Ideas from Good Practice
You may have read the theory, you may even have identified which ones seem most closely aligned with your personal philosophy of teaching and learning, and you may still be sitting there thinking, “Well that’s all well and good, but I do not have time to devote entire lessons to discussing class rules and consequences. There’s a syllabus to get through, and this class is already behind.”
I ask you to consider this statement:
In this section, I will examine “preventative” strategies: what you can do to ensure your class doesn’t reach boiling point and that effective teaching and learning can take place. Time spent establishing a safe, respectful and encouraging environment in your classroom is never wasted. These are the strategies that have been most effective for me at Caperberry HS.
Note: If your issue is one particular “hard class” or one or more individual students who have earned the label of “challenging”, I encourage you to take a look at a more in-depth discussion of these topics in Appendices A and B.
Essential Skills for Classroom Management framework
As a new teacher, I find it difficult to assess a class or situation and decide which theories and strategies will work best for them. Without years of experience to inform my practice, I have found it easier instead to rely on just a few key frameworks. The first one I use is the Essential Skills for Classroom Management (ESCM) framework (Education Queensland, n.d.). The table below shows what the essential skills are and how I use them in my classroom. I have also included a downloadable copy of an Education Queensland document which explains the framework in more detail.
Bill Rogers' Positive Behaviour Leadership model
Another framework I have found immensely practicable is Bill Rogers’ work on hard classes and Positive Behaviour Leadership (Rogers, 2000 and Lyons, Ford & Arthur-Kelly, 2011, p.23). For more on hard classes, please see Appendix A.
Rogers’ PBL model is similar to Glasser’s Choice Theory in that it posits students should be empowered to be accountable for their own choices (Glasser, 1998; Lyons, Ford & Arthur-Kelly, 2011). However, it also offers very practical advice on how to implement that theory in a real classroom. This includes prescribing class rules, minimising confrontation by choosing the least intrusive option when it comes to discipline, demonstrating confidence in students by offering them choices, modelling respectful behaviour and communicating high expectations to students in a positive manner.
The most important facet for me is the emphasis on preventative measures. Much of Rogers' framework aligns with ESCM such as the importance establishing rules and expectations, offering students choices and outlining consequences for failure to make a good choice. But an area that Rogers' emphasises which is missing from ESCM (and which I think is deserving of mention) is that of one's teaching style. Rogers advocates adopting a decisive teaching style. Even when you feel embarrassed or disheartened, it is important to convey to the students an assertive but approachable attitude.
Dr Bill Rogers discusses in this video how to deal with distractions in the classroom in an assertive and confident manner.
A final word on the importance of pedagogy and content
Although I have previously contended that no effective learning can take place if classroom order is not maintained, the what and how of teaching is nevertheless important.Although we as teachers may have little say over curriculum decisions, it is incumbent upon us that we consider how our students learn best.
One Friday afternoon, I approached a year 9 science class with quite some trepidation. The class had been very disruptive in the last three lessons, and I feared that period 5 on a Friday would be nothing short of chaos. To make matters worse, I had planned a hands-on activity involving play dough.
I had visions of pieces of play dough flying around the room and general disarray. But instead, these students confounded my worst expectations, and created some charming stop-motion animations of phagocytosis and antibody production. Indeed they even asked when they could try making more movies to cover other bodily processes they had learned. The hands-on nature of the activity and the fact that they were allowed to use their mobile phones to take the photos kept them busy for the whole period. I did not have to caution any student about mobile use, which had become a wearingly common occurrence prior to this class. There was a workable level of noise and even my most intractable students got involved with the modelling. I left the classroom feeling lighter, and I'm sure many of the students did too.
When I sat down to reflect on the lesson, I realised that because of the increasingly difficult task of managing the class, I had ceased to offer them any inquiry-based learning tasks. We had not conducted a single wet lab for the unit. The students were bored with copying notes and answering questions, and they were shutting down in class. Although it is true that you must first have a sense of calm and order in the class before any appreciable learning can occur, you will not keep even the keenest and most diligent of students on task if you do not offer them engaging and exciting learning experiences. I have since made an effort to check my lesson plans and ensure that inquiry-based learning is prominent in every science class I teach, even if it means play dough and mobile phones instead of Bunsen burners and beakers.