MANAGING THE CLASSROOM

A VERY SALIENT RESPONSIBILITY IN TEACHING AND

LEARNING SITUATIONS IS CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
D R . MARLOW EDIGER, PROFESSOR EMERITUS

Truman State University

A knowledgeable teacher may fail in

teaching due to inability to work effectively
with pupils. Thus, pupils may be entertaining
each other during class time, talking aloud
incessantly, walking around aimlessly in the
classroom, and bothering others, among other
annoyances. When supervising imiversity student teachers in the public schools, the worst
scenario observed by the writer pertained to
the following:
"The entire class of 33 pupils was restless
with much purposeless wandering in the room.
The writer could barely walk between the rows.
Selected pupils tried to trip each other as they
walked past their close together desks. There
was continuous talking aloud with others, but
it was not related to the ongoing tinit being pursued. The cooperating teacher was not in the
classroom at the time of visitation. The student
teacher cried during my conference with her. I
assured her that she had gotten an impossible
room for student teaching."
But, what can be done to help pupils learn
in these situations?

* give honest praise to pupils doing good

work.
* knowledgeable resource persons must
be available when solving misbehaviors problems and work out a plan for
improving classroom discipline. The
school district must also have a discipline manual for teachers to follow
(Ediger and Rao, 2007).
Thirty three pupus in a space for twenty
is too many. A professional teacher must stay
near to the classroom at all times and be available for assistance. She needs to model good
teaching techniques an adequate number of
times for the student teacher to observe and
emulate. The above asterisked items provide
direction and guidance for improving teaching and learning situations.
Grouping pupils for instruction needs to
be planned very carefiiUy. There are times
when pupils achieve best in a homogeneously
grouped situation, such as in teaching reading
to a group of talented elementary school aged
learners. These pupils may challenge each
other in positive ways, especially in discussion situations whereby higher levels of cognition involving critical and creative thinking
as well as problem solving are involved.
Needs of learners, also, to determine which
pupils go into a group such as when diagnoses
in remedial reading is stressed as in a small
group of pupils needing assistance in utilizing
context clues to identify unknown words (See
X^gotsky, 1933-1978).
The class as a whole provides opportunities for pupus to be introduced to a new unit of

* very carefiil planning of each lesson so

that pupils realize the seriousness of
teaching and learning.
* keep the lesson moving forward to
minimize interruptions.
* engage pupils
activities.
*

with

interesting

observe pupils continuously to keep

them on task.

* stand next to the initial disrupter while

teaching.
15

16/Education Vol. 134 No. 1

study in the social studies whereby all might
view an audio-visual presentation. The teacher may point out specifics within the activity
to enhance achievement. At the beginning,
during, and at the end of the AV presentation,
he/she may lead pupils in discussing answers
to questions. Problem areas might be identified and committees formed to researcb relevant items (Kumar and Hablemariam (2010).
In science, the class as a whole might
observe a demonstration or experiment. The
activity must possess clarity for all to observe
what is transpiring. Adequate background information must be presented so tbe pupils will
attach meaning to the ensuing experiences.
Small groups might be established with members interacting to clarify ideas. Mannerly
movement to form each group needs emphasis (See Nieto, et.al, 2010-2011).
A mathematics teacher, for example, teaching the class as a whole, might show with the
use of manipulative materials regrouping of
numbers necessary in division. Learners must
understand in a meaningfiil manner what
transpires when renaming occurs. Pupils need
to attach meaning sequentially to concepts
presented. Previous leanings are needed to
acquire new subject matter ideas with pupils
perceiving the relationship of ideas (Tucker,
et.al. (2010).
Pupil progress is observed when the mathematics teacher observes learners working
on the assigned activities. Diagnosis and
remediation is involved with pupils individually being guided in correcting errors, either
inductively or deductively. Peer mediated
instruction may also be used if there is a
knowledgeable person, providing leadership,
in each small group. %,
Peer interaction is a preferred learning
style of selected learners. This needs to be
emphasized in the classroom along with other
styles such as
* explanations/short lectures presented
by the teacher. The content with the use

of purposeful instructional aids must

be well planned, clearly presented with
prosody. Homogeneous or heterogeneous groups may then be formed to
enrich and extend understandings.
* project methods whereby committee
members have a purpose in developing
a project directly related to the ongoing
unit of study. The purpose emphasizes planning and clarifying an abstract
concept into the semi-concrete and
concrete such as making a model, dramatizing a written play, cooperatively
developing notebooks which cover
content within a unit of study, among
others. Carrying out the plans and evaluating the final product are also parts
of the activity.
* debates involving a societal issue, following the rules for debating involved
learners as well as being on tbeir developmental level. Adequate research
must be done to support the side of the
debating team. The research materials
used involve the computer, basal textbooks, and encyclopedias, among others (See Baildon and Baildon, 2008).
For each of the above asterisked items, the
teacher must use proper management procedures to optimize learning and minimize disruptions. Good classroom managers are well
prepared and possess foresight to avoid pupil
misbehavior. Thus in grouping for instruction, pupils need to move their chairs quietly
and orderly from one group to the next method of arranging pupils for instruction. Much
noise and disorder may transpire if a smooth
arrangement is not in evidence. It is more
difficult then for learners to be attentive and
concentrate on the tasks at hand. Pupils can
be taught to pick up their chairs quietly and
quickly to move on to an ensuing experience
involving a seating 2irrangement. Learning
proper manners is important in the classroom

Managing The Classroom /17

setting (See Moeller 2005). In discussions,
for instance, pupils must experience quality
guidelines which
* do not interrupt while a participant is
speaking in a committee setting.
* listen carefully to each participant
and ask for clarification if content expressed is not clear or questions arise.
* speak clearly and stay on the topic being discussed.
* ideas during the discussion need to
circulate among committee members
with no one dominating the firee flow
of ideas.
Discipline and the Curriculum
There may be cases where special procedures need emphasis to aid in classroom
management.. Each school board should possess a manual in the arena of discipline. Zero
Tolerance has been adopted by a few. This is a
strict procedure of discipline. Thus, for example, there may be a mle whereby possession
of a knife in school makes for suspension for
a designated period of dme such as three days
to a week. A news headline a few years ago
mentioned a short finger nail file carried by an
elementary pupil to school. This was considered to be a knife by the school administration.
The boy had not been in previous trouble but
was suspended. The interpretation can be very
strict as to what the intended use was. There is
a huge difiference between an eight inch sharp
hunting knife and a short finger nail file. And
yet to define these specifics could amount to
a large volume of disciplinary items. To be
sure, bringing the hunting knife or a loaded
pistol to school must have dire consequences.
A few pupils may be expelled due to the danger involved to others. These, however, must
receive home schooling provided by the local
school district.
Less stringent than Zero Tolerance is assertive discipline whereby the teacher writes

the pupil's name on the board for the first offense in agreed upon rules of conduct, posted
on the bulletin board. After three offenses,
the pupil is sent to the principal's office indicating what the pupil had done to warrant
this. Upon retum to the classroom, the teacher
notices if the pupil's behavior is conducive
to leaming. In my graduate class Theory of
Administration, three students teaching in
the same school complained about their high
school principal being a very kind, likable,
and considerate person who in faculty meetings always invited his teachers to send to
his office misbehaving pupils with discipline
problems. The problem was, according to
these three teachers, that pupils behaved the
same or even worse when coming back to the
classroom.
With practice, the teacher may find ways
that work in curbing discipline problems.
He/she needs to use all of the suggestions
on teaching and leaming in this manuscript
to see what works generally and in specific
situations. This should include searching the
literature, using intemet and other reference
sources, in securing ideas to implement in
humane approaches that which is conducive
to solve problems relating to discipline and
classroom management. There are a plethora
of sources available for assistance. It is important to discuss with other professionals
as to what helps in the area of disciplinary
problems. The teacher should never give up in
providing a classroom which helps pupils to
achieve objectives of instmction in cognition,
in skills, and in attitudinal dimensions.
References
Baildon, Rindi, and Mark Baildon (2008),"Guiding
Independence: Developing a Research Tool to Support Student Decision Making in Selecting Outline
Information Sources," The Reading Teacher, 61 (8),
636-648.
Ediger, Marlow, and D. Bhaskara Rao (2007), Teaching
Social Studies. New Delhi, India: Discovery PubUshing House, Chapters One and Two.

18/Education Vol. 134 No. 1

Kumar, Saheesh, and Rezene Hablemariam (2010),
'Xeaming with Multimedia; A Constructive Cooperative Approach in Education," Edutrends, 15-18.
MocUer, K. (2005), "Creating Zones of Possibilities for
Struggling Readers," Journal of Literacy Research,
3(5(4), 419^50.
Nieto, Sonia, et al. (2010-2011), "What Makes a Great
Teaeher?" Educational Leadership, 68 (4), 74-76.
Tucker, Carolyn, et. al. (2010), "Using Children's Literature to Teach Mathematics," Reading Improvement,
-7(3),154O161.
\^gotsky, Len (1933-1978), Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

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