Collaborative Activity:

Classroom
Management Theories
Heather Booth
Paulina Glowacka
David Martin
SPE/546
1/19/15
Dawn Davidson-King
Classroom Management

There is no universal explanation of how

teachers should teach or how students learn.
However, there are many theories that can
support educational outcomes and create a
welcome, friendly, and safe classroom
environment. To understand learning, teachers
have to understand the theories and their use
in the classroom. Following are some of the key
theories that have influenced the discipline of
education.
Classroom Management Theories

• Choice theory by William Glasser

• Kohn's student-directed learning
• Canter's assertive discipline
• Skinner's behavior management theory
• Positive behavior support
• Preventative theories by the following theorists:
Carl Rogers
Jacob Kounin
Harry Wong
Choice Theory-Glasser
 Developed by William Glasser and introduced
in the 1998 book, Choice Theory: A New
Psychology of Personal Freedom
 Built on the following principles:
 Allwe do is behave
 Almost all behavior is chosen
 We are driven internally to satisfy five basic
needs: survival, love and belonging, power,
freedom, and fun
The Ten Axioms of Choice
 The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.
 All we can give another person is information.
 All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.
 The problem relationship is always part of our present life.
 What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today,
but we can only satisfy our basic needs right now and plan to continue
satisfying them in the future.
 We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our Quality World.
 All we do is behave.
 All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of four components: acting,
thinking, feeling and physiology.
 All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over the acting
and thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology
indirectly through how we choose to act and think.
 All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is the
most recognizable.

Taken from: http://www.wglasser.com/the-glasser-approach/choice-theory

Glasser: Relationships
and our Habits
Seven Caring Habits
 Supporting
 Encouraging
 Listening
 Accepting
 Trusting
 Respecting
 Negotiating Difference

Seven Deadly Habits

 Criticizing
 Blaming
 Complaining
 Nagging
 Threatening
 Punishing
 Bribing, rewarding to control

http://www.wglasser.com/the-glasser-approach/choice-theory
Video of Choice Theory in Practice

 The following YouTube video demonstrates

the principles of Choice Theory in the
classroom
 Introduction to Choice Theory: Teaching
Students Responsible Behavior

Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSWlPnPK8us
Kohn’s Student
Directed Learning

 Alfie Kohn writes about issues of education,

parenting, and human behavior
 Theories are based on intrinsic motivational
factors
 Critical of the use of competition (or any
other extrinsic means) as a motivating factor
 In the classroom, curiosity, creativity, and
collaboration should be focuses
Application in the Classroom
 Teachers should adjust units of study to fit
their students needs and desire to learn
 Kohn believes a successful classroom will
have students learning about what
interests them
 Teacher is the facilitator but not the driver
 Individual learning plans for each student
 Feedback provided one on one with
students
Canter's Assertive Discipline

 Teacher should maintain a leadership role in the

classroom but not in an authoritarian or
unfriendly way.
 Teacher should understand learners personal
and educational needs and be willing to help
them.
 Teacher should be able to build the trust
relationship with the students.
 Teacher should teach students how to behave
acceptably in the classroom.
Canter's Classroom
Management Strategies
 Supporting appropriate behavior in the classroom equals
showing students that the teacher care about a learner
personal life and success at school
 Students need structures and clearly defined limits on behavior
 Teacher should develop a classroom environment that is
supportive, safe, peaceful, calm, predictable and concentrated
on student
 To develop respect and trust in the classroom, teachers should
model that kind of behavior
 Teacher should listen carefully to students, speak to them with
respect, and treat everyone fairly.
 Knowing students as individuals and acknowledging them
support a positive behavior as well.
Classroom Management vs.
Discipline Management
 Teacher should model the behavior for a particular activity in order to
know what to expect and how to behave during the activity.

 Classroom management is a teacher’s responsibility that explains and

support positive behavior. Additionally, it is enhanced when things are
explained to learners, modeled for students, practiced by students, and
reinforced and practiced when necessary. Discipline explains how
students behave in the classroom. Moreover, discipline is about self-
control and management of own behavior.

For example:
During the FAN AND PIC and SHOWDOWN activities, teacher will model
the expected behavior and specific roles for students in order to complete
the activity and to be on task. Regular and students with special
accommodation are part of the team in order to master the targets of the
activity.
Fan-N-Pick
 Student #1 holds question cards in a fan and
says, “Take a card”.
 Student #2 picks a card, reads the question
aloud, and allows five seconds of think time.
 Student #3 answers the question.
 Student # 4 tutors or praises (Great, Excellent,
Great Job).
 Students rotate roles, one person clockwise for
each new round.
Showdown
 1. Teacher selects one student on each team to be the Showdown Captain
for the first round.

 2. The Showdown Captain reads the question / exercises and provides think
time.

 3. Working alone all students, including the Showdown Captain, write their
answers.

 4. When finished, teammates signal they are ready.

 5. The Showdown Captain calls, “Showdown.”

 6. Teammates show and discuss their answers.

 7. The Showdown Captain leads the checking.

 8. If correct, the team celebrates; if not, teammates tutor, then celebrate.

 9. The person on the left of the Showdown Captain becomes the Showdown
Captain for the next round.
 Skinner’s Behavior
Management Theory

 Skinner'sfundamental work concentrated on

controlling and motivating student behavior.

 The classroom practice that teachers use are called

behavior modification. Teachers implement this
technique to improve both learning and behavior in
students.

 Skinnerunderlined that punishment is ineffective.

Therefore, he advocated for the use of reinforcement
-rewards to modify, influence, and improve learner
behavior.
 Skinner's Classroom
Management Strategies

 Students who follow teacher’s rules and

procedures and who perform well on classroom
assignments and work can get rewards. The
reward can be good grades or some teacher
praise.
 Learners who misbehave, who do not follow the
classroom rules and procedures, or who perform
poorly can receive bad grades and can be
punished in some way.
 Skinner promotes small units, scaffold instruction,
repetition and review of instructions, and
immediate feedback.
Positive Behavior Support
 Thisbehavior management principle stresses
modifying behavior by applying supports to
lessen problem behaviors and increase
appropriate behaviors that lead to enhanced
social relations (Vaughn and Bos, 2014, p. 77).

 Many schools have expanded their positive

behavioral supports and implemented positive
behavioral intervention and supports (PBIS)
(Vaughn and Bos, 2014, p. 77).
Positive Behavior Support
 PBIS focuses on developing interventions for individuals
that stress preventing problem behaviors through
effective educational programs that improve an
individual’s quality of life (Vaughn and Bos, 2014, p. 78).
PBIS also stresses the importance of teaching
appropriate behaviors to replace the inappropriate
behaviors.

 Behavioris a form of communication usually related to

the context. PBIS involves the process of observing the
circumstances and purpose of problem behaviors
(Vaughn and Bos, 2014, p. 78).

 Bymaking changes, such as seating arrangements, to

the environment, many negative behaviors can be
dealt with.
 Carl Rogers

 Teachers should create supportive environment

and emotionally warm in which they work
collaboratively with learners to achieve
educational goals.
 Rogers underlined the importance of a learning
environment in which students are engaged in
peer teaching and collaborative learning
activities that demand multiple levels of thinking
 Teachers are facilitators of learning.
 Carl Rogers
in the classroom

 Teachers need to show students empathy and

understanding
 Teacher should give students some freedom to
learn, such as choosing tasks they do and/or how
they will go about them
 Teacher need to prepare a cooperative work
environment to involve students in discussion and
working together.
 Teacher should provide students with resources
and real materials that will give them the
opportunity to learn experientially
Jacob Kounin
Jacob Kounin is known for two studies regarding classroom management
that emphasized how teachers could manage students, lessons and
classrooms to lessen the frequency of bad behavior.

Kounin identified specific teaching practices that help, and deter, classroom
discipline. Kounin stressed that the technique used, rather than the
teacher’s personality, is the most crucial part in classroom management
of student behavior.

Kounin’s book, Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms, centers

on preventive discipline. Kounin believes that good classroom
management depends on effective lesson management.

Kounin’s key ideas include: the ripple effect, withitness, overlapping,

effective transitions, momentum, smoothness and class management.
Jacob Kounin
 Ripple Effect - If a teacher corrects the misbehavior of one individual
student, the other students in the classroom normally will correct their
misbehavior as well!
 Withitness - All teachers need to be aware of what is going on in all parts of
the classroom at all times. If students are off-task, the teacher should clearly
communicate to students the awareness that they are not working and that
they need to become engaged.
 Overlapping – This process involves attending to two or more events at the
same time rather than becoming engrossed in one and ignoring the other.
 Effective Transitions – Student behavior can be affected by the smoothness
and effectiveness of transitions between tasks.
 Momentum – Momentum is the force and flow of a lesson. An effective
lesson pulls the student along by engaging the learners in activities, thus
preventing student misbehavior.
 Smoothness – Teachers should maintain direction in the lesson without being
diverted by irrelevant incidents, thus preserving instructional time by
eliminating common barriers.
 Class Management - If the teacher can keep students on task, create little
chaos between activities, and use good time management practices, they
are modeling effective class management.
Jacob Kounin believed that:
 alleducators should be able to sustain group
alertness and hold each student responsible for
understanding the subject matter of the lesson.
By doing so, ALL students have the opportunity
for optimal learning.

 the teacher should assign things that allow

students to feel like they can make progress or
gain a feeling of accomplishment when it is
complete. This helps keep students from getting
bored or uninterested.
Harry Wong

 Proactive Classroom Management

 Wong believes that problem arises when
there is a lack of procedures and routines
 Believes there is a definite difference when it
comes to procedures and discipline
 Discipline deals with behaviors and has
rewards and consequences
 Procedures are how things are done and
there are no rewards and consequences
 Focus is on procedures!
Harry Wong-
Things to Remember

 Teachers must be prepared when

students enter the classroom
 The class must begin with a task or
assignment, not calling the roll
 Explain, Rehearse, and Reinforce
Classroom Procedures
Harry Wong

“One of the greatest gifts a caring teacher

can contribute to children is to help them
learn to sit when they feel like running, to
raise their hand when they feel like talking,
to be polite to their neighbor, to stand in
line without pushing, and to do their
homework when they feel like playing. By
introducing procedures in the classroom,
you are also introducing procedures as a
way of living a happy and successful life.”
-Harry Wong
Conclusion:

Classroom management is the essential teaching

skill. Teachers are not able to teach and learners are not
able to learn in a classroom with disruptions and behavioral
problems. Therefore, classroom management should be
based on organizing the classroom in ways that create a
positive emotional and physical environment. Classroom
management theories and theorists can help teachers to
establish routines and disciplinary strategies that will teach
and improve students self-control.
References:
Canter, L. and Center, M. (1993): Succeeding with difficult students: new strategies for reachingyour most
challenging students. Lee Center and Associates.

Glasser, W., & Glasser, W. (1988). Choice theory in the classroom (Rev. ed.). New York:Quill.

Introduction to Choice Theory: Teaching Students Responsible Behavior -- 3 Graduate Credits . (2012).Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSWlPnPK8us

Kohn, A. (2004). What does it mean to be well educated? and more essays on standards, grading, andother
follies. Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press.

Kohn, A. (1993). Choice for children: Why and how to let students decide. Phi Delta Kappan.

Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person. A psychotherapists view of psychotherapy. Lafayette,CA: Real

People Press.

Skinner, B. F. (1968). The technology of teaching. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts

The Kounin mode. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.elearnportal.com/courses/education/classroom-

management-and-discipline/classroom-management-and-discipline-discipline-theorists

The Glasser approach. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.wglasser.com/the-glasser-approach/choice-theory

Vaughn, S. & Bos, C. (2014). Strategies for teaching students with learning and behavior problems. New York:
Pearson.

Wong, H., & Wong, R. (2005). The first days of school: How to be an effective teacher ([Version 3] ed.). Mountain
View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications.