I will focus on Jane’s scenario in my second blog post. Jane was excited and full of enthusiasm at the beginning of her teaching’s career. However on reaching the end of her first year she was struggling to control her students. Students’ misbehaviour has a negative impact on her preparation for lessons, both physically and mentally. Furthermore, the overheard conversation of some parents at the club saying that ‘she just doesn’t give them any work that interesting for them’ has strongly demotivated her and rendered her hard work for the students to be in vain.
Below are some ideas that can help Jane in motivating her students and reorganise her classroom order.
1) Groupwork: Jane can divide her students into smaller discussion groups. In that sense Jane will have better control over smaller number of students in clusters and will be able to guide and attempt to fit her teaching to everyone’s needs. As for her students, they will benefit from their exchange of ideas and learn from each other as different students originate from different backgrounds. As Michael Reynolds (1994, Pg17) stated, “a group of people could make prior experience available for learning, could generate fresh material through experiential activities and could provide a forum for collective decision making about the content and direction of learning and development.”
2) Rules: it will be good if Jane is able to lay out her personal classroom’s rules at the beginning of the school term and warn the students of the consequences if such rules are broken. This method will provide the students a very concise picture of what is to be expected and prohibited when a class is running. Students will be well aware of the boundaries set up in the classroom. As Andrea M. Babkie (2006) stated, “clarify rules so that students fully understand your expectations from the beginning. Make sure the rules are clear, simple, number no more than five, and are stated in a positive format. In other words, tell students what to do rather than what not to do. This allows for a focus on praise rather than on punishment.”
3) Encourage students to get along with each other: It is common to have a wide diversity of students in a classroom, with florid cultural backgrounds commonly observed. It is thus very important to help students to get along with each other especially for those who come from suburban areas. At the beginning of each lesson, Jane can suggest the students to self introduce when she is taking the roll. With this method, Jane will not only know them better, but also will help overcome the natural restraint between teacher and students. Or as mentioned before, Jane can divide students into smaller groups for the students to exercise teamwork and learn to communicate and co-operate with each other. As Jill Hadfield (1992,Pgs 24) stated, “the group may be strangers to each other; they may also be nervous, worried, lacking in confidence, unsure of their capabilities, and wondering what they have let themselves in for.” It is very important for the teacher to “break the ice” between students and try to incorporate a sense of belonging for the class in every student.
4) Motivation: Goals can be set for students to target. It will be good if Jane can discuss the goals with her students and be opened to any suggestions. Students will be motivated if they are able to visualise the goals. Providing confidence to students by positive reinforcement will definitely help the students in making further progress. Instead of short term rewards, setting a goal will provide a long term motivation for the students.
5) Circle time: Another method is using ‘circle time’. Jane can use ‘circle time’ during the discussion. As Andrew Mellor and Pamela Munn (2000, Pg. 3) stated, “circle time can help young people develop skills such as listening and empathising; it can promote respect for others and self-esteem; it is a forum within which the nature and effects of bullying can be considered; and it can be used to develop an anti-bullying code to which all members of the school community have contributed.”
References:
1) Renolds M. (1994), Groupwork in Education and Training: Ideas in Practice, Kogan Page, UK, Pg. 15 – 28
2) Babkie A.M. (2006), Be Proactive in Managing Classroom Behaviour, http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.canberra.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b656af4c-23d0-49ee-b3da-b9efebfc1400%40sessionmgr113&vid=2&hid=111
3) Hadfield J. (1992), Classroom Dynamics, Oxford, UK, Pg.24
4) Churchil R., Ferguson P., Godinho S., Johnson N.F., Keddie A., Letts W., Mackay J., McGill M., Moss J., Nagel M.C., Nicholson P. and Vick M. (2011), Teaching Making A Difference, John Wiley & Sons, Australia. Pg. 115 - 128
5) Mellor A. and Munn P. (2000), Circle Time, Anti-bullying network.
https://docutek.canberra.edu.au/eres/docs/28884/circle_time.pdf
These are great suggestions by Winnie, and they are as much for preventing certain bad behaviors as well as promoting good ones. My favorite has always been the circle time - and especially when the teacher sits on the floor or on the same chair as everyone else, this helps to signal that what is happening is a special kind of classroom activity in which the teacher is a facilitator rather than a director. It’s a great way of setting a good model example for the class, and thus creating a good group dynamic.
ReplyDeleteLikewise with laying down the rules earlier on in the year, this is also a great thing to do. It promotes the use of the interventionist style of teaching on top of the non-interventionist – the whole ‘never smile before Easter’ cliché, where professionalism comes before friendship.
One of the best known interventionists in teacher education today is Lee Canter who advances the theory of "Assertive Discipline" states, "An assertive teacher clearly conveys his or her rules and actions for compliance and noncompliance. The assertive teacher does not back down".
And on the other side is Lewis, who states:
“Students who receive more Relationship based discipline are less disrupted when teachers deal with misbehaviour and generally act more responsibly in that teacher’s class. In contrast, the impact of Coercive discipline appears to be more student distraction from work and less responsibility.” (Lewis, R. 2001, pg. 315)
In combining these two theories of interventionism and non-interventionism – my conclusion is that professionalism and friendship as teacher should go hand in hand, and that laying down the ground rules early on as a teacher can only work positively as long as you uphold them. Consistency of showing the professionalism and upholding good role model status, can be a gateway to be able to use encouragement without sugarcoating your students, to let them work in groups without losing control over the class, and to keep them motivated.
Lewis, R. (2001) Classroom Discipline and Student Responsibility: The Students’ view. Teaching and Teacher Education, 17 pg. 307-319.
Canter, L. and M. Canter (1976). Assertive Discipline: A Take charge Approach for Today's Educator, California: Canter and Associates.