Classroom Management Theorists

Rudolph Dreikur’s Principal Teachings

n  Discipline at its best is defined as self-control, based on social interest.

n   Self-controlled students are able to show initiative, make reasonable decisions, and assume responsibility in ways that benefit both themselves and others.

n  Social interest refers to students' efforts to make the classroom comfortable and productive, based on understanding that such classrooms better meet their personal needs.

n  Good discipline occurs best in a democratic classroom.

n  A democratic classroom is one in which teacher and students work together to make decisions about how the class will function.

n  Good discipline cannot occur in autocratic or permissive classrooms.

n  In autocratic classrooms, the teacher makes all decisions and imposes them on students, leaving no opportunity for student initiative and responsibility.

n  In permissive classrooms, the teacher fails to require that students comply with rules, conduct themselves humanely, or endure consequences for their misbehavior.

n  Almost all students have a compelling desire to feel they are a valued member of the class, that they belong.

n  Students sense belonging when the teacher and others give them attention and respect, involve them in activities, and do not mistreat them.

n  When students are unable to gain a sense of belonging in the class, they often turn to the mistaken goals of attention, power, revenge, and inadequacy.

n  When seeking attention, students talk out, show off, interrupt others, and demand teacher attention.

n  When seeking power, they drag their heels, make comments under their breath, and sometimes try to show that the teacher can't make them do anything.

n  When seeking revenge, they try to get back at the teacher and other students, by lying, subverting class activities, and maliciously disrupting the class.

n  When seeking to display inadequacy, they withdraw from class activities and make no effort to learn.

n  Teachers should learn how to identify mistaken goals and deal with them.

n  When teachers see evidence that students are pursuing mistaken goals, they should point out the fact by identifying the mistaken goal and discussing the faulty logic involved.

n  They should do this in a friendly, non-threatening manner.

n  Rules for governing class behavior should be formulated jointly by teacher and students.

n  Tied to those rules should be the logical consequences of compliance or violation.

n  It is the teacher's responsibility to see that stipulated consequences are invoked.

n  Good behavior (following the rules) brings pleasant consequences such as enjoyment of learning and associating positively with others.

n  Misbehavior brings unpleasant consequences such as having to complete work at home or being excluded from normal class activities.

n   Punishment should never be used in the classroom.

n  Punishment is just a way for teachers to get back at students and show them who's boss, and is usually humiliating to the student.

n  Punishment has many bad side effects and therefore should be supplanted with logical consequences agreed to by the class.

 Jacob Kounin’s Principal Teachings

n  Teachers need to know what is going on in all parts of the classroom at all times.

n  Kounin verified that teachers good in discipline displayed this trait, which he called withitness.

n   Good lesson momentum helps keep students on track.

n  Kounin used the term momentum to refer to teachers' starting lessons with dispatch, keeping lessons moving ahead, making transitions among activities efficiently, and bringing lessons to a satisfactory close.

n  Smoothness in lesson presentation helps keep students involved.

n  The term smoothness refers to steady progression of lessons, without abrupt changes or disturbing incidents.

n   Effective teachers have systems for gaining student attention and clarifying expectations. Kounin called this tactic group alerting.

n  Teachers must learn how to correct one pupil's behavior in a way that  changes the behavior of others.  This is called the  Ripple effect.

n  Effective teachers keep students attentive and actively involved.

n  Such student accountability is maintained by regularly calling on students to respond, demonstrate, or explain.

n   Teachers good in behavior management are able to attend to two or more events simultaneously.

n  This skill, which Kounin called overlapping, is shown when teachers answer questions for students doing independent work while at the same time instructing a small group of students.

n  Effective teachers see to it that students are not given overexposure to a particular topic.

n  Overexposure produces satiation, meaning students have had their fill of the topic as shown through boredom, resistance, and misbehavior.

n  Boredom [satiation] can be avoided by providing variety to lessons, the classroom environment and by pupil awareness of progress.

n  Effective teachers make instructional activities enjoyable and challenging. Kounin described how fun and challenge delay satiation.

Fred Jones’ Principal Teachings

n  Most teaching time that is otherwise lost can be recouped when teachers use Say, See, Do Teaching, provide efficient help to students, use effective body language, and use incentive systems.

n  These are the hallmarks of good behavior management.

n   Say, See, Do Teaching is an instructional method that calls for frequent student response to teacher input.

n   It keeps students actively alert and involved in the lesson.

n  Efficient arrangement of the classroom improves the likelihood of successful teaching and learning.

n  This includes seating arrangements that permit the teacher to "work the crowd" as they supervise student work and provide help.

n   Proper use of body language is one of the most effective discipline skills available to teachers.

n  Body language includes eye contact, physical proximity, body carriage, facial expressions, and gestures.

n  Teachers set limits on student behavior not so much through rules as through subtle interpersonal skills. These are the skills that convey that teachers mean business.

n   Students will work hard and behave well when given incentives to do so. 

n  These incentives are teachers' promises that students will receive, in return for proper behavior, rewards in the form of favorite activities that can be learned by all members of the group for the enjoyment of all members of the group.

n  To be effective, an incentive must be attractive to the entire group and be available equally to all.

n  Incentives that are available only to certain members of the class will affect only the behavior of those few individuals and leave the class as a whole little changed.

n   Students must learn to do their work without the teacher hovering over them. 

n  Jones calls students' reliance on teacher presence "helpless handraising."

n  He devised a method of providing help very efficiently to students who call for teacher assistance during independent work. Jones says to “ be positive, be brief and be gone."

n  The goal of discipline is for students to assume responsibility for their actions.  All aspects of learning are improved when students do so.

Lee and Marlene Canter’s Principal Teachings

n  Today's students have clear rights and needs that must be met if they are to be taught effectively.

n  These students' rights and needs include a caring teacher who persistently works to foster the best interests of students.

n   Teachers have rights and needs in the classroom as well. Teachers' rights include teaching in a classroom that is free from disruption, with support from parents and administrators as they work to help students.

n  The most effective teachers are those who remain in control of the class while always remembering that their main duty is to help students learn and behave responsibly.

n   Teachers must continually model through their own behavior the kind of trust and respect for students that they want students to show toward others.

n   A good discipline plan, built upon trust and respect, is necessary for helping.

n  Students limit their own counterproductive behavior. Such a discipline plan contains rules and consequences, and it must be fully understood and supported by students and their parents.

n  Teachers should practice positive repetitions. Positive repetitions involve repeating directions as positive statements to students who are complying with class rules, for example, "Fred remembered to raise his hand. Good job."

n  Negative consequences are penalties teachers invoke when students violate class expectations.

n  They are brought to bear only when all else fails. They must be something students dislike (staying in after class, being isolated from the group) but must never be physically or psychologically harmful.

n   Positive consequences are rewards, usually words or facial expressions, that teachers offer when students comply with class expectations.

n  The Canters consider positive consequences to be very powerful.

Haim Ginott’s Principal Teachings

n  Learning always takes place in the present tense, meaning teachers must not prejudge students or hold grudges.

n  Discipline is little-by-little, step-by-step. The teacher's self-discipline is key. Model the behavior you want in students.

n   Learning is always a personal matter to the student. Large classes often make teachers forget that each student-learner is an individual who must be treated as such.

n  Teachers should always endeavor to use congruent communication, which is communication that is harmonious with students' feelings about situations and themselves

n  The cardinal principle of congruent communication is that it addresses situations. It never addresses students' character or personality.

n   Teachers at their best, using congruent communication, do not preach or moralize, nor impose guilt or demand promises. Instead, they confer dignity on their students by treating them as social equals capable of making good decisions.

n  Teachers at their worst label students, belittle them, and denigrate their character: They usually do these things inadvertently.

n  Effective teachers invite cooperation from their students by describing the situation and indicating what needs to be done. They do not dictate to students or boss them around, which provokes resistance.

n   Teachers have a hidden asset upon which they should always call, namely, "How can I be most helpful to my students right now?"

n  Teachers should feel free to express their anger, but in doing so should use I-messages rather than you-messages.

n  Using an I-message, the teacher might say "I am very upset." Using a you-message, the teacher might say "You are being very rude."

n   It is wise to use laconic language when responding to or redirecting student misbehavior. Laconic means short, concise, and brief, which describes the sort of responses Ginott advocates.

n  Always respect students' privacy. Teachers should never pry when students do not wish to discuss personal matters, but should show they are available should students need to talk.

n  Use sane messages when correcting misbehavior. Address what the student is doing, don't attack the student's character [personal traits]. Labeling disables.

n  Use communication that is congruent with student's own feelings about the situation and themselves.

Linda Albert’s Principal Teachings

n  Teachers can only influence student behavior; they cannot directly control it. By knowing which goal students are seeking teachers can exert positive influence on behavior choices that students make.

n   Teachers in general reflect three styles of classroom management: permissive, autocratic, and democratic. Of the three, the democratic style best promotes good discipline. Albert refers to these three styles as the hands-off, hands-on, and hands-joined styles.

n  The Three C's -- capable, connect, and contribute -- are essential in helping students feel a sense of belonging. When students feel capable, they are able to connect personally with peers and teachers and able to make contributions to the class and elsewhere. With the three C's in place, the incidence of misbehavior drops dramatically.

n  Teachers should work cooperatively with students to develop a classroom code of conduct. The code of conduct stipulates the kind of behavior expected of everyone in the class.

n  Teachers should also work cooperatively with students to develop a set of consequences to be invoked when the classroom code of conduct is transgressed. When students participate in developing consequences, they are more likely to accept them as fair and reasonable.

n   When conflicts occur between teacher and students, the teacher should remain cool and relaxed. Teachers should adopt a businesslike attitude and use a calm yet firm tone of voice.

B.F. Skinner’s Principal Teachings

n  Behavior modification (not a term Skinner used) refers to the overall procedure of shaping student behavior intentionally through reinforcement. This procedure still comprises a major part of many teachers' discipline systems,. particularly at the primary grade level.

n  Constant reinforcement, provided every time a student performs a desired act, helps new learning become established. The teacher might praise Jonathan every time he raises his hand, or privately compliment Mary every time she turns in required homework

n  Although Skinner did not concern himself with classroom discipline per se, his discoveries concerning the shaping of desired behavior through reinforcement led directly to behavior modification, still used to speed and shape academic and social learning.

n  Years ago many primary grade teachers used behavior modification as their entire discipline system, rewarding students who behaved properly and ignoring those who misbehaved.

n  Very few teachers now use behavior modification as their discipline system, yet Skinner's principles of reinforcement are applied in classrooms everywhere.

Theorists 

Proponents of Various Discipline Models