Chapter 11 Creating Learning Environments

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Chapter 11Creating Learning Environments

• Cathy is the class rebel of the ninth grade. She
  attempts to undercut all authority figures,
  especially her history teacher. Today she is
  making sarcastic remarks to her best friend while
  the teacher lectures. The teacher says, All
  right, Cathy, Ive put up with your wisecracks
  for as long as I can. Even a teacher runs out of
  patience sooner or later. Now shut up.

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Characteristics of Classrooms

• 1. Multidimensional individuals with differing
  goals, performing various tasks within particular
  time pressures.
• 2. Simultaneity many things happening at once.
• 3. Immediacy very fast pace.
• 4. Unpredictability even with best plans,
  disruptions are likely.
• 5. Public students evaluating interactions
  between students and teacher.
• 6. Histories current events often depend on
  past.

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Gain Students Cooperation

• Gaining cooperation product of many managerial
  skills, not merely controlling behavior.
• Age-related needs four levels of classroom
  management
• 1. Early elementary grades direct teaching of
  rules and procedures.
• 2. Middle elementary grades time spent
  monitoring and maintaining management system
  less time on direct teaching of rules.

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• 3. Late elementary-early high school motivating
  students concerned with peers channeling
  challenges to authority productively.
• 4. Late high school fitting curriculum to
  student interest and abilities helping students
  become more self-managing in learning.

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Goals of Classroom Management

• 1. More time for learning
• Much time lost to interruptions and rough
  transitions.
• Significant positive correlation between content
  taught and student learning.
• Learning is highly correlated with amount of
  engaged time (time on task time spent attending
  actively to specific learning tasks).

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Goals of Classroom Management Continued

• 2. Access to learning
• Explicit participation structures rules defining
  participation in various activities.
• Teachers need awareness and communication of
  rules.
• 3. Management for self-management help students
  learn to manage themselves.

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Creating a Positive Learning Environment

• Rules and Procedures Required
• Procedures describe how to accomplish activities
  in the classroom.
• 1. Administrative routines lunch count, etc.
• 2. Student movement entering and leaving room
• 3. Housekeeping taking care of classroom and
  personal items

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• 4. Routines for accomplishing lessons
  collecting and distributing papers
• 5. Interactions between teacher and students
• 6. Talk among friends

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Rules expected and forbidden actions in the
classroom

• Please get with a few classmates who plan to
  teach at about the same grade level that you plan
  to teach. Design a plan for creating classroom
  rules for your future classrooms. How would you
  go about this task? What specific rules would
  you enforce? How would you let the students know
  your rules and the consequences for breaking them?

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Rules for Elementary Schools

• 1. Be polite and helpful.
• 2. Respect other peoples property.
• 3. Listen quietly while others are speaking.
• 4. Do not hit, shove, or hurt others.
• 5. Obey all rules.
• (What is missing from this list?)

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Rules for Secondary Schools

• 1. Bring all needed materials to class.
• 2. Be in your seat and ready to work when the
  bell rings.
• 3. Respect and be polite to everyone.
• 4. Respect other peoples property.
• 5. Listen and stay seated while someone else is
  talking.
• 6. Obey all school rules.

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Consequences

• 1. Determine beforehand the consequences for
  following or breaking rules.
• 2. Logical consequences have student go back
  and do it right.
• 3. Consequences should be clear and enforceable.
• 4. Who sets the rules and consequences? (See
  Table 11.2)

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Consequences

• Please go back to the rules you devised earlier.
  Get together with the same classmates and
  determine the consequence for breaking each rule
  you created.

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Seven Categories of Penalties for Students

• 1. Expressions of disappointment (student needs
  to like you).
• 2. Loss of privileges (homework during recess).
• 3. Exclusion from the group (for students
  distracting others).
• 4. Written reflections on the problem (journals,
  essays how behavior effects others).
• 5. Detentions (to talk about behavior high
  school usually used as punishment).

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Penalties continued

• 6. Visits to the principals office (expert
  teachers seldom use this).
• 7. Contact with parents (repeated pattern or
  problems should be used to help and support
  student, not to punish student).
• What is the best penalty for catching a student
  chewing gum?

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Getting Started The First Weeks of Class

• Effective elementary teachers
• 1. Organized from the first day
• 2. Gave children interesting tasks
• 3. Monitored behavior as a whole group
• 4. Taught rules!
• 5. Provided consequences for misbehavior
  immediately.

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Ineffective teachers for elementary students

• 1. Gave vague or complicated rules
• 2. Provided inconsistent consequences for both
  positive and negative behaviors
• 3. Procedures were not taught or practiced
• 4. Teachers frequently left the room

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Effective Managers for Secondary Students

• 1. Focused on establishing rules
• 2. Clearly communicated standards for academic
  work and class behavior
• 3. Dealt with infractions of rules quickly
• 4. Students in low achieving classes were given
  a variety of tasks

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Maintaining a Good Learning Environment

• Encouraging Engagement
• 1. Lesson format effects involvement
• 2. Involvement without supervision
• 3. Prevention is the best medicine

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Characteristics of Effective Managers

• 1. Are withit (aware of what is happening in
  the classroom)
• 2. Stop minor disruptions before they become
  major
• 3. Avoid blaming the wrong student for
  misbehavior (target errors Sister Freun)
• 4. Avoid timing errors (waiting too long before
  intervening in misbehavior0
• 5. When multiple problems occur, deal with the
  most serious one first

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Characteristics of Effective Managers Continued

• 6. Keep track of and supervise many activities
  at once (overlapping)
• 7. Keep as many students as possible involved in
  appropriate activities (group focus)
• 8. Makes smooth transitions, appropriate pace,
  and uses variety when changes are necessary
• 9. Avoids taking too much time to start new
  activities (slowdown)

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Dealing with Discipline Problems

• 1. Make eye contact, move closer, and use
  non-verbal signals
• 2. Verbal hints
• 3. Ask student if they are aware of the negative
  effects of their behavior
• 4. Remind students of procedures/rules
• 5. Calmly ask student to state correct procedure
• 6. Assertively telling student to stop behavior
• 7. Offer a choice

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Are zero tolerance policies a good idea?

• Consider your own view on this issue. Now find
  someone from the class who agrees with you.
  Prepare to debate your views against classmates
  who disagree with you on this issue.