Week+Two


 * Week 2 - Classroom Management

Guest Lecturer: Prof. Ray Lewis**

//Week beginning March 9th 2009//

Hello Team Riskfactor

The week two lecture and readings this week concerned Behaviour Management.

Prof. Ray Lewis led the lecture and discussed the ideas of personal (eg. I do the right thing) and communal (eg. I encourage others to do the right thing) responsibility and how they can be used to set Rights and Responsibilities in a classroom. In a practical example, he suggested you use words and pictures to make sure visual and aural learners both get the message. He highlighted the fact that from the beginning of secondary school student's sense of personal responsibility dips then slowly increases but communal responsibility takes a great and permanent drop, possibly reflecting the less community minded approach to education in secondary schools.

He then discussed a 2002 study of primary and secondary students and teachers in Israel, China and Australia and their responses and understanding of classroom discipline. The study found that Chinese students showed a much greater sense of student responsibility than their Israeli or Australian counterparts, Australian students in particular taking little responsibility for the actions of their peers.

Next Prof. Lewis highlighted results from a 2008 study that showed 45-55% of all variation in a student's learning outcomes is due to what goes on in the classroom, rather than externally such as in the home. This serves to emphasise the importance of our role as a mentor but also the importance of other sources of learning eg. friends, family.

He then discussed the idea of fours kinds of students: A. Managed by normal curriculum B. Managed within the class C. Managed out of class D. Not managed

He noted that each student type required different levels of support and management but that students did not always fit into, or remain in only one category eg. change from D to C, sometimes C and sometimes B

He then discussed five types of power teachers may exert: Coercive - student's desire to avoid punishment - LESS POWERFUL Legitimate - due to the teacher's role and position - LESS POWERFUL Referent - power student's give to a teacher whose relationship they value - MORE POWERFUL Reward - gained by a student's desire to gain something - MORE POWERFUL Expert - from student's belief the teacher has the ability to pass on valuable knowledge - MORE POWERFUL

Prof. Lewis' final point is that based upon these five types of power, you should not use Coercive power to manage a misbehaving student but rather utilise your Referent, Reward and Expert powers instead. Week Two included four readings. The first titled 'Dreikurs TheoryDreikurs Theory' unsurprisingly concerned Dreikurs' Theory which argues that children misbehave to gain social acceptance and therefore teachers' should seek to 'break the detrimental cycle whereby a student acts and teachers react'.

The second titled 'Teachers' Classroom Discipline in Australia, China and Israel' discussed the 2002 study of teachers' and students' reactions to classroom discipline as discussed in the lecture. The core ideas are that creating a strong relationship with your students is a much more effective means of classroom management than using punishments or other more traditional methods. It also suggested that the goal of educators should be to establish an environment where students exercise self-discipline.

The third titled 'A Person-centred Approach to Classroom Management' further discussed the idea of self-discipline where children are encouraged to self regulate their own behaviour against a set of rules jointly determined by themselves with the teacher as guide and equal contributor eg. teacher having equal say as one individual student'. It also argued that a healthy and open learning environment are essential pre-conditions for this to happen and that learning must occur in three equal ways: teacher dimension - teacher led learning cooperative dimension - teacher and students working together self dimension - individual learning from multiple sources

And the fourth reading titled 'Classroom Management in Australia' focused on the five types of power (Coercive, Legitimate, Referent, Reward, Expert) as discussed in the lecture. It makes the point that students like to have input into the establishment of rules, responsibilities and to a lesser degree, punishments, but prefer the teacher to take authoritive control. Student's also desire punishment to be dispensed even handedly, for the misdeeds of the individual to not affect the group, ample praise be given and for teachers to control their tempers.He suggests that in this group management approach the ultimate punishment should be exclusion from the group until the individual can abide by the rules. Teachers need to be very clear about their rules and boundaries.

In summary, the core idea ito my mind is that developing strong respectful relationships with students is the best way of managing classroom discipline.

Thank you for your attention.

Nick East

Hello All, its Bec here with my week 2 contribution. Thanks to Nick for starting us off with a great summary of the lecture and readings.

I found Dr Ray Lewis' lecture very engaging, and I was interested in his study of Australia, China and Israel's discipline in schools. I have to say up until now I haven't given a huge amount of thought to discipline and classroom management techniques, so this lecture got the ball rolling for me.

The highlight for me this week was the reading 'A Person Centred Approach to Classroom Management'. It challenged all my preconceived ideas about how a classroom is run, most of which are from my own memories of school. In my mind previously, the teacher was always 'the boss', and the children 'obeyed' the teacher. This notion is a worrying one, because as is mentioned in the article, if a teacher places all the pressure and responsibility upon themselves to constantly monitor behaviour and 'manage' children, I'm quite sure they are in danger of burning out and being unable to focus on the most important aspect of a teacher's job - teaching! The article suggests having a class constitution that is voted on by children, and to empower children to lead activities themselves and assist with administration tasks. All of these are opportunities for them to learn about responsibility. I feel that if I had had this kind of hands on involvement as a child I would have enjoyed it, and felt valued as a person with credible opinions and ideas. I'm sure I would have also become more involved in lessons and the classroom in general if I had had hand in their creation! What I took away from this reading ultimately was that if a teacher is organised, creates a sturdy and valuable structure, and is genuine and trusting of the children, then a classroom can become a place where everyone is involved in decisions, and everyone contributes to everyone's learning. Great!

This week I felt compelled to bounce some ideas off a teacher I know, who just happens to also be my mother. I talked to her a little bit about discipline, and she gave me some examples from her own experience. I'm sure she won't mind me sharing one example with you guys. I found it helpful to have some 'real life' everyday stories.

//One example she gave me was of a child, lets call him Brendan, whom she found in the library at lunchtime stealing basketball cards from other kids. When she asked him to return them, he raised his voice and told her to get away from him in no uncertain terms. At that point she had a choice, as he was not a child that she took for lessons herself, she could simply scold him for being rude, and tell his classroom teacher that he was misbehaving at lunchtime, or she could try and follow up the problem and recify it.

She knew Brendan was very well behaved in class because he was comfortable with his classroom teacher (he trusted her), so she took him to see Mrs Smith, and together they talked about the way he had spoken to Mrs Mackey (my mum). They both talked about how well he was doing in class, and how impressed with his usual behaviour they were, and therefore how surprised they were that he had been so rude to Mrs Mackey. They agreed together that he complete some commmunity service (in this school they have community service instead of 'punishment'). Brendan was reasonably unresponsive at the time but they were aware that he had listened to what was said.

The result of the situation was that after some reflection time and completing community service, next time Brendan saw Mrs Mackey he called out and said hello. She made sure that she followed up and spoke to him individually about how well he had done with community service and how happy she was that he had changed the way in which he chose to speak to people.//

Its a pretty straightforward example, but I suppose for me it highlighted the issues discussed in some way in all the readings, but most specifically in 'Dreikurs Theory', which is that children that are misbehaving are doing so because they feel they cannot fit in or feel validated in any other way, or that they will not receive attention unless they misbehave. The reading mentions that if a teacher reacts emotionally in any way (I suppose usually anger would be the natural response) then they are missing the message that the child is giving them, which is that they simply want to be accepted and validated. In this real life example, I thought that probably Brendan was rude to Mrs Mackey because he did not know or trust her, and assumed she didn't like him, but when this unknown teacher gave him solid examples of what she did like about him, especially with the teacher that he trusted in front of him, he obviously felt that he would be accepted and liked more if he was polite. The main point my mum was making to me was about the 'following up' part at the end - she felt that his good behaviour afterwards must be validated for or else it would not have a lasting effect. If she didn't go out of her way to speak to Brendan afterwards about how well he was going, then why would he have a reason to be polite in the future? His fears about not being liked would be validated and he may continue in the same way.

Well I think that is probably it for me for this week - I look forward to reading Ian and Ken Nee's reflections!

Hello Nick, Bec and Ken Nee. It’s Ian with some personal reflections on the lecture and readings from Week 2. I would like to thank Nick for his comprehensive summary and Bec for her thought provoking musings. All of us on the graduate diploma course were privileged to have Professor Ramon Lewis come and talk to us about behaviour management and discipline in the classroom. I found his witty and insightful lecture entertaining and he proved himself to be an expert orator. Professor Lewis’s lecture and readings has evoked strong memories of my time at school and the experiences I had with discipline. I find it difficult to recall much from my time at primary level but I can remember a great deal from secondary. I studied at a single sex, private school. My teachers, on the whole, were strict. They exerted ‘coercive power’ and employed ‘aggressive strategies’ (Lewis, 2006). This generated an environment of fear within the classroom. I even remember occasions where the teachers used physical violence on the pupils. Examples included a clip round the back of the head with a hand and one time when a teacher was literally holding a boy up by a hand around his throat. Extraordinary to think that this practice used to take place! It has been enlightening to learn therefore that much has changed in the classroom. I am grateful to you Bec for sharing with the team your Mum’s experience. I agree that it is important for us to hear personal stories from within the classroom as it provides a human context from which to base our learning on. How Mrs Mackey and Mrs Smith solved the issue with Brendan was fascinating. I hope I am able to draw on such professional skills in order to deal with problems that arise. An important part of the learning process will be when we commence our practicum in a few months time. This will be our first hands on experience of classroom management. How would we handle the situation if we encounter a C or D type of child? I think an example of how not to do it is highlighted in the ‘Summer Heights High’ video clips and the problem of Jonah. This showed how easy it must be to resort to ‘yelling in anger’ (Lewis et al, 2005) when in a pressured and stressed environment. I think it is also important to not allow the C and D type of child garner all the attention (both negative and positive). Easy in theory but less so, I’m sure in practice! Like Bec, I too enjoyed reading Freiburg et al’s article ‘A Person-Centered Approach to Classroom Management’ and the central theme of self discipline. In my professional identity as a teacher I hope to create an environment where I am able to help the children develop responsibility not only for themselves but also for the class as a whole. I will also endeavour to avoid negative comments and share rewards equally. I now look forward to reading what Ken Nee has to say.

Hi everyone. This is Ken Nee. Thank You All for your Amazing contributions this week. This is what I have to share, with regards to what I have been learning so far, in relation to my Professional Identity as a Teacher. It's not only about the destination, it is //equally// about The Journey..... It's not only about The Words, it's //also// about the....//spaces........//in between the lines...... It's not only about 'The Knowledge'; it's //equally (// beautifully ) about //not// knowing........savouring........enjoying....... each step each and every Moment......of The Unknown It's not only all about //me.......// it is //also equally beautifully// about ALL OF US......The ONE EARTH FAMILY ORGANISM...... And this is an Affirmation:

O Infinite Beauty........ eternal Mystery that everflows through All Beings...... may i learn to all-ways Love YOU as MUCH as i am Learning to LOVE MY SELF..... may i all-ways TRUST & BELIEVE in YOU as MUCH as i am Learning to TRUST & BELIEVE in MY SELF may i all-//ways feel// the //REAL ME// and Listen to That One so that i may All-Ways //equally// RECOGNIZE The REAL YOU ......what i think and //feel// today NOW //IS// my Reality....

.....and this 'me' i am talking about, is not only 'one' 'individual' 'human' 'being'........

it is time Now to re-turn to INNOCENCE........ it is time Now to re-turn to our own 'INNER-SENSE'....... Peace and Love Within and also to YOU, my long-lost and newly-found Brothers and Sister(s)...... ......and i also THANK and bow before The INFINITE MYSTERY....... p.s. can someone please help me move this text somewhere else ?