A Response to “Classroom Management and Caring”
The article, “Classroom Management and Caring,” by Robert Pena from the Teaching Education Journal (Spring/Summer, 1999) informed the reader about different theorists approaches to effective classroom management. Some of the theorists whose views were presented in this article are the following: Redl, Kounin, Dreikur, and Simons. Even though each theorist had many different ideas, one main idea they all agreed upon was the fact that teachers need to be proactive instead of reactive. Pena also indicates that before teachers can implement different classroom management strategies, they first need to show true concern and care for their students. Pena explained that classroom management and caring work together and an effective classroom need both factors to survive the school year.
Out of the four theorists, Kounin was the theorist I liked best of all. A lot of Kounin’s research was to benefit teachers in training; therefore his studies applied to me the most. The first piece of advice Kounin gave was that “teachers need to develop withitness” (p. 170). He explains that withitness is “a constant awareness of circumstances within the classroom” (p. 170). Fortunately, I have been able to witness teachers using withitness. I was amazed when this third grade teacher was writing on the chalkboard and as if she had eyes in the back of her head, she told one of her students to sit down and hold the note until after class. The student was in shock that she had caught him and I was in awe. I did not even see him passing a note and I was facing the students. I asked her how she knew what was going on without looking and with a smirk on her face she told me it comes with practice. I hope she is right and with practice I will develop withitness.
Another piece of advice Kounin suggested was that teachers need to develop the skill of overlapping. This is “dealing with two issues at the same time” (p. 170). To me, this seems a lot like multitasking. Again through service learning, I have been able to witness overlapping in action. This time this skill was mastered by a sixth grade teacher. The students were in the computer lab typing poems they had written and she was walking around making sure everyone was on task. Every now and then, she would stop at a student’s computer to help correct grammar mistakes, while at the same time she was still scanning the room making sure she knew what was going on. I tried this myself and found that I was horrible at it. When I stopped to help a student, I put all of my focus on that paper and had no idea what the others were doing. I know this is also a skill I need to continue to develop before I become a teacher.
The next piece of advice Kounin focuses on is having momentum. Kounin describes this as “using relevant material and an organized, flowing methodology” (p. 170). Momentum is very important to me. I think this is the best way to be proactive when dealing with classroom management. I feel that the more prepared the teacher is the better the school day will be. I also think that if teachers use relevant material, the students will be interested in the lesson and will want to learn, furthermore giving the students no time to wander off task and cause disruptions. Organization is also critical in my opinion. Have you heard the saying, “If mom is in a bad mood, the rest of the house is in a bad mood?” Well, I feel that if the teacher is unorganized, the rest of the class will be unorganized as well. By being organized, teachers can develop a smooth flowing methodology as Kounin describes it.
The last bit of advice by Kounin refers to emphasizing group work rather than individual work (p. 170). I am a strong believer in group work. I feel that by allowing students to work together maximum learning can and will take place. I agree with Kounin that if you give the students an opportunity to talk to each other relating to school subjects, they will be less inclined to talk when the time is not appropriate. A classroom, in my opinion, should be talkative, as long as it is educational talk. Even in the computer lab at my service learning site, some of the teachers allow the students to work on assignments together and because they have opportunities to talk, they quiet down immediately when instruction is being given.
The last part of the article really made an impact on me as well. The last part talked about caring. It was stated that teachers need to show their students they care and if they do not, then it really does not matter what classroom management techniques they use, because they will be ineffective (p. 172). I know this is true. From my time spent in school, I remember clearly the teachers who cared about me and the teachers who did not. I was more prone to follow directions and be well behaved in the classrooms where I felt important. In the classrooms where I did not feel important, I almost wanted to act out and cause a disturbance just to spite the teacher. Caring teachers show that the rules are to keep the students safe and that the rules are for the students benefit. Non-caring teachers make the rules seem like a large list of what they cannot do because the teacher says so. Caring does not take that much effort, but it has the greatest effects.
This article is very beneficial for the teacher in training because it gives a lot of useful advice. It also emphasizes what we have learned in class by being proactive instead of reactive. This article helped me personally realize what I need to be working on, such as withitness and overlapping, and what strengths I already have.
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