learners to develop dislike for teachers; this reduces chances of learning as learners have a negative attitude towards teachers. Third, classroom management is critical in enhancing performance. Well-managed classrooms are characterised by effective learning brought about by cooperation between learners and teachers. This kind of environment enhances performance in learning and examinations. Common Mistakes in Classroom Management Teachers sometimes make mistakes in their efforts to maintain order in the classroom, which worsens the problems. One of the greatest mistakes that teachers do is defining the behaviour problem by its appearance without considering its function. Teachers are actually required to individualise interventions if they want to make them effective in addressing a specific a function of problem behaviour (Yisrael, 2010). Regardless of the fact that two or more students misbehaves in a similar manner, they may require different intervention strategies because behaviours serve different functions. Children’s behaviours are characterised by complexity and dynamism; therefore, teachers are supposed to change ways of handling students across time. Teachers, however, think that all approaches work for all children, which is wrong considering that children come to class with individual differences. The second mistake involves teachers raising their voices when they want to silence the class. Raising voice makes students think that communication can still be achieved at high voices (Yisrael, 2010). Each party would be struggling to be heard. The resulting competition is detrimental to classroom peace because both the teacher and students will be shouting to one another. In some cases, the teacher may decide to increase the adversity of misbehaviour consequences in an effort to make approaches to class control work. This type of interaction is detrimental because it impairs the relationship between teacher and students. Conclusion Teachers are vested with the responsibility of ensuring effective classroom management. Approaches to classroom management include maintaining focus, direct instruction, positive discipline, environmental control, role modelling, classroom monitoring, and corporal punishment. Classroom management is beneficial to both teachers and students considering the resultant learning, time-saving and cooperation effectiveness. Teachers sometimes engage in actions that worsen classroom management rather than making it better; therefore, teachers need to consider the effects of their actions before they apply various strategies of classroom control. The realization that children come to classroom with individual differences provides the foundation for proper thinking concerning the necessity of classroom management. References Campbell, D. (2012). Discipline without anger: A new style of classroom management. Lanham, Md: R&L Education. Nissman, B. S. (2009). Teacher-tested classroom management strategies. Boston, Mass: Pearson. O'Neill, S., & Stephenson, J. (2012). Does classroom management coursework influence pre-service teachers' perceived preparedness or confidence? Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(8), 1131-1143. Scarlett, W. G., Ponte, I. C., & Singh, J. P. (2009). Approaches to behavior and classroom management: Integrating discipline and care. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. Scrivener, J., & Thornbury, S. (2012). Classroom management techniques. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Yisrael, S. B. (2010). Classroom management: A guide for urban schools teachers. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 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