Ch. 5 - Ecological Approaches to Classroom Management

Chapter 5 looks at Ecological approaches to management.  "Ecological" strategies look at the physical habitat or behavior setting of the classroom.

Big Idea #1:  Ecological strategies look at the physical design of the environment (rules, procedures, routines, and conduct).  Ecological classrooms are divided into highly structured activity units.  When activities change, the dynamic of the classroom changes.  Each unit is designed with a different purpose or focus.

Big Idea #2:  Teachers should learn and practice Kounin's instructional techniques.  Each of these techniques can be used within other classroom models for quick fixes to behavior problems.  However, these techniques should be used to supplement a model aimed at long-term behavior, not as the only management tool in the classroom.

Big Idea #3:  Many ecological models have emphasis on core values and character education.  When values and character are embedded into the curriculum, those values are reinforced more effectively than when those values are only addressed in small, separate units.

Journal #3: Professional Literature Review

In reviewing select chapters from H. Jerome Freiberg and Amy Driscoll’s book, Universal Teaching Strategies (2005) and Eva Chiriac and Karin Frykedal’s research study, “Management of Group Work as a Classroom Activity” (2011), it is clear that the topic of group work in the classroom has the potential of great use as a pedagogical tool.  However, grouping has met resistance because of the challenges and implications it brings to classroom management.  Chapter 10 of Universal Teaching Strategies discusses some concerns and benefits of using group work in the classroom.  Teachers should consider the physical and socioemotional environments, the content they intend for the students to learn (such as interpersonal skills and subject material), and the individual learner and whether each student will benefit from group work.  Chapter 12 of Universal Teaching Strategies discusses several typically group-based strategies that can make learning more interactive and real:  role-play, simulation, drama, problem-based learning, and service learning.  With these strategies, challenges like time, space, the emotional climate of the classroom and the roles of the teacher are addressed. “Management of Group Work as a Classroom Activity” approaches group work from several teachers’ perspectives and asks why teachers are hesitant to use group work.  The researchers observed teachers participating in focus groups and found that these teachers did not think group work helped in subject matter learning, and that its management issues did not justify the benefits of this mode of teaching.

Journal #2: Classroom Management Plan (Letter to Parents)

February 12, 2013

Dear Parents,

I am looking forward to an excellent year with each and every student in my class.  I want to take this opportunity to familiarize you with the kind of environment I intent to establish in my classroom.

My classroom management plan is simple.  It is character-based and grounded in ethics.  At the beginning of the year, your child will assist in defining the rights of the students in the classroom.  Students will be given positions of responsibility and leadership which will foster involvement, care, and reliance on fellow classmates.  We will discuss and practice ethical decision-making in my classroom.  Some example tenets of my classroom ethics are trustworthiness, loyalty, friendship, helpfulness, kindness, good cheer, cleanliness, and bravery.

If you would like to provide continuity at home, I encourage you to offer your child a position of responsibility in your household.  Now, when I say "position of responsibility," I do not mean extra chores (though those may be included).  I mean to give your child a say in the everyday routines and procedures of your household.  Listen to your child's suggestions for household policies that are fair to every member of your family.  Give your child the opportunity to claim ownership in the successes of your family.  Some example positions may include being a family tutor for a topic of interest, a tidiness monitor, an assistant or head cook, or even a recreation coordinator, organizing games and fun activities to do as a family within an outlined budget.

I will do everything I can to keep your child involved in the well-being of my classroom, and with your help at home, your child will grow to be an ethical influence on the whole community.  Thank you so much for the privilege of teaching and getting to know your child, and I am looking forward to a great year.

With the utmost sincerity,
Travis Koneschik, (future) M. Ed.

Ch. 9 - Community Approaches to Classroom Management

This chapter focused more on educational philosophy than specific management strategies, and I actually found that very attractive.  I don't think the classroom should be as strict as it is, and I think the more opportunities for involvement on everyone's part, the better and more useful the community as a whole will become.

Big Idea #1:  Community approaches encourage caring and concern for students and helps them develop cooperative skills and attitudes.  The reason I hi-lighted this as a big idea for these approaches is that behaviorist approaches do not do this.  Obviously, which management style would we prefer?  One that develops cooperative skills in the students, or a style that doesn't?  With less focus on bad behavior, and more focus on directing behavior towards the common good of the group, student involvement increases, less problems arise, and less violent tendencies.

Big Idea #2:  These approaches offer opportunities for improved behavior and increased academic achievement.  By having students take leadership roles in the classroom, they develop a stronger sense of ownership and citizenship in their classroom and their school.  This ownership results in a sense of responsibility for the well-being of the group and the self.

Big Idea #3:  Students become an integral part of the classroom, school, and the outside community.  Everyone enjoys feelings useful.  A student who learns this feeling in the classroom will become involved outside of the classroom.

Ch. 8 - Supportive Approaches to Classroom Management

I enjoyed reading about the approaches in this chapter.  I also agree with the principles in this chapter much more strongly than the behaviorist approaches mentioned in the earlier chapters.

Big Idea #1:  Supportive approaches provide a climate of respect and focus on the rights of students.  To me, this should be a staple of every classroom management model.  It surprised me that respect and the rights of students were hardly mentioned in the first models we reviewed, because it seems so vital and self-explanatory.  Students need to be treated with dignity like all other human persons.  For example, denying a student the right to use the bathroom when they need it simply does not compute for me.  I would not tolerate someone telling me I couldn't use the bathroom, so why should a student tolerate it?

Big Idea #2:  Supportive approaches focus on the causes of misbehavior and long-term behavior results.  Once again, the need to focus on the causes of misbehavior seems completely evident to me, and I was surprised that the first models we looked at didn't cover this obvious need.  Behaviorist approaches deal with a symptom, rather than addressing the cause.  We do the child no favors if we simply survive them for a year before passing them on to another teacher without actually trying to help that student.

Big Idea #3:  The critiques of supportive approaches at the end of the chapter are stupid.  The chapter critiques supportive approaches by citing that the teacher may be unable to identify root causes of misbehavior, and that inherently autocratic teachers may be insecure adopting these supportive management models.  I have two responses to these critiques.  If a teacher "might not be able to respond properly and to provide logical consequences for all misbehaviors," they still have a moral obligation to try and help that student.  That teacher should take classes and practice identifying misbehaviors and needs to spend time talking and getting to know their students.  To the "inherently autocratic teacher," maybe you shouldn't teach.  Students don't need that kind of environment.  School is not a prison, and it shouldn't be treated as such.  There are right and wrong ways to deal with kids, and an autocratic approach is wrong.

Another critique is that taught ethics are often different from actual ethics, the idea that what someone says is the right thing to do and what one actually does are different.  The book cites "time constraints, unforeseen situational factors, and spur-of-the-moment emotions."  This idea can be applied to any discipline.  How can I perform the quadratic equation every time I need it?  The purpose of studying these things is to practice, so that we know how to perform when the moment arises.  We must practice and discuss ethics SO THAT WE KNOW how to execute an ethical decision in the real world when the time arises.  

Ch. 4 - Behavioral Approaches to Classroom Management

This chapter offers some applicable strategies for improving behavior in the classroom.

Big Idea #1:  Assertive Discipline.  Developed by the Canters, Assertive Discipline follows B. F. Skinner's ideas and encourages positive reinforcement and negative consequences.  While I am in favor of a more passive, covert behavior management plan, there comes an age group and a stage of mental development with Skinner's behaviorism doesn't necessarily work anymore.  For older children, simple temporal rewards or punishments aren't enough to dictate their behavior.

Big Idea #2:  The Good Behavior Game.  Barrish, Saunders, and Wolf developed the game to diminish negative behaviors and to focus on peer encouragement.  To be frank, I see the Good Behavior Game as nothing more than a short term solution.  This is "imposed discipline" if I ever saw it, and it is only an extension of Skinner's system of rewards and punishments.

Big Idea #3:  Think Time.  Nelson created Think Time to reinforce rules, provide early intervention and encourage positive social exchange between the teacher and the student.  I am not convinced.  Think Time seems like a glorified time-out, which I think is one of the worst discipline practices around.  You are basically informing the child, "if you no longer wish to participate in my class, here is how you can get out of it."  The child then proceeds to misbehave, and is given a free ticket out of class, and is prevented from learning the material and developing a sense of social responsibility to the rest of the students.  And the debriefing form is supposed to fix this?  I doubt it.

Ch. 3 - Foundations of Classroom Management

This chapter introduces some psychological theories with which to approach classroom management.

Big Idea #1: Foundational theories are the theories on which many other strategies are based. Understanding these theories is an important step to understanding the strategies that are presented later in the textbook.

Big Idea #2 and #3 (because there are five theories presented in this chapter):

B. F. Skinner's research proposes that behavior can be influenced by a system of rewards and punishments. If good behavior is rewarded, it will continue to be exhibited, and if negative behavior receives punishing consequences, it will be avoided.

Redl and Wattenberg's theory of group dynamics posits that individuals act differently whether they are on their own or are part of a group. By reminding a child of their appropriate social reality, the child can be reminded what behavior is appropriate.

Glasser's Choice Theory asserts that every individual, teacher and student, is responsible for their own behavior. Children choose their behavior based on which needs they need to have fulfilled: survival, belonging, power, freedom, and fun.

Thomas Gordon's emphasis is on discipline as self-control.  He believes that students own their problems, but that teachers need to be active listeners so that they can understand and help a child with their problems.

Ginott's Congruent Communication Theory holds that, while problems are owned by the student, it is the teacher's responsibility to provide and create an environment conducive to the best behavior and learning possible.  With clear communication, "I-Messages," constructive guidance, uncritical messages and an avoidance of sarcasm and ridicule, the students will respect the teacher and will demonstrate that respect through good behavior.