Notes: Classroom Management

Managing classrooms to facilitate effective learning is a challenge for all educators.

Components of Classroom Management

• Organization of classroom space
• Furniture arrangement
• Lighting
• Color scheme and decoration
• Equipment
• Equipment storage
• Seating Arrangement
• Desk arrangement
• Access to content
• Classroom Climate
• The fusion of the physical organization with the social organization of the classroom
• Classroom Norms
• Identify classroom rules and procedures that will be used in making decisions and how the class works together to learn
• Developing Classrooms Rules and Procedures - general expectations or standards for classroom conduct
• define terms clearly
• provide examples
• discuss rationale for rules and procedures
• discuss consequences
• teach routines
• Planning and conducting instruction
• Content
• Learning and instructional time
• Instructional strategies

Planning and Conducting Instruction

• essential that teachers specifically plan the instructional content that will be presented and implement instruction to meet the needs of the students in the class
• Learning and instructional time
• actual time allocated to the class
• motivation of students
• efficiency of instruction
• social interactions of students
• inappropriate behavior
• Instructional strategies
• small group instruction
• cooperative learning
• heterogeneous - different ability levels
• group accountability - group is responsible for achieving goal
• positive interdependence - cooperative learning must be planned so that each individual must work with others for the foal to be achieved
• individual accountability - each team member are held individually accountable for their own actions in progressing toward the assigned activity goal
• differentiated instruction
• five elements of differentiated instruction include: content, process, products, affects, and learning environment

Maintaining appropriate behaviors

• positive behavioral supports (PBS)
• preventative approach is supported in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA)
• requires schools to consider the use of positive behavioral supports in programs for students in programs with disabilities
• School-wide positive behavioral supports
• empowering students
• modeling appropriate behaviors
• reinforcing appropriate behaviors
• positive reinforcement
• primary reinforcer
• secondary reinforcer
• immediacy requirement

Decreasing inappropriate behaviors

• Weinstein proposes 5 principles to guide teacher's choice:
1. disciplinary strategies must be consistent with goal of creating safe, caring classroom environment
2. keep the instructional program going with a minimum of disruption
3. whether or not a particular action constitutes misbehavior depends on the context in which it occurs
4. march the severity of the disciplinary strategy with eh misbehaviors you are trying to eliminate
5. be "culturally responsive," because differences in norms, values, and styles of communication can have a direct effect on students behaviors
• responding to minor inattention and misbehavior
• changing the classroom environment (steps to changing classroom environment)
  • observe
  • modify
  • follow-up
• cues and re direction - refocusing the students on appropriate learning tasks
• eye contact
• gestures (hand signals)
• physical proximity (walking standing near students)
• verbal communication (saying or using the student's name in the instruction)
• response request (calling on the student to respond to a lesson item)
• extinction - discontinuation or withholding of the reinforcer of a behavior that has previously been reinforcing the behavior
• consequences of rule violation - identified as class rules and procedures
• natural consequences - based on the natural flow of events taking place without teacher intervention
• differential reinforcement procedures
• incompatible behavior
• alternative behavior
• other behavior
• low rates of behavior
• eight components of self-management and self-determination

1. choice making
2. decision making
3. problem solving
4. goal setting and attainment
5. self-observation, evaluation, and reinforcement
6. self-instruction
7. self-advocacy and leadership
8. self-awareness

• self-advocacy behavior management steps

1. weekly grade
2. student-teacher conference
3. develop goal and strategy
4. follow-up conference
5. adjustment(s) to goal and strategy

Behavior intervention plan (BIP)

• the IDEA 2004 mandates that schools develop a plan for students with disabilities whose behaviors interfere with their learning or the learning of others; who put peers at risk with their behavioral problems; and whose behaviors result in disciplinary action
• determining underlying causes
• BIP includes:
• specific behavioral goals
• proposed interventions
• responsible staff
• evaluation methods, criteria and schedule
• punishment
• reprimand
• time-outs
• response cost