Act of Teaching

Chapter 13
Problem-Solving Skills of Effective Teachers
Outline
What is a Problem (441)
Sources of Problems (441)
What Kinds of Classroom-Related Problems Do Teachers Face? (442)

Affiliation (443)
Control (444)
Parent Relationship and Home Conditions (447)

Student Success (450)

Kinds of Success Problems (450)

Obstacles to Student Success (450)
Teacher Behaviors Linked to Student Success (451)
o Time (451)

Preventing and Resolving Classroom Problems (453)

Preventing Classroom Problems (453)

Resolving Classroom Problems (453)
o The Problem-Solving Approach (PSA) (454)
Developing A Problem-Solving Attitude (456)

Notes
What is a Problem (441)

When something is preventing you from achieving your goals

Our goals are divided into needs and wants
o needs absolute necessity (441)
o wants nice to have but is not essential (441)

Sources of Problems (441)

There are two sources of problems:

When we are unable to meet our primary biological needs (441)

When we are unable to meet our secondary learned needs (441)

Our jobs directly affect our needs, both primary and secondary. When our job
satisfies both needs, we will like our jobs.
What Kinds of Classroom-Related Problems Do Teachers Face? (442)

Affiliation: teachers needs to have good relationships with their boss, co-
workers, and students.
o Signs of affiliation (443): staff friendliness, recognition and
support of one anothers professional work, and working together to
achieve common goals (Rhodes, Nevill, & Alan, 2004) (443)
 o affiliation related problems: liking some or all of their students,
getting students to like them, getting cooperation and support from
their colleagues and the administration, being professional in their
relationships with others in the school, having confidence in other
teachers, and feeling anxious when being supervised (443)
o Teachers deprived of human support during their work day feel
lonely unappreciated, ineffective, alienated, and perhaps even
rejected they are dissatisfied with teaching and with the school
they are in (Myers, 1980) (443)
o teachers value four things more highly:
Having fellow workers they like
Working under pleasant conditions
Having the respect of others, and
Enjoying job certainty (Dan Supper, 2002) (443)
o Affiliation-related problems that teachers report (Tracey,1980)
(443)
Student swearing in class
Ignored by coworkers
Not meeting the expectation of the principal
o Affiliation problems relates to how we are unable to meet others
expectation or how others are unable to meet our expectations
Control: the teachers needs to have students behave properly
o Usually means students are expected to be reasonably quiet,
orderly courteous, and honest, and they should show respect for
others and for property (444)
o Control-related problems: maintaining order, quiet, and control; not
knowing how to respond to improper behavior such as swearing and
use of obscenities; controlling aggressive behavior; enforcing
considerate treatment of property; getting students to use leisure
time well; maintaining students attention; enforcing values such as
honesty and respect; removing students who are sources of
frustration; and teaching self-discipline (444)
o When students do not behave appropriately, two things can
happen.
First, animosity can develop between teacher and student
Second, teachers can feel like and be perceived by students,
teachers, administrators, and parents as ineffective
classroom managers (444)
o To make things worse, most teachers are socially oriented. We
want to like and be like. (444)
o Novak (1980) provides further help (445)
Pursue only classroom goals that are truly important and
attainable (445)
Analyze the factors that may be affecting the problem
situation (446)
Use positive techniques for managing behavior (446)
Praise them specifically when they are doing the right
thing (447)
Recognize them when they show the appropriate
behavior (447)
ignore inappropriate behavior (447)
 Make sure the reward is worth it (447)
engage students themselves in problem solving
(447)
Use punishment sparingly and appropriately (447)
Teach students to manage their own behavior (447)
Parent Relationships and Home Conditions: parents could have great
influence on our students, so we should involve them effectively (447)
o Problems involving parents: improving life for students by
correcting conditions both inside and outside school, keeping
students away from people and things that may have a bad
influence, improving conditions so that students can study better at
home, encouraging parental interest in school matters, holding
worthwhile parent conferences, understanding the conditions of
home and community, and assisting parents who are having
difficulty with their children. (447)
o Mager (1980) suggests that to achieve constructive parent
relationships, teachers and parents or guardians must be mutually
supportive (448)
o Perceptions of lack of competence also come into play and thus
interfere with good relationships (448)
o Teachers may want to influence the students life outside of class in
a positive way. However, Mager again points out hindrances
(449):
parents and guardians, not teachers, control home
conditions (449)
home conditions may be beyond the control of parents
(449)
o According to Mager:
To improve the teacher-parent relationship, we should
communicate what we expect from parents and we should
understand what parents expect from us
To influence our students home life, we should
Understand that the relationship between life at home
and at school is complicated
The relationship between parents and their children are
more important than what they have at home
Student Success (450)
The need teachers have to help learners achieve both academically and
socially (450)

Kinds of Success Problems (450)

o Students are not interested
o Problems in dealing with students with special needs
o our personal instructional limitations (450)
Obstacles to Student Success (450)
o There is not enough knowledge about teaching
o The students own differences
o The goals in schools that are not specific enough and sometimes
not supporting students to learn
 o There is something more to teaching than the sum of its parts
(Holton) (450)
Teacher Behaviors Linked to Student Success (451)
clarity, enthusiasm, being businesslike and work oriented, using
instructional variety, arousing interest in and adjusting the material to be
learned to student ability levels, providing adequate time and opportunity
to learn, and helping students get the most out of their school
experiences (451)
o Lack of time represents a serious problem for teachers (451)
o Lack of time increases because:
Large classes (451)
Large amount of classes
increased emphasis on testing (451)
the assignment of noninstructional tasks (451)
o Applegate (1980) suggest that we must learn to use it better
(451) by
Know your personal and professional needs (451)
Know your goals (451)
Know your work environment (451)
plan (451)
learn to set priorities and to say no (451)
know your support system (451)
concentrate (451)
Dont procrastinate (451)

Preventing and Resolving Classroom Problems (453)

Preventing Classroom problems

 (454)
Resolving Classroom Problems
o We cannot acquire all these abilities
o We can solve a problem by either giving up or keep trying while
avoiding the unpleasant side effects (454)
o The Problem-Solving Approach (PSA) (454)
Stage 1: Problem identification and ownership (454)
State the problem (454)
Identify the goal(s) (454)
Identify the problems owner (454)
Stage 2: Value clarification (454)
Value the goal (454)
Stage 3: Analysis of the problem situation (455)
Identify the obstacles (455)
Create strategies to overcome the obstacles
For each of the potential solutions, list possible
negative side effects (455)
Stage 4: Rating the potential solutions (455)
Rate each proposed solution to arrive as the best one
or ones (455)
Stage 5: Implementing and evaluating the best solution
(455)
Decide how you would implement the best solution
(455)
Decide the extent to which the solution has brought
you closer to your goal (455)
 Developing A Problem-Solving Attitude (456)
o Have a lets solve this approach (456)
o Dont blame others
o Accept their opinions
o Dont focus on what has happened
o Dont use emotion, think about it
o Refrain from jumping to conclusions (456)
o Search for new approaches (456)
o Expects disagreements (456)
o Dont depend on other people
o Accept the half achievement of a goal
o Work toward bettering already satisfactory situations (456)
o Use the available time (456) to solve problem

Reflection
This chapter reminds me that there are problems that teachers needed to face. I
am the type of person who likes to avoid problems rather than facing them, that
is why I tend to be isolated and have little social interaction. However, teaching
is a very social occupation and teachers meet a variety of different people every
day that could create tension. That is why I should learn to face my problems
more than avoiding it. Prevention is better that medication, but problems are
something that can never be really prevented. That is why I must learn to be
more accepting of other people and interact socially more. This includes being
more open about my feelings to other people and engage in conversations more.