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7 UNIT 11 CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT Structure 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Objectives 11.3 Concept of Classroom Management 11.4 Dimensions of Classroom Management 11.4.1 Characteristics of Students 11.4.2 Classroom Environment 11.4.3 Classroom Rules and Procedures 11.5 Components of Classroom Management 11.6 Guidelines and Strategies for. Effective. Classroom Management 11.7 Let Us Sum Up 11.8 Unit-end Exercises 11.9 Suggested Readings 11.1 INTRODUCTION Teaching is changing behaviour. There is no teaching without learning. For effective learning, the classroom environment needs to be suitable and conducive. Effective instruction and effective management are inextricably interlinked. It is virtually impossible to have effective instruction without effective management. Effective management of the class is sine qua non for sustaining the child’s interest in the class and for higher achievement. It is only when the classroom is properly managed, can proper teaching and learning and any worthwhile relationship between teacher and pupil’s take place. You are a practising school teacher. You must have observed in your classroom that some students create problem for you when you are teaching them. They may not listen to you or they may listen less; they may refuse to pay attention; they may not find class work rewarding; they may indulge in undesirable behaviours such as throwing chalk on someone, dropping exercise books on the floor, snatching someone’s book, sweasing, fighting. In fact, they may do a number of things which a classroom practitioner like you knows very well. You may not like them to do all these things. This is because it affects adversely the learning environment in your classroom and thereby pupils’ learning achievements. You are, therefore, always interested in reducing or eliminating these undesirable behaviours on the part of your pupils. This is because you want to generate in the classroom an environment which facilitates pupils’ effective learning. How do you reduce or eliminate pupils undesirable behaviours in your classroom and promote their desirable behaviours? Many teachers use various types of reward and punishment to manage their classroom. They use punishment to eliminate pupils’ undesirable behaviours; and reward to promote their desirable behaviours. Some teachers feel that if a teacher prepares his lesson properly, he will never face any problem in this regard. Studies have revealed that teachers faced the aforesaid pupils’ disruptive behaviours even when they had prepared their lessons very well. Therefore, there is need for every teacher to acquire the skills to how to manage a classroom effectively. In this unit you will learn about the concept of classroom management alongwith its skills.

Transcript of Class Room Management

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UNIT 11 CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Structure

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Objectives

11.3 Concept of Classroom Management

11.4 Dimensions of Classroom Management

11.4.1 Characteristics of Students11.4.2 Classroom Environment11.4.3 Classroom Rules and Procedures

11.5 Components of Classroom Management

11.6 Guidelines and Strategies for. Effective. Classroom Management

11.7 Let Us Sum Up

11.8 Unit-end Exercises

11.9 Suggested Readings

11.1 INTRODUCTIONTeaching is changing behaviour. There is no teaching without learning. For effectivelearning, the classroom environment needs to be suitable and conducive. Effectiveinstruction and effective management are inextricably interlinked. It is virtually impossibleto have effective instruction without effective management. Effective management of theclass is sine qua non for sustaining the child’s interest in the class and for higher achievement.It is only when the classroom is properly managed, can proper teaching and learning andany worthwhile relationship between teacher and pupil’s take place.

You are a practising school teacher. You must have observed in your classroom that somestudents create problem for you when you are teaching them. They may not listen to youor they may listen less; they may refuse to pay attention; they may not find class workrewarding; they may indulge in undesirable behaviours such as throwing chalk on someone,dropping exercise books on the floor, snatching someone’s book, sweasing, fighting. Infact, they may do a number of things which a classroom practitioner like you knows verywell. You may not like them to do all these things. This is because it affects adversely thelearning environment in your classroom and thereby pupils’ learning achievements. Youare, therefore, always interested in reducing or eliminating these undesirable behaviourson the part of your pupils. This is because you want to generate in the classroom anenvironment which facilitates pupils’ effective learning.

How do you reduce or eliminate pupils undesirable behaviours in your classroom andpromote their desirable behaviours? Many teachers use various types of reward andpunishment to manage their classroom. They use punishment to eliminate pupils’undesirable behaviours; and reward to promote their desirable behaviours. Some teachersfeel that if a teacher prepares his lesson properly, he will never face any problem in thisregard. Studies have revealed that teachers faced the aforesaid pupils’ disruptive behaviourseven when they had prepared their lessons very well. Therefore, there is need for everyteacher to acquire the skills to how to manage a classroom effectively. In this unit you willlearn about the concept of classroom management alongwith its skills.

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11.2 OBJECTIVESAfter reading this unit, you will be able to:

l describe the need for effective classroom management;l describe the concept of classroom management;l explain the dimensions of classroom management;l explain the components of classroom management; andl describe the guidelines and strategies for effective classroom management.

11.3 CONCEPT OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENTClassroom Management consists of the teacher’s thoughts, plans and actions that createan orderly environment and promote learning. Classroom management stands formanagement of resources, pupils’ learning activities and behaviours in the classroom. Itis essentially a human relation skill. Classroom management is complex and many variablesneed to be considered when making decisions about specific situations. Planning andorganisations, procedures used for handling various types of behaviours of learners areall parts of classroom management.

You have two important goals when you plan for and implement the management system.The first is to create an environment that facilitates learning. The second should be todevelop in students the ability to manage and direct their own learning.

Check Your Progress

Notes: a) Write your answer in the space given below.b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.

1. What do you mean by the classroom management?

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11.4 DIMENSIONS OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENTClassroom Management refers to the actions and strategies teachers use to maintain orderin the classroom. Let us examine the meaning of ‘order’. Order means that students areperforming within acceptable limits the action necessary for a particular classroomevent to be successful.

It focuses on ways to establish and maintain workable systems for classroom groups,rather than ways to identify misbehaviour, resolve behavioural disorders or capture theattention of individual students.

Since classroom management deals with establishing and maintaining order in theclassroom, it is important to consider several fundamental issues about order and then toexamine strategies to achieve this order.

First, classroom order is achieved within the context of the classroom and each contextmakes different demands on the class members. For example, rules are often tied to thecontext or phases of a class session. All rules may not be in effect when students enter the

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room, settle down or prepare for class, attend to the lesson itself, close up at end of thelesson, or leave the classroom. Suppose you are dividing your fifth grade class into smallgroups to examine and test a number of rocks and minerals sample in various ways. Howare your decision about guidelines to maintain control affected by the age level and maturityof the students? You might need to monitor students differently to maintain control insmall groups as compared to whole class instruction.

Secondly, learning and order in the classroom are closely related. Learning is served byinstructional function such as covering the curriculum and promoting mastery of the content.You can achieve order by using meaningful functions such as organising small groupwork, establishing rules and procedures, reacting to misbehaviour and monitoring andpacing classroom events.

Third, order affects students involvement in learning task, students engagement is essentiallya by-product of well conceived group activities. Thus, to be an effective ClassroomManager, you may place your emphasis on managing the group rather than managingindividual students.

Finally, co-operation in the minimum requirements for appropriate student-behaviour.Order in class room is achieved with students depending on their willingness to be part ofthe sequence of the events. You can achieve cooperation with both active and passiveinvolvement.

Establishing and maintaining order in the classroom is achieved in a variety of ways:

i) Getting organised: Establishing order begins with careful preparation for the start ofthe school year, and organising the classroom and materials.

ii) Planning for management: Another aspect of establishing and maintaining control isto carefully plan for ways to manage instruction, motivate students, address studentsdiversity and work with parents.

iii) Conducting the class: You can establish and maintain control by developing co-operative classroom, encouraging and reinforcing appropriate behaviour and focussingon order when actually conducting the lesson.

You can initiate action to develop a cooperative classroom by helping students’ self esteem,building a positive teacher-student relationship, building up cohesiveness and encouragingstudents to assume responsibility for their behaviour. Actions can also be taken to encourageand reinforce appropriate behaviours. Your plans for management should consider thefollowing elements of your overall classroom environment:

i) characteristics of studentsii) classroom environmentiii) classroom rules and procedures

11.4.1 Characteristics of Students

As it has been mentioned earlier, whom you teach determines how you teach, and this isalso true for classroom management. Some students prove greater management challengesthan do others. In your classroom you might have observed that low achievers are idle orengaged in inappropriate activities. The developmental age of the learner also influenceyour management plans. Children at different stages understand and interpret rules andprocedures in different ways.

Students in the lower primary grades have generally short attention span and they tend tobreak rules more from simply forgetting. Hence, you may clear and practice the rulescarefully. Role playing and positive reinforcement for compliance can help in fixing therules in students’ mind.

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11.4.2 Classroom Environment

A second planning consideration is creating a congenial environment in the classroom sothat teaching and learning can occur as efficiently as possible. You might be experiencingpupils exhibiting disruptive behaviours e.g., “I can’t see the board”; “I didn’t get mycopy”; “I could not hear her” etc.

Pupils’ disruptive behaviours arise from a number of factors. These factors are physical,social and educational. Amount of space for working and movement, seating arrangement,weather, location of the school etc. constitute physical factors. You must have experiencedthat if there is inadequate space for pupils to sit or move in the classroom and the seatingarrangement is unsuitable or it is too cold or too hot, pupils have the tendency to engagein disruptive behaviours. Classroom rules, teachers attitude towards pupils, pupilsbehaviour towards each other, how children are required to work-alone/together constitutesocial factors. Relevance and difficulty of the learning task teaching behaviour of teachers,nature of activities in the classroom etc. constitutes educational factors.

Classroom setting is an important variable in classroom management. The classroomsetting include proper furniture for students to sit, proper seating arrangement, properplacement of the blackboard, maps chalks etc. Further seating arrangement should begoverned by the nature of classroom activity e.g. for discussion lessons pupils may sit ina circle. If the furniture and seating arrangement is not suitable for the age group of thestudents, it may not be comfortable. The physical discomfort on their part results in theirattention to the learning task and increase the chances of their indulging in disruptivebehaviour. A teacher should also keep instructional material aids such as books, graphsapparatus for demonstration etc., at an appropriate place. If a teacher does not do this he/she may have to look for them when needed in process of teaching. Such a situation is verydistracting for students and provides a lots of opportunity to students to indulge in the,disruptive behaviour when the teacher is searching for the material.

11.4.3 Classroom Rules and Procedures

Rules and procedures are threads that provides structure to the social fabric of classroom. Class room rules establish standards for acceptable student behaviour. Rules shouldbe relatively few in number and should provide general guidelines of behaviour. Rulesmust be consistent with the practices of the school. They promote a sense of ownershipand emphasize internal versus external control and promote students’ self-regulation. Rulestreat students as moral thinkers and help them to see the values (for example, respect forothers). Rules must be consistent with the policies of the school.

The following guidelines may be followed for developing rules

1. Student Involvement2. Class-School Consistency3. Number of Rules4. Clarity5. Rationales6. ConsequencesInvolving student in the process is consistent with a ‘responsibility model ofmanagement’

The number of rules should be as small as possible. No specific number exists, but five isoften cited as a rule of thumb. The most common reason that student break rules is theyforget. This tendency is particularly true with young children, but it is often the case witholder ones as well.

The rules are generally on the first day of class and they are not referred to again until theyare broken and hence they are forgotten. The solution is to identify a short list that you

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intend to enforce unfailingly and consistently. Some examples might include the following:

l Bring all materials to every class.l Treat the teacher and your classmates with respect.l Speak only when given permission by the teacher.l Remain in your seat until given permission to leave.l Keep your hands and materials to yourself. .These rules apply to most if not all classrooms. Teachers usually complain that studentscome to class without their book, pencils, or notebook, paper. Researchers have foundthat 80 percent of classroom management problems are related to students’ talkinginappropriately, and most of the remaining 20 percent are related to students’ being out oftheir seats without permission (Jones and Jones, 1990). Teachers also complain aboutstudents’ tendencies to hit, poke, shove, grab, and “fiddle around” with each other’sbelongings. If the rules identified are consistently enforced, most management problemswould cease to exist. .

State rules clearly and specifically. For example, compare the following rules:

i) Always come to school preparedii) Bring your book, notebook, paper and pencil to every class

Rule (ii) is clear and precise and explicitly describes the desired behaviour; there is nomistaking in its meaning. In contrast, rule (i) requires additional interpretation. Interpretationadds to uncertainty, and in extreme cases, it can even lead to misunderstanding andcontroversy. When rules are stated in more general terms, such as “Treat the teacher andyour classmates with respect”, explain and provide examples and non-examples of obeyingthe rules.

In presenting rules to students, carefully explain the reasons for them. This might be assimple as explaining “why it is necessary for learning that only one person talk at a time”or “it could involve a lighter discussion about the need to respect the rights of others?”Understanding the rationale for rules is an important part of the responsibility model ofmanagement.

Plan consequences for breaking rules. Decide before hand what you are going to do whena student breaks a rule. Many teachers have difficulty with management because theyhave only a vague uncertain idea as to what they will do next. Making these decisions isdifficult because of the many contingencies involved, but planning for them is importantnevertheless.

In considering consequences, student characteristics are important. With high schoolstudents who have been socialised to classroom rules, a simple reminder may suffice andexplicit consequences may be less important.

Classroom procedures establish the routines that learners will follow in ‘their daily activities.They help students understand how to carry out routine classrooom tasks and what isexpected of them during different activities and at different times. As opposed to rules,which are few in number, the typical classroom has a number of procedures, encompassingactivities - such as entering the classroom, putting materials in folders “submitting work”,obtaining bathroom passes, changing activities, going to lunch, and many others. Withhigh school students who have learned the functioning of school, establishing proceduresis quite simple and planning for them is fairly easy. In contrast, planning the proceduresfor a kindergarten or first grade class requires careful considerations.

As procedures become established they become routines. This is your goal. Routines areinvaluable to both teachers and students. They help in simplifying the teachers’ dayswork, reducing the number of decisions they must make, energies to allowing them todevote both their emotional and physical energies to instruction. They help students by

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communicating expectations and making the environment predictable. As a simple example,if students know they are to get out their homework while the teacher takes attendance, theteacher does not have to spend energy reminding them. This simplifies the environmentfor both the students and the teacher.

Some general areas in which procedures must be considered are listed in Table 11.1.These procedures provide directions for students from the time they enter the classroomuntil they leave. Your consideration of procedures before students arrive in your class andthe teaching and explanation of them to your students is crucial to the smooth functioningof your classroom.

To give you an idea of the kind of details needed in considering procedures, we havebroken down one area-Entering classroom at the beginning of the period into sub areas.Although amount of detail may seem overwhelming, it is important to go through themcarefully considering the age of the students and the school you teach in.

Table No. 11.1: Areas for Considering Classroom Procedures

Procedural Areas Concerns

1. Entering Classroom/ What should students do when they enter in theBeginning of period classroom?

2. Large-group instruction What are the rule for participating (e.g. should studentsraise their hands to respond)?

3. Individual/ small-group What should student do when they need help?Instruction

4. Materials and equipment How are papers handed in and back?What about tape and scissors?

5. End of period How do students leave the classrooom (e.g. does thebell or the teacher signal permission to leave)?

6. Out-of-room-policies How do children receive permission to use the bathroomor go to the main office?

11.5 COMPONENTS OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENTClassroom management is an ingredient of successful teaching. The skill of classroommanagement is one of the most important skills which every teacher must acquire tomanage his/her classroom effectively. Mentioned below are some important component ofthe classroom management suite which have been identified by observing behaviours ofteachers in successfully managed classrooms. These classrooms exhibited a high prevalenceof work involvement and a low level of misbehaviour in learning setting. Which have beenfound to be effective in creating an effective classroom ecology and learning milieu.

i) Reinforce Desirable Behaviour

There are a number of ways in which a teacher can manage his/her classroom effectively.One of these way is to reinforce (praise) the good (desirable) behaviours and try to ignorethe bad (undesirable) ones. Praise for appropriate behaviours is probably the key behaviourfor achieving effective classroom management.

A number of studies have demonstrated that whilst reinforcing (expressing approval of )desirable behaviours leads to increase in these behaviours, attending to inappropriatebehaviour even by expressing disapproval may increase the very behaviours it is attemptingto reduce. For example, it has been observed that when a teacher increases the number ofsit down commands, it increases the amount of ‘out of seat’ behaviour. On the other hand,the praise for ‘in seat’ reduces ‘out of seat behaviour’. A teacher should therefore, makeuse of positive reinforcers, both verbal and non-verbal for pupils desirable behaviours as

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it increases the chances of these behaviours to reoccur. He/she should however, ignore theinappropriate) behaviour as far as possible.

To eliminate pupils inappropriate behaviours. Punishment (particularly physicalpunishment) should be avoided as far as possible. In a situation when you feel thatpunishment is also absolutely essential eliminate publisher, you may resort to it. Butfrequent use of punishment is forbidden as it loses it, worth, on the contrary, it makes thepupil hardened.

ii) Keep an Eye on Each Pupil

A teacher should always keep an eye on each pupil in the classroom with a view towatching everyone’s behaviour. Many a times it happens that when a teacher is writing onthe blackboard, pupils many throw pupils etc. at other. In another situation” a teachergive some mathematical problems to her pupils and ask them to solve these problems onthe blackboard. Each pupil comes to the blackboard on his/her turn and solves one problem.While teacher is busy in looking at the blackboard to see whether the pupil is solving theproblem correctly, other pupils are waiting for their turn. In such a situation, a pupilSheetal leans over to her right and whispers to Surjeet. Another pupil Surinder sitting atthe back of Sheetal watches this and leans over to Sheetal and whispers. The said behavioursof Sarita, Sheetal, Surjeet and Surinder are undesirable ones and need to be checkedimmediately before they spread to other pupils. For checking mild misbehaviours on thepart of pupils in such situations, a teacher should display through her behaviour that shehad eyes in the back of her head.

What behaviours on the part of a teacher provide cues to pupils as to whether he/she doesor does not know what is going on in the classroom? If she picks the pupil correctly and ontime, it communicates to pupils that she knows what is happening in the classroom. If shecommits a mistake in this regard, it provides the message to pupils that she does not knowwhat is happening. A teacher generally commits two types of mistake i.e. target mistakesand timing mistakes.

a) Target mistakesi) When a teacher picks the wrong child for a deviant act.ii) The teacher notices a less serious deviant and overlooks a more serious one that was

occurring at the time or had occurred before the less serious behaviour is noticed.

b) Timing mistakes

When a pupil starts whispering to another, and then a third one joins them, and theteacher notices this deviant act on their part, it is too late because the deviant act hasalready spread before the teacher notices and takes steps to stop it.

iii) Give Clear Directions

You know that giving directions is one of the teaching behaviours. You give directions topupils for a number of purposes. If your direction is not clear, it may disrupt teachinglearning process in the classroom. For instance, a teacher asks pupils to close the windowas the dust is coming into the classroom. In such a case, many a times it happens thatmany students rush to the window to close it. This results in confusion. It has taken placeas the teacher did not give the direction to a specific pupil. Similarly ambigiuous directiondisrupts teaching learning process. It is therefore, desired that a teacher should give cleardirections so that the learning process is not affected adversely.

iv) Ensure Sufficient Work for Each Pupil

For effective classroom management it is necessary that pupils are engaged in work. Forthis purpose she should direct his/her pupils to take down notes of what she is teaching inthe classroom. Note taking behaviour on the part of pupils keep them busy. It is also

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useful in comprehending the message of the teacher as pupils are required to process theinformation being given by the teachers before taking notes. This therefore, improvestheir information processing skills also. Further a teacher should ensure that every pupilin her class is taking notes of what she is teaching. She may check it as she feels the needfor it.

Many a times, teachers give assignments to pupils to be completed within the class. Insuch a situation a teacher should ensure that assignment is adequate for all the pupils.High achievers if they are able to complete the assignment earlier, may be given an additionalassignment to keep them busy. Keeping pupils busy in the class is highly essential asidleness is a major ingredient of undesirable behaviour.

v) Generate Interaction in the ClassroomIn a classroom where the teacher alone is talking and the students are passive listeners,there is every possibility on the part of some students to engage in some disruptivebehaviours. This is because they are not engaged in the teaching learning process. In orderto manage the classroom effectively there is a need on the part of a teacher to generateinteraction in the classroom. Interaction stands for communication between the teacherand his pupils. A teacher should not only generate classroom interaction but also bringabout a change in the classroom interaction pattern. Once the students are engaged in anyinteraction a teacher is successful for a short duration in the classroom effectively.Continuing the same pattern of interaction for prolonged duration in the classroomintroduces monotony with consequent lack of interest and inattention resulting in pupilsdisruptive’ behaviour. A change in the classroom interaction pattern breaks this monotonyand makes students alert.

vi) Secure and Sustain Pupils Attention on the Learning TaskSecuring and sustaining pupils attention on the learning task is very helpful in managingclassroom effectively. If the students do not pay attention to the learning task there isalways a tendency on their part to engage in disruptive behaviour. But it is not very easyon the part of the teacher to secure and sustain the pupils’ attention towards the learningtask. A teacher can achieve this through various ways. Use of gestures is an importantteaching behaviour for introducing variation in teaching. Gestures are very useful to expressfeelings and emotions to emphasize significant ideas or objects, to indicate shapes, sizeand movement of objectives, etc. Constant use of the same pitch, tone and speed by ateacher makes his/her communication dull and drab. Change in tone and pitch in theteacher’s voice immediately attract pupils’ attention.

A teacher while imparting knowledge to her pupils uses aural or visual medium. Constantuse of one medium for imparting knowledge distracts pupils attention from what she issaying or communicating. Variation in this medium from aural to visual or aural to aural,visual to visual helps a teacher in securing and sustaining pupils attention on the learningtask.

Random questioning is another effective device for managing a classroom effectively.This makes them to listen to the teacher’s questions attentively and think of answers to allthe questions.

vii) Prepare the Lesson EffectivelyThe preparation for delivery of the lesson on the part of a teacher includes identifying hisinstructional objectives and then selecting the appropriate teaching strategy to realisethese objectives.

Effective preparation on the part of the teacher with regard to his/her teaching strategy torealise the specific instructional objectives viz : mastery over the content, selection ofappropriate teaching aids and so on ensures pupils interest and motivation in the learningtask and thereby reduces the chances of pupils’ indulgence in disruptive behaviours. Wellprepared and confident teachers have been found to be the effective classroom managers.

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viii) Smooth Transition from one type of Instructional Activity to Another

When the transition from one type of activity to another is not smooth the pupils becomerestless and some begin to talk. There are many occasions when the flow of an activity inthe classroom is broken by circumstances beyond the control of the teacher. For instance,when a peon brings a message from the head of the institution for the teacher, the flow ofthe teaching activity in the classroom gets interrupted. In another instances, a teacherterminates an activity, starts another and then initiates a return to the earlier terminatedactivity. Another situation could be that a teacher initiates an activity, leaves it incompleteand moves to another activity. These are some behaviours which interfere the smooth flowof instructional activities in the classroom and need to be avoided.

All these behaviour/ skills discussed above have been found to be effective in classroommanagement. There is a need for teacher to acquire these behaviours to be effectiveclassroom managers.

Check Your Progress

Notes: a) Write your answer in the space given below.b) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.

2. Describe some disruptive behaviours in which students of your class generallyindulge.

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3. Mention five components of the classroom management skills.

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4. What do you mean by ‘teacher target mistakes’ and teacher timing mistakes?

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11.6 GUIDELINES AND STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVECLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Some basic guidelines and strategies for effective classroom management are presentedbelow for your better understanding:

l Always attempt to have an activity that is meaningful to you and that you anticipatewill be meaningful to your students. Have confidence that given a fair chance youbring it off. This gives you an air of resolve you do pot have otherwise.

l Be aware of the attitudes you are projecting towards class activities. Are they attitudesof confidence, enthusiasm, and purpose? Or are you communicating uncertainly,frustration, and superficiality? Learn to take an inventory of your own moods and toget yourself mentally ready to face a class.

l Work to avoid falling into a mechanical, matter-of-fact approach to teaching. Beenough of a risk taker that you are not afraid to put a substantial amount of yourselfinto your teaching.

l Make a serious effort to come to grips with the question of what is and is not desirableand tolerable behaviour in your classroom. As a teacher of groups of young learnersyou need to take a stance in favour of what is reasonable and acceptable groupbehaviour as opposed to what is thoughtless and irresponsible.

l Learn to keep your fingers on the “pulse of the call”. Move swiftly and purposefullyto control behaviour that threatens to distract from the Lesson. Do not get in thehabit of\ignoring minor behaviour problems in the hope they will simply go away. Inmost cases they will not disappear.

l Get students in tune with you before you attempt to carry on with your teachingagenda. Be careful not to allow slippage here. Do not attempt to take over about thecompetitions. Use pauses, restarts, or lowering about of the voice to cause studentsto attend. Walk through exercises periodically with your students to keep them usedto working harmoniously with you.

l Learn to use silence to advantage and to cultivate body language. Your eyes andyour gestures are critically important to you here.

l Anticipate likely consequences of what you ask students to do. Try to avoid alwaysbeing in a reactive (corrective) position with your classes. Learn to use preventionmaintenance to keep yourself out of the corrective mode as much as possible.

l When it becomes necessary, use corrective maintenance calmly and confidently, butmake it penetrate. Do not interrupt the whole class to reprimand one offender wheneverit is possible to avoid it.

l Tell the class in clear terms what you are up to and the behaviour you expect of them.Learn to recognize signs that adjustments in strategy are necessary.

l Make a determined effort to combat uncontrolled chatter in your classes. It isdisconcerting to you and to students trying to attention. Teach your students torecognise when talking is acceptable and when it is disruptive.

l Do not get in the habit of doing classroom management on the run. Take time to planfor it as a key aspect of your teaching.

11.7 LET US SUM UPClassroom management is an important ingredient of successful teaching. The skill ofclassroom management is one of the most important skills which one should aquire tomanage the classroom effectively. The term ‘classroom management’ includes themanagement of resources, learners’ disruptive behaviours, and learning activities in the

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classroom. Disruptive behaviour may be in the form of throwing chalk at someone snatchingsomeone’s book, fighting swearing etc.

Pupils’ disruptive behaviours in the classroom affects their learning adversely. Suchbehaviour needs to be eliminated or reduced so as to generate an environment conducivefor learning in the classroom. Many teachers feel that if they prepare the lesson very well,.they will not face any problem in the classroom in this regard. Studies have revealed thatteachers faced disruptive behaviour even when they had prepared their lesson effectively.

Research studies have demonstrated that certain behaviours or strategies are quite helpfulin managing classroom effectively. The strategies which were identified while observingteachers in successfully managed classroom include: reinforcing desirable behaviours,keeping an eye on each pupil, giving clear directions, ensuring sufficient work for eachpupil, securing and sustaining Pupils attention on the learning tasks, classroom setting,preparing lesson effectively and smooth transition from one activity to another.

11.8 UNIT-END EXERCISES1. Discuss the need of Classroom Management.2. Describe the Dimensions of Classroom Management

11.9 SUGGESTED READINGSCorrie, Malcolm et. al. (1978) : Classroom Management Strategies: A Study in SecondarySchool, Edinburgh. The Scottish Council for Research in Education.Kounin, Jacob S. (1970): Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms, New York,Holt, Reinbhart and Winston. Inc.Steere Bob F. (1988) : Faculty and Effective Classroom Management - A Resource ForTeachers. New York State University of New York.M.C. Minus, Mick (1989) : Troublesome Behaviour in the Classroom - A Teachers’Survival Guide, New York, Nicohols Publishing Company.

ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS1. Classroom management is management of resources, pupils learning activities and

disruptive behaviours in the classroom.

2. a) throwing a book on someoneb) snatching some body’s bookc) fighting with someoned) whispering with the student sitting close to him/here) not listening to the teacher at all

3. i) Re-inforcing desirable behavioursii) Keeping an eye on each pupiliii) Generating interaction in the classroomiv) Securing and sustaining pupils attention in the learning tasks

4. Target mistake consists of when a teacher picks up a wrong child for deviant act.When a teacher notices the deviant act after it has already spread, the teacher commitstiming mistakes.