Classroom management

Theoretical background

Classroom management is a term teachers use to describe the

process of ensuring that classroom lessons run smoothly
despite disruptive behavior by students. The term also implies the
prevention of disruptive behavior. It is a difficult aspect of teaching
for many teachers. Problems in this area causes some to leave
teaching. In 1981 the US National Educational
Association reported that 36% of teachers said they would
probably not go into teaching if they had to decide again. A major
reason was negative student attitudes and discipline. [1] Classroom
management is crucial in classrooms because it supports the
proper execution of curriculum development, developing best
teaching practices, and putting them into action. Classroom
management can be explained as the actions and directions that
teachers use to create a successful learning environment; indeed,
having a positive impact on students achieving given learning
requirements and goals (Soheili, Alizadeh, Murphy, Bajestani,
Ferguson and Dreikurs). In an effort to ensure all students receive
the best education it would seem beneficial for educator programs
to spend more time and effort in ensuring educators and
instructors are well versed in classroom management. Teachers do
not focus on learning classroom management, because higher
education programs do not put an emphasis on the teacher
attaining classroom management; indeed, the focus is on creating
a conducive learning atmosphere for the student (Eisenman,
Edwards, and Cushman ). These tools enable teachers to have the
resources available to properly and successfully educate
upcoming generations, and ensure future successes as a nation.
According to Moskowitz & Hayman (1976), once a teacher loses
control of their classroom, it becomes increasingly more difficult for
them to regain that control.[2] Also, research from Berliner (1988)
and Brophy & Good (1986) shows that the time a teacher must
take to correct misbehavior caused by poor classroom
management skills results in a lower rate of academic engagement
in the classroom.[3] From the student’s perspective, effective
classroom management involves clear communication of
behavioral and academic expectations as well as a cooperative
learning environment.[4] Douglas Brooks (1985) reports seminal
research on the first day of school activity selection and sequence
of novice middle school teachers compared with experienced,
successful classroom managers. Brooks reports that effective
classroom managers organized their activities on the first day of
school consistent with the emerging needs of the students. These
middle school student needs were the following:

1. Am I welcome?
2. What are we going to do today?
3. Am I in the right room?
4. Is the teacher interested in me?
5. What are the rules for this classroom?
6. What are the goals, instructional methods and assessment
systems for the class?
7. Is the teacher interested in how I learn best?
8. What interests does the teacher have that I can relate to?
9. What are we expected to do for tomorrow?
10. Will the teacher answer a question I have after class?

In response to these emerging and sequential student needs

effective middle school teachers organize the first day activities in
the following sequence:

1. Personally greet students

2. Advance organizer for the session at the bell
3. Roll and seating
4. Student information cards
5. Introduce 5 core rules (entry, listening, raising hands, leaving
other's stuff alone and finally exiting the class)
6. Describe class goals, instructional methods and grading
system
7. Assess preferred learning styles
8. self-disclosure
9. Preview of next session
10. Access after class.

Middle school teachers that meet these 10 student needs with

specific activities tend to communicate competence and effectively
communicate behavioral and academic expectations. [5]
Classroom management is closely linked to issues
of motivation, discipline and respect. Methodologies remain a
matter of passionate debate amongst teachers; approaches vary
depending on the beliefs a teacher holds regarding educational
psychology. A large part of traditional
classroom management involves behavior modification, although
many teachers see using behavioral approaches alone as overly
simplistic. Many teachers establish rules and procedures at the
beginning of the school year. According to Gootman (2008), rules
give students concrete direction to ensure that our expectation
becomes a reality.[6]
They also try to be consistent in enforcing these rules and
procedures. Many would also argue for positive consequences
when rules are followed, and negative consequences when rules
are broken. There are newer perspectives on classroom
management that attempt to be holistic. One example is affirmation
teaching, which attempts to guide students toward success by
helping them see how their effort pays off in the classroom. It relies
upon creating an environment where students are successful as a
result of their own efforts.[7] By creating this type of environment,
students are much more likely to want to do well. Ideally, this
transforms a classroom into a community of well-behaved and self-
directed learners.

lassroom management and management of student conduct are

skills that teachers acquire and hone over time. These skills almost
never "jell" until after a minimum of few years of teaching
experience. To be sure, effective teaching requires considerable
skill in managing the myriad of tasks and situations that occur in
the classroom each day. Skills such as effective classroom
management are central to teaching and require "common sense,"
consistency, an often undervalued teacher behavior, a sense of
fairness, and courage. These skills also require that teachers
understand in more than one way the psychological and
developmental levels of their students. The skills associated with
effective classroom management are only acquired with practice,
feedback, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. Sadly, this is
often easier said than done. Certainly, a part of this problem is that
there is no practical way for education students to "practice" their
nascent skills outside of actually going into a classroom setting.
The learning curve is steep, indeed.

As previously mentioned, personal experience and research indicate that

many beginning teachers have difficulty effectively managing their
classrooms.
Classroom management refers to the wide variety of skills and
techniques that teachers use to keep students organized, orderly,
focused, attentive, on task, and academically productive during a
class. When classroom-management strategies are executed
effectively, teachers minimize the behaviors that impede learning
for both individual students and groups of students, while
maximizing the behaviors that facilitate or enhance
learning. Generally speaking, effective teachers tend to display
strong classroom-management skills, while the hallmark of the
inexperienced or less effective teacher is a disorderly classroom
filled with students who are not working or paying attention .

Classroom applications
Be Patient.
Keep in mind that you have a choice about how you
respond to disruptive student behavior. Choose not to
take the behavior personally, and use positive self-talk.
For example, instead of thinking, “I can’t take this
disrespect anymore,” think, “I’ve seen this before. Why
am I letting it get to me today?”

Set Limits.
Be sure to post your classroom’s rules prominently. Keep
to a few rules and make sure that they’re clear, simple,
and positive. For example, instead of stating, “NO FOOD
OR DRINKS ALLOWED,” state, “Please leave food and
drinks in the cafeteria.”

Keep to the Schedule You Set.

Following your own rules is key to modeling timeliness
and productivity. The more organized you are, the more
opportunity there is to focus on teaching and learning.
This will help your students respect schedules and work
within designated time frames.

Be Aware of the Causes of Behavior.

Being mindful of Precipitating Factors and early warning
signs helps you focus on prevention. One way to avert
difficult behavior is to seat disruptive students
strategically. For example, if a student tends to be loud,
inattentive, or noncompliant, seat her away from others
who might tempt her to challenge you or engage in a
power struggle with you.

Walk Around.
When a student is inattentive, rowdy, or challenging, it
distracts others. As you’re teaching, move toward the
student while continuing to talk to the class as a whole.
Most students will not continue being disruptive if you
stand near them as you’re teaching. You can also try
making friendly eye contact with the student.

Be consistent in your practice of these classroom

management techniques. When students know what to
expect from you, and what you expect from them, they’re
more likely to be productive learners. Put these effective
classroom management tips to use to manage disruptive
behavior with confidence.

Establish Clear Expectations and Consequences

Teachers can establish clear expectations for behavior in
two ways: by establishing clear rules and procedures, and
by providing consequences for student behavior. Past
research has stressed the importance of establishing rules
and procedures for general classroom behavior, group
work, seat work, transitions and interruptions, use of
materials and equipment, and beginning and ending the
period or the day. Ideally, the class should establish these
rules and procedures through discussion and mutual
consent by teacher and students.

build effective relationships through these

strategies:
 Using a wide variety of verbal and physical reactions
to students’ misbehavior, such as moving closer to
offending students and using a physical cue, such as
a finger to the lips, to point out inappropriate
behavior.
  Cuing the class about expected behaviors through
prearranged signals, such as raising a hand to
indicate that all students should take their seats.
 Providing tangible recognition of appropriate
behavior-with tokens or rewards, for example.
 Employing group contingency policies that hold the
entire group responsible for behavioral expectations.
 Employing home contingency techniques that involve
rewards and sanctions at home.

Establish Clear Learning Goals

Teachers can also exhibit appropriate levels of dominance
by providing clarity about the content and expectations of
an upcoming instructional unit. Important teacher actions
to achieve this end include:
 Establishing and communicating learning goals at the
beginning of a unit of instruction.
 Providing feedback on those goals.
 Continually and systematically re-visiting the goals.
 Providing summative feedback regarding the goals.

Take a Personal Interest in Students

Probably the most obvious way to communicate
appropriate levels of cooperation is to take a personal
interest in each student in the class. All students
appreciate personal attention from the teacher. Although
busy teachers-particularly those at the secondary level-do
not have the time for extensive interaction with all
students, some teacher actions can communicate personal
interest and concern without taking up much time.
Teachers can practices these steps to show interest:
 Talk informally with students before, during, and
after class about their interests.
 Greet students outside of school-for instance, at
extracurricular events or at the store.
 Single out a few students each day in the lunchroom
and talk with them.
  Be aware of and comment on important events in
students’ lives, such as participation in sports,
drama, or other extracurricular activities.
 Compliment students on important achievements in
and outside of school.
 Meet students at the door as they come into class;
greet each one by name.

Take Charge of Your Class

Get everyone’s attention before beginning class. That
means the lesson won’t be started, the lecture won’t
begin, and nothing will be written on the overhead until
everyone is in his or her seat paying attention.

Focus on the Disruptive Students

If students aren’t paying attention or busy doing other
things, get them focused by using nonverbal signals of
disapproval. If they are talking, pause and look toward
them. If in front of the class, continue with the lesson but
walk toward the problem students and stop near their
seats, while still teaching.

Let Students Choose Their Seats

At the beginning of the school year, let students sit where
they want for a few days. Then about the third day tell
them that the next class period they should find a seat
that they will keep permanently all year. When students
choose their seats, they have “ownership” in those seats
and tend to behave well in order to avoid being moved.

Give Incentives to Do Their Best on Assignments

If an assignment will not be collected and graded
individually, students may feel they have no reason to
make an effort to do a good job on the no-credit
assignment. For instance, a teacher will often do an
ungraded warm-up exercise to begin the class hour.
Establish Consequences for Misbehaving
Good classroom management starts the first day of
school. Once students learn there will be consequences for
misbehavior, they usually come around.

Challenges faced by teachers in classroom

management

 Young students often show an ignoring and

neglecting behavior as they do not know the
importance of education. Such uninterested and
unmotivated students cause frustration in teachers and
are a real challenge. Teachers can overcome this
problem by understanding what their students are
interested in. Teachers can then help their students
achieving their goals by encouraging them.
 Disrespectful behavior from students is also a
problem teachers usually face. Especially teens of this
era show such behavior to their teachers as they see
disrespectful attitudes towards teachers in different
movies or shows. If teachers want to solve this
problem, they should involve parents in this matter and
encourage them to become involved in their child’s
educational issues. When parents will become involved
in all this, they will teach their kids to respect their
teachers.
 Teachers also complain about lack of parental
cooperation and guidance with them. A student can
become successful only when parents support his
teachers. But in fact, parents start attacking teacher
when they hear complain from their kid against
teacher. Parents like to defend their child without
knowing their child’s behavior and problems.
 One of the toughest competitors of teachers in
classroom is the cell phone. Vibration and ringing bells
 and students texting their peers cause distraction.
Although cell phones are strictly prohibited in
classroom, some students still bring them regardless of
the consequences. Such students should be dealt with
an appropriate behavior according to their age group.
 Technology has become an essential part of
education so classrooms today are equipped with
computers. Computers are provided to students to get
help and knowledge online and make assignments. But
some students start misusing computers for personal
purposes. The best way to overcome this problem is to
monitor students strictly while working in computer lab.
 Sleep deprived and lethargic students are quite
irritating for teachers. Such students find it difficult to
concentrate on lecture and appear bored. Lethargy and
exhaustion may be caused by many factors one of
which is doing job in parallel to studies. To solve this
problem, teachers need to talk to students and their
parents as well.
 Teachers are sometimes afraid to discipline a student
because of risk of lawsuit if they fail to handle situation
correctly. Teachers require support of parents,
administration and school board in this regard.

Recommendations for good classroom management:

1. The students and teacher should first discuss and then

write a "group" contract adopting acceptable classroom
rules and procedures by the end of the first week of
school.

2. Periodically review the rules and procedures of the

classroom until the students can successfully adhere to
them.

3. Use simple verbal reprimands when the misbehaviour

occurs. Make sure that they are to the point, moderate in
tone, and private (e.g., "Stop talking and work on your
math problems, please").

4. Give praise to the entire class as frequently as possible

(e.g., "Thank you for working so quietly, “or "I'm
delighted to see you all working so well today").

5. A student who continually exhibits an unacceptable

behavior (e.g., out of his/her seat) might profit from an
"individualized" contract pinpointing the "desired"
behavior (e.g., remaining in his/her seat) and delineating
the consequences (e.g., if goal is reached, then student
will receive designated reward or recognition).

6. Intervene as soon as possible in order to prevent the

misbehavior from occurring (e.g., say "Harry, may I help
you with your assignment?" when the student begins to
show signs of frustration).

7. Use facial expressions to convey to the student that the

misbehavior was not totally overlooked. Circulate around
the room frequently, to avert potential behavior problems .