Classroom
management and management of student conduct are
skills that teachers
acquire over time. Personal experience and
research indicate that many
beginning teachers have difficulty
effectively managing their
classrooms.
While there is no one best solution for every problem or
classroom
setting, the following principles, drawn from a number of
sources,
might help.
Abstract
This study aimed to
examine the conceptions of junior secondary school student misbehavior
in classroom, and to identify the most common, disruptive, and
unacceptable student problem behaviors from teachers' perspective.
Twelve individual interviews with teachers were conducted. A list of 17
student problem behaviors was generated. Results showed that the most
common and disruptive problem behavior was talking out of turn, followed
by non-attentiveness, daydreaming, and idleness.
The most unacceptable
problem behavior was disrespecting teachers in terms of disobedience and
rudeness, followed by talking out of turn and verbal aggression.
The
findings revealed that teachers perceived student problem behaviors as
those behaviors involving rule-breaking, violating the implicit norms or
expectations, being inappropriate in the classroom settings and
upsetting teaching and learning, which mainly required intervention from
teachers.
How to respond:
There are many ways to respond to inappropriate behaviors, of course,
and they vary in how much they focus on the immediate behavior
compared
to longer-term features or patterns of a student’s behavior.
There are
so many ways to respond, in fact, that we can describe only
a sample of
the possibilities here. None are effective all of the time,
though all
do work at least some of the time. We start with a response
that may not
seem on the surface like a remedy at all—simply ignoring
misbehavior.
Ignoring misbehavior
If a student who is usually
quiet during class happens to whisper to a neighbor once in awhile, it
is probably less disruptive and just as effective to ignore the
infraction than to respond to it. Some misbehavior may not be worth a
response even if they are frequent, as long as they do not seem to
bother others.
Suppose, for example, that a certain student has a habit
of choosing quiet seat-work times to sharpen her pencil. She is
continually out of her seat to go to the sharpener.
Yet this behavior is
not really noticed by others. Is it then really a problem, however
unnecessary or ill-timed it may be?
In both examples ignoring the
behavior may be wise because there is little danger of the behavior
disrupting other students or of becoming more frequent. Interrupting
your activities—or the students’—might cause more disruption than simply
ignoring the problem.
Gesturing non-verbally
Sometimes it works to communicate using gestures, eye contact, or
“body language” that involve little or no speaking. Nonverbal cues are
often appropriate if a misbehavior is just a bit too serious or frequent
to
ignore, but not serious or frequent enough to merit taking the time
deliberately to speak to or talk with the student.
If two students are
chatting off-task for a relatively extended time, for
example, sometimes
a glance in their direction, a frown, or even just
moving closer to the
students is enough of a reminder to get them back
on task.
Natural and logical consequences
Consequences are the outcomes or results of an action. When
managing a
classroom, two kinds of consequences are especially
effective for
influencing students’ behavior: natural consequences and
logical
consequences.
As the term implies, natural consequences
happen “naturally,”
without deliberate intention by anyone. If a
student is late for class,
for example, a natural consequence is that he
misses information or
material that needed to do an assignment. Logical consequences
are ones that happen because of the responses of or decisions by
others, but that also have an obvious or “logical” relationship to the
original action.
Natural and logical consequences are often woven
together and thus hard to distinguish:
if one student picks a fight with
another student, a natural consequence
might be injury not only to the
victim, but also to the aggressor (an
inherent byproduct of fighting),
but a logical consequence might be to
lose friends (the response of
others to fighting). In practice both may
occur.
Conflict resolution and problem solving
Step 1: clarifying and focusing: problem ownership
Classrooms can be emotional places even though their primary purpose
is to promote thinking rather than expression of feelings. The emotions
can be quite desirable: they can give teachers and students “passion”
for learning and a sense of care among members of the class.
But
feelings can also cause trouble if students misbehave: at those moments
negative feelings—annoyance, anger, discomfort—can interfere with
understanding exactly what is wrong and how to set things right again.
Gaining a bit of distance from the negative feelings is exactly what
those moments need, especially on the part of the teacher, the person
with (presumably) the greatest maturity.
Step 2: active, empathetic listening
Diagnosing accurately who really has a problem with a behavior—who “owns” it—is helped by a number of strategies. One is active listening—attending
carefully to all aspects of what a student says and attempting to
understand or empathize as fully as possible
Active listening
involves asking questions in order continually to check your
understanding. It also involves encouraging the student to elaborate on
his or her remarks, and paraphrasing and summarizing what the student
says in order to check your perceptions of what is said.
It is important
not to move too fast toward solving the problem with advice,
instructions, or scolding, even if these are responses that you might,
as a teacher, feel responsible for making.
Step 3: assertive discipline and messages
Once you have listened well to the student’s point of view, it helps
to frame your responses and comments in terms of how the student’s
behavior affects you in particular, especially in your role as the
teacher. The comments should have several features:
They should be assertive—neither passive and apologetic,
nor unnecessarily hostile and aggressive (Cantor, 1996). State the
problem as matter-of-factly as possible: “Joe, you are talking while I’m
explaining something,” instead of either “Joe, do you think you could
be quiet now?” or “Joe, be quiet!”
The comments should emphasize I-messages (Gordon,
1981), which are comments that focus on how the problem behavior is
affecting the teacher’s ability to teach, as well as how the behavior
makes the teacher feel.
They are distinct from you-messages,
which focus on evaluating the mistake or problem which the student has
created. An I-message might be, “Your talking is making it hard for me
to remember what I’m trying to say.” A you-message might be, “Your
talking is rude.”
The comments should encourage the student to think about the effects
of his or her actions on others—a strategy that in effect encourages
the student to consider the ethical implications of the actions .
Step 4: negotiation
The first three steps describe ways of interacting that are
desirable, but also fairly specific in scope and limited in duration.
But in themselves, they may not be enough when conflict persists over
time and develops a number of complications or confusing features.
A
student may persist in being late for class, for example, in spite of
efforts by the teacher to modify this behavior. Or two students may
repeatedly speak rudely to each other, even though the teacher has
mediated this conflict in the past.
Or a student may fail to complete
homework, time after time. Because these problems develop over time, and
because they may involve repeated disagreements, they can eventually
become stressful for the teacher, the student, and any classmates who
may be affected. Their persistence can tempt a teacher simply to dictate
a resolution—a decision that can leave everyone feeling defeated,
including the teacher.
My suggestions
Decide as accurately as possible what the problem is. Usually this step involves a lot of the active listening described above.
Brainstorm possible solutions, and then consider their effectiveness. Remember to include students in this step; otherwise you end up simply imposing a solution on others, which is not what negotiation is supposed to achieve.
If possible, choose a solution by consensus. Complete
agreement on the choice may not be possible, but strive for it as best
you can. Remember that taking a vote may be a democratic, acceptable way
to settle differences in some situations, but if feelings are running
high, voting does not work as well.
In that case voting may simply allow
the majority to impose its will on the minority, leaving the underlying
conflict unresolved.
Pay attention to how well the solution works after it is underway.
For many reasons, things may not work out the way you or
students hope
or expect. You may need to renegotiate the