MANAGING THE CLASSROOMA VERY SALIENT RESPONSIBILITY IN TEACHING AND

LEARNING SITUATIONS IS CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

DR. MARLOW EDIGER, PROFESSOR EMERITUS

Truman State University

A knowledgeable teacher may fail inteaching due to inability to work effectivelywith pupils. Thus, pupils may be entertainingeach other during class time, talking aloudincessantly, walking around aimlessly in theclassroom, and bothering others, among otherannoyances. When supervising imiversity stu-dent teachers in the public schools, the worstscenario observed by the writer pertained tothe following:

"The entire class of 33 pupils was restlesswith much purposeless wandering in the room.The writer could barely walk between the rows.Selected pupils tried to trip each other as theywalked past their close together desks. Therewas continuous talking aloud with others, butit was not related to the ongoing tinit being pur-sued. The cooperating teacher was not in theclassroom at the time of visitation. The studentteacher cried during my conference with her. Iassured her that she had gotten an impossibleroom for student teaching."

But, what can be done to help pupils learnin these situations?

* very carefiil planning of each lesson sothat pupils realize the seriousness ofteaching and learning.

* keep the lesson moving forward tominimize interruptions.

* engage pupils with interestingactivities.

* observe pupils continuously to keepthem on task.

* stand next to the initial disrupter whileteaching.

* give honest praise to pupils doing goodwork.

* knowledgeable resource persons mustbe available when solving misbehav-iors problems and work out a plan forimproving classroom discipline. Theschool district must also have a dis-cipline manual for teachers to follow(Ediger and Rao, 2007).

Thirty three pupus in a space for twentyis too many. A professional teacher must staynear to the classroom at all times and be avail-able for assistance. She needs to model goodteaching techniques an adequate number oftimes for the student teacher to observe andemulate. The above asterisked items providedirection and guidance for improving teach-ing and learning situations.

Grouping pupils for instruction needs tobe planned very carefiiUy. There are timeswhen pupils achieve best in a homogeneouslygrouped situation, such as in teaching readingto a group of talented elementary school agedlearners. These pupils may challenge eachother in positive ways, especially in discus-sion situations whereby higher levels of cog-nition involving critical and creative thinkingas well as problem solving are involved.Needs of learners, also, to determine whichpupils go into a group such as when diagnosesin remedial reading is stressed as in a smallgroup of pupils needing assistance in utilizingcontext clues to identify unknown words (SeeX^gotsky, 1933-1978).

The class as a whole provides opportuni-ties for pupus to be introduced to a new unit of

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study in the social studies whereby all mightview an audio-visual presentation. The teach-er may point out specifics within the activityto enhance achievement. At the beginning,during, and at the end of the AV presentation,he/she may lead pupils in discussing answersto questions. Problem areas might be identi-fied and committees formed to researcb rele-vant items (Kumar and Hablemariam (2010).

In science, the class as a whole mightobserve a demonstration or experiment. Theactivity must possess clarity for all to observewhat is transpiring. Adequate background in-formation must be presented so tbe pupils willattach meaning to the ensuing experiences.Small groups might be established with mem-bers interacting to clarify ideas. Mannerlymovement to form each group needs empha-sis (See Nieto, et.al, 2010-2011).

A mathematics teacher, for example, teach-ing the class as a whole, might show with theuse of manipulative materials regrouping ofnumbers necessary in division. Learners mustunderstand in a meaningfiil manner whattranspires when renaming occurs. Pupils needto attach meaning sequentially to conceptspresented. Previous leanings are needed toacquire new subject matter ideas with pupilsperceiving the relationship of ideas (Tucker,et.al. (2010).

Pupil progress is observed when the math-ematics teacher observes learners workingon the assigned activities. Diagnosis andremediation is involved with pupils individ-ually being guided in correcting errors, eitherinductively or deductively. Peer mediatedinstruction may also be used if there is aknowledgeable person, providing leadership,in each small group. %,

Peer interaction is a preferred learningstyle of selected learners. This needs to beemphasized in the classroom along with otherstyles such as

* explanations/short lectures presentedby the teacher. The content with the use

of purposeful instructional aids mustbe well planned, clearly presented withprosody. Homogeneous or heteroge-neous groups may then be formed toenrich and extend understandings.

* project methods whereby committeemembers have a purpose in developinga project directly related to the ongoingunit of study. The purpose emphasiz-es planning and clarifying an abstractconcept into the semi-concrete andconcrete such as making a model, dra-matizing a written play, cooperativelydeveloping notebooks which covercontent within a unit of study, amongothers. Carrying out the plans and eval-uating the final product are also partsof the activity.

* debates involving a societal issue, fol-lowing the rules for debating involvedlearners as well as being on tbeir de-velopmental level. Adequate researchmust be done to support the side of thedebating team. The research materialsused involve the computer, basal text-books, and encyclopedias, among oth-ers (See Baildon and Baildon, 2008).

For each of the above asterisked items, theteacher must use proper management proce-dures to optimize learning and minimize dis-ruptions. Good classroom managers are wellprepared and possess foresight to avoid pupilmisbehavior. Thus in grouping for instruc-tion, pupils need to move their chairs quietlyand orderly from one group to the next meth-od of arranging pupils for instruction. Muchnoise and disorder may transpire if a smootharrangement is not in evidence. It is moredifficult then for learners to be attentive andconcentrate on the tasks at hand. Pupils canbe taught to pick up their chairs quietly andquickly to move on to an ensuing experienceinvolving a seating 2irrangement. Learningproper manners is important in the classroom

Managing The Classroom /17

setting (See Moeller 2005). In discussions,for instance, pupils must experience qualityguidelines which

* do not interrupt while a participant isspeaking in a committee setting.

* listen carefully to each participantand ask for clarification if content ex-pressed is not clear or questions arise.

* speak clearly and stay on the topic be-ing discussed.

* ideas during the discussion need tocirculate among committee memberswith no one dominating the firee flowof ideas.

Discipline and the Curriculum

There may be cases where special pro-cedures need emphasis to aid in classroommanagement.. Each school board should pos-sess a manual in the arena of discipline. ZeroTolerance has been adopted by a few. This is astrict procedure of discipline. Thus, for exam-ple, there may be a mle whereby possessionof a knife in school makes for suspension fora designated period of dme such as three daysto a week. A news headline a few years agomentioned a short finger nail file carried by anelementary pupil to school. This was consid-ered to be a knife by the school administration.The boy had not been in previous trouble butwas suspended. The interpretation can be verystrict as to what the intended use was. There isa huge difiference between an eight inch sharphunting knife and a short finger nail file. Andyet to define these specifics could amount toa large volume of disciplinary items. To besure, bringing the hunting knife or a loadedpistol to school must have dire consequences.A few pupils may be expelled due to the dan-ger involved to others. These, however, mustreceive home schooling provided by the localschool district.

Less stringent than Zero Tolerance is as-sertive discipline whereby the teacher writes

the pupil's name on the board for the first of-fense in agreed upon rules of conduct, postedon the bulletin board. After three offenses,the pupil is sent to the principal's office in-dicating what the pupil had done to warrantthis. Upon retum to the classroom, the teachernotices if the pupil's behavior is conduciveto leaming. In my graduate class Theory ofAdministration, three students teaching inthe same school complained about their highschool principal being a very kind, likable,and considerate person who in faculty meet-ings always invited his teachers to send tohis office misbehaving pupils with disciplineproblems. The problem was, according tothese three teachers, that pupils behaved thesame or even worse when coming back to theclassroom.

With practice, the teacher may find waysthat work in curbing discipline problems.He/she needs to use all of the suggestionson teaching and leaming in this manuscriptto see what works generally and in specificsituations. This should include searching theliterature, using intemet and other referencesources, in securing ideas to implement inhumane approaches that which is conduciveto solve problems relating to discipline andclassroom management. There are a plethoraof sources available for assistance. It is im-portant to discuss with other professionalsas to what helps in the area of disciplinaryproblems. The teacher should never give up inproviding a classroom which helps pupils toachieve objectives of instmction in cognition,in skills, and in attitudinal dimensions.

ReferencesBaildon, Rindi, and Mark Baildon (2008),"Guiding

Independence: Developing a Research Tool to Sup-port Student Decision Making in Selecting OutlineInformation Sources," The Reading Teacher, 61 (8),636-648.

Ediger, Marlow, and D. Bhaskara Rao (2007), TeachingSocial Studies. New Delhi, India: Discovery PubUsh-ing House, Chapters One and Two.

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Kumar, Saheesh, and Rezene Hablemariam (2010),'Xeaming with Multimedia; A Constructive Coop-erative Approach in Education," Edutrends, 15-18.

MocUer, K. (2005), "Creating Zones of Possibilities forStruggling Readers," Journal of Literacy Research,3(5(4), 419^50.

Nieto, Sonia, et al. (2010-2011), "What Makes a GreatTeaeher?" Educational Leadership, 68 (4), 74-76.

Tucker, Carolyn, et. al. (2010), "Using Children's Liter-ature to Teach Mathematics," Reading Improvement,-Í7(3),154O161.

\^gotsky, Len (1933-1978), Mind in Society: The De-velopment of Higher Psychological Processes. Cam-bridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

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