CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

IN PERSPECTIVE

Shailini G. Gestosani, M.Ed.

College of Teacher Education
St. Paul University Iloilo

What is it about teaching that most

interests and excites me?

What am I most concerned about?

Teachers Concerns about Classroom

Management and their Education in this field

Poor classroom management and disruptive students two

significant barriers to professional success (Fideler &
Haskelhorn, 1999)
New teachers are shocked and unprepared for the severity of
emotional and behavior issues of their students (Lundeen,
2002; Meister & Jenks, 2000)
The greatest concern of all new teachers was their inability to deal with
aberrant behavior and diverse needs of some students. Almost non of the
voiced concerns dealt with low-level discipline issues. (Lundeen, 2002)

Teachers frequently blame their lack of preparation squarely on

a lack of adequate classroom management coursework in their
teacher education programs (Ladd, 2000; Pipho, 2000)

Classroom Management: A
Changing Perspective

Teacher Student Relationships and

Counseling Approaches
Teachers Organizational and
Management Skills
Instructional skills
Behavioristic Methods

Effective Teaching
Professional Knowledge and Skills
Effective Teachers:
Exhibit subject matter competence
Implement appropriate instructional
strategies
Set high goals for themselves and students
Plan for instruction
Create developmentally appropriate
instructional materials and activities
Manage classrooms for optimal learning

Cont

Effective Teaching
Professional Knowledge and Skills
Effective Teachers:
Use effective strategies to promote students
motivation to learn
Communicate well with students and parents
Pay More than Lip Service to Individual
Variations
Work effectively with students from culturally
diverse backgrounds
Have good assessment skills
Integrate technology into the curriculum

Effective Teaching
Professional Knowledge and Skills
Effective Teachers:
Have a Good Attitude
Care about Students
Invest Time and Effort
Bring a Positive Attitude and Enthusiasm to
the Classroom

Characteristics of Best Teachers

Characteristics of Worst Teachers

Teachers Reflection

Could this problem

be a result of
inappropriate
curriculum or
teaching strategies?
What do I demand
and prohibit?
Why do certain
behaviors bother
me?

Is this behavior
developmentally
appropriate?
Do I focus on a
behavioral excess or
a deficiency?
Will resolution of the
problem solve
anything else?

Kauffman, J. M. , Hallahan, D. P., Mostert, M.P., Trent, S.C., & Nuttycombe, D.G. (1993). Managing Classroom
Behavior. Boston: Allyn & Bacon

Good Teaching

Instructional goals are clear

Knowledgeable of content and
strategies for teaching it
Student expectations are clearly
described
Provide practice that enrich and clarify
content
Teach metacognitive strategies

Good Teaching

Knowledgeable about students abilities,

adapt instruction according to their
needs
Monitor student progress
Provide feedback
Accept responsibility for student
outcomes
Are thoughtful and reflective about their
practice

Teacher Behaviors

Provide frequent positive praise and

reinforcement
Ignore minor misbehaviors
Reward positive behaviors
Avoid power struggles with students
Do students like being in the
classroom?
Students are achieving academic and
social gain
Provide clear expectations

Teacher Behaviors Cont.

Provide clear behavioral expectations rules should state what students should
do
Teacher expectations should be high for
all students
Signal control:audible or body language
to cue student
Blocking: teacher moves between two
students to interfere

Selecting Rules

Allow students to give input

Base rules on acceptable behavior
State rules positively
Select 5 or 6 rules
Select rules for academic and social
behaviors
Change rules when necessary
Relate rules to IEP goals
Consider cultural differences

Comprehensive Classroom
Management

Good Classroom management implies not only that

the teacher has elicited the cooperation of the
students in minimizing misconduct and can intervene
effectively when misconducts occurs, but also that
worthwhile academic activities are occurring more or
less continuously and that the classroom
management system as a whole (which includes, but
is not limited to, the teachers disciplinary
interventions) is designed to maximize student
engagement in those activities, not merely to
minimize misconduct (Brophy, 1988)

Four Areas of Knowledge and Skill

Classroom Management should be based on a solid

understanding of current research and theory in
classroom management and students personal and
psychological needs
Classroom Management depends on creating a
positive classroom climate and a community of
support by establishing positive teacher-student and
peer relationships; having positive involvement with
students parents and caregivers; and using
organizational and group management methods that
involve students in developing and committing to
behavior standards and that facilitate students being
on task.

Four Areas of Knowledge and Skill

Comprehensive classroom management

involves using instructional methods that
facilitate optimal learning by responding to
the academic needs of individual students
and classroom group.
Classroom management involves the ability
to use wide range of counseling and
behavioral methods that involves students in
examining and correcting their inappropriate
behvaior

ABCs to Behavior Management

Antecedent
Behavior
Consequences

Defining Behavior

Describe behavior objectively and

precisely (not: he irritates me)
Can you observe the behavior when it
begins and when it stops
can you count the number of occurrences
each day
can you measure the duration of the
behavior

Can you observe what happens just

before and just after it occurs

Identifying Antecedents

What are the events or conditions that

immediately precede the problem
behavior?
Can you manipulate the antecedents to
avoid the behavior? (e.g. providing
choices for activities)

Reading Antecedents

Facial Expressions: tight thin lips,

clenched teeth, widened eyes with
nostrils flared
Body Posture: head down, slumped
shoulders, clenched hands, sucking or
chewing
Incidental Behavior: rapid shallow
breathing, sighing, kicking, mumbling,
tearing paper, breaking pencils

Identifying Consequences

What does the student get out of the

behavior?
Are students getting attention, avoiding
work, receiving stimulus, or enjoy
seeing adults upset?

Changing Behavior

Provide instruction with simple and

clear directions
Gain students full attention before
giving instructions
Provide one instruction at a time - do
not provide too many different
instructions
Monitor compliance - provide time limits
Provide appropriate consequences for
compliance

Success for All Students in the General...

It is important for students with special needs to
experience success in the general education
classroom. For this to occur, good teaching must take
place. The makeup of each classroom provides
teachers with a great deal of student diversity.
Included in this diversity are students with special
needs.

For teachers to understand the current practices of

educating students with special needs in the general
education classroom, it is important to understand the
historical perspective of persons with disabilities.
Today more than ever, students with special needs
are educated in the general education classroom. It is
vital for general educators to understand their role in
relation to the education of students with special
needs, and also that of special education.

This chapter provides a look at past legislation and

brings us to the present practices of the education of
students with special needs. The inclusive tips for
teachers provide a general synopsis that will be a
useful learning tool and a good future reference. The
Individualized Education Program (IEP) takes a look
at an elementary and secondary student that require
an IEP. The chapter is a good lead in to the overview,
process, and services for educating students with
special needs.

Behavior Management Techniques

Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
Extinction
Response Cost Punishment
Proximity Control
Decontamination

Positive Reinforcement

The positive reinforcement must be

rewarding to the student
The reinforcers must be contingent on
the behavior you want to increase
The reinforcers should be delivered
immediately
Provide appropriate units of rewards for
the expected unit of behavior

Negative Reinforcement

Definition: reinforcing a behavior by

removing or preventing something
unpleasant - allows the individual to
escape or avoid a negative
consequence
Not recommended as a prominent part
of classroom management
negative reinforcement relies on the presence or threat of negative
consequences
deliberate negative reinforcement sets the stage for
coercion/intimidation

Extinction

To eliminate a behavior - you eliminate

its reinforcement, the behavior no longer
produces the desired effect (positive or
negative)
Disadvantages: slow process and when
extinction procedures are first
implemented, the behavior will likely
become worse before better

Response Cost

The behavior costs something by

withholding or withdrawing a positive
reinforcer contingent on a specific
misbehavior
Example: students receive 10 tokens at
the beginning of class, every time a
problem behavior occurs, the teacher
gets 1 token back. The tokens can be
exchanged at the end of the day or
class for free time.

Proximity Control

Visual - visually monitor student activity

from any position in the classroom
Physical - teacher positions her/himself
close to each student to inhibit
antecedent

Decontamination

Preventive action by inspecting

classroom for two types of objects
Distractors: entice students to engage in
off-task behaviors (e.g. toys, slide
projectors, hazards: exposed wires, broken
windows
Potential Weapons: letter openers, knives,
broom handle, hammer and yard stick

Informal Interventions

Attention for compliance - verbal praise

Use social praise consistently
Provide praise only to students who earn it

Ignoring: only appropriate when:

the target behavior is temporarily tolerable
the target behavior is under the influence
of a reinforcer that you can control

Structured Interventions

Group Consequences
Individual Consequences
Individual Contracts
Self Management

Group Consequences

Provide a set of behavior rules or

expectations
Determine the interval of time for the
contingency - the longer the interval,
the more valuable the reward
Provide a menu of choices to avoid
satiation
Develop a record keeping system
Determine criterion for reinforcement

Individual Consequences

Surprise Tokens: reinforcers are

delivered at times that are not
predictable by students
Random Drawing: students place their
name on a piece of paper and place into
a jar when they comply to rules, at the
end of the day, conduct a drawing for
prizes

Individual Contracts

An agreement between the teacher and

the student about a desirable change in
behavior
Parts of the contract
The parties to the contract
The target behavior
The goal for the target behavior
The time period for the contract
The reward available for meeting the terms
The penalty for failing to honor the contract

Self Management

Behavioral Definition: help the student

choose a behavior to monitor
Teach the student to record behavior
Event recording
Permanent Product recording

Teach the student how to plot the data

Teach the student how to apply selfreinforcement
Use contracts to provide structure

Identifying Coercive Interactions

Starts with an antecedent that is

aversive and the student tries to escape
or avoid the activity.
Two parties are trying to control each
other.
How do these interactions start?
At what point could I avoid the process by disengaging from
it?
How could I start a different interaction that does not end in
a power struggle?
How could I try to replace coercive interactions with ones
ending in positive consequences?

Teacher Stress

Burnout Symptoms
Feeling of boredom, overwork, emotional
exhaustion, and fatigue
Development of negative, cynical, or
depersonalizing attitudes toward students
Lack of sense of accomplishment from the
job

Managing Teacher Stress

Time management
Student behavior
Interpersonal relationships
Role expectations
Personal concerns

Poor Time Management

Uncontrolled rushing
Chronic vacillation between unpleasant
alternatives
Fatigue with many hours of unproductive
activity
Constantly missed deadlines
Insufficient time for rest and personal
relationships
Sense of being overwhelmed

Time Management Techniques

Self-Management
Time analysis
Goal setting
Prioritization
Delegation
Action

Interpersonal Concerns

Poor staff relations

Insufficient opportunities for
professional growth
Administrative ineffectiveness
Lack of recognition

Role Expectations

Teachers often set expectations around

being liked, helpful, and in control
Role ambiguity: confusion of the scope
and specific responsibilities of the job
Role conflict: discrepancy between
teachers perception of the job and the
perceptions of significant others

Personal Solutions

Relaxation
Compartmentalized Thinking:
separation between work and personal
life
Detached Concern: do not dwell on
things over which you have no control
Personal Time
Cognitive Restructuring: focus on
strengths not weaknesses