Trends and Issues in Science and Math Education
- to implement strategies for effecting change,
CHANGE MANAGEMENT ADJUSTMENT
"Change will not come if
we wait for some other
person, or if we wait for
some other time. We are
the ones we've been
waiting for. We are the
change that we seek."
--- Barack Obama
What is CHANGE?
 to make radically different,
 to make a shift from one to another;
 to undergo a modification.
 To most people, change is scary. It requires us to
depart from the known, move towards an
uncertain end, and inevitably encounter a few
hiccups along the way. Why do we take on the
challenge? Without change, we cannot move
forward as humans, or as institutions.
Change management
- provides structure and oversight within
change to quell people’s apprehensions
and fears when it comes to the change
- a systematic approach to dealing with the
transition or transformation of an
organization's goals, processes or
technologies
With effective change management, change is far
from scary. And with inspirational leaders at the
helm, change is inviting, it is fun, and it is energizing.
In addition to strong leadership, sustainable change
requires a:
1. guiding vision;
2. skilled team members;
3. individual incentives;
4. adequate resources; and,
5. a plan of action.
 Just as with any organization, change
management is relevant to schools and districts.
Education is an ever-evolving field. From new
pedagogies, new technology, new funding
parameters, and new expectations for graduates,
change is a fixture of education. School
leadership needs to be prepared for these shifts
and capable of guiding staff along the way and
in the face of uncertainty.
The Purpose Of Change Management:
- to control change; and
- to help people to adapt to change.
The starting point for successful change is to
communicate effectively the reasons why change is
needed!
Honest communication about the issues and the
proposed action helps people see the logic of change.
Effective education helps address misconceptions about
the change, including misinformation or inaccuracies.
Classroom Management
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.
—A MORE ENCOMPASSING OR UPDATED VIEW OF
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT extends to everything that
teachers may do to facilitate or improve student learning,
which includes:
 behavior (a positive attitude, happy facial
expressions, encouraging statements, the respect
and fair treatment of students, etc.),
 environment (for example, a welcoming, well-lit
classroom filled with intellectually stimulating
learning materials that’s organized to support
specific learning activities),
 expectations (the quality of work that teachers
expect students to produce, the ways that
teachers expect students to behave toward other
students, the agreements that teachers make with
students),
 materials (the types of texts, equipment, and
other learning resources that teachers use),
 activities (the kinds of learning experiences that
teachers design to engage student interests,
passions, and intellectual curiosity).
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.
•Why CHANGE and ADJUSTMENT in
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT?
-Teachers who can draw on a range of responses when
dealing with common classroom misbehaviors are more
likely to keep those students in the classroom, resulting in
fewer disruptions to instruction, enhanced teacher
authority, and better learning outcomes for struggling
students (Sprick Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002).
Handling common classroom problem
behaviors using a Classroom Menu
Trends and Issues in Science and Math Education

7.) BEHAVIOR CONFERENCE

A behavior conference is a brief meeting between
-A good organizing tool for teachers is to create a
teacher and student to discuss the student's problem
classroom menu that outlines a range of response options
behavior(s).
for behavior management and
Example:
discipline. (Marzano, Marzano, & Pickering, 2003).
A non-compliant student is taken aside by the teacher for
a brief in-class conference, in which the teacher
establishes that the student is in control of her behavior,
states the behavioral expectations for the classroom, and
1.) BEHAVIORAL REMINDER
informs the student that she will be given a disciplinary
This strategy is used when the student appears to be
referral if her behaviors do not improve immediately.
distracted or otherwise requires a simple reminder of
(Fields, 2004)
expected behaviors.

8.) DEFUSING TECHNIQUES

Example:
Defusing techniques are any teacher actions taken to
The teacher makes eye contact with the student who is
calm a student or otherwise defuse a situation with the
misbehaving and points to a classroom rules chart.
potential for confrontation or emotional escalation.
(Simonsen, Fairbanks, Briesch, Myers, & Sugai, 2008).
Example:
The teacher sends a student to the guidance counselor to
2.) ACADEMIC ADJUSTMENT
discuss the issue(s) causing him anger.
Academic adjustments can be useful when the teacher
(Daly & Sterba, 2011)
judges that the student's problem behaviors are triggered
or exacerbated by the required academic task(s).

Example: BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT MENU:

The teacher allows the student additional time to
complete an academic task. MIDDLE SCHOOL EXAMPLE
(Kern, Bambara & Fogt, 2002) •Francine. is in a morning section of class, whispering to two
of her friends sitting nearby. Mrs. Stevenson can see that the
3.) ENVIRONMENTAL ADJUSTMENT whispering is beginning to distract students in proximity to
This strategy is used when the teacher judges that an
Francine.
environmental element (e.g., distracting activities,
-Mrs. Stevenson, decides to develop a behavior management
proximity of another student) is contributing to the
student's problem behavior. menu to help her to respond more flexibly and effectively to
common student misbehaviors in her classroom. Once that
Example: menu is in place, Mrs. Stevenson is able to manage two
The teacher moves the student's seat away from different student situations with success.
distracting peers. -Behavioral Reminder . The teacher makes eye contact with
(Kern & Clemens, 2007) Francine while teaching and puts a finger to her lips to signal
that the student should stop talking and attend to instruction.
4.) WARNING
-Environmental Adjustment. When Francine continues to
A warning is a teacher statement informing the student
talk to peers, the teacher moves her to a seat near the front of
that continued misbehavior will be followed by a specific
disciplinary consequence.
the room, away from her friends and close to the teacher.
-Warning. Francine continues to clown at her desk, making
Example: faces and whispering comments to no one in particular. The
The student is warned that continued misbehavior will teacher approaches her desk and tells Francine quietly that if
result in the she continues to talk and distract other students, she will need
teacher's calling the parent.(Simonsen, Fairbanks, Briesch, to stay after class for a teacher conference, which will probably
Myers, & Sugai, 2008) make her late for lunch. Francine’s behaviors improve
immediately.
5.) TIME OUT
Time-out (from reinforcement) is a brief removal of the
•Summarization
student from the setting due to problem behaviors.
-Generally speaking, effective teachers tend to display
Examples: strong classroom-management skills, while the hallmark of the
The teacher sends a misbehaving student to a neighboring inexperienced or less effective teacher is a disorderly
classroom for 10 minutes, where the student is to sit alone classroom filled with students who are not working or paying
and complete classwork. attention.
(Yell, 1994)

6.) RESPONSE COST

Response cost is the taking away of privileges or other
valued elements ('cost') in response to student
misbehavior.

Example:
A student is given 5 good-behavior points at the start of
class--and
then has one deducted for each incident of misbehavior.
(DuPaul & Stoner, 2002)