The Critical Rule of Classroom Management

A Brief History of Classroom Management Research

Over than 30 years the research of classroom management has been conducted by the researchers. Jacob Kounin (1970) was the first researcher who conducted a research about high-profile, large-scale, systematic study of classroom management. He analyzed videotape of 49 first and second grade classrooms and coded the behavior of students and teachers. He also identified several critical dimensions of effective classroom management. Those are (1) withitness, (2) smoothness and momentum during lesson presentations, (3) letting the students know what behavior is expected of them at any given point in time, and (4) variety and challenge in the seatwork assigned to students. Withitness is the most consistently separated the excellent classroom managers from the average and below-average classroom manager because it involved a keen awareness of disruptive behavior or potentially disruptive behavior and immediate attention.

Brophy and Evertson (1976) reported the result in one of the major study in classroom management in a book entitled Learning From Teaching: A developmental perspective. Brophy and Evertson’s study might be considered a comparison of exceptional teachers with average teachers. Although the study focused on a wide variety of teaching behavior, classroom management surfaced as one of the critical aspect of effective teaching.

At the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education in Austin, Texas conducted a series of four studies. The first study involved in elementary school teachers and the second study involved in Junior High School teachers. Both of the study were descriptive and correlation in nature and identified those teachers actions associated with the students on task behavior and disruptive behavior. One of the more significant conclusion of the study was that early attention to classroom management at the beginning of the school year is critical ingredient of a well run classroom. The third and fourth studies also conducted in Elementary and Junior High School. It examined the impact of training in classroom management in techniques based on finding at the first and second studies.

The next major study of addressing classroom management was conducted by Jere Brophy, it was about the classroom strategy. This study was involved 98 teachers, they were observed and interviewed by the researcher. The study presented teacher with vignettes regarding specific types of students (e.g. hostile-aggressive students, passive-agressive student, hyperactive students). Based on the finding of the research, effective classroom managers tended to employ different type of strategy with different type of students. A strong recommendation of the study for the teachers was they should develop a set of helping skill to employ different type of students.

Margaret Wang, Geneva Haertel, and Herbert Walberg 1993 combined the result of three previous studies. One involved a content of analysis, the second study involved a survey of 134 education expert. And the third involved an analysis of 91 major researches of syntheses. The result of this massive review that was classroom management was rated first in term of its impact on the student achievement.

Meta-Analysis and Classroom Management

Meta-analysis is an approach to research that was formally developed by the researcher Gene Glass and his colleagues (see Glass, 1976; Glass, McGaw, &Smith, 1981) in the early 1970s. In simple terms, it is a technique for quantitatively combining the results from a number of studies. Since its inception, it has been used extensively in the fields of education, psychology, and medicine.

In effect, this research technique has allowed us to construct generalizations about education, psychology, and medicine that were previously not available. “Uncontrolled Error” will happen no matter how well the studying process constructed. To illustrate it, let's consider a well-designed study that examines the impact of a specific classroom management strategy on students' behavior. The study might randomly assign students to two groups—one that uses the strategy (the experimental group) and one that does not (the control group). The study might ensure that both groups do everything exactly the same except for the classroom management strategy that is being studied. Even with this level of tight control, the findings that come from the study might be influenced by uncontrolled error.

In fact, it is almost impossible to control all the error that might creep into a study. This is why researchers assign a probability statement to their findings. When researchers report that their findings are significant at the .05 level, they are saying that there is a very small chance—less than 5 chances in 100—that their findings are a function of the uncontrolled error in the study. When researchers report that their findings are significant at the .01 level, they are saying that there is as an even smaller chance that the findings are a function of uncontrolled error—less than 1 chance in 100. By combining the results of many studies, we can say with far more certainty than we can with a single study that certain strategies work or do not work.

Meta-analysis addressed four general components of effective classroom management: (1) rules and procedures, (2) disciplinary interventions, (3) teacher-student relationships, and (4) mental set. A disruption can be as innocuous as a student talking to her neighbor or as severe as a student being disrespectful to the teacher. The more disruptions in classes where disciplinary interventions are employed effectively will become less than in terms of the distribution of disruptions in classes where disciplinary interventions are not employed effectively. In other words, the classes that don't employ disciplinary interventions will have a few “low-disruption days” and a few “high-disruption days”.

Are Good Classrooms Managers Born or Made?

When teachers in classroom, they have responsibility to teach and educate the student. That’s why a teacher should be a good manger in case of managing the classroom. It is because class consists of different characteristic and way of thinking. Teacher should know in what situations should apply certain techniques. Although the characteristic of good class management is already explained, but you might ask the question, are effective classroom managers are born naturally or made by the managers? The answer of this question is that effective classroom mangers are made. Good classroom mangers are teachers who are understand and use specific techniques. As asserted before, good teachers should know how to train student depend on their condition. Of course, the teachers should know the procedure and they already train before they come to the class. To train good mangers use some techniques. Consider to a research by Wolter Borg and Frank Ascione (1982). In study of involving 34 elementary school teachers who were randomly assigned to experimental and control condition, they found that:

1.      Teachers who had been trained in the use of effective classroom management improved their use of those techniques when compared to a group of untrained teachers.

2.      He student of the teachers in the experimental group had fewer disruptions and higher engagement rates than those in the control group.
      Those are fact, which means that to be good managers also need train and skull. That’s why we should know how to be good mangers. Here, writer put some tips how to be good managers:

1.      Knowledge and love of the subject

If a teacher doesn’t know her material well, how can she hope to teach it to others? The best teachers truly love the subject they teach and are constantly trying to learn more about it. Students pick up quickly on this! When they see a teacher who’s excited about a subject, the sentiment can spread to them.

2.      Management

Good teachers have to be excellent managers. It’s not easy to keep a room full of students focused, keep up with grades and assignments, follow all the school’s rules, keep parents happy, and jump through all the state-mandated hoops and red tape. Moreover, good mangers should be able to manage the time.

3.      Motivation

Teachers also have to serve as motivators. In order to be a quality teacher, one has to be able to motivate students – to get and keep them actively participating in the learning process. This is often a daunting task. Good teachers have numerous motivational strategies in their “bag of tricks.”

4.      Patience

For her own sake as well as for the benefit of the students, a teacher needs to have an extreme amount of patience. If you’ve never had the experience of being a classroom teacher, you can’t imagine the things we have to handle. Mischief, clowning, bullying, tears, fights, skipping class, challenged learners, broken hearts, and downright meanness are day-to-day occurrences in most classes. Excellent teachers usually have the patience of Job.

 

5.      Interest

A good teacher is interesting, and unfortunately, this is something that cannot be taught in any amount of years spent in education classes at a teacher’s college, although teaching resources can often help. Students are almost always much more interested in teachers who are look interested not only physically but mentally. It give stimulus to student to be more motivated in learning.

6.      Empathy and understanding

Good teachers learn that few things are black or white – there’s always a gray area. Educators have to take this into account and be flexible. If an assignment is due on Friday, for example, but he didn’t turn his in, which is very unusual behavior for him, find out what the problem is. He might have a good excuse. At least be willing to listen. I’m not saying that rules and deadlines should not be enforced – they should. But nothing should be “set in stone.”

7.      Respect

Most teachers expect or demand respect, yet all do not use respect when dealing with their students. Respect is a two-way street. Teacher always treated their students with respect, never “talking down” to them, embarrassing them, or berating them. In turn, teachers rarely had a student treat them with disrespect.

8.      Concern

Good teachers display genuine concern for their students. Kids are smart, and they’re usually pretty hard to fool. They know which educators really care about them and which ones are there just to collect a paycheck and be off on major holidays. Let your students know that you care about them as individuals and not as just another name or number on your rosters.

9.      Fairness

This is a very important element for effective teaching and classroom management. Your grading and discipline guidelines should be as objective as possible. Students can easily understand which ones are your favorites. It’s natural to like some students more than others, but this should never influence grades, rules, or classroom policies.

10.      Sense of Humor

A sense of humor can help you become a successful teacher. Your sense of humor can relieve tense classroom situations before they become disruptions. A sense of humor will also make class more enjoyable for your students and possibly make students look forward to attending and paying attention. Most importantly, a sense of humor will allow you to see the joy in life and make you a happier person as you progress through this sometimes stressful career.

11.      Consistency

In order to create a positive learning environment your students should know what to expect from you each day. You need to be consistent. This will create a safe learning environment for the students and they will be more likely to succeed. It is amazing that students can adapt to teachers throughout the day that range from strict to easy. However, they will dislike an environment in which the rules are constantly changing.

12.      Flexibility

One of the principles of teaching should be that everything is in a constant state of change. Interruptions and disruptions are the norm and very few days are 'typical'. Therefore, a flexible attitude is important not only for your stress level but also for your students who expect you to be in charge and take control of any situation.