Effective classroom management This new edition of the successful and widely recommended Effective Class- room Management has been updated and restructured in the light of recent research and developments. It is written for new teachers and also for those who train or guide them while they gain experience, and combines practical advice on lesson organisation and teaching methods with an exploration of teachers’ feelings about themselves and the children they teach. Effective management in the classroom is discussed as a co-operative enterprise linked to classroom and school processes and the development of good relationships. It is considered from four aspects: • Management in the classroom begins with four simple rules: get them in; get them out; get on with it; get on with them.
The authors then give more detailed advice on analysing classroom organisation and reduc- ing sources of friction. • Mediation with individuals refers to knowledge of how to provide the counselling and guidance which some pupils require, understanding their problems and avoiding damaging confrontations in the classroom. • Modification of behaviour involves applying learning theory to shaping and changing behaviour in ways which are practical and realistic within the routine of the normal classroom. • Monitoring school discipline considers how schools evaluate the effec- tiveness of policies on discipline and how senior teachers can help col- leagues cope with stress and other problems.
Smith is Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Bir- mingham, where he is tutor to courses for teachers of children with diffi- culties in learning. He is past editor of Maladjustment and Therapeutic Edu- cation, and has contributed widely to books and journals on special educa- tional needs and discipline in schools. Robert Laslett, after some years of teaching in mainstream schools, worked in special schools until he was appointed as Lecturer in Education and Tutor to a course for teachers of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Following the publi- cation of Educating Maladjusted Children he has written monographs for the Association of Workers for Children with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties and the National Council for Special Education, and has con- tributed to books and journals on special educational needs.
Effective classroom management A teacher’s guide Second edition Colin J. Smith and Robert Laslett London and New York First published 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. RoutledgeFalmer is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 1993 Colin J. Smith and Robert Laslett All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0-415-07152-6 (Print Edition) ISBN 0-203-13008-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-17772-X (Glassbook Format) Contents Introduction vii Part I Management 1 Four rules of classroom management 3 2 Analysing classroom organisation 14 3 Reducing sources of friction 34 Part II Mediation 4 Counselling and discussions with disruptive pupils 45 5 Confrontation in the classroom: pupils with problems 54 6 Confrontation in the classroom: teacher strategies 66 7 Imperturbable, resilient and disruptive teachers 80 Part III Modification 8 Rewards and punishments 97 Part IV Monitoring 9 Teacher stress and teachers’ feelings 115 10 Helping colleagues cope 128 Bibliography 144 Author index 150 Subject index 152 Introduction We have written this book particularly to help newly-qualified teach- ers establish and improve their classroom management. We hope that more experienced teachers, especially those charged with the task of acting as ‘mentor’ to new entrants to the profession, will also find this book useful as a means of organising reflection on their own experience of what makes teaching effective. Such teachers rarely have the time to examine and articulate the techniques which they have internalised over the years.
We know that the first edition of this book has been used by teachers to analyse and explain the ratio- nale for actions which have become natural and intuitive to them through successful practice. We realise that any authors who write about the management of children face difficulties, because they are not present in schools and classrooms where the significant events that affect manage- ment take place. We hope that we have reduced these difficulties facing us as far as it is possible to reduce them. We are experienced teachers, we are in contact with practising teachers, and we base many descriptive passages on observations in classrooms.
In our experience, it seems that effective teachers develop their own personal management practices without undue concern about the theories that underpin them. What we have tried to do here is to describe effective practice and also explain the theories that support it. In some ways, effective classroom management is not unlike chess, although the comparison is not altogether satisfactory, because we do not regard teachers and the children in their classes as oppo- nents. But it is true that experienced teachers know about opening moves and their effects on subsequent moves; they know which gam- viii Introduction bits are risky and they know how to avoid checkmate and how to checkmate others.
They also learn to study and respect the other person at the board. But even comprehensive knowledge of open- ings, middle and end games does not, of itself, ensure success. The knowledge has to be applied with sensitivity and imagination that can only come through practice. At the same time, this practice is improved by reading the accounts and confessions of successful chess players.
Classroom practice is improved by studying what others do successfully and understanding the principles on which their practice is based. We have written about management rather than control in class- rooms, because we believe that management emphasises that learn- ing and teaching are complementary activities. Just as successful managers in commerce and industry avoid disputes which disrupt production, so in the classroom successful teachers do not constantly have to demonstrate ‘who is the boss’. There are times when teach- ers must exert their authority clearly and unmistakably, and we do not pretend that it can be otherwise.
But we also believe that good classroom management depends more upon teachers and children working equitably together because they are confident together, than upon peremptory instruction and resigned obedience. Though the fundamentals of classroom management do not change, this new edition has been rearranged into four sections to draw attention to the importance of seeing effective classroom man- agement, not as a simple attribute which individual teachers either have or have not got, but as the product of a combination of skills, knowledge and understanding, which can be fostered by individu- als and institutions. Each section refers mnemonically to an aspect of teaching beginning with the letter ‘M’. Management refers to skill in the organisation and presentation of lessons in such a way that all pupils are actively engaged in learning.
This requires an ability to analyse the different elements and phases of a lesson, to select and deliver appropriate material and to reduce sources of friction. These issues are discussed in Chapters 1–3. Mediation refers to knowledge of how to provide the more inten- sive individual counselling and guidance which some pupils re- quire, how to enhance self-concepts and avoid damaging confron- tation in the classroom. This is examined in Chapters 4–7.
Modification refers to understanding the ways in which learning Introduction ix theory can be applied to devising programmes for shaping and changing behaviour through thinking up suitable rewards and pun- ishment. These issues are discussed in Chapter 8. Monitoring refers to checking the effectiveness of school policies on discipline and pastoral care and how senior management can help colleagues avoid stress and cope with problems in classroom management. These issues are discussed in Chapters 9 and 10.
Though it is possible to see a progression from simple to more complex problems or from resp onsibilities of the individual to insti- tutional responsibilities, the different perspectives described by the ‘four Ms’ inevitably overlap and interlock. As with so many aspects of education, effective classroom management depends on the qual- ity of support and guidance within the school as well as the talent of the individual teacher. Part I Management Chapter 1 Four rules of classroom management Is there some special personal magic which enables some teachers to quieten excitement merely by arriving at the scene, quell misbehaviour with a glance, make classrooms bustle with activity and hum with cheerful industry? Perhaps at this highest level of perfection there may indeed be some extra ingredient of individual charisma but studies of teacher behaviour (Rutter et al., 1979; Wragg, 1984) have noted specific skills which are demonstrated by effective teachers. These skills can be learned and applied by newcomers to the profession.
As McManus (1989) sensibly points out ‘teaching is more than the sum of its parts’ but it is possible from research, observation and auto- biographical anecdote to discern ‘four rules’ of classroom management applied by successful teachers which like the ‘four rules’ in arithmetic, once assimilated, can be applied in many different situations. RULE ONE: GET THEM IN This rule emphasises the point that a lesson which makes a brisk start will avoid the difficulties which can arise if pupils are not promptly engaged in useful activity. If teachers are pre-occupied with setting up displays, distributing materials or searching for equipment then there are ample opportunities for idling, chatter and other unproductive activities. The activities are of no great disrup- tive impact in themselves, but they often build up to a cumulative disorder, which leads in turn to further distraction in the form of exhortation, reprimand or even disciplinary action by the teacher which extends the delay in beginning the lesson.
The process of ‘getting them in’ can be seen to involve three phases: greeting, seat- ing and starting. 4 Effective classroom management Greeting Simply by being there before the class arrives the teacher establishes the role of host receiving the class and he is quietly able to underline his authority by deciding when pupils are invited to enter the room. There is also the vital practical advantage of being able to check that the room is tidy, that materials are available, displays arranged, and necessary instructions or examples are written on the board. This will all help to provide the mental composure essential to relaxed assurance.
In larger schools, this tactic may not be easy, though professional commitment appears to be a more significant factor than distance between teaching areas in ensuring a prompt start to lessons (Rutter et al. Seating Although arrangements will vary according to the type of lesson, age of pupils and nature of activity, it is important that initially teachers decide where children should sit. Like entrance to the room, this is another aspect of the natural establishment of responsibility. Teachers may choose to encourage children to sit with friends to promote co-operation or they may deliberately and arbitrarily dis- perse such centres of potential distraction: but they establish that placement and movement in the classroom are matters which they control.
A seating plan showing who sits where quickly enables teachers to learn and use individuals names, so although later re- grouping will be desirable, it is very useful for at least the first few lessons if a fixed pattern is set and maintained. Starting Starting a lesson smoothly and promptly depends not only on man- aging the physical entrance and disposition of the student body but also the mental tuning-in of the student mind.