Introduction 3
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 3
Applying Theory 3
Personal Philosophy 3
CHILD GUIDELINES 3
Alternative Strategies 3
Set Classroom Rules and Expectations 3
Motivational Climate 3
Maintaining a Learning Environment 4
Conclusion 4
References 5
Introduction
Today, each school in the education system has its own unique challenges. Each year new groups of children enter the schools. These children may be from different socio- cultural, backgrounds; they may possess behavioural and learning problems. Additionally, there are new teachers who, from time to time, enter the schools' system each year. Therefore, teachers, whether old or new must implement effective classroom management and children guidelines in order to have progressive classrooms. In order to employ effective classroom management, the teachers must understand who their students are. The children must focus on displaying positive behaviour and attitude towards learning. How will teachers exercise proper classroom management? How will they develop and use guidelines in order to improve the students' behaviour and academic performance? What strategies will new teachers implement to foster classroom management and guide the students with whom they interact? These are elaborately discussed in this paper using evidence based research.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Lee Canter and Associates developed the theory (Everington, terAvest, Bakker, & van der Want, 2011), which demonstrates how teachers should assertively communicate their expectations to their students. The theory's development also focused on four concepts. The concepts are: “behaviour is a choice; every student should learn without disruption; teachers have the right to teach without students’ disruption; and the child should engage the behaviour that interests him” (Cevik, & Andre, 2013). The discipline arrangement expresses and supports the guidelines. The discipline plan has positive and negative consequences or reinforcements for the classroom behaviour. Students start each day on the same level. They, however, lose their privileges when they break the rules. A research study on the teaching mechanisms used by different educators in the country revealed that most educators widely use this method in classrooms throughout the country (Gest, 2014).
During the early years of formal education, classroom management and classroom instructions were viewed as two distinctive phenomena. Educators visualized teachers' control as antecedents to instruction, which they treated as content-free in literature. However, with more interest in education, research results revealed that classroom management and instruction are inseparable entities.
It is true that teachers want to control their students. They want to live up to what Taylor (qtd. Mooij, Smeets, & de Wit, 2011) labels a good teacher. He pointed out that the classroom control marks a good teacher. In fact, school administrators use the amount of class control the teacher exercises to measure the teacher’s efficiency. Administrators are usually happy when a teacher never sends a student to the office. They use this notion as proof that the teacher has good control of the classroom and, therefore, do an excellent job (Morris, Lloyd, Millenky, Leacock, Raver, Bangser, & MDRC. 2013). The classroom management and control practices also help the school administration to gauge the level of interaction between the student and the teacher without having to conduct a cross-sectional study of the whole school.
Based on the expectations, many teachers fear losing control and so they refuse to give students increased independence. They fear that if children get an amount of leeway, they will refuse to grasp the instructions given by their teachers in the classrooms. Instead of being in fear, the teacher should look for avenues to motivate the students to learn. These avenues, however, in as much as they are supposed to enhance the student-teacher relationships, are not aimed at removing the boundaries between the teacher and the student.
Applying Theory
Douglas McGregor, an American social psychologist, proposed motivation in his X-Y theory in his 1960 book 'The Human Side of Enterprise'. He believed that teachers should understand that children want to learn. Children have that innate desire to gain new experience. Therefore, if teachers reduce the barriers to the students learning, they would take the initiative to learn. The management and motivation field still refer to Theories X and Y. Despite the fact that recent studies have questioned the rigidity of the model, McGregor’s X-Y Theories remain fundamental principles for positive management styles and cultural development.
The effectiveness of classroom management depends on the ability of the teachers and learners to interact in an environment that encourages learning. Students’ attitudes and behaviours towards teachers and other students in the classroom affect the relationships within the classroom setting. Some of the students’ behaviours that cause animosity in the classroom include undermining the authority and instructions of the instructor, leaving classroom frequently, sitting with back to the instructor, poor hygiene, verbal or physical threats, cell phone disruption, chewing gum ins classroom, sleeping in class, refusing to speak or respond to the instructor’s questions, plagiarising, too much chit chat, and disrespectful behaviour (Morris, Raver, Millenky, Jones, Lloyd, & MDRC. 2010).
Beginning teachers might have some difficulties in dealing with students attitudes that cause animosity, especially because these beginning teachers have little experience with students. Nevertheless, for effective classroom management, these teachers must manage these behaviours in the classrooms. Research indicates that participatory learning and communal classrooms help teachers to manage these behaviours (Cevik, & Andre, 2013). Giving the students the opportunity to raise questions within the classroom and responding to these questions ensures that the teacher effectively understands the individual behaviours of the students in their classrooms. Beginning teachers do not need to create negative attitude toward their students, but accommodate the behavioural diversities of the students.
On the other hand, teachers have some attitudes, which interfere with the peaceful relations within the classroom, thereby bringing animosity between the instructors and their students. The teachers’ attitudes that cause such animosities are basically behaviourally instigated. The leading attitudes include profiling the students based on religious, racial, political opinions, social status, classroom achievement, and parent’s economic statuses (Murray, Murr, Rabiner, & Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, 2012). School administrations gather demographic information about the students for several purposes. However, some teachers have negative attitudes, which profile the students along these demographic factors. Therefore, students rebelling to the instructors’ profiling usually defy the teachers’ instructions, which in most cases lead to the aforementioned student related causes of animosity.
Profiling the students based on these demographic factors discourages the students’ participations within the classrooms (Mooij, Smeets, & de Wit, 2011). Such profiling also creates clusters within the classroom based on these demographic factors, which deter the participatory learning within the classrooms (Mooij, Smeets, & de Wit, 2011). Research indicates that, some teachers, especially the teachers profiling the students on these perspectives either failed to follow the provisions of the codes of conduct of their profession (Mooij, Smeets, & de Wit, 2011). In my opinion, these teachers have not only failed to work according to the provisions of their profession, but also failed to understand the ethical aspects of the learning environment.
Beginning teachers can avoid these negative attitudes and behaviours for proper classroom management. The current education systems in the higher learning institutions have been designed to create inclusive learning, in which student interact with others from diverse backgrounds. Beginning teachers can embrace the practices that avoid student profiling in inclusive classrooms where students are not categorized on destructive profiling classifications such as race, color, gender, or weakness in classrooms participation. This would encourage the students to develop positive attitudes towards the instructors.
Personal Philosophy
The writer's viewpoint surrounds teachers who confront students in front of their peers, yell at kids, use sarcasm to humiliate the children as well as threaten, are motivationally driven to assert power as well as, use students to absorb their negative emotions. Teachers who wholeheartedly put children before themselves think about any negative behaviours or attitude that they may transfer to the children.
The writer is emotional about the treatment that some teachers mete out to some children. They forget that the children are the individuals with whom they have dealings. They belittle them; apply name-calling and heap loads of insults upon them. Another experience has to do with how some teachers treat all children on the same level when it comes on to teaching them. They pay no attention to the special needs that these children may have. Out of prejudice, they mistreat them in some way or another. The children are humans, so they become outrageous at times in response to the teachers' negative attitudes. Can one imagine a teacher telling a student "I do not want you in my sight?"; "As long as I am teaching you, you will never learn my subject?" These are some negative comments that the writer experiences. They add to the sadness that the children experience from day to day. It is imperative that teachers remember, not all children share the same abilities - some are functional, some are dysfunctional, some are emotionally distressed and yearn for an adult's love. Some children experience pathetic situations. In this regard, all teachers including the new teachers need to make time to get knowledge about each student as much as possible. In so doing they will become more empathetic, and the students will want to be around them.
CHILD GUIDELINES
Children need guidelines to take them through their schooling. The new teachers should be aware of this fact. Their awareness will build the aptitude to implement guidelines that will address the aptness of students in the classroom. How will the new teachers carry out their classroom obligations?
First, the new teachers must become culturally competent. Consequently, they strive to build an awareness of the children's family background and structure. In building this awareness, they will identify the children's origin, the family dealings at home and their interest in learning. The teachers may also desire to know about their social interaction, respect for authority, and the kind of parental guidance they receive, as well as how they express their emotional feelings.
Alternative Strategies
Set Classroom Rules and Expectations
Second, when new teachers begin their tenure, it is best for them to set rules for the classroom. The teachers and their students should work collaboratively to create the rules. Rules mainly focus on preventing misbehaviour in the classroom (Niles, & Cohen, 2012). As such, the rules will help to guide the children's actions. However, while the teachers and their students make the relevant rules, they have to limit them. Also, the teachers must positively state the rules wherein they will explain to the students the action they should take. For, example, the teacher will tell the children, "keep off the corridors during class time" instead of telling them that they should not go on the corridors during class time. As soon as the teachers and their students develop the rules, they should ensure that they post them at a vantage point for all the students to see. Further, the teacher can implement different strategies to get the students focussed on the rules (Spelman, 2010). They can use strategies like, role-play, dramatization, discussion and modeling within the beginning school weeks. In addition, the teachers must allow the students to take responsibility for their classroom practices through participation in their development. On this account, the teachers should enforce the rules with peacefully - stated reminders. They could do this in private or in a soft composed tone. In order for the rules to accomplish what they should, the teachers must make certain that they pay attention to any broken rules. The children will receive a positive message about what are the teachers expectations in the classroom (Webster-Stratton, Reinke, Herman, & Newcomer, 2011). With these expectations come effective classroom management and positive children's behaviour. They should deliver these in ways that will enhance the children's learning, as they strive towards enjoying a motivational classroom climate.
Motivational Climate
An essential part of classroom organization involves developing a motivating climate in which teachers guide the children to perform in the best ways and be excited about what they learn. When teachers consider to actively engaging children, the children behave more positively (Stein, 2012). So, in order to motivate the children, they must understand the worth of their work as well as others' work. How will these new teachers handle such a situation? The teachers should organize activities that the children enjoy into the classroom routine. The activities will give the children something to which they can look forward. They will also be motivated to enjoy any learning activities that they will face. Some of these activities are game playing during form time activities, the particular video to watch, board games like Chess, Ludo, and Monopoly among other activities. Indeed, the children will enjoy these activities while they learn. They will learn that it takes effort on their part to produce "work," and to the value that the work holds. The teachers will give particular praises as they guide the students to identify the worthwhile behaviour.
Maintaining a Learning Environment
Additionally, as the school year progresses, the teachers must work at maintaining their classroom environments. Jacob Kounin (qtd. Patton, 2010) research findings from late 1960s on the management of classroom groups recognized that teachers who prevented recurring misbehaviour problems are active managers. Paul Gump, noted ecological psychologist in Kansas in the 1980s, reaffirmed Kounin's findings and also identified that the teacher implemented strategies, resulted in high achievements and low misbehaviour levels. For example, teachers implement cooperative group learning activities like among other activities. Through this process, the children will be guided to socialize with others as they work in unison.
Hardin (2012) on the other hand, addressed the Ripple Effect which relates to the way teachers guide children’s misbehaviour and how it influences others' behaviour in the classroom. Therefore, when teachers correct misbehaviour that one person exhibits. According to Kounin, the correction often positively influences the behaviour of other nearby students. That is the ripple effect. Consequently, teachers must plan their lessons with all students' levels in mind. They must research different strategies, which will result in a creative and highly, engaging learning environment. To further enhance their teaching experience, the teachers can also use games, videos, puzzles, music, drama and other strategies that will make learning fun. The teachers must also recognize the physical and cognitive spaces within the learning environment. They must ensure that the space are safe, warm and inviting without any disruptive behaviour. The motivated children will see their self-worth, perform well and display positive behaviour. Eventually, the classroom management strategies would have produced positive results.
Conclusion
References
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