Effective Classroom Management

Michael S. Mills, Ed.D.

Copyright 2013 by Michael S. Mills

Smashwords Edition

Why classroom management matters...

Managing the learning environment is both a major responsibility and an ongoing concern for all teachers, even those with years of experience (Good & Brophy, 2002). There are several reasons.

In the first place, a lot goes on in classrooms simultaneously, even when students seem to be doing only one task in common. Twenty-five students may all seem to be working on a sheet of math problems. But look more closely: several may be stuck on a particular problem, each for different reasons. A few others have worked only the first problem or two and are now chatting quietly with each other instead of continuing. Still others have finished and are wondering what to do next. At any one moment each student needs something different, different information, different hints, different kinds of encouragement. Such diversity increases even more if the teacher deliberately assigns multiple activities to different groups or individuals (for example, if some students do a reading assignment while others do the math problems).

Another reason that managing the environment is challenging is because a teacher cannot predict everything that will happen in a class. A well-planned lesson may fall on its face or take less time than expected, and you find yourself improvising to fill class time. On the other hand, an unplanned moment may become a wonderful, sustained exchange among students and prompt you to drop previous plans and follow the flow of discussion. Interruptions happen continually: a fire drill, a drop-in visit from another teacher or the principal, a call on the intercom from the office. An activity may indeed turn out well, but also rather differently than you intended; you therefore have to decide how, if at all, to adjust the next day's lesson to allow for this surprise.

A third reason for the importance of management is that students may form opinions and perceptions about your teaching that are inconsistent with your own. What you intend as encouragement for a shy student may seem to the student herself like forced participation. An eager, outgoing classmate watching your effort to encourage the shy student, moreover, may not see you as either encouraging or coercing, but as overlooking or ignoring other students who already want to participate. The variety of perceptions can lead to surprises in students' responses, most often small ones, but occasionally major.

At the broadest, society-wide level, classroom management challenges teachers because public schooling is not voluntary, and students' presence in a classroom is therefore not a sign, in and of itself, that they wish to learn. Instead, students' presence is just a sign that an opportunity exists for teachers to motivate students to learn.

Some students, of course, do enjoy learning and being in school, almost regardless of what teachers do! Others do enjoy school, but only because teachers have worked hard to make classroom life pleasant and interesting. Those students become motivated because you have successfully created a positive-learning environment and have sustained it through skillful management.

On a side note, this text should be viewed as a guidebook rather than a comprehensive reference on all things classroom management. Although all of the guidelines are research-supported, the goal of this text is to provide teachers with a practical, accessible, and engaging reference rather than an exhaustive compendium of classroom management models and detailed rationales for why certain approaches are highlighted and others are not. Frankly, the models, tips, and guidelines presented in this text were selected because of their proven effectiveness in my own classroom or in the classrooms of those with whom I've worked.

Classroom management is a demanding and critical component of education, so my focus is to get you to the core of what works.

This ebook has been offered to you at no cost because the information contained is the result of the accomplishments (and failures) of so many teachers, and no one person can lay claim to all of the knowledge and expertise you'll find in this text. Think of this ebook as the teacher next door who is always willing to give you advice and some good ideas for managing your class.

Godspeed on your journey and focus always on the impact you are making on the young people who have been left in your charge.

-Michael S. Mills

Chapter 1: Rules & Procedures

Beginning of the Year

The best way to guarantee a successful year is to prepare yourself, your classroom, and your students before and immediately after the start of school.

Here are a few guidelines to get you started:

Get the Classroom Ready

•Have your classroom ready for students on the first day. Make sure it is safe and feels like a place where learning occurs.

•Your organization and cleanliness will speak volumes to students regarding your motivation to build a successful learning community and your commitment to their education.

•Be sure to post your rules and procedures and have the classroom furniture arranged well before the first day of class.

•Ensure you have all necessary supplies, including extras for those students who might need them.

•Decorate the classroom according to your personal style in a way that is inviting and communicates to students that they will be entering a professional learning environment.

Get Yourself Ready

•Prepare your lesson plans for at least the first several weeks in advance. Be flexible knowing that you will spend much of the first two weeks of school teaching students your classroom rules and procedures.

•Decide ahead of time what your rules, procedures, and consequences will be.

•Develop guidelines for student accountability and classroom chores. Have a means to communicate this to students.

Get Students Ready

•Reach out to your students and their parents by sending a brief email, text, or posting a blog that welcomes them to your class. Use services like Blogger, Wordpress, Twitter, Tumblr, Remind 101. There are many others!

•Provide a way for parents and students to contact you (e.g., email, Google Voice, blog comments, etc.).

•Outline your general expectations, highlight your curriculum and how it will help students be successful. This can be accomplished by sharing with students a cognitive map or outline of your course along with a description of your instructional assessment methods.

•Articulate the rules and procedures for the class along with consequences of both appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Model the procedures frequently during the first several weeks of school.

•Help students begin to create a community frame of mind by involving students during the first few weeks in at least three activities designed to help students learn each others' names and learn something about each other.

•Give students an opportunity to interview you to learn about you as a person as well as your teaching philosophy. Remember, a good first impression goes a long way to establishing rapport and a positive working relationship.

Day One

•Make sure you have assigned seats waiting on students after you have greeted them at the door. Some teachers feel that having name cards on the desks is a helpful way to learn students' names and to ensure students are where they are supposed to be.

•Although you will probably make the roll call a more automatic part of your classroom routine as the year progresses, you may want to take time on the first day to call each student by name. In this way, you can verify pronunciations and even learn preferred nicknames.

•Review your expectations and procedures. Provide a rationale for your rules and procedures and allow students to offer input on making the rules and procedures a workable part of a learning-driven classroom.

•Engage students in an icebreaker activity that will help them learn more about you and their fellow classmates.

•Model the procedures you expect students to engage in. Rehearse as needed. Remember, be patient, focused, and committed! This investment now will pay for weeks and months to come in efficiency and fewer classroom disruptions.

•Obtain information from the students regarding their interests and also how to contact them away from school.

•Introduce yourself to students and let them get a glimpse of why you do what you do. Be clear with your expectations and how you plan to help them meet their goals over the course of the term.

•Don't underestimate that first day: it sets the tone for the respect and cooperation you will have for the remainder of the year.

End of School

Don't forget that the end of school can be just as helpful as the beginning of the year to a teacher who wants to have another successful school year.

In this case, you should turn the tables and have the students report on you! Effective teachers are reflective teachers, and they are open to critical feedback. This openness allows us to better define our expectations and better frame our instructional practices and classroom procedures for future classes.

Consider these two activities, offered by Dr. Richard Curwin (2013), to get valuable feedback from your students:

Five-Item Lists

Hand out 5x7 note cards to your students. On one side of the card, ask them to list five things that helped them learn during the year. On the other side, they'll write five things that made it hard for them to learn. No names are required. While they are doing this, take your own card and on each side write your predictions of what you think will be your students' most common answers. Later, compare the students' set with your predictions. See how accurate you were, and find items that give you ideas on how to improve your teaching. Add these items to your master list in the appropriate categories.

Student Role Plays

One of my favorite forms of feedback, yet also one of the scariest, is to divide the class into small groups and give them about 20 minutes to develop a role-play of their teacher -- you -- teaching a lesson. These are usually hilarious and full of fun for the whole class. They can also be very revealing; watching them can be like watching yourself on video. "Do I really do that?" you'll wonder. As you watch, add items to the four categories on your master list.

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Establishing Rules & Procedures

Do students know how to behave in class? Of course they do! The real question is do they have to behave? Often, students match their behavior to the standards set by the teacher.

Rules

Rules are general expectations of behavior for individuals and groups.

Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering (2003) stress the critical nature rules (as well as

procedures) have in establishing and maintaining an effectively managed classroom.

Unlike procedures or routines, rules express standards of behavior for which individual students need to take responsibility. Although they are like procedures in that they sometimes help in insuring the efficiency of classroom tasks, they are really about encouraging students to be responsible for learning and showing respect for each other. Figure 1.1 lists a typical set of classroom rules.

Note three things about the examples in Figure 1.1:

One is that the rules are not numerous; the figure lists only five. Most educational experts recommend keeping the number of rules to a minimum in order to make them easier to remember (Thorson, 2003; Brophy, 2004).

A second feature is that they are stated in positive terms ("Do X...") rather than negative terms ("Do not do Y..."), a strategy that emphasizes and clarifies what students should do rather than what they should avoid.

A third feature is that each rule actually covers a collection of more specific behaviors. The rule "Bring all materials to class," for example, covers bringing pencils, paper, textbooks, homework papers, and permission slips—depending on the situation.

Therefore, with respect to the creation and implementation of class rules, keep these considerations in mind:

1.Attempt to phrase class rules positively (e.g. Instead of "Don't talk when others are talking," try "Be respectful of others."

2.Avoid very specific rules, aiming for more comprehensiveness.

3.It is best to have fewer rules than too many rules. Excessive rules have been shown to actually increase disciplinary issues!

It is acceptable and even encouraged to have students participate in a discussion on your class rules. At the very least, you should provide a rationale for your rules, explaining to students how the rules actually serve everyone in the class (not just you).

Curwin and Mendler (2008) stress the importance of student input when establishing classroom rules and procedures and describe these rules and procedures as a contract between the students and the teacher.

Procedures

Classroom procedures are descriptions of how to operate within the bounds of the rules established for the classroom.

Procedures serve the largely practical purpose of making activities and tasks flow smoothly—a valuable and necessary purpose in classrooms, where the actions of many people have to be coordinated within limited time and space. As such, procedures are more like social conventions than moral expectations.

It is critical that you set the procedures for your class at the beginning of the school year. Research suggests that setting clear procedures must be accompanied by modeling and practice for the procedures to take effect. It is not enough to have a sign outlining your class procedures; you must insist at the beginning of the term that students follow these procedures exactly as you have explained them.

This is particularly true for secondary teachers, who might be under the misimpression that the students should know how to act. That can't be further from the truth. Every year and every new teacher is a different experience for students, and they must be guided toward becoming productive members of your classroom community. This is accomplished through structure and routine.

Contrary to what some might think, students thrive with routines. For many who come from a home life with no structure, the routines and procedures you establish in

your class may be the only semblance of order and sanity in their young lives.

Teaching Procedures

Jones (2007) suggests teaching procedures in the following way:

1.Tell the students what the procedure is.

2.Model the procedure for the students,

3.Have students do the procedure.

4.Monitor and repeat as necessary (as long as it takes to achieve mastery).

Being Proactive and Consistent

As you enact this pattern, you must constantly monitor students and repeat until students master the procedure, no matter how many times it takes! Yes, some students will get tired of running through the procedure yet again when someone messes up. That's a situation that requires you to encourage the students to work toward mastery of the procedure, so that the business of education can begin.

Teachers who have the best managed classrooms are those who spend the first two weeks of class teaching and practicing their procedures and routines (Marzano, Marzano, & Pickering, 2003).

This time is an investment and pays off for those who do this hard work at the beginning. Giving up on practicing routines is easy as students begin to complain, and as the perception of lost instructional time bears down. However, you may want to consider how much lost instructional time will occur over the entire term because those procedures and routines weren't mastered at the beginning!

Making this investment is a proactive strategy rather than a reactive strategy. Establishing a pattern of reactive consequences can have disastrous effects on classroom efficiency and morale. Rather, a proactive strategy helps to give students an opportunity to demonstrate a positive contribution to the classroom community.

The vast majority of students want to achieve high standards, and it is, fair or not, often up to their teachers to give them opportunities to achieve these high expectations.

Students, like many adults, will define the standards of acceptable behavior by what is tolerated. If a pattern of routines and procedures is not established early, students will push the limits of what they feel they can do, resulting in a constant struggle between teacher and students.

Many experienced teachers can report that students do not act the same way in every class. In one class, they may act up, while in another they don't make a sound. Often, this is because of the varying standards of each teacher.

If a teacher does not invest in establishing and teaching clear rules and procedures, students will feel that the standards of that particular classroom are inconsistent and control is up for grabs.

As the old saying goes, "A stitch in time saves nine."

Essential Procedures:

•Entering/Exiting the classroom

•Going to the bathroom

•Transitioning from one activity to the next

•Getting the teacher's attention

•Collecting materials (including late work)

•Establishing student leadership roles

Entering/Exiting the Classroom

Students need to be seated in their own seat, ready to work when the bell rings. Anything short of that gives students an expectation that your classroom is not a serious place to learn. Be sure to let your students know what you consider a tardy, and how they should enter your classroom.

This procedure must be practiced often, as it is one of the

major drainers of instructional time. Effective teachers invest the time to make sure students come in quietly, ready to work. This gives the teacher an opportunity to greet everyone as class begins and to check roll and conduct other administrative tasks. Mastering this procedure is much more preferable than expending precious time and energy trying to settle down the students after the bell.

Have a "bellringer" activity. This can be a math problem, lab journal, worksheet, a brain teaser, a brief quiz–anything to get students working and focused while you take roll and take care of the minor housekeeping you need to do. Be sure to show them that this activity is expected to take place as the beginning bell rings and immediately after. No time to waste!

As for exiting the classroom, students must be taught that it is not the bell that excuses them from class but the teacher. The bell is a signal to the teacher to determine if the students are ready to leave.

Avoid having downtime immediately before the end of class, as this often gives rise to disciplinary problems. Keep the students engaged from bell to bell.

Going to the Bathroom

Having a student ask to go to the bathroom may be one of the most common procedures encountered in education today.

This could be a tricky situation, as there are dueling needs, the student's perceived need to go to the restroom and the teacher's need to have the student engage in instructional activities.

No need to worry!

Generally, bathroom privileges (yes, going to the bathroom during instructional time is a privilege) can be worked out pretty easily.

For lower elementary students:

Allow students to go to the restroom (hopefully, you will have one in your classroom) as you can manage them. Insist that students wait until an opportune time to avoid interrupting the lesson.

For upper elementary and secondary students:

First guideline: don't give a student permission to go to the restroom before class begins. This is giving the student license to come to class late, which is inherently unfair to your other students. Ignore the student's pleas of impending embarrassment or physical pain if a restroom allowance can't be made. Quite simply, if the situation were truly as dire as student made it out to be, the student would already be in the restroom. Experience has shown that most students who ask to go to the restroom as class is beginning failed to make productive use of the time in between class and simply want a special allowance.

Second guideline: Remember that granting a bathroom pass during class is your option. If you choose to do so, it is recommended that you not allow students to go while you are actively engaging the class.

Third guideline: Remember that some students will tell you that they have to go to the restroom because they are bored or need a change of scenery. Work to make your lessons engaging to avoid this.

Other ideas for bathroom passes:

1.Put your bathroom passes on lanyards. Require students to wear them around their necks when they go to the bathroom.

2.Use passes that may discourage students from arbitrarily asking to go or at least will ensure you don't lose the pass. Examples include orange hunting vests or clipboards.

3.Consider having students raise their hands with crossed fingers when they want to use the bathroom. You can give permission with a eye contact and a nod instead of interrupting the lesson.

Managing Transitions

When the bell rings (or you signal that it's time to move to another activity or go to recess), there is an increased likelihood of disciplinary problems if classroom routines have not been established and practiced. The point of routines is to create a sense of automaticity so that students instinctively follow classroom procedures so that transitions and interruptions do not cause inconvenience (or disaster!).

Jones (2007) notes that students who tend to cause trouble are those who prefer short lessons with big breaks in between. These students will waste time to avoid having to proceed to the next stage of your instructional plan.

For this reason, you will want to most certainly create engaging lessons that require active participation from your students. As for the students who are dawdling, firmly redirect them if they decide to engage in off-task activities.

However, as you might have suspected, this type of time-killing could be negated if you invest early in the school year on following procedures and routines.

Make sure you have established procedures and routines for expected interruptions. Several examples include

•Leaving and returning the class in non-emergency as well as emergency situations.

•Moving from individual work to group work and vice versa.

•Entering the class late.

•Occupying the students as you receive communication from the office or from a visitor.

One way to ease transition times and build student buy-in is to have students take leadership roles. The later subsection on classroom chores addresses this in more detail.

Getting the Teacher's Attention

Having students get your attention in a respectful way that does not interrupt the flow of the class is essential. Make sure you practice, model, and role-play, if necessary, to ensure students understand your preference for getting your attention.

You should stress that students are not to interrupt

the teacher or their peers to get your attention. Teaching patience takes patience from you, but the result will be well worth it.

Have a system in place for the student to get your help, either publicly or in private.

Collecting Materials

Be sure to have a place set aside for students to

turn in their work. You should have drawers, folders, or baskets set aside by period for students to turn in work. You may also consider having an outbox where students will retrieve graded papers.

Respective to your school's policy, you will need to implement a procedure for completing and turning in late work. An effective method is to have a binder or a box of index cards that state what assignments were made on each day, so students will know what they have to complete and submit. You may also want to consider using social media or a blog to record this information, so students and parents can access it sooner.

Additional note:

Mobile devices (BYOD)

An increasing number of school districts are

allowing students to bring their personal mobile devices to school (known as a BYOD-Bring Your Own Device policy).

Your school may have such a cell phone and electronic device policy, but you should know that it will ultimately be up to the individual teacher to regulate and enforce the policy.

Let students know when they can have the device on, whether it needs to be on vibrate, and when they can actually use the device (i.e., cell phone in emergency only, no electronic devices at ALL during a quiz or test, etc.).

Chapter 2: Classroom Community

Motivation

Motivating students to learn

Although meeting students' needs for a personal relationship and belonging can serve as a foundation for establishing a positive classroom environment, there still exists a need to design what goes on in the classroom to maximize students' engagement and subsequent success in the instructional goals of the class.

School does not offer the same challenging yet rewarding experience for all students. Some students thrive under a system of competition and task completion whereby others are anxious or frustrated. Understanding what motivates students to learn and how they learn can be a powerful method for meeting all students' academic needs, thus helping all students to find value and success in school.

Fred Jones (2007) links this value-seeking and success to productivity in the classroom and notes that to be productive, students must be diligent and conscientious. Others note that true value in school is simply being engaged in the learning process. The truth may be somewhere in the middle, a combination of all three: engagement, diligence, and conscientiousness.

Teachers are at a disadvantage when it comes to having students all ready (and capable) to learn. As Jones (2007) notes, a student's attitude toward school is largely formed by the stimulation and engagement he has had in his home environment.

Although this is a factor teachers cannot control, what they can control are the standards, expectations, and engagement that go on in their own classroom. Unfortunately, many teachers throw their hands in the air in frustration when a child proves difficult to motivate or to learn.

It must be clearly stated: schools are not only for the learned and the motivated. A signature goal of the American educational system is the inclusion of all students, of every background, and at all levels of achievement and motivation.

It's easy to get frustrated when students act out in class or seem to be constantly unfocused or off-task. What if we flipped our thinking and asked ourselves how frustrating is it for a student who is not challenged, or who sees no value in the instructional standards and activities we set forth, or who doesn't have the benefit of a positive learning environment?

How many teachers squirm and complain in a professional development meeting that has no purpose or doesn't seem to be designed for real-world application? Does this mean teachers don't want to learn new content and strategies? Of course not.

Neither can the same be said for students when they squirm or complain in class. In fact, research suggests that all students are motivated to learn, as long as there are clear expectations, the tasks and activities have value, and the learning environment promotes intrinsic motivation (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995; Eccles & Wigfield, 1985; Feather, 1982; Kovalik & Olsen, 2005).

Provide students Choice

Give students a sense of choice in not only what they learn but how they learn it and how they will be assessed on the skills and content knowledge.

Unfortunately, many educators misinterpret the idea of giving students choice in the curriculum as giving students license to pick something of little instructional value, thus lowering the standards of the curriculum and the teacher.

What this approach actually means is to give students a range of limited choices within the bounds of the curriculum so that they have the opportunity to learn skills and content relative to their special interests and needs and be assessed in the same manner.

Provide authentic learning opportunities

Research finds that adolescent students thrive when given an opportunity to experience authentic learning in authentic situations (Bartholemew, 2008). Willis (2010) stresses how authenticity and choice are not just encouraged, but critical, for student success. Specific recommendations she includes are the following:

•Ensure the lessons are interactive or experiential.

•Make the learning personally relevant.

•Provide opportunities for critical thinking and creative problem-solving.

Besides engaging students in the classroom, Willis (2010) suggests these lesson components directly promote development of students' sense of judgment, analysis, resilience, tolerance, flexibility, and effective communication of ideas.

Ways to integrate relevant and challenging lessons:

•incorporate project-based-learning (PBL)

•teach using inquiry method (rather than teacher-led lectures) more frequently

•have students develop a K-W-L chart

•allow students choice in how they would like to be assessed (e.g., develop presentations, apps, web pages, videos, etc.)

•have students share with you resources that would make the material more engaging

•incorporate fine arts or music components

•allow students to have a set time to study their own topic related to the unit

•have students use social media to engage with experts on the topic being learned

•have students engage in a Google Hangout or Skype visit with a topic expert

•have students create a digital portfolio using EdCanvas

•direct students to prepare an interactive lesson for their peers

Caveat lector! (Let the teacher beware!). Many of the suggestions above are found to be engaging and successful...if they are planned in advance and not simply presented to students on an ad-hoc basis. The teacher needs to build some parameters and make the proper preparations to make these suggestions become effective strategies.

Tailor Instruction to Students' Learning Needs

Simply put, students differ in their approaches to learning and how they demonstrate mastery of various skills and concepts. Often, educators focus on students' past successes or failures and their personal and social backgrounds to make the determination of why a student is motivated to learn or not.

This leaves many teachers presenting formulaic lessons with little flexibility to accommodate the different learning styles that research suggests students possess (Connell, 2009).

Suggestions for Adapting Classroom Instruction to Accommodate Most Learners

Based on the research by Dunn, Thies, and Honigsfield (2001), there are several general suggestions for adapting classroom instruction to accommodate the most learners with respect to their individual learning styles:

•Provide frequent breaks for students who might need them. Remember to teach students how to take short breaks without disrupting the rest of the class.

•Provide specialized learning centers where students can explore class material either individually or cooperatively in ways specific to their interests.

•Allow students to work individually, in pairs, or in groups.

•Provide a space in the classroom that is relatively free from visual or auditory distraction.

•Allow students to move about the classroom and choose a place from which to study or complete a project.

•Use visual displays to present material.

•Increase wait time for questioning. Give students approximately 3-5 seconds to reflect on a question. Teach the class the proper procedures for responding to questions and being respectful while others are responding.

•Have a stash of healthy snacks available to students who might need a quick pick-me-up or who did not have the opportunity to eat a healthy meal prior to class.

•Teach positive self-talk, goal setting, and self-monitoring to accommodate students who require more structure or motivation than their peers.

•Complement explicit instructions with task modeling and individual conferences.

•Teach students study skills.

Gardner's Multiple Intelligences

Another helpful way to consider students' different learning needs is to review the work of Howard Gardner (2000) and his theory of multiple intelligences. It should be noted that these so-named intelligences are not mutually exclusive and are not an end to themselves.

Rather, educators should see these aptitudes as indicative of the various ways to approach content or skill learning. For that reason, teachers should be open to modifying their instruction and assessments to allow students who have an aptitude in certain areas to be successful and productive.

The essential point of implementing multiple intelligence theory in the classroom is to understand that lecturing students for thirty minutes and then having them complete a multiple choice exam might not be the most effective means of teaching, assessing, or motivating students.

Rather, teachers could consider a variety of ways of engaging students in relevant, authentic ways.

Gardner's most recent work categorizes nine intelligences or methods for understanding and learning:

Verbal/Linguistic

Verbal/Linguistic intelligence refers to an individual's ability to understand and manipulate words and languages. Everyone is thought to possess this intelligence at some level. This includes reading, writing, speaki

ng, and other forms of verbal and written communication.

Teachers can enhance their students' verbal/linguistic intelligence by having them keep journals, play word games, and by encouraging discussion. People with strong rhetorical and oratory skills such as poets, authors, and attorneys exhibit strong linguistic intelligence.

Some examples of those gifted in verbal/linguistic intelligence are T.S. Elliot, Maya Angelou, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Logical/Mathematical

Logical/Mathematical intelligence refers to an individual's ability to do things with data: collect, and organize, analyze and interpret, conclude and predict. Individuals strong in this intelligence see patterns and

relationships. These individuals are oriented toward thinking: inductive and deductive logic, numeration, and abstract patterns. They would be a contemplative problem solver; one who likes to play strategy games and to solve mathematical problems. Being strong in this intelligence often implies great scientific ability. This is the kind of intelligence studied and documented by Piaget.

Teachers can strengthen this intelligence by encouraging the use of computer programming languages, critical-thinking activities, linear outlining, Piagetian cognitive stretching exercises, science-fiction scenarios, logic puzzles, and through the use of logical/sequential presentation of subject matter.

Notable people who are thought to have been particularly gifted with this intelligence are Albert Einstein, Niehls Bohr, and Stephen Hawking.

Visual/Spatial

Visual/Spatial intelligence refers to the ability to form and manipulate a mental model. Individuals with strength in this area depend on visual thinking and are very imaginative. People with this kind of intelligence tend to learn most readily from visual presentations such as movies, pictures, videos, and demonstrations using models and props. They like to draw, paint, or sculpt their ideas and

often express their feelings and moods through art. These individuals often daydream, imagine and pretend. They are good at reading diagrams and maps and enjoy solving mazes and jigsaw puzzles.

Teachers can foster this intelligence by utilizing charts, graphs, diagrams, graphic organizers, video, color, art activities, doodling, microscopes and graphics design software.

Pablo Picasso, Bobby Fischer, and Georgia O'Keefe are some examples of people gifted with this intelligence.

Bodily/Kinesthetic

Bodily/Kinesthetic intelligence refers to people who process information through the sensations they feel in their bodies. These people like to move around, touch the people they are talking to and act things out. They are good at small and large muscle skills; they enjoy all types of sports and physical activities. They often express themselves through dance.

Teachers may encourag

e growth in this area of intelligence through the use of touching, feeling, movement, improvisation, "hands-on" activities, permission to squirm and wiggle, facial expressions and physical relaxation exercises.

Some examples of people who are gifted with this intelligence are Michael Jordan, Jim Carrey, and Derek Jeter.

Naturalistic

Naturalistic intelligence is seen in someone who recognizes and classifies plants, animals, and minerals including a mastery of taxonomies. They are holistic thinkers who recognize specimens and value the unusual. They are aware of species such as the flora and fauna around them. They notice natural and artificial analogies such as dinosaurs to algae and cars to clothes.

Teachers can best foster this intelligence by using relationships among systems, and classification activities. Encourage the study of relationships such as patterns and order, and compare-and-contrast sets of groups or look at connections to real life and science issues.

Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir are examples of people gifted in this way.

Musical Intelligence

Musical intelligence refers to the ability to understand, create, and interpret musical pitches, timbre, rhythm, and tones and the capability to compose music.

Teachers can integrate activities into their lessons that encourage students' musical intelligence by playing music for the class and assigning tasks that involve students creating lyrics about the material being taught.

Composers and instrumentalists are individuals with strength in this area. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Louis Armstrong are examples.

Interpersonal

Although Gardner classifies interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences separately, there is a lot of interplay between the two and they are often grouped together. Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to interpret and respond to the moods, emotions, motivations, and actions of others. Interpersonal intelligence also requires good communication and interaction skills, and the ability show empathy towards the feelings of other individuals.

Teachers can encourage the growth of Interpersonal Intelligences by designing lessons that include group work and by planning cooperative learning activities.

Counselors and social workers are professions that require strength in this area. Some examples of people with this intelligence include Gandhi, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.

Intrapersonal

Intrapersonal Intelligence, simply put, is the ability to know oneself. It is an internalized version of Interpersonal Intelligence. To exhibit strength in Intrapersonal Intelligence, an individual must be able to understand his own emotions, motivations, and be aware of his own strengths and weaknesses.

Teachers can assign reflective activities, such as journaling to awaken students' Intrapersonal Intelligence. It's important to note that this intelligence involves the use of all others. An individual should tap into his other intelligences to completely express his Intrapersonal Intelligence.

Authors of classic autobiographies and reflective essays, like Jean Paul Sartre, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Frederick Douglass, are examples of individuals who exhibited strong interpersonal Intelligence in their lifetimes.

Existential

The ninth intelligence, existential, has yet to experience full acceptance by educators in the classroom. This intelligence encompasses the ability to pose and ponder questions regarding the existence of the universe-including why we are here and what is our purpose?

Teachers can encourage growth of existential intelligences by asking open-ended questions, engaging in Socratic dialogues, and al

lowing students to assist in defining assessment expectations and rubric guidelines.

Philosophers and those in religious service are those who require strength in this area. Some examples of people with this intelligence include Frederick Nietzsche, Aristotle, and Søren Kierkegaard.

Benefits of Multiple Intelligences

Using multiple intelligences theory in the classroom has many benefits:

•Teachers and learners realize that there are many ways to be "smart."

•All forms of intelligence are celebrated more equally.

•By having students create work that is displayed to parents and other members of the community, your school could see more parent and community involvement.

•A sense of increased self-worth may be seen as students build on their strengths and work towards becoming an expert in certain areas.

•Students may develop strong problem-solving skills that they can use real life situations

Additional resources on multiple intelligences in the classroom can be found at http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/mi/index.html and http://www.edutopia.org/mi-resources

Model the Love of Learning

Simply put, student attitudes toward motivation, effort, and overall achievement are intrinsically linked to teacher attitudes of the same. Teachers who show excitement and interest in a topic are more likely to pass on that excitement and interest to their students.

Passion and enthusiasm make for not only an enjoyable classroom experience for students and teachers alike but also have the benefit of engaging students on higher academic levels.

While teachers should be careful not to make the class about his or her accomplishments and interests, students will most certainly be affected in positive ways by seeing their teachers excited about a topic and, for that matter, seeing them engage in critical thinking related to that topic.

Give students opportunities for success

Most everyone enjoys being viewed as competent in some area, and for that reason, may avoid situations in which they are prone to fail. Experiencing success is critical to developing one's self-worth and confidence in expanding one's skills and knowledge.

The following are suggestions for helping students experience measurable success, even in challenging situations, so that they can develop the self-esteem and confidence needed to grow as learners:

•Differentiate instruction so that students of all aptitudes have an opportunity to demonstrate proficiency.

•Allow for multi-part project assessments so students have an opportunity to show strength in one area if another area is weaker.

•Meet with students often in group and individual conferences to review strengths and areas of improvement.

•Provide peer-tutoring, mentors, and cooperative groups to provide additional assistance.

•Individualize timelines for task completion.

•Make use of interactive learning tools, particularly Web 2.0 services.

•Reduce the length of an assignment to something more manageable for a struggling student.

•Scaffold skills and concepts by breaking the lesson into smaller chunks that build on each other.

•Help students learn organizational and study skills.

•Give relevant, immediate feedback.

•Refrain from displaying completed work in a way that separates those who are competent in the task and those who are not.

•Provide feedback soon after an assessment has been administered or a task has been completed.

•Provide rubric-based assessments so students can see where they stand and how to improve.

Create a safe, Organized learning environment

The establishment of a clean, safe learning environment is a fundamental requirement for students to realize their academic potential.

At minimum, the teacher should ensure the classroom is properly lit, aesthetically pleasing, well-ventilated, and at a comfortable temperature. Note this topic is discussed at length in Chapter 2: Physical Arrangement.

However, it may be useful to also note the brain research studies by Wilmes, Harrington, Kohler-Evans, and Sumpter (2008), who found that increased student learning is linked to enhancing the classroom environment by

•playing soft music

•releasing light pleasant aromas

•minimizing noise through use of carpeting and tennis balls on the bottom of desk and chair legs

•reducing the use of fluorescent lights

•having classrooms painted in soft colors, such as beige, light yellow, and other off-white shades

Provide incentives when appropriate

Acknowledging that giving and withholding rewards in school is a provocative issue (Kohn, 1999), take note of the following guidelines for incentivizing effort in the classroom:

•Celebrate successes in the classroom by recognizing both achievement and growth.

•Avoid providing extrinsic incentives for work that is already valued by the students or that which distracts students from the task at hand (Kohn, 1999).

•Ensure students have the prerequisite skills to complete the tasks for which a reward is tied.

•Teachers should also take note of group contingency incentives, such as Jones's Preferred Activity Time (P.A.T.) model.

Student Responsibility

Whether viewed by teachers as fair or not, the overwhelming majority of the American public expects schools to teach responsibility (Bear, 1998).

In particular, teaching responsibility should focus on teaching students effective peer-to-peer and teacher-student interactions and how to be productive members of a community.

Helping Students Feel Capable

Albert (1989) stresses the need for instilling in students a sense of capability. With appropriate teaching, students who believe in their ability to master required learning tasks will usually succeed because their success is not only academic but also emotional. They feel good about themselves because they feel capable.

Albert offers the following techniques to help teachers to encourage students, so they they may feel more capable, thus increasing their chances of being productive and self-confident.

Strategy 1: Make Mistakes Okay

The fear of making mistakes undermines a student's true self-confidence level. Without understanding how to harness mistakes as learning opportunities, students are at risk of depending on others and not gaining a sense of accomplishment themselves.

This tendency to be a passive learner who is dependent on others for guidance and task completion is known as learned helplessness.

So, how do we help students gain the confidence to attempt difficult tasks, even when there is a chance for failure? We talk about how mistakes help us learn!

Talk About Mistakes

Young people often notice their own mistakes but not those of others. They don't always see the struggles, conflicts, and failures that others, especially those who are successful, make. The unfortunate consequence of this perception is that students begin to believe they are incapable of achieving success, that they don't have the skills or other innate qualities to accomplish great things.

As a result, they become convinced that everyone else is better, smarter, and more capable than they are.

We must help students understand that everyone makes mistakes. This is even true for high-level students, many of whom have skated through classes with accolades from their teachers of their brightness or giftedness. These students are often the ones who have the hardest time acknowledging mistakes as a natural part of the learning process.

As Albert notes, since failure is so rarely talked about in the open, some students will be fearful of revealing their mistakes in front of others. We can model for them by admitting that, yes, we too make mistakes. This is critically important when we work through problems in class, compose a writing, or read a challenging passage. Students need to see that our academic achievements have not been magically bestowed upon us but rather are the result of many years of hard work, practice, and learning from our mistakes.

By sharing our own mistakes with students, we can help them recognize that blunders are a normal part of everyone's life.

Equate Mistakes With Effort

We need to acknowledge that more mistakes are made by active people than by passive people and that active participation is desirable. Then we can actually reward mistakes with enthusiastic remarks, thus motivating students to continue working.

Minimize Mistakes' Effects

Although corrective feedback is a critical part of effective teaching, we should be mindful of the effects of criticism and adjust how we present any constructive feedback.

First, we don't have to focus on every mistake, whether it's behavioral or academic in nature. It can be very frustrating for anyone to see or hear a glut of criticism, and this often results in resistance to wanting to improve. Students who are criticized all the time or students who receive an overload of criticism on one assignment may just ask themselves, what's the use?

As Albert notes, red-lined papers can be overwhelming to students, especially those who already have low self-esteem and feel incapable.

This doesn't mean that we can't give constructive criticism and ask students to correct mistakes. It just means that we break the assignment or directives down into more manageable steps that students are capable of completing. We can do this by having students focus on correcting only one or two errors or types of errors at a time.

Strategy 2: Build Confidence

Students must feel confident that success is possible. To help them build such confidence, we can use a number of techniques that emphasize positive feedback.

Focus on Improvement

We should devote more effort to focusing on how well the students are doing within the process of learning instead of always focusing on just the end product. We should cheerlead small successes and be encouraging as the student makes even small steps forward.

We must also resist comparing the student's work with others, instead focusing on that individual student's accomplishments and progress.

Build on Strengths

Every student has some skill that he or she is good at or know something that other classmates may not know. If we are to reach all students, we need to help students be proud of their strengths and figure out ways to tie their strengths to the skills and content we need to teach them.

Encourage through High Expectations

Our confidence in our students is reflected in our expectations. Low expectations demonstrate low confidence. Higher expectations indicate more confidence. Students know when they are being given mindless busywork. Such busywork does nothing but give the teacher something to grade and communicates to students that their time is not valuable and the teacher has no confidence that they can do better.

Set high expectations with a roadmap for success. Success does not have to be realized in a a day! We must help students understand that success is not often instant, but that should never discourage us from setting a high goal for ourselves.

An additional concern is setting expectations beyond what students can hope to achieve without giving them a reasonable time frame or support. All too often, teachers and students set up an unrealistic expectation, not realizing that successes short of perfection are still notable and worthwhile.

Acknowledge a Task's Difficulty

Teachers must resist, at all costs, labeling tasks as easy. Although calling a task easy is often done harmlessly and is meant to be an encouragement, to do so is to communicate to a struggling child that he is not up to the task, even on a so-called easy task. This feeds the misunderstanding that some people have the skills to be successful and others do not. We have to nip that in the bud and communicate to students that they can be successful but must work for it.

We need to acknowledge that some tasks are difficult, maybe not for us, but for students. (Of course many of the tasks are easy for us. We're the ones teaching them!)

Albert (1989) saliently observes the need to support students' feelings while acknowledging their struggle. Let students know you understand their struggles as you encourage them along. When they do realize their success, their self-confidence and self-esteem will be rooted in their accomplishment of a task that required effort and determination.

Strategy 3: Focus on Past Successes

Tie a student's present struggles with successes they have made in the past, either through actual accomplishments or progress made.

To do so requires that we help students analyze their past successes and understand how their efforts contributed to those successes. Students need to see that they had a critical role in their own successes, that success was not just a result of luck.

Albert recommends that, in addition to reminding students of their own contributions in the success, we can challenge the student further by having them repeat the task so that they will more clearly see their accomplishment.

Strategy 4: Make Learning Process Tangible

Focus on the process of learning or accomplishing a task rather than always focusing on the finished product. That's not to say the finished product is not important. It is. However, students learn in different ways and at different tempos. We can accomplish more long-term success with students if we have them focus more on the process and the gains in learning rather than simply on the end result.

There are many ways to have students focus on the process in tangible ways:

•Rubrics

•Checklist of skills

•Portfolios

•Flowchart of Skills & Concepts

Strategy 5: Recognize Achievement

Being recognized for our accomplishments is an underlying desire of just about everyone. It's not necessarily being lauded for every small success, but most students just feel good when their peers and the teacher acknowledge what they have accomplished. This good feeling translates into self-confidence that then becomes fuel for more learning and further accomplishments. The interactive to the right details some specific ways Albert (1989) recommends for noting student achievement:

Self Monitoring

Helping students to help themselves can be a powerful part of your teaching practice and could reap rewards for the student beyond the classroom.

Teaching students self-control is to teach them to observe their own behavior and to modify it, if necessary, to align with the rules and values established for the school community.

Some students have had the benefit of learning this skill before you got them in class. However, there are those students, for whatever reason, were not given an opportunity to learn the skill of self-control or who have a litany of issues with which they are dealing, causing them difficulty in managing the overload.

Identifying these students simply involves identifying the students for whom all other interventions fail.

Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering (2003) also offer a multi-phase strategy for teaching self-monitoring.

Marzano's Phases of Self-Monitoring (2003)

Phase I: Prepare Record Keeping and Contingency Rewards

•Have student keep a log in which he or she records incidences of a particular behavior you are wanting to stop.

•Meet weekly with the student to review and adjust behavioral goals.

•Provide a reward if the target goal is met.

Phase II: Monitor without Formal Logs

•Have the student continue to self-monitor.

•Ask the student to give you a verbal summary of his behavior each week.

•Provide a reward if the target goal is met.

Phase III: No Log, No Reward

•Have the student continue to self-monitor and report to you each week to discuss his or her behavior. Provide no formal reward (praise is effective!).

Phase IV: Student Autonomy

•The student at this phase has reached a level of automatic self-monitoring and is not required to meet with you to report on his behavior.

•Feel free to meet with the student occasionally about his behavior.

Steps to Self-Control

It may be useful to teach students who might have difficulty interacting appropriately with their peers or the teacher proper ways to monitor and adjust their behavior. Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering (2003) offer these four steps:

Step 1: Notice when you are becoming angry, annoyed, frustrated, or overwhelmed, and stop what ever you are doing.

Step 2: Ask yourself, What are the different ways I can respond to this situation?

Step 3: Think about the consequences for each of your options.

Step 4: Select the action that has the potential for the most positive consequences for you and others.

Positive Self-Talk

Many students who feel undervalued act out in inappropriate ways. Teachers can help students gain the self-confidence they need by teaching a self-talk strategy.

Encourage students to engage in positive self-talk, to stress to themselves that they are valuable, capable, and worthy. Have students consider the following as they become engaged in challenging situations:

•Be aware of your thoughts.

•Visualize success and the steps to make success happen.

•Ask for help on the steps that challenge you.

•Stay calm and focused as you act our your vision for success.

•Other self-talk strategies can be found here.

Classroom Chores

Most students feel more valued when they are entrusted with responsibility. Certainly, there are those who complain about having to complete the smallest task asked of them, but the vast majority of students enjoy being productive.

To this end, teachers should remember that those myriad chores that need to be accomplished every day and every week to make the classroom an efficient place of learning should be shared with students.

Contributing to the community by participating in tasks aimed at maintaining the well-being of the class gives students an opportunity to feel pride in themselves and a sense of kinship with the rest of the class.

Being on the outside of this, neither being asked to nor volunteering to help run the class ultimately isolates the student and may even cause the student to fall into a state of laziness.

We want students to be productive so that they feel that sense of community and pride.

Assign various tasks to students and ensure you have a rotating schedule so everyone gets the opportunity to participate in a variety of ways.

Chores will vary from class to class, especially those involving project-based activities and those that involve equipment and materials that a lecture-based classroom might not otherwise have. Chores in a math class will be different than chores in a home economics or auto technology course. Take note of the specific tasks that students could be trained to complete.

Remember, assigning students these chores not only helps you to better manage the efficiency of the class but also gives the students an opportunity to take pride in the class and their part of the classroom community.

Preferred Activity Time

A notable component of the Jones Classroom Management Model is Preferred Activity Time (P.A.T.).

P.A.T. is a group-contingency incentive system that rewards students for on-task, appropriate behavior. Students earn time to engage in a preferred activity, usually at the end of the school week.

This strategy is essentially broken up into three parts:

Part I: Decide What P.A.T. Will Consist Of

P.A.T. is not to be misinterpreted as so-called free time. It is a time during which students can engage in an activity that goes outside the norm that either the teacher comes up with or the students and teacher agree on.

Part II: Give Students an Opportunity to Earn P.A.T.

Students can earn P.A.T. in many ways, al of which are up to the individual teacher and her class, if so desired.

Some teachers start out with a set amount of time, maybe 20 minutes or so. Students can then earn more time by engaging in on-task, appropriate behavior, or they will lose time being off-task or inappropriate.

Some teachers record these time transactions on the whiteboard with a simple chart and some teachers use props such as golf or tennis balls in a jar, each ball representing so much time either earned or lost.

Students earn P.A.T. minutes through appropriate behavior and outstanding achievements, either by the whole group or an individual. Time is earned by staying on task, putting forth great effort, helping another student, being prepared for class, doing extremely well on a pop quiz, whatever you decide is worthy of time earned. However, award minutes sparingly and only for noteworthy achievements! The more you give out, the more students expect minutes for any behavior, no matter how small.

Some educators deposit or deduct minutes in seconds, but it is recommended that you use 1 or 5-minute increments to make the calculations quick and easy.

Withdrawals from the P.A.T. bank are made for off-task behaviors, being unprepared for class, entering or exiting the classroom inappropriately, not working as a team, dawdling during transitions, etc. Make sure you tie these withdrawal penalties to violations of your rules and/or procedures. Students must see that you have structure and high expectations and that they are violating, in some way, that structure or your expectations.

Whereas the entire class can earn minutes for P.A.T. by the actions of one student (as well as the group), it is not recommended that minutes be deducted for the misbehavior of one student. Rather, talk with that student individually and explain to him that his good behavior will earn additional minutes for the whole class, as well as for himself.

Part III: What to Do During P.A.T.

Preferred activity time is not free time. It is a chance to engage in a stress-free, maybe even fun, activity that is out of the normal instructional routine.

Possible activities include free reading, creating a special craft, playing educational games either as a class or in small groups (e.g., Jeopardy, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Taboo, Apples to Apples). Any games that you allow for P.A.T. must be educational in nature. In other words, students must gain knowledge or enhance their skills in community building and teamwork. Use your best judgment!

Many secondary students are even open to having P.A.T. as time to simply work on academic assignments and to complete projects either for your class or for another class. These students highly value their time after school and are usually appreciative of any time during the school day to complete their assignments. Often, allowing students to choose which activity they will engage in works well, as long as the teacher has approved all activities and has set up the classroom to accommodate multiple, simultaneous activities.

More ideas for P.A.T. activities can be found at Dr. Jones's website (http://www.fredjones.com/PAT/).

Parental Engagement

Reaching out to parents or caregivers

Although teachers might view parental contact both time-consuming and sometimes emotionally demanding, the time cultivating a positive working relationship will have long-term benefits on classroom efficiency and culture.

Detailed communication can enrich parents' understanding of how learning is addressed in their particular child's classroom and show them more precisely what their particular child is doing. This understanding, in turn, encourages parents and caregivers to support their child's learning more confidently and conscientiously. In this sense, it contributes indirectly to a positive learning environment in their child's class.

Notably, children's attitudes are often shaped by their parent's attitudes (Epstein, Coates, Salinas, Sanders, & Simon, 1997). When parents feel that good things are happening in their child's school and classroom, they are more likely to encourage their children and reinforce acceptable school behavior. Sui-Chu and Willms (1996) confirm this by noting parents' discussion of school activity is the single most important factor in an adolescent's school achievement.

Reaching out to parents is critically important, then, to forge a positive bond between you and your students and their families. Care must be taken, though, to remember this bond is more like a collaboration. Effective communication in any relationship goes two ways.

Unfortunately, most parents, especially those not born in the United States, see the teacher-parent relationship as one-way (Dotson-Blake, 2010). We must strive to reverse this thinking and focus on what students and their families need to be successful and to build trusting relationships.

First impressions are important

The old saying, "You don't get a second chance to make a first impression," is particularly relevant in teacher-caregiver relationships.

All too often, the first contact a teacher has with a parent or caregiver is a negative one in response to a student's misbehavior or failure to complete some task.

Keeping in line with the idea that a proactive classroom management strategy is superior to a reactive one, it is well advised that you contact parents early on and communicate with them often.

Technology available today gives teachers multiple options for reaching out to parents and also for gathering pertinent information for making the educational experience for these students richer and more personalized.

Your first conversation with parents or caregivers should include the following information:

1.Who you are and what you teach

2.Highlight any big projects or works in progress

3.Something positive about the student

4.Brief review of the rules, procedures, requirements of the class

5.How to get in touch with you

6.Request for information regarding any special needs of the student

7.An emphasis that you want to have a positive working relationship geared toward the student's success

If you are calling the parent, it is important that you convey this information as briefly as possible and with genuine care for the student's welfare. If you don't feel that you can convey all of this in one call, then consider redirecting the parent to a website that goes into more detail.

Ways to Connect with caregivers

Just as first impressions are important, so too is maintaining contact with parents and caregivers throughout the year.

Parents like to know what is going on in their child's class and to be kept abreast of any major projects or changes in the routines and procedures of the class.

You will want to send out general class information from time to time but do not forget to also send a personal note or message to specific parents when their child should be commended for a job well done, either behaviorally or academically.

There are various ways to communicate with parents, each with advantages and limitations. Here are three common examples:

Classroom newsletter: A newsletter establishes a link with parents or caregivers with comparatively little effort on the part of the teacher. At the beginning of the year, for example, a newsletter can tell about special materials that students will need, important dates to remember (like professional development days when there is no school), or about curriculum plans for the next few weeks. But newsletters also have limitations. They can seem impersonal, and they may get lost on the way home and never reach parents or caregivers. They can also be impractical for teachers with multiple classes, as in high school or in specialist subjects (like music or physical education), where each class follows a different program or curriculum. Modern day newsletters are often employed as blogs, which are updated and maintained by the teacher. The benefit of blogs is that they can be updated continuously and quickly, especially if there is an error in important information.

Telephone calls: The main advantage of phoning is its immediacy and individuality. Teachers and parents/caregivers can talk about a particular student, behavior, or concern, and do it now. By the same token, however, phone calls are not an efficient way for informing parents about events or activities that affect everyone in common. The individuality of phoning may explain why teachers often use this method when a student has a problem that is urgent or unusual—as when he has failed a test, missed classes, or misbehaved seriously. Rightly or wrongly, a student's successes tend not to prompt phone calls to the student's home, but it shouldn't have to be that way!

Parent-teacher conferences: Most schools schedule periodic times—often a day or evening per term—when teachers meet briefly with parents or caregivers who wish to meet. Under good conditions, the conferences have the individuality of phone calls, but also the richness of communication possible only in face-to-face meetings. Since conferences are available to all parents, they need not focus on behavior or academic problems, but often simply help to build rapport and understanding between parents or caregivers and the teacher. Sometimes too, particularly at younger grade levels, teachers involve students in leading their own conferences; the students display and explain their own work using a portfolio or other archive of accumulated materials (Benson & Barnett, 2005; Stiggins & Chappuis, 2005).

In spite of all of these advantages, though, parent-teacher conferences have limitations. Some parents cannot get to conferences because of work schedules, child care, or transportation problems. Others may feel intimated by any school-sponsored event because they speak limited English or because they remember painful experiences from their own school days.

Review the tips shared by the Harvard Family Research Project for ideas before, during, and after parent-teacher conferences.

Email, text messaging, and social media: More and more parents are connecting with teachers through email, text messaging, and social media services, such as Twitter, Facebook, or classroom blogs (available for free through Blogger.com and Wordpress.com).

In fact, many parents in low-socioeconomic households rely on these mediums as their primary means of communication. You will, of course, want to be aware of the privacy of your students and the ability for digital communications to be broadcast very quickly. For this reason, it is imperative that all communications be objective.

It is recommended if you use social media, consider having a professional account separate from your private account. Facebook and Google+ both have the option to create a group (community) page that is distinct from other areas in your life.

Two other Internet resources that may be worth investigating are Remind 101 and Google Voice.

Remind101 is a free service that allows teachers to create a group text system by which they can send SMS text messages to anybody who subscribes to a specific class account. These messages can be sent spontaneously or be scheduled for later transmission. Both parents and students can subscribe to the teacher's class account for free. Considering the increasing number of families using SMS text messaging for communication, this should be noted as a powerful option for connecting with students and their caregivers.

Google Voice is a free service that allows teachers to claim a virtual phone number, which forwards text messages and voice calls to any number indicated by the teacher. The benefit of this service is that teachers can still give out a phone number and be contacted according to their schedule, but they can keep their personal number private.

Hard-to-Contact Parents

Even if you make several efforts to communicate, some parents may remain out of contact.

In these cases, it is important to remember that the parents may not be indifferent to their child or to the value of education.

Other possibilities exist: parents may have difficulties with child care, for example, have inconvenient work schedules, or feel self-conscious about their own communication skills (Stevens & Tollafield, 2003).

Even so, there are ways to encourage parents who may be shy, hesitant, or busy.

•One is to think about how they can assist the school even from home—for example, by making materials to be used in class or (if they are comfortable using English) phoning other parents about class events.

•A second way is to have a specific task for the parents in mind—one with clear structure, such as designing materials to be used by students later.

•A third is to remember to encourage, support, and respect the parents' presence and contributions when they do show up at school functions.

Rapport

Teacher-Student Relationships

Research has confirmed the basic idea that academic achievement and students's behaviors are influenced by the quality of the teacher-student relationship. Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering (2003) analyzed over one hundred studies and found that positive teacher-student relationships were fundamental to effective classroom management and that positive teacher-student relationships could reduce behavior problems by 31 percent. Gregory and Ripski (2008) later confirmed the Marzano meta-analysis in noting a significant relationship between a positive teacher-student relationship with lower defiant behavior.

Kleinfield (1972) coined the term "warm demanders" to describe the relationship style of teachers who combined a personal interest in students while holding students to a high standard of expectations. The research showed these "warm demanders" were more effective in challenging interactions with students.

Adkins-Coleman (2010) reported the levels of concern teachers demonstrate for their students, especially minority students, is directly related to the quality of teacher effectiveness in facilitating student learning, most notably in having the following behavioral expectations for students:

•completing all assignments

•actively participating in the class

•working hard

•treating others with respect

Phelan, Davidson, and Cao (1992) reported the tremendous value students place on having teachers care, not just about their personal lives but also about their academic success.

To this end, Wehlage, Rutter, Smith, Lesko, and Fernandez (1989) indicate four teacher beliefs and values that together can help form a positive teacher-student relationship:

•Teachers accept personal responsibility for student success

•Teachers practice an extended teacher role

•Teachers are persistent with students

•Teachers express a sense of optimism that all students can learn

Corbett and Wilson (2002) interviewed four hundred inner-city middle and high school students, who stated that good teachers

•made sure students did their work

•controlled the classroom

•were willing to help students whenever and however students wanted help

•explained assignments and content clearly

•varied the classroom routine

•took time to get to know the students and their circumstances

Noguera (2008) found similar characteristics based on interviews with 132 inner-city students in Boston high schools. According to these students, teachers should

•get to know students better

•be patient and ask students if they understand the material

•be willing to reteach material in a different way if students don't get it

•have good content knowledge and a passion for the subject

•show respect to students

•control the classroom with firmness

So, what do we get from this? Students, whose success may be intrinsically linked to their relationships with their teachers, prefer teachers who

•establish caring relationships with students

•set limits and create a safe environment

•make learning fun

Strategies for establishing and building positive relationships with students

•Establish an open channel of communication.

•Allow students to meet with you alone or even in a group to discuss academic as well as non-academic material.

•Listen carefully to students with non-judgmental empathy and understanding.

•Establish clear and consistent classroom rules and routines.

•Gain familiarity with your students so that you genuinely feel comfortable with them.

•Give students responsibilities in the classroom.

•Praise more than you criticize.

•Communicate high expectations.

•Greet students at the door.

•Demonstrate an interest in students' activities

•Send letters and notes to students.

•Use a suggestion box or allow students to send notes to you using the web service Padlet (ensure that the moderation feature is on so that you will be the only person to see the comments).

•Be sensitive with respect to cultural, ethnic, and religious differences.

•Be fair.

Fairness

With respect to fairness, it should be noted that research indicates teachers respond more favorably to students they perceive as high achievers. This favorable feedback comes in the form of verbal praise, nods, winks, smiles, and, in general, attention.

Teacher expectations can be a self-fulfilling prophecy: expect low students to perform poorly and they will (Brophy, 1983). This is due, in large part, because lower-achieving students do not get the positive affirmations and support that the higher-achieving students get.

Woolfolk (1998) offers several guidelines for avoiding the negative effects of teacher expectations:

•Make sure all students are challenged (Offer a wide range of problems and refrain from telling students that problems are easy).

•Scrutinize information about students found in cumulative folders or communicated to you by colleagues (maintain objectivity).

•Monitor your nonverbal behavior by maintaining a consistent tone with all students .

•Communicate (with fidelity) to all students that you believe they can learn.

•Be as constructive as possible on assignments by providing specific feedback and suggestions for improvement.

•Involve all students in learning tasks and privileges.

•Be fair in your disciplinary practices and in meting out consequences.

•Give ample praise to low-achieving students during class discussions.

•Give low-achieving students prompts and ample time to answer during class discussions.

Praise

Praise is positive feedback. It lets the student know that he is on the right track, either academically or behaviorally.

Praise is an important part of building strong relationships with students and helping them to build a positive self-esteem. However, teachers must be careful how and to whom they praise. In other words, some students thrive on public, verbal praise while others may highly value a curt nod with a smile.

These differences can be attributed to the student's cultural background or family life. Regardless, teachers need to be aware of these issues and discuss them with caregivers, colleagues, and the students themselves.

Brophy (1981) offers specific examples of effective and ineffective praise:

O'Leary and O'Leary (1977) describe three aspects of effective praise:

•Contingency-the praise must be directly tied to a specific behavior or accomplishment (not be delivered generally and universally)

•Specificity-the praise must describe the specific behavior being reinforced

•Credibility-praise should be appropriate, individualized, and genuine

Student-Peer Relationships

Peer to peer interaction is a critical aspect of student success and a cohesive classroom community. Extensive research has shown that students are more successful and behave more responsibly in a classroom setting if they feel safe, known, and valued. Furthermore, positive peer relationships not only enhance a student's school experiences but also forms a foundation for the development of lifelong social skills and positive self-esteem.

Icebreakers

It may be universally understood that becoming part of a group can be, at least initially, a frightening or anxious experience. Consider this as your students become part of your community at the beginning of each term. Our goal as educators is to have students feel comfortable within our classroom community because students usually are more relaxed and open in discussions or other activities with people they know.

Prioritizing activities to enhance positive peer relationships can help increase the likelihood that more of our students will be accepted and supported, and we decrease the chances that bullying, intimidation, and isolation will be experienced by students (Schwartz, Pettit, Dodge, & Bates, 2000).

Positive peer relationships at school can help students compensate for stress-filled relationships in their own homes and can help students who might otherwise be victimized by peers be more accepted and successful (Schwartz et al., 2000).

The icebreaker games listed below are designed to help students become more acquainted with one another. As teacher, be sure you participate in the games and activities. It's important that the students get to know you, too.

Balloon Toss

Give each child a deflated balloon and a tiny slip of paper. Tell them to write a fun fact about themselves, something that might be unique. Give examples ("I went to Italy on vacation last year," "I have two dogs, a cat, a lizard and three fish."). Tell them to fold the paper up as small as possible and stuff it inside the balloon. Then blow up the balloons and tie them. With the group sitting in a circle, you yell, "Go!" and the students begin to toss the balloons back and forth, batting them around the circle every which way. You yell, "Stop!" and everyone grabs the closest balloon. When things have quieted down, have the students pop their balloons, one by one, and read the fun fact. Everyone tries to guess who wrote it.

Name Game

Each person in the circle says his name and something about himself that starts with the same letter as his name. For example, "I'm Diane and I love desserts." The next person repeats that sentence and adds his own. "She's Diane and she loves desserts. I'm Scott and I play soccer."

News Interview

Pass around a play microphone and have each student "interview" another student by asking him three questions.

Skittles Game

Sit in a circle. Pass around a bowl of Skittles and tell each child to pick out five. Tell the students that for each color of Skittle they have, they are to tell something about themselves. Red – something personal about themselves (where they live, what grade they're in); Yellow - something about their family (number of siblings, what mom or dad does for a living); Orange – favorite TV show; Green – something about school (favorite subject, awards and accomplishments); and Purple – something about their hobbies.

Two Truths and a Lie

Have each student write down three things – two truths about themselves and one lie. Take turns reading them. The class tries to guess which one is the lie.

Pictures Only Please

Tell the students that they have to write about themselves, using only pictures and no words. Take turns showing and explaining their pictures.

Connections

The teacher starts this off, by starting to tell things about him/herself ("I have two dogs . . . I like to go shopping . . . I keep a daily journal . . ."). As soon as a student hears something that he has in common with the teacher, he yells out, "Me, too!" That student then begins to tell things about himself and the students listen for things in common. The last student gets to tell about himself, too, and can stop when someone says, "Me, too!"

Even more activities can be found in the Scholastic Teachers Winning Ideas Education World archive.

Teacher Efficacy

Establishing a Positive Classroom Culture through Teacher Competence

Pacing and structuring lessons and activities

One of the best ways to prevent management problems is by pacing and structuring lessons or activities as smoothly and continuously as possible. This goal depends on three major strategies:

•selecting tasks or activities at an appropriate level of difficulty for your students

•providing a moderate level of structure or clarity to students about what they are supposed to do, especially during transitions between activities

•keeping alert to the flow and interplay of behaviors for the class as a whole and for individuals within it.

Each strategy presents special challenges to teachers, but also opportunities for helping students to learn.

Choosing tasks at an appropriate level of difficulty

As experienced teachers know and as research has confirmed, students are most likely to engage with learning when tasks are of moderate difficulty, neither too easy nor too hard and therefore neither boring nor frustrating (Britt, 2005). Finding the right level of difficulty, however, can be a challenge if you have little experience teaching a particular grade level or curriculum, or even if students are simply new to you and their abilities unknown.

Whether familiar or not, members of any classroom are likely to have diverse skills and a certain level of readiness–a fact that makes it challenging to determine what level of difficulty is appropriate.

A common strategy for dealing with these challenges is to begin units, lessons, or projects with tasks that are relatively easy and familiar. Then, introduce more difficult material or tasks gradually until students seem challenged but not overwhelmed. Following this strategy gives the teacher a chance to observe and diagnose students' learning needs before adjusting content, and it gives students a chance to orient themselves to the teacher's expectations, teaching style, and topic of study without becoming frustrated prematurely. Later in a unit, lesson, or project, students seem better able to deal with more difficult tasks or content (Van Meerionboer, Kirschner, & Kester, 2003).

This principle also seems to help with "authentic" learning tasks—ones that resemble real-world activities, such as learning to drive an car or send an email, and tasks that present a variety of complex tasks simultaneously. Even in those cases, it helps to isolate and focus on the simplest subtasks first (such as "open the Internet browser") and move to harder tasks only later (such as proofing an email for professionalism).

Sequencing instruction is only a partial solution to finding the best "level" of difficulty, however, because it does not deal with enduring individual differences among students. The fundamental challenge to teachers is to individualize or differentiate instruction fully: to tailor it not only to the class as a group, but to the lasting differences among members of the class. One way to approach this sort of diversity, obviously, is to plan different content or activities for different students or groups of students. While one group works on Task A, another group works on Task B; one group works on relatively easy math problems, for example, while another works on harder ones. Differentiating instruction in this way complicates a teacher's job, but it can be done, and has in fact been done by many teachers (it also makes teaching more interesting!). In the next chapter, we describe some classroom management strategies that help with such multi-tasking.

Providing moderate amounts of structure and detail

Chances are that at some point in your educational career you have wished that a teacher would clarify or explain an assignment more fully, and perhaps give it a clearer structure or organization.

Students' desire for clarity is especially common with assignments that are by nature open-ended, such as long essays, large projects, or creative works. Simply being told to "write an essay critiquing the novel," for example, leaves more room for uncertainty (and worry) than being given guidelines about what questions the essay should address, what topics or parts it should have, and what its length or style should be (Chesebro, 2003). As you might suspect, some students desire clarity more than others, and improve their performance especially much when provided with plenty of structure and clarity.

Students with certain kinds of learning difficulties, in particular, often learn effectively and stay on task only if provided with somewhat explicit, detailed instructions about the tasks expected of them (Marks, 2003).

As a teacher, the challenge is to accommodate students' need for clarity without making guidance so specific or detailed that students do little thinking for themselves.

For example, consider a teacher who gives instructions for an essay by announcing not only exactly which articles to read and cite in the essay and which topics or issues to cover but also requires specific wording of sentences in their essays. Maybe this much specificity may reduce students' uncertainties and make the teacher's task of evaluating the essays relatively straightforward and easy, but it also reduces or even eliminates the educational value of the assignment—assuming, of course, that its purpose is to get students to think for themselves.

Ideally, then, structure should be moderate rather than extreme. There should be just enough to give students some sense of direction and to stimulate more accomplishment than if they worked with less structure or guidance.

This ideal is an application of Vygotsky's idea of the zone of proximal development, a place (figuratively speaking) where students get more done with help than without it. The ideal amount of guidance—the "location" of the zone of proximal development—varies with the assignment and the student, and it (hopefully) decreases over time for all students. One student may need more guidance to do his or her best in math, but less guidance in order to write her or his best essay. Another student may need the reverse. But if all goes well, both students may need less at the end of the year than at the beginning.

Implementing Vygotsky's ideas in the classroom are usually facilitated by

•Having students work in cooperative groups whereby each students has a role or a focus and is responsible for teaching his or her group mates (the jigsaw).

•Asking open-ended questions that require the student to analyze the task more deeply.

•Answering students' questions with questions of your own, resisting the urge to give the student the answer and rather having the student come to his or her own conclusion.

•Scaffolding instruction whereby the student is supported by smaller chunks of information and graphic organizers.

Other scaffolding ideas are available here (from Rebecca Alber, Edutopia).

Managing transitions

Transitions between activities is often full of distractions and "lost" time, and is a time when inappropriate behaviors are especially likely to occur (Colvin, Sugai, Good, & Lee, 1997; McIntosh, Herman, Sanford, McGraw, & Florence, 2004). This is usually because students may have to wait before a new activity actually begins and therefore get bored at the very moment when the teacher is preoccupied with arranging materials for the new activity. From the point of view of the students, transitions may seem essentially like unsupervised group time, when any behavior is seemingly tolerated.

Minimizing such problems requires two strategies, one of which is easier to implement than the other.

The easier strategy is for you, as teacher, to organize materials as well as possible ahead of time, so that you minimize the time needed to begin a new activity. The advice sounds simple, and mostly is, but it sometimes takes a bit of practice to implement smoothly.

A second, more complex strategy is to teach students ways to manage their own behavior during transitions (Marzano & Marzano, 2004). If students talk too loudly at these times, for example, then discuss with them what constitutes appropriate levels or amounts of talk, and discuss the need for them to monitor their own sound level. Or if students stop work early in anticipation of ending an activity, then talk about—or even practice—waiting for a signal from yourself to indicate the true ending point for an activity.

Transition signals can be the same or variations of the signals you use to quiet your class. Feel free to be creative or subdued with these signals, whatever fits your personality and the temperament of your students. In other words, if you have a group of students who are prone to acting out, your transitional (or attention-getting) signals should not be comical or otherwise distracting. Try something subdued.

You can use a nonverbal gesture, such as touching your nose, raising your hand, or simply standing still at a predefined spot.

Amy Withers (Teaching Channel) demonstrates how to get the attention of her students without saying a word.

With some groups, however, you may be able to use a more distinctive signal. Some ideas include a kitchen timer, a timer app from a mobile device, a horn, maracas, a whistle, or whatever else you can think of. David Ginsburg, writing for Education Week, describes the use of a train whistle for a lighthearted approach to getting students' attention.

Remember, don't get carried away with the transition signal. What is critical is making sure you teach and practice the procedure for moving from one activity to the next quickly and efficiently. The transition signal is a critical part of making this happen but should not overshadow the overall process.

Maintaining the flow of activities

A lot of classroom management is really about keeping activities flowing smoothly, both during individual lessons and across the school day. The trouble is that there is never just "one" event happening at a time, even if only one activity has been formally planned and is supposed to be occurring. Imagine, for example, that everyone is supposed to be attending a single whole-class discussion on a topic; yet individual students will be having different experiences at any one moment. Several students may be listening and contributing comments, for example, but a few others may be planning what they want to say next and ignoring the current speakers. Still others may be ruminating about what a previous speaker said, and still others may be thinking about unrelated matters--the restroom, food, or what they plan to do on the weekend.

Management gets even more complicated if the teacher deliberately plans multiple activities: in that case, some students may interact with the teacher, for example, while others do work in an unsupervised group or work independently in a different part of the room. How is a teacher to keep activities flowing smoothly in the face of such variety?

A common mistake of beginning teachers in multi-faceted settings like these is to pay too much attention to any one activity, student, or small group, at the expense of noticing and responding to all the others.

If you are helping a student on one side of the room when someone on the other side disturbs classmates with off-task conversation, it can be less effective either to finish with the student you are helping before attending to the disruption, or to interrupt yourself to solve the disruption on the other side of the room.

Although one of these responses may be necessary, either one involves disruption somewhere. There is a risk that either the student's chatting may spread to others, or the interrupted student may become bored with waiting for the teacher's attention and wander off-task herself.

Withitness

A better solution, though one that at first may seem challenging, is to attend to both events at once—a strategy that was termed withitness in a series of now-classic research studies several decades ago (Kounin, 1977).

Withitness does not mean that you focus on all simultaneous activities with equal care, but only that you remain aware of multiple activities, behaviors, and events to some degree. At a particular moment, for example, you may be focusing on helping a student, but in some corner of your mind you also notice when chatting begins on the other side of the room.

You should strive to have, as the saying goes, "eyes in the back of your head". Research has found that experienced teachers are much more likely to show withitness than inexperienced teachers, and that these qualities are associated with managing classrooms successfully (Emmer & Stough, 2001).

Simultaneous awareness—withitness—makes possible responses to the multiple events that are immediate and nearly simultaneous—what educators sometimes called overlapping. The teacher's responses to each event or behavior need not take equal time, nor even be equally noticeable to all students. If you are helping one student with seat work at the precise moment when another student begins chatting off-task, for example, a quick glance to the second student may be enough to bring the second one back to the work at hand, and may scarcely interrupt your conversation with the first student, or be noticed by others who are not even involved. The result is a smoother flow to activities overall.

As a new teacher, you may find that withitness and overlapping develop more easily in some situations than in others. It may be easier to keep an eye (or ear) on multiple activities during familiar routines, such as taking attendance, but harder to do the same during activities that are unfamiliar or complex, such as introducing a new topic or unit that you have never taught before.

But skill at broadening your attention does increase with time and practice. It helps to keep trying. Merely demonstrating to students that you are "with-it", in fact, even without making deliberate overlapping responses, can sometimes deter students from off-task behavior. Someone who is tempted to pass notes in class, for example, might not do so because she believes that you will probably notice her doing it anyway, whether or not you are actually able to do so.

Student Feedback

As you must continually assess whether students have mastered the instructional material in your class, you find it helpful to have students assess your skill in teaching.

One of the major drawbacks of teaching is the infrequency of teacher feedback.

Why not let students contribute their observations about what's going on in the classroom? After all, it's them who stand to gain the most from a teacher's effectiveness.

A good guideline may be to give students this survey at the end of the second and third quarters so that you will have ample time to revise or strengthen your instructional approach.

Ideas for end-of-year student feedback are also located in Section 1.2.

Chapter 3: Proximity & Arrangement

Physical Arrangement

Arranging Classroom Space

Viewed broadly, classrooms may seem to be arranged in similar ways, but there are actually important alternative arrangements to consider. Variations exist because of grade level, the subjects taught, the teacher's philosophy of education, and of course the size of the room and the furniture available. Whatever the arrangement that you choose, it should help students to focus on learning tasks as much as possible and minimize the chances of distractions.

Your top priority is to set up your physical classroom arrangement so that it facilitates your routines and procedures while ensuring student safety and interaction.

Fred Jones (2007) stresses that a teacher cannot effectively "work the crowd" (that is, interact with students with movement, eye contact, and energy) unless the classroom is designed specifically for that purpose. In particular, he stresses the need for broad avenues dividing the student groupings or with an interior loop so the teacher can reach any student in the fewest possible steps.

Beyond these basic principles, however, the "best" arrangement depends on what your students need and on the kind of teaching that you prefer and feel able to provide (Nations & Boyett, 2002). The next few paragraphs describe some of the options. In considering them (and before moving too much furniture around your room!), you might want to try experimenting with spatial arrangements "virtually" by using one of the computer programs available on the Internet (see: http://teacher.scholastic.com/tools/class_setup/).

Visibility of and interactions with students

Learning is facilitated if the furniture and space allow you to see all students and to interact with them from a comfortable distance. Usually this means that the main, central part of the room—where desks and tables are usually located—needs to be as open and as spacious as possible. While this idea may seem obvious, enacting it can be challenging in practice if the room itself is small or shaped unusually. Open spaces tend to allow, if not invite, physical movement of children—a feature that you may consider either constructive or annoying, depending on your educational goals and the actual level of activity that occurs.

Displays and wall space

All classrooms have walls, of course, and how you fill them can affect the mood or feeling of a classroom. Ample displays make a room interesting and can be used to reinforce curriculum goals and display (and hence publicly recognize) students' work. But too many displays can also make a room seem "busy" or distracting as well as physically smaller. They can also be more work to maintain. If you are starting a new school year, then, a good strategy is to decorate some of the wall or bulletin board space, but not to fill it all immediately. Leaving some space open leaves flexibility to respond to ideas and curriculum needs that emerge after the year is underway. The same advice applies especially for displays that are high maintenance, such as aquariums, pets, and plants. These can serve wonderfully as learning aids, but do not have to be in place on the first day of school. Not only the students, but also you yourself, may already have enough to cope with at that time.

Computers in the classroom

If you are like the majority of teachers, you will have only one computer in your room, or at most just a few, and their placement may be pre-determined by the location of power and cable outlets. If so, you need to think about computer placement early in the process of setting up a room. Once the location of computers is set, locations for desks, high-usage shelves, and other moveable items can be chosen more sensibly—in general, as already mentioned, so as to minimize distractions to students and to avoid unnecessary traffic congestion.

Spatial arrangements unique to grade levels or subjects

The best room arrangement sometimes depends on the grade level or subject area of the class. If you teach in elementary school, for example, you may need to think especially about where students can keep their daily belongings, such as coats and lunches. In some schools, these can be kept outside the classroom—but not necessarily. Some subjects and grade levels, furthermore, lend themselves especially well to small group interaction, in which case you might prefer not to seat students in rows, but instead around small-group tables or work areas. The latter arrangement is sometimes preferred by elementary teachers, but is also useful in high schools wherever students need lots of counter space, as in some shops or art courses, or where they need to interact, as in English as a Second Language courses (McCafferty, Jacobs, & Iddings, 2006). The key issue in deciding between tables and rows, however, is not grade level or subject as such, but the amount of small group interaction you want to encourage compared to the amount of whole-group instruction. As a rule, tables make working with peers easier, and rows make listening to the teacher more likely and group work slightly more awkward physically.

Unfortunately, some teachers also experience challenges about room arrangement because they do not actually have a classroom of their own, because they must move each day among other teachers' rooms. "Floating" is especially likely for specialized teachers (e.g. music teachers in elementary schools, who move from class to class) and in schools that have an overall shortage of classrooms. Floating can sometimes be annoying to the teacher, though it actually also has advantages, such as not having to take responsibility for how other teachers' rooms are arranged. If you find yourself floating, it helps to consider a few key strategies, such as:

•consider using a permanent cart to move crucial supplies from room to room

•make sure that every one of your rooms has an overhead projector (do not count on using chalkboards or computers in other teachers' rooms)

•talk to the other teachers about having at least one shelf or corner in each room designated for your exclusive use

General Guidelines

Marzano, Marzano, and Pickering (2003) offer several considerations when arranging your classroom:

•You should be able to easily see all students.

•Students should be able to see all presentations and demonstrations.

•Frequently used materials are easily accessible.

•Make sure pathways facilitate traffic flow.

•Ensure you can easily organize students into pairs, triads, and small groups.

•The room does not provide or highlight unnecessary distractions.

•For elementary teachers, one of your primary considerations is where whole-group instruction will take place.

•For teachers of all levels of students and are interacting with small groups, you should ensure that you have a spot where your back will be against the wall, and you will be able to see the entire class.

Six Functions of Classroom Space

Weinstein, Romano, & Mignano (2010) adapted the work of Fred Steele (1973) to describe six basic functions of classroom environments:

• Shelter and Security

Of primary importance is designing the classroom in such a way that students feel safe and not be subject to physical or emotional stress. Students need to be away from any objects that can be potentially dangerous (e.g., sharp pencils, scissors, chemicals, loose wires, etc.) and must have a place in the classroom that gives them the sense of personal space, an area where the student feels in control and not intruded upon by others.

• Social Contact

The arrangement of the classroom should encourage on-task interactions and discourage off-task behavior.

• Symbolic Identification

Placement of furniture and decorations should help establish a sense of classroom community and identification. Personalization through decoration can be an important factor in helping students feel welcome and valued.

•Task Instrumentality

The classroom environment should lend itself to the efficient flow of instructional tasks and activities, including logical organization, available instructional resources, and flexible spacing. There needs to be an ease in flow throughout the classroom, that can be facilitated by placement of materials, planning for space, areas for students to store belongings, and delineation of what belongs in each area.

•Pleasure

The classroom environment should be an enjoyable space in which to learn and work. This includes thoughtful color palettes and decorations, as well as segmented spacing to create micro-environments. Plants, variable lighting, and soothing colors are relatively easy to implement and make a strong impact.

•Growth

The classroom should have an area in which students can extend their learning. For example, a classroom library or computer station could give students who are finished with a task a chance to develop skills in other areas. Collecting high-interest, above grade level magazines or having a class jigsaw puzzle might prove effective in engaging students who would otherwise be bored or dawdle.

Other General Considerations

•Consider alternating males and females in group and desk arrangements.

•Do not allow students to choose their own seats.

•Recognize the need for a student to be isolated from his peers from time to time and, thus, have such an area ready at all times.

•Personalize the teacher area so that it reflects your personality but conveys a clear sense of organization and professionalism.

•Segment your classroom into centers or areas dedicated to specific areas of learning. If you don't have much space, use signage to indicate what the focus of each area should be.

•Decrease cable clutter with duct tape and zip-ties.

•Color code computer cables if you have more than one computer at a station.

Also consider the Wilmes, Harrington, Kohler-Evans, and Sumpter (2008) study that shows how increased student learning is linked to enhancing the classroom environment.

Teacher Proximity

Working the Crowd

Proximity control is one of the most effective methods for keeping students on task and ensuring students have what they need to be successful in the classroom (Jones, 2007; Conroy, Asmus, Ladwig, Sellers, & Valcante, 2004; DePry & Sugai, 2002; Gunter, Shores, Jack, Rasmussen, & Flowers, 1995; Lewis, Colvin, & Sugai, 2000).

There is a clear correlation between a student's distance to the teacher and the student's propensity to misbehave or be off-task. In addition, teacher to student proximity is noted as an effective classroom management strategy for helping students transition from one task to another and for including students with emotional and behavioral disorders in general education settings (Jones, 2007).

Jones (2007), stressing the importance of teacher proximity, prefers to call the process "working the crowd." Working the crowd is the technique Jones describes as constantly moving about the classroom, monitoring student activity and behavior.

Working the crowd involves subtle movements, flowing from student to student and lingering where students might need redirection.

The Zones

Jones divides the classroom into three zones, the red zone, the yellow zone, and the green zone.

The red zone is the area where the teacher is and, thus, where students are less likely to misbehave.

The yellow zone is the cautionary area just beyond a teacher's reach. It is where students tend to behave if the teacher is facing them but are likely to move off-task when the teacher looks away.

The green zone is the farthest area from the teacher, especially if there are physical structures (desks, chairs, tables, etc.) between the teacher and student. It is here where students are most likely to misbehave and be off-task, even if the teacher is looking.

When the teacher moves, the red zone moves with him. The goal, then, is for the teacher to constantly move, to constantly shift the location of the zones.

Camouflage and Subtlety

Your movement about the classroom should be as controlled as possible. Avoid quick, jerky movements, even if students in the green zone are glaringly off-task.

By moving slowly, yet purposefully, working the crowd as you make it to the area of misbehavior, you are camouflaging your actions so that you can more effectively address the off-task behavior without causing a scene.

Since you gradually made your way to the area of misbehavior, the students are more likely to behave and less likely to act out because of embarrassment of having you call them out in front of their peers.

It does little good to yell, "Jimmy, stop that!" to Jimmy in the back of the room because this has the effect of interrupting the other students (who might all be drawn off-task now to see what Jimmy is doing!).

There is also the possibility that this will embarrass Jimmy, which could result in revenge or power behavior. To save face for Jimmy, simply move slowly, and in a controlled way, to Jimmy's proximity. If your nearness doesn't do the trick, then you can rest your hand or a few fingers on Jimmy's desk. If this still doesn't do the trick, you can quietly say Jimmy's name and redirect him back to the task at hand.

Challenges and Rewards of Maintaining Proximity

Constantly moving about the classroom is physically demanding. It is no wonder that some teachers wear athletic shoes to to teach in! Experience has shown that the most effective teachers are not those who sit behind their desk as students are engaged in instructional activities but are those who constantly move about.

Not only does this minimize disruptions because of increased teacher presence, but also students feel more open to ask for assistance and gain an increased sense of rapport with the teacher.

Many teachers today were taught by instructors who stayed in front of the classroom or behind the teacher's desk. As Jones (2007) notes, if today's teachers want to have more engaged students, today's teachers have to break away from all those years of modeling and become more active, engaged teachers.

Another concern for teachers who want to maximize proximity to students is arranging the furniture in such a way to facilitates ease of movement.

To facilitate this movement, teachers should arrange the classroom furniture (desks, tables, and chairs) in a way that maximizes mobility and access.

Chapter 4: Models of Discipline

Canter Model of Assertive Discipline

Canter's Key Concepts

Teachers should insist on decent, responsible behavior from their students. Students need this type of behavior, parents want it, the community at large expects it, and the educational process is ineffective without it.

Teacher failure, for all practical purposes, is synonymous with failure to maintain adequate classroom discipline.

Many teachers labor under false assumptions about discipline, believing that firm control is stifling and disrespectful. On the contrary, firm control, maintained correctly, is humane and liberating.

Canter maintains that an assertive teacher is one who clearly and firmly communicates needs and requirements to students, follows the expression of these needs and requirements with appropriate actions, and responds to students in ways that meet the student's needs and maximize compliance.

Teachers have basic educational rights in their classrooms including the following:

•The right to establish optimal learning environments.

•The right to request and expect appropriate behavior

•The right to receive help from administrators and parents when it is needed.

Students also have basic rights in the classroom, including the following:

•The right to have teachers who help limit inappropriate, self-destructive behavior

•The right to choose how to behave, with a full understanding of the consequences that will follow automatically from their choices.

The needs, rights and conditions outlined above, are best met through the use of assertive discipline. The teacher communicates clearly his/her expectations to students and follows up with appropriate and consistent actions that do not violate the best interests of the students.

Characteristics of Assertive Discipline

•Identify expectations clearly.

•Be willing to say "I like that" or "I don't like that".

•Be persistent in stating expectations and feelings.

•Use a firm tone of voice.

•Maintain eye contact.

•Use non-verbal gestures in support of verbal statements.

•Use hints, questions, and I-messages rather than demands or requests for appropriate behavior.

•Follow-up with promises (reasonable consequences, previously established) rather than with threats.

•Be assertive in confrontations with students; include the use of statements of expectation, indicate consequences that will occur, and note why action is necessary.

To become more assertive when using discipline, teachers should do the following:

•Practice assertive response styles.

•Set clear limits and consequences.

•Be consistent.

•Follow-up to ensure compliance and progress toward compliance.

•Make specific assertive discipline plans and rehearse them mentally.

•Keep a log of incidents and observations.

•Practice the 'broken record' technique when reinforcing expectations.

•Ask school principals and parents for support in your efforts to help students.

The Need for Assertive Discipline

According to Canter, schools and teachers deserve part of the blame for behavioral problems because of mistaken ideas about discipline have led educators to be hesitant in controlling behavior.

Some of these mistaken ideas about discipline follow:

•Good teachers can handle discipline problems on their own without any help.

•Firm discipline causes psychological trauma to students.

•Discipline problems disappear when students are given activities that meet their needs.

•Misbehavior results from deep-seated causes that are beyond the influence of the teacher.

These mistaken ideas about discipline must be replaced, according to Canter, by the following, if favorable conditions are to be effectively maintained:

•Discipline is necessary for psychological security.

•Discipline is necessary to prevent us from carrying out actions which would leave us with subsequent feelings of shame.

•Discipline is necessary as a liberating influence that allows us to build up and expand our best traits and abilities.

•Discipline is necessary to maintain an effective and efficient learning environment.

Five Steps to Assertive Discipline

Step 1: Recognize and Remove Roadblocks to Assertive Discipline

Canter believes that all teachers are capable of being assertive when the need arises. However there are many "roadblocks" that teachers have to overcome, especially when expressing their behavioral requirements and gaining compliance from students.

The use of assertive discipline begins with the recognition and removal of these roadblocks. The majority of these roadblocks involve the teachers' negative expectations of student behavior. In short, many teachers expect students to behave badly, that such factors as their health, home, personality, or environment, keep students from behaving well at school. This pessimistic expectation must be recognized as false and must replaced with more optimistic expectations.

Secondly, teachers must recognize the simple fact that they can positively influence the behavior of their students in many ways, no matter what the underlying problems may be.

Step 2: Understand the assertive response styles

Canter differentiates three styles of response that characterize teachers' interactions with misbehaving students:

1. The Non-assertive Response.

The non-assertive response style is typical of teachers who have given in to students or who feel it is wrong to place strong demands on student behavior. Teachers using this non-assertive style are passive. They either do not establish clear standards or else they fail to back up their standards with appropriate actions. They hope their good natures will gain student compliance. They are not firm or insistent and they end up resignedly accepting whatever the students decide to do.

2. The Hostile Response.

The hostile response style is used by teachers who feel that they are barely hanging on to class control. They use aversive techniques such as sarcasm and threats. They often shout and believe they must rule with an iron fist or else they will be overwhelmed with chaos. Hostile responses produce several bad side effects – they hurt students' feelings; they provoke disrespect and a desire to get even; they fail to meet students' needs for warmth and security; and they violate two basic student rights: the right to positive limits on self-destructive behavior and the right to choose their own behavior, with full knowledge of the consequences that will follow.

3. The Assertive Response.

The assertive response style, which should be practiced until it becomes natural in dealing with students, protects the rights of both teacher and student. With this style, teachers make their expectations clearly known to students. In a business-like way they continually insist that students comply with these expectations. They reinforce their words with actions. When students choose to comply with teacher guidance they receive positive benefits. When they choose to behave in unacceptable ways the teacher follows up with consequences that reasonably punish misbehavior.

Step 3. Learn to set limits.

Canter repeatedly reminds teachers that assertive teachers are always cognizant of the behaviors they want and need from the students. Teachers must first identify what constitutes inappropriate behavior and then communicate this to the students as positive demands, or what Canter calls "limits.".

Once limits have been made explicit, the next step in setting limits is to decide consequences for both compliance and noncompliance.

For compliance, verbal acknowledgment is usually sufficient. When dealing with inappropriate behavior, teachers should be ready with firm reminders of what students should be doing.

Canter details several methods for setting verbal limits, emphasizing the following three techniques:

1. Request appropriate behavior through Hints, I-messages, Questions, and Demands

Hints – statements made from time to time reminding students of the teacher's expectations (e.g., "Everyone should be reading silently.")

I-messages – telling students how behavior is affecting the teacher (e.g.,"It is getting so noisy I can't do my work.")

Questions – hints or commands put in the interrogative form (e.g., "Would you please get back to your reading?")

Demands – statements that direct students what to do (e.g.,"Get back to your reading right now.")

Canter warns that demands can have unfortunate results and issues his one and only commandment associated with assertive discipline: 'Thou shalt not make any demand thou art not prepared to follow on through.'

2. Deliver the verbal limit using tone of voice, eye contact, gestures, and other means

Tone of voice – this should be firmly neutral and businesslike. It should not be harsh, abusive sarcastic, or intimidating. Neither should it be playful, implying a lack of seriousness.

Eye contact – for a message to have its greatest impact, teachers should look students straight in the eye. However, teachers should not insist that students look them back in the eye. Even though students look away, teachers should fix them with a direct gaze when verbally setting limits.

Gestures – these add much to verbal messages, especially in societies where few gestures are used. Facial expressions together with arm and hand movements accentuate messages. However Canter cautions that fingers and fists should not be waved in students' faces.

Use of student names – their use adds further impact to verbal messages, making them more powerful and penetrating. This is especially true for messages delivered over long distances, as across the room or school grounds.

Physical touch – touch is unusually effective when used in conjunction with verbal messages. A hand lightly placed on a shoulder communicates forcefulness combined with sincerity. Canter warns, however, that some students react violently to touch, by pulling away abruptly or even thrusting back. They may also claim that the teacher has pinched or hurt them.

3. Use the broken record technique

Repeat your original message with insistence and do not allow students to divert you from the issue at hand. Stay focused on what you need the student to do and repeat your verbal limit firmly, forcefully, and objectively.

Use the broken record technique only when students refuse to listen, persist in responding inappropriately, or refuse to take responsibility for their own behavior

Preface your repetitions with 'I understand, but..." or "We can discuss that later, but right now..."

Use it a maximum of three times; after the third time follow through with an appropriate consequence, if necessary.

Step 4. Learn to follow through on limits.

Following through means the appropriate actions you take, either when students comply (positive results) or when they fail to comply (negative results).

The important point is that students have already been made aware of the consequences, either good or bad, that will follow the behavior they choose.

Canter presents the following guidelines for following through appropriately:

•Make promises, not threats. A promise is a vow to take appropriate action when necessary. A threat is a statement that shows intent to harm or punish.

•Select appropriate consequences in advance. Teachers should have a bank of several specific consequences to draw on when necessary. These consequences should be both positive and negative, with differing degrees of severity for violations of the rules.

Set up a system of consequences that you can easily enforce. Canter suggests the following but emphasizes that each teacher must come up with his or her own system which suits their personality and thus with which they feel comfortable. The following set of consequences is designed for an individual problem student. It covers the duration of a particular day. Each new day begins afresh:

Misbehavior Consequence Sequence:

First – Name on board (a warning)

Second – Check by name (15 minute detention)

Third – Second check (30 minutes detention)

Fourth – Third check (30 minutes detention; student phones parents and explains)

Fifth – Fourth check (30 minutes detention; student phones parents, explains, and meets with the principal.)

Sixth – Student suspended.

Practice verbal confrontations that entail a consequence. To effectively use assertions and consequences naturally, practice them in advance. Imagine possible situations that are likely to arise in the classroom. Canter suggests that one good way to practice is to follow the following sequence:

Describe a rule to your imaginary class, such as "No talking without permission." Briefly explain why it is necessary and what student should do instead. State clearly what the consequences will be for compliance and noncompliance and check that students understand.

Imagine that a student has talked out of turn. Make an assertive response. Imagine the student then answers back rudely. Assertively state the consequence of his or her action. Suppose now the student defies you. Follow through assertively.

Step 5. Implementing a system of positive or favorable consequences.

Consequences in response to misbehaviors may be foremost in most teachers' minds. It is common for teachers to feel inadequate in dealing appropriately with them. However, according to Canter, the positive, or optimistic, side of the picture is even more important to the maintenance of good discipline.

Successful involvement with students when they behave appropriately builds influence with the students, leads to a decrease in the amount of problem behavior and makes for a happier and more productive classroom.

Here are some positive consequences suggested by Canter:

Personal attention from the teacher. A special, positive, personal response from the teacher is one of the most rewarding experiences a student can have. Most students respond enthusiastically to such attention. It is delivered in the form of greetings, short talks, compliments, acknowledgments, smiles, and friendly eye contact.

Positive notes to parents. It is usual for parents to be informed about their children only when they have misbehaved in school. Thus a brief note or phone call, commenting favorably on a student, can do wonders for the morale of both students and parents. Parents are more likely to support teachers when they receive such approving messages.

Special awards. Students respond well to special awards given for high achievement, significant improvement, and so forth.

Special privileges. Students of all ages respond well when given special privileges, for example; helping to care for classroom animals or equipment, helping with class materials, or working together with a friend.

Material rewards. Many tangible objects can be effective rewards. Young students like stickers, badges, ribbons, etc. Older students like to receive posters, pencils, rubber stamps, etc.

Home rewards. In collaboration with parents, privileges can be extended to the home. Completing homework can earn extra television time, reading an extra book can earn a favorite meal, and so forth.

Group rewards. Canter discusses methods of rewarding the entire group for good behavior. He includes the following suggestions:

•Dropping marbles into a jar when the entire group remains on task and works hard. When the jar is filled the class is treated to something special.

•Completing a series of letters on the board that eventually reveal a secret word, such as "Popcorn Party." The class then receives a popcorn party as a reward.

Beginning the year

Although an assertive discipline program can be implemented at any time, the first few days of a new school year are an especially favorable time to introduce the program.

•Decide on behaviors you want to elicit from students and determine the positive and negative consequences that will accompany them.

•Take your list to the principal for approval and support.

•On first meeting with the new students discuss the behaviors, consequences and the methods of follow through you intend to use. Keep the list of behaviors (rules) to six or less.

•Make it quite clear that all students must comply with the rules. Tell the students exactly what will happen each time a rule is broken. (The consequences they can expects for the first, second, third offense, etc.)

•Ask the students to write the behaviors and consequences on a sheet of paper, to take the plan home and to have their parents read and sign it. Have them return it to you the next day.

•Emphasize that these rules will help the class develop a sense of responsibility for learning and behaving acceptably. Reinforce the message over a period of time at appropriate occasions.

•Ask students to tell you in their own words what they believe you expect of them and what the consequences will be for both compliance and violations.

•Prepare a short letter describing the plan to parents in which you ask them for their support and express your pleasure in being able to collaborate with them in efforts to benefit their child.

•Implement the assertive discipline plan immediately.

Curwin and Mendler's Discipline with Dignity

Key Points

Central to treating individuals with dignity is the creation of a school environment in which the needs of both students and teachers are met. Curwin and Mendler (2008) state that the needs of students and teachers fall into one of four sets of needs:

1.Personal identity, achieved through a positive self-image.

2.Connectedness, achieved through a sense of positive affiliation with others.

3.Power achieved by having a sense of control over one's own life.

4.Achievement, achieved by being enabled to be academically successful

Discipline problems develop within the classroom when the needs of a student, a classroom, or the teacher are not met. Classroom management, then, should focus on meeting those needs so that the teacher can teach, and the students can learn.

Curwin and Mendler suggest that when discipline problems do occur, teachers should first look inward at their motivations, preparations, and passion for the class and adapt the classroom environment and instructional strategies accordingly to better meet the needs of the students..

They also suggest that the teacher must expect to deal with occasional misbehavior as a part of the teaching process. The teacher's goal should not be to eliminate all forms of misbehavior, because students need opportunities to test limits, but rather to help students make appropriate choices and decisions.

Curwin and Mendler describe three basic groups of students in what is known as the 80-15-5 rule. According to this rule, 80 percent of the students rarely misbehave, 15 percent of students break rules occasionally, and five percent are chronic rule breakers.

The goal of the classroom management plan, according to Curwin and Mendler, should be to control the 15 percent of students who regularly break rules without alienating or overly regulating the 80 percent who rarely do so, and without backing the 5 percent of habitual rule breakers into a corner.

The Discipline with Dignity plan can be broken into three parts:

Prevention

To prevent most misbehavior, Curwin and Mendler recommend the teachers and the students create and implement a social contract. The social contract gives students a sense of ownership by involving them in the creation of classroom rules and regulations. When students have a part in the creation of the guidelines they will live by, they feel empowered.

What's notable is Curwin and Mendler's inclusion of the flag rule principle, which allows the teacher to establish certain non-negotiable rules that the teacher feels are necessary to ensure a safe and orderly classroom.

The teacher and the class also agree to classroom principles and a range of consequences for misbehavior. It is no good to come up with a consequence once a misbehavior occurs; the consequence must be planned in advance.

The purpose of consequences is to teach students that misbehavior leads to effects. Curwin and Mendler describe effective consequences as clear and specific, offer a range of alternatives, are natural and logical, preserve the student's dignity, and are related to the classroom principle having been broken.

Action

When a rule is broken, and a consequence must be implemented, the implementation should be swift and objectively delivered. The student needs to see the consequence as a natural or logical extension of his or her action, not as a punishment.

Curwin & Mendler present nine principles for delivering a consequence:

1.Be consistent. A consequence from the approved list must be implemented each time a rule is broken. The consequence may be a simple reminder of the rule, but students must realize that the teacher is aware that a rule has been broken. Consistency creates order and predictability in the classroom and shows that the teacher honors the social contract and expects the students to do so as well.

2.Remind the student which rule has been broken. Lecturing, scolding, and making the student feel guilty only escalate the problem by generating anger and resentment.

3.Use proximity control. However, be mindful that for some students, an invasion of personal space is considered a threat and will escalate rather than de-escalate the situation.

4.Make direct eye contact when delivering a consequence. Much can be delivered by this unspoken message. However, a student should not be forced to reciprocate the eye contact if it is counter to their cultural norms.

5.Use a soft voice. Shouting and yelling are signs of a lack of control. The softer the tone, the more impact it will have on students.

6.Acknowledge appropriate behavior instead of only giving attention to students who act out.

7.Do not embarrass students in front of their peers. Part of treating students with dignity is allowing them to save face in front of their peers.

8.Do not give a consequence when angry. It is important to be calm and to model the appropriate way to handle emotionally charged situations.

9.Do not accept excuses, bargaining, or whining. Implement the consequence as directly and expeditiously as possible.

Resolution

If the social contract fails to work for some students (notably the 5%), the teacher should establish an individual contract with the student. Such contracts are negotiated with the student to determine the cause of the behavior. the means of preventing misbehavior from occurring in the future. and the needs of the students that can be met by the teacher. Individual contracts should be developed with the support of the school administration and support staff and the student's caregivers.

Dreikur's Logical Consequences

Dreikurs's Key Concepts

•Discipline involves teaching students to impose limits on themselves.

•Democratic teachers provide firm guidance and leadership. They allow students to have a say in establishing rules and consequences.

•All students want to "belong". They want status and recognition. Most of their behavior is directed by their desire to belong.

•Students often engage in misbehavior because they mistakenly believe it will lead to the recognition they want.

•Misbehavior is associated with four mistaken goals: seeking attention, gaining power, taking revenge, and displaying inadequacy. The goal in each case is to elicit certain responses from teachers.

•Teachers should quickly identify the mistaken goals and act to avoid their reinforcement.

•Teachers should encourage student's efforts while avoiding praise of either their work or character.

•Teachers should teach students that unpleasant consequences always follow inappropriate behavior.

Dreikurs believed that teachers who teach in a mostly democratic fashion are those who most effectively establish discipline. Dreikurs's categorization of teachers is based on the predominant behavior they display in the classroom.

He identifies three types of teachers:

1. Autocratic.

Autocratic teachers force their will on students in order to control the class. They motivate students with outside pressures rather than stimulate motivation from within. This attitude and approach tends to perpetuate problem behavior. Authoritarian figures are increasingly being rejected by students. Students seek a democratic atmosphere in which they are treated as equal human beings and react with hostility to the autocratic teacher.

2. Permissive.

Permissive teachers generate problem behavior because the atmosphere they allow is not based on everyday reality. Students in a permissive classroom fail to learn that successful living in general society requires them to follow rules. They do not learn that failure to follow rules results in adverse consequences. They do not learn that acceptable behavior requires self-discipline.

Students are confused because they believe that they are free from restraint and can do whatever they want. However they discover that things do not go smoothly for them. Discipline and control must be present in classrooms if learning is to occur. Students want guidance and leadership. They are willing to accept guidance if it is not forced on them and if they believe they are being heard. This does not mean that they want control of the classroom.

3. Democratic.

Democratic teachers are neither permissive nor autocratic. They provide firm guidance and leadership by establishing rules and consequences. Freedom grows from discipline. To the extent that students understand that consequences follow behavior, they are then free to choose behavior that will attain their legitimate needs. Discipline involves teaching students how to establish an inner control that permits them to choose behavior compatible with their best interests. Teaching students how to attain self discipline eliminates the need for constant corrective action by the teacher.

It is Dreikurs's assertion that the following 8 conditions foster a democratic classroom:

1. The establishment of order.

2. The setting of limits.

3. The use of firmness and kindness.

4. Involving students when establishing and maintaining rules.

5. Leadership from the teacher.

6. Inviting cooperation and eliminating destructive competition.

7. Promoting a sense of belonging within a group.

8. Encouraging an atmosphere of freedom to explore, discover, and choose acceptable behavior through understanding the responsibilities and consequences associated with it.

Dreikurs's Guidelines for Effective Discipline

Teachers should:

•Give explicit directions for the actions expected of students. Wait until you have the attention of all class members before giving directions.

•Establish a relationship with each individual based on trust and mutual respect.

•Use logical consequences as much as possible. The consequence must bear a direct relationship to the behavior and must be understood by the students.

•See each behavior in its proper perspective. In this way, you will avoid making serious issues out of trivial incidents.

•Let students assume greater responsibility for their own behavior and learning.

•Combine kindness and firmness. The student must always sense and respect that while you are a friend, you will not accept certain kinds of behavior.

•At all times distinguish between the deed and the doer. This allows you to retain respect for the student while not accepting their behavior.

•Set limits from the beginning but work toward mutual understanding, a sense of mutual responsibility and mutual consideration for others.

•Mean what you say, keep your demands simple, and ensure that your directives are carried out.

•Deal with incidents quickly and effectively, bring them swiftly to closure and work to repair damaged relationships. Let students know that mistakes are corrected, forgiven and then forgotten.

Teachers should not:

•Nag, scold, or threaten. Any compliance teachers get from these will be short-lived.

•Work to obtain a promise from a student. Most students will promise to change just to get out of an uncomfortable situation.

•Find fault with students. It may hurt their self-esteem and discourage them.

•Adopt double standards--we must model what we expect from students.

General Suggestions for Promoting Democratic Classrooms:

•Always speak in positive terms; avoid negativity

•Encourage students to strive for improvement—not perfection; acknowledge improvements and progress

•Emphasize students' strengths while minimizing the focus on their weaknesses

•Help students value and learn from mistakes

•Encourage independence and responsibility

•Show faith in students while offering them help in overcoming obstacles

•Encourage students to help each other and be active members of the classroom community

•Show pride in student work

•Be optimistic, enthusiastic, and encouraging

Gathercoal's Judicious Discipline

Key Concepts

Forrest Gathercoal theorized that students, being members of a democracy, deserve the same rights and responsibilities in the classroom afforded to them by the U.S. Constitution.

Essentially, students should be able to do what they want, as long as this does not interfere with the rights of others.

Judicious discipline is a management style based on the synthesis of professional ethics, good educational practice, and student constitutional rights and responsibilities (Gathercoal, 1997). This transforms the school into a model and a training ground for students to learn how to live successfully in a democratic society.

Legal Practice

The major focus of this approach is the opportunity for students to understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens and to experience the individual liberties attendant to this role. Through their school experiences, students are expected to become empowered to govern themselves with a social context and to learn to think for themselves and make decisions that are an adequate blend of personal rights and social responsibilities.

Often, when feeling excessively controlled or denied some opportunity, students claim that they have certain rights. In clear terms, they do. Sometimes students' rights are violated because school officials assume the role of loco parentis (in the place of parents) in disciplining schoolchildren.

What changed this assumption was the Supreme Court's 1969 ruling in the case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District. In this case, a high school student was suspended from school by the principal for wearing a black armband to protest the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war. The Court ruled that the protection of the First Amendment applies to schoolchildren, just as it does to citizens in the general public.

This ruling codified certain important rights for schoolchildren, which are set forth in the First (freedom of speech and right to assemble), Fourth (right to be free of unlawful seizure; guarantee of due process), and Fourteenth (guaranteed equal protection under the law) Amendments (Wolfgang, 1995).

Generally, Gathercoal proposed that students and teachers cooperate within a democratic model in which both parties are equal members of the "state." The state, in this instance is the school or the classroom. Teachers and students mutually decide classroom rules and expectations and commit to holding class meetings in which the students are equally contributing members of the learning community.

In addition, students are to be guaranteed access to their specific rights:

•the right of free speech

•the right to assemble

•the right to be free from unlawful seizure of their property

•to be guaranteed equal protection, no matter their race, gender, or ethnicity

A guarantee of equal protection, when balanced against the needs of the state (the school or classroom, in this case), necessitate due process. Due process refers to a legal effort to balance individual rights with the need to protect the interests and welfare of society. If the state cannot demonstrate a compelling interest in its favor, then individual rights prevail and should receive the protection of the state.

With regard to due process, the state can deprive someone of established rights if a compelling state interest can be shown with regard to one of the following:

1. Property loss or damage

2. Legitimate educational purpose

3. Health and safety

4.Serious disruption of an educational process

When school rules and expectations are based on democratic principles, the disciplinary system weighs students' rights against the compelling interests of the state.

The burden of proof remains with teachers and school officials to demonstrate that a student's behavior violates one of the state's four compelling interests (listed above). Rules and definitions of inappropriate student behavior should be clearly and explicitly linked to the state's interests or should be abandoned or revised. According to Gathercoal, these revised expectations, being clearly linked to the state's interests, promote better citizenship.

This model rejects the use of punishment, opting instead for a focus on natural and logical consequences for student misbehavior (defined by acting against the compelling needs of the state). These consequences must be tailored to each student and his or her own unique circumstances and be meted out commensurate with the severity of the behavior.

Ethical Practice

In addition to the legal requirements of the judicious discipline model, teachers are bound by professional obligation to act ethically. In this sense, teachers are to assume students are inherently good, want to learn, and are motivated to seek their own successes. Ethical teaching is student-centered and involves teachers sharing power and authority with students. By empowering students to make their own decisions, teachers help their students think independently and act responsibly.

Ethical teaching involves the following (Gathercoal, 1997):

•Encourage and model an eagerness for learning.

•Model a responsible professional behavior.

•Engage in personal behavior that is morally appropriate.

•Keep personal views separate from the professional administration of their teaching duties.

•Focus efforts on motivation, encouragement, and student's self-esteem.

•Accept that students behave in ways they truly believe are right at the time.

•Develop judicial rules and consequences that accept students as citizens.

Ginott's Congruent Communication

Ginott's Key Concepts

•The teacher is a decisive, powerful element in the classroom. Teachers create and maintain the classroom environment. They have the power to humanize or dehumanize students. Their effectiveness depends on their ability to establish a productive educational climate.

•The most important ingredient in classroom discipline is the teacher's self-discipline.

•The best teachers help students to build their self-esteem and to trust their own experience.

•Teachers, at their worst, attack and label students' characters.

•Teachers should model the behavior they hope to see in their students.

•Discipline is a series of little victories slowly acquired over time.

•Sane messages should be used when correcting misbehaving students. Sane messages are messages that address the situation rather than the students' character.

•Inviting cooperation from students is vastly preferable to demanding it.

•Labeling students belittles them and sets up an antagonistic relationship filled with resentment.

•Sarcasm is usually dangerous and praise is often ineffective. Use both with great care!

Congruent Communication

To promote student receptiveness, Ginott advocates using congruent communication, a harmonious and authentic way of talking in which messages to students are matched to the students' feelings about situations and themselves.

Ginott claims that the principle of congruent communication is the crucial factor in determining classroom climate. Teachers must constantly endeavor to use it. When they do they convey an attitude of helpfulness and acceptance, students respond in positive ways. Teachers are also advised to be continually aware of the impact of their messages on students' self-esteem.

Ginott describes both appropriate and inappropriate disciplinary methods. He asserts that teachers use inappropriate discipline when they:

•Lose their tempers ( e.g. shout, slam books, use verbal abuse).

•Call students names (e.g. "You are like pigs! Clean that up!").

•Insult a student's character (e.g. "John, you are nothing but lazy!").

•Behave rudely (e.g. "Sit down and shut up!").

•Overreact (e.g. When a student accidentally drops something being handed out: "Oh for heaven's sake! Can't you do anything right?!!").

•Are cruel (e.g. "Where were you when the brains were handed out?").

•Punish all for the sins of one or a few (e.g. "Certain people were talking during the lesson, you will all be on detention!")

•Threaten (e.g. "If I hear one more voice, we will all stay back for ten minutes after school.").

•Deliver long lectures. (e.g. "It has come to my attention that several students think the trash can is a basketball hoop. We can throw things outside but in the classroom, ... etc, etc.")

•Back students into a corner. (e.g. "What are you doing? Why are you doing that? Don't you know any better? Apologize at once!")

•Make arbitrary rules. (Rules are made without any student input or discussion)

In contrast, teachers who use appropriate discipline:

•Recognize feelings. (e.g. "I can see that you are angry")

•Describe the situation. (e.g. "I can see paper all over the floor, it needs to be picked up.")

•Invite cooperation. (e.g. "Let's all help to pick up the paper.")

•Are brief. (e.g. "We do not throw paper.")

•Do not argue. (They stick to a decision, but remain flexible enough to change it if they are wrong. Arguing is always a losing proposition for teachers.)

•Model appropriate behavior (They show through example how they want students to behave.)

•Discourage physical violence. (e.g. "In our class we talk about our problems. We do not hit, kick, or pull hair.")

•Do not criticize, call names, or insult. (e.g. A student interrupts a teacher: "Excuse me. I will be with you as soon as I can.")

•Focus on solutions. (e.g. "I am seeing unacceptable conduct here. What can we do about it?")

•Allow face-saving exits. (e.g. "You may remain at your desk and read quietly, or you may sit by yourself at the back of the room.")

•Allow students to help set standards. (e.g. "What do we need to remember when we are using this paint?")

•Are helpful. (e.g. Mathew yells: "Roger and Joe are teasing me!" Teacher responds: "You sound upset. What would you like me to do?")

•Limit and lessen conflicts. (e.g. Susan, crumpling her paper: "I am not going to do this assignment! It is too hard!" Teacher: "You feel this assignment is too difficult. Would you like me to go over a few problems with you?")

Ginott believes it is the teacher's job to provide an environment conducive to learning. An important part of this environment is the social-emotional atmosphere in the classroom. He believes that discipline problems diminish markedly if teachers show concern for students' feelings and recognize that their messages have a strong impact on students' feelings and self-esteem.

When teachers address the situation rather than the students' character, they communicate that

•They know what is going on,

•They know what they want changed, and

•They are aware of the students' feelings.

Ginott's model emphasizes how teachers can deal positively with students' emotions and provide examples of good behavior by their own personal conduct.

Glasser's Choice Theory

Glasser's Key Concepts

William Glasser's Choice Theory, an evolution of his earlier Control Theory, states that a person's behavior is inspired by what that person wants or needs at that particular time, not by an external force.

Every individual has the power to change his or her life for the better based on the choices he or she makes. Glasser would have schools recognize these five fundamental needs that play powerful roles in student behavior, recognize that students cannot deny those needs and must try to fulfill them, and recognize that schooling can and should be restructured in such a manner that it will meet those needs for students.

Because choices are intrinsically linked to personal, fundamental needs, Glasser argues that changes in behavior must be made freely, not in response to external stimuli, such as the possibility of a reward or the threat of punishment.

Reality Therapy

A prominent implementation of Glasser's Choice Theory is reality therapy.

Reality therapy is rooted in addressing the five fundamental needs articulated in Glasser's Choice Theory.

Research has indicated the successful use of reality therapy in helping improve secondary students' perceptions of personal control and in improving the self-concept of elementary students (Wubbolding, 2000).

First, by satisfying students' fundamental needs, teachers will be able to increase the likelihood that students will actually enjoy being at school, succeed academically and choose to behave in socially appropriate ways.

Next, teachers then help guide students to make positive choices by clarifying the connection between their behavior and the consequences of their behavior.

Then, teachers can then help the student come up with a plan to address the behavior.

This process has also been presented as the WDEP model (Corey, 2009).

Important Considerations

•Focus on what student can actually control.

•Emphasize responsibility attendant to choice.

•Reject student's attempts to blame or criticize others.

•Keep focus on the present and future.

•Stay fixed on the goal of moving forward in the process but remain non-judgmental and non-coercive.

•Focus on specifics of the student's needs.

Kounin Model of Withitness

Kounin's Key Concepts

•Teachers should know what is going on in all parts of the classroom at all times. Jacob Kounin called this awareness withitness.

•When teachers correct misbehaviors in one student, it often influences the behavior of nearby students. This is known as the ripple effect (Kounin & Gump, 1958).

•The ability to provide smooth transitions between activities, and to maintain consistent momentum within activities is crucial to effective group management.

•Teachers should strive to maintain group alertness and to hold every group member accountable for the content of a lesson, which allows optimal learning to occur.

Lesson Movement

Kounin believed that in order for a teacher to have an effective connection between management and teaching, there needed to be good Lesson Movement. This Lesson Movement is achieved through withitness, overlapping, momentum, smoothness, and group focus.

Withitness is Kounin's word to describe a teacher's ability to know what was going on at all times in his/her classroom. This can be as simple as scanning the room every once in awhile. Kounin said that is was not necessary for the teacher to know what is going on, but for the students to perceive that the teacher knows.

Overlapping is the ability for a teacher to multi-task, to be able to transition to a new activity while preventing misbehaviors.

Momentum is the flow of a lesson. A teacher must be able to "monitor and adjust" by being able to fluidly adapt and continue onward despite distractions and disruptions.

Smoothness is being able to keep on track without getting off on tangents, as well as being diverted by unimportant or irrelevant issues or questions.

Lack of smoothness is called jerkiness. There are various types of jerkiness:

•The Dangle: Teacher leaves a topic or activity "dangling" in order to do or say something else.

•The Flip-Flop: Like a dangle, except that the topic inserted is left from an earlier activity.

•Truncation: The teacher does not resume the initiated activity, but drops it.

•Thrust: The teacher inserts information at a point where students are involved in another activity and they do not notice or hear the teacher.

Group alerting is the ability of a teacher to engage the whole class using techniques such as building suspense or asking community questions. This can also look like asking random questions, or asking a student a question and then looking around at other students to see if they are thinking or ready to respond.

Other Notable Theorists

Albert

Linda Albert promoted what she called cooperative discipline, a model heavily based on the work of Dreikurs. The core principle of Albert's model is to address the needs of students and to promote mutual cooperation through limits and modeling.

Bandura

Albert Bandura found that although environment causes behavior, behavior also causes environment as well. Albert Bandura labeled this concept reciprocal determinism.

Bandura is particularly known for articulating steps for observational learning, or modeling, in his social learning theory:

•Attention: attending to the lesson

•Retention: remembering what was learned

•Reproduction: trying out the skill or concept

•Motivation: Willingness to learn and ability to self-regulate behavior

Bruner

Jerome Bruner believed learning, being an active process, required students to construct new ideas based on knowledge and past experiences.

His discovery learning teaching techniques involve students searching for meaning independent of the teacher. Bruner believed teachers and knowledgeable peers could provide instructional support for students struggling with a concept or skill by scaffolding the material, which involves redefining the approach for the student so that he or she can grasp the concept or skill.

The goal is to gradually remove the instructional supports (the scaffold) as the student gains competency.

Erikson

Erik Erikson developed an 8-stage model of human development, with each stage identifying a crisis or conflict that a person would resolve. The stages can be found in the following table.

Gilligan

Carol Gilligan challenged the work of other psychologists (notably Erikson and Kohlberg) on the basis of their male-centered focus. She proposed a stage theory of moral development for women.

Level One: Level I begins with a woman focused on the self, an orientation toward individual survival.

The first transition that takes place is from being selfish to being responsible.

Level Two: At Level II, the main concern is that goodness is equated with self-sacrifice. This level is where a woman adopts society's values and social membership.

Gilligan refers to the second transition from level two to level three as the move from goodness to truth.

Level Three: At Level III, the needs of the self must be deliberately uncovered, and as they are uncovered ,the woman begins to consider the consequences of the self and others.

Jones

Fred Jones advanced what he called positive classroom discipline, a model based, in many respects, on Kounin's concept of withitness. Jones expands his model to include focuses on proximity and arrangement, helping students become independent learners, and building classroom community and student responsibility through preferred activity time.

Kohlberg

Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development articulated six stages of moral reasoning, as illustrated in the table on the next page. Also, an interactive video to illustrate the concept can be found here.

Kohn

Alfie Kohn rejected the notion of punishment and an over-reliance on extrinsic rewards, such as stickers, gold stars, and smiley faces on the board. He is also an outspoken critic of Canter's Assertive Disciplne approach, calling it a carrot-and-stick technique that "fails to help children become reflective, compassionate people" (1999, p. 165).

Maslow

Abraham Maslow is known for establishing a hierarchy of needs, which build upon each other. The top needs cannot be met unless the lower needs are met first.

Most textbooks inaccurately depict Maslow's hierarchy as having five components, leaving off the top need: the need for self-transcendence (Koltko-Rivera, 2006). It is included here.

Physiological: the need for air, food, water, sleep and other physiological requirements

Safety: the need for stability, consistency, security

Love and belonging: the need to be a valued part of a group or relationship

Esteem: to be recognized for competence and mastery; self-respect

Self-actualization: to realize one's personal potential

Self-transcendence: to think beyond the self; to unite with and serve that which is beyond the individual self

Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov is perhaps best known for his theory of classical conditioning, which developed from his experiments with dogs. Essentially, he discovered that the dogs responded not only to unconditioned responses (ones that are naturally occurring) but also to conditioned responses (learned response to something that was originally not linked to the stimulus). Pavlov noticed the dogs would always salivate in (an unconditioned) response to food. Through his experiments, Pavlov was able to associate the ringing of a bell to food and was successful in later demonstrating the dogs salivating in response to the bell. This is known as a learned response.

Skinner

B.F. Skinner is known as the grandfather of behaviorism because, through his research and experiments, he established the basis of behavioral learning theory. His theory of operant conditioning explains how learning is a function of change in observable behavior. According to this theory, changes in behavior are the result of a response to stimuli (in learning, this might be certain events). When a stimulus-response is reinforced (the subject is rewarded for responding to the stimulus), the individual becomes conditioned to respond.

Skinner's operant conditioning holds that positive reinforcement involves a stimulus to increase a desired response and negative reinforcement removes a negative stimulus to increase a desired response.

Punishment, on the other hand, either introduces a negative stimulus or removes a positive stimulus to reduce undesired behavior.

A clever, basic illustration of these concepts can be found here.

Piaget

Piaget developed four stages of cognitive development:

•sensorimotor (Birth to 2 years)-explore world through senses and motor skills

•preoperational (2-7 years)-believe others see the world as they do; can use symbols to represent objects

•concrete operational (7-11 years)-reasons logically in familiar situations

•formal operational (11 and up)-can reason abstractly and hypothetically

Rogers

Carl Rogers is perhaps best known for pioneering humanistic psychology, which focused not on environmental factors as Skinner's behaviorism did but on conditions of worth and self-regard.

Rogers's impact on learning is well established through his research on experiential learning. Rogers suggested that all human beings have a natural propensity to learn, and the teacher should essentially be a facilitator of this learning. This is accomplished by setting a positive classroom climate for learning; clarifying instructional purposes and rules; organizing and providing learning resources; balancing both intellectual and emotional components of learning; and ensuring that students engage in self-evaluation to assess their progress and success.

Vygotsky

Lev Vygotsky developed the social development theory of learning, of which social interaction plays a key role in cognitive development. In this theory, Vygotsky suggests that people learn best in a social context in which a more capable peer or adult can guide the student to competency in a skill or concept he or she could not learn on his or her own.

His most significant contribution is defining what he called the zone of proximal development, which is the area in which a person is challenged and unable to master the competency but can move forward with the help of a more knowledgeable other.
Chapter 5: Discipline Management

Promoting Cooperative Discipline

Characteristics of Behavior

This chapter will present strategies that align with Linda Albert's Cooperative Discipline model. According to the Albert Model (with adaptations from Dreikur's work), there are three basic concepts of behavior:

1.Students choose their behavior

2.The ultimate goal of student behavior is to fulfill the psychological and emotional need to belong

3.Students misbehave to achieve one of four immediate goals:

•Attention-wanting to be noticed or get extra time with the teacher

•Power-they want to be the boss of themselves, the teacher, sometimes even the whole class

•Revenge-students can lash out to get even for real or imagined hurts caused by other students or teachers or both

•Avoidance of Failure-to avoid repeated failures, some students choose withdrawal behaviors that make them appear inadequate or disabled in a hope that everyone will "back off"

Students choose their behavior

Whether behaving appropriately or inappropriately, the student is making a choice. Children won't behave until they choose to behave. We have to engage students in a manner that encourages them to comply with the rules. Students are well aware of the choices they make with regard to behavior.

Cooperative discipline is built on the premise that all students have the potential for moving toward more positive choices of behavior and for becoming responsible citizens of the school community. Must of this choice is guided by positive teacher interactions and high expectations. Research has shown that what you expect is what you get. Teachers who expect that all students can learn tend to have classroom full of eager successful learners. Generally, teachers with positive attitudes are usually more intuitive, persistent, less argumentative, better listeners. and interpreted as being invested in their students' success

The need to belong

Students have a need to belong and to interact with their community. The need to belong refers to the strong psychological and emotional need all students have to feel important, worthwhile, significant, and valued.

For students to feel as though they belong, they must master the three C's (Feeling Capable, Able to Connect, Being Cared for).

Capable: Students must feel capable of completing tasks in a manner that meets the standards of the school.

Connected: Students need to believe that they can connect successfully with teachers and classmates.

Cared for: Students need to feel cared for and to know they can contribute to the group in a significant way. They need to believe that the caring adults in their lives believe they are capable.

Generally, the idea behind this theory and the attendant strategy is that if students cannot accomplish the three C's, they will often resort to misbehavior to compensate.

So, how do we ensure students get the three C's?

We encourage them!

The more we encourage students, the less they choose to misbehave because they don't have to act out to get us to notice them. Once they have our attention, they have nothing to prove; there's no need to challenge us.

Encourage students to value themselves and others

Help students feel capable by giving them opportunities to excel in challenging tasks

Build each student's belief that "I can do it"

Help every student form positive relationships with teachers and classmates.

Allow all students to contribute to the class group in their own unique ways.

Olga Ramos (Teaching Channel) demonstrates how to playfully build students' self-esteem in a middle school classroom.

It's important to note here that encouragement must be authentic. Teachers fail to help students grow as individuals unless there is a clear expectation of what students need to achieve in the classroom. Not only does this involve the specific academic requirements of the class but also the responsibilities of being part of a classroom community.

Five Steps to Addressing Misbehavior

Step 1: Identify the Student's Behavior

Misbehavior is anything students do that interferes with our teaching, distracts other students from learning, or disrupts their own learning.

State any troublesome behaviors as specifically and as objectively as possible. For example, instead of "Sean is constantly disruptive," you might record, "Sean has spoken over his classmates six times in the past week." We must train ourselves to be accurate observers so that objectivity is prioritized.

Step 2: Identify the Goal of the Misbehavior

•Attention

•Power

•Revenge

•Avoidance of Failure

Step 3: Choose the Intervention Technique for the Moment of Misbehavior

Interventions must be swift and calmly executed. Choose an appropriate technique to address the perceived goal of misbehavior.

Attention

Identification of Behavior:

•Student engages in activities that distract the teacher and his classmates

•Student daydreams or sleeps in class

Prevention:

•Teach the student how to ask for attention in appropriate ways.

•Give student attention randomly and spontaneously.

Interventions:

Strategy 1: Minimize attention

•Refuse to respond or ignore the student

•Give student the "teacher look" (The Eye!) without saying a word.

•Move closer to the student.

•Name drop by adding the student's name to a lesson context (minimum recognition to the misbehavior).

•Send the student a secret signal arranged ahead of time.

•If all else fails, firmly and dispassionately tell the student to stop the behavior.

Strategy 2: Legitimize the behavior

•Make a lesson out of the behavior. For example, if the student is talking to his neighbor during a lecture, you may consider teaching everyone the proper way to ask a neighbor for clarification or information. Be specific and forthright.

•Extend the behavior to its most extreme form. For example, another intervention for the student talking to his neighbor might be to stay after class to get clarification on whatever he was talking about (but with you this time!).

•Use a diminishing quota. In other words, allow the negative behavior to occur but only in agreed amounts that decrease. For example, if you had a student who asked questions repeatedly to get attention, you might inform him that he is limited to three questions a day.

Strategy 3: Do the unexpected

•Turn out the lights and then back on again and get back to what you were doing.

•Play a musical sound (use a musical instrument or a sound from your computer).

•Lower your voice (yelling at misbehavior adds to the class confusion, lowering your voice makes the students have to focus to hear you).

•Change your voice (unusual voice patterns will distract students misbehaving for attention.

•Cease teaching temporarily by standing patiently and silently in front of the room until the misbehavior ebbs.

Strategy 4: Distract the student

•Ask the misbehaving student a direct question.

•Ask the misbehaving student a favor.

•Give the student choices (choices offer a sense of control).

•Change the activity (don't beat a dead horse).

Strategy 5: Notice appropriate behavior

•Thank the student who was misbehaving when he corrects his behavior.

•Note the names of students behaving correctly on the board.

•Use an app such as Class Dojo to award points for behavior.

•Remind students how much preferred activity time they are earning by behaving appropriately.

Strategy 6: Move the student

•Change the student's seat.

•Put the student in an isolated spot (not in the hallway!).

Power and/or Revenge

Identification of Behavior:

•Student is disruptive

•Student is argumentative and confrontational

•Student refuses to comply with the teacher's directions

•Student is verbally or physically abusive

•Student is sullen and withdrawn

Prevention:

•Build a caring relationship with students.

•Focus on behaviors rather than the student's character when misbehavior occurs.

•Engage students in kinetic or other multimodal activities in which they have choice

•Teach students how to express hurt and hostility appropriately.

Interventions:

•In the early stages of power or revenge-seeking behavior, before an all-out confrontation, try these techniques:

•Resist all temptation to be sarcastic or to dominate.

•Invite student to talk to you when upset (the hallway is a good place for these kinds of talks)

•Acknowledge the student's power (of choice). Explain to the student what the consequences will be for each choice.

•Remove the audience. Don't engage in power-seeking or revenge behavior in front of the class.

•Use a fogging technique such as agreeing with the student or changing the subject. Just because a student says something does not make it true or convince the rest of the class that it is true.

The purpose of these techniques is to allow both parties to save face. You can address the issue later.

If the power or revenge behavior escalates, try a time-out. The least restrictive time out is isolation in the classroom, having to sit in a chair or desk removed from the rest of the class. As the severity of the behavior escalates, so does the intensity of the time-out. Behavior that is out of control or threatens the safety of the teacher, the rest of the class, or even the misbehaving student must be dealt with swiftly. Involve your administration in this worst-case scenario. It would be wise to have the administration come to your classroom rather than send the student, who is in a volatile state, unattended outside your classroom.

Consequences

If the student's misbehavior persists, then a consequence must be presented to the student. Please note that a consequence is not a punishment. Consequences are reasonable, related to the transgression, and presented in a respectful way. Punishments, on the other hand, threaten to destroy rapport you have with the student (or even the class) and can provoke hostility, antagonism, and resentment.

Some ideas for consequences include the following:

•Lose or experience a delay of an activity or privilege or access to certain areas

•Deny interaction with other students

•Require interactions with school personnel, parents, or even law enforcement

•Repair or replace damaged or missing objects

RSVP

Barbara Coloroso, in her 2002 book Kids Are Worth It, offers another guide for what constitutes a reasonable consequence, what she calls the RSVP checklist.

Consequences must be

•Reasonable-the consequence makes sense to both parent and child, and is appropriate (it is a natural or logical consequence)

•Simple-the consequence is easily understandable

•Valuable-the child will actually learn something from the consequence (i.e., the consequence is designed so that the student will, hopefully, make a better choice the next time)

•Practical-ensure the consequence is workable and does not shift the burden back to the teacher

Avoidance of failure

Whether from unreasonable expectations or perfectionism on the part of a student or hypercriticism or failure to note successes and effort on part of the teacher, avoidance of failure is a discipline problem that often flies under the radar but must be addressed.

Identification of Behavior:

•Student procrastinates or fails to complete tasks

•Student malingers, complaining of some temporary ailment or injury

•Student assumes a disability related to the task at hand (paying attention, completion of math problem, taking a standardized test)

Prevention:

•Encourage and motivate students to change self-perception of failure to success.

•Interact with the student both academically and personally to establish and build rapport

Interventions:

•Scaffold material to build student confidence.

•Use engaging teaching techniques that require active student involvement.

•Provide rubric-based assignments that allow students to note progress.

•Focus on progress and effort as much as on mastery.

•Provide tutoring.

•Post positive, encouraging notes in the classroom and through social media

•Encourage and model positive self-talk ("I think I can, I think I can, I know I can!")

•Make mistakes okay by celebrating the learning that takes place from mistakes

•Focus on past successes

•Make learning relevant and tangible (i.e., real world, project-based learning)

•Recognize effort and achievement

Recently, researchers (Topper, Williams, Leo, Hamilton, & Fox, 1994) offered a slightly modified list of students' behavior needs, the first four which are no different than what Dreikurs proposed:

•Attention

•Control (Power)

•Revenge

•Avoidance/Escape

The additional behaviors proposed by Topper et al. (1994), are

•Self-regulation/Coping-the need to regulate feelings (e.g., boredom, embarrassment, anxiety) or energy level

•Play-the need to simply have fun

It could be argued that the latter two behaviors are actually embedded in Dreikurs's original four.

Self-regulation is essentially a means to gain power over one's self. Being bored, for example, can be addressed by the teacher early on by creating engaging lessons and allowing students choices. The alternative is for the student to find another outlet, often an inappropriate one, to release his energy or frustration.

The need for play is an another extension of power, as it is an extension of self-regulation. It is the chance to engage in a competitive activity either with one's peers or with one's self. The essential questions for a student at play is, "Can I do this better than him" or "Can I do this better than I did it last time?" Competition, in the latter sense, is simply allowing one's self to be immersed more deeply in one's own world, which is, again, a defining aspect of power and control.

Responding to Student Misbehavior

For various reasons, students sometimes still do things that disrupt other students or interrupt the flow of activities. At such moments the challenge is not about long-term planning but about making appropriate, but prompt responses.

Misbehaviors left alone can be contagious, a process educators sometimes call the ripple effect (Kounin, 1977). Chatting between two students, for example, can gradually spread to six students; rudeness by one can eventually become rudeness by several; and so on. Because of this tendency, delaying a response to inappropriate behavior can make the job of getting students back on track harder than responding to it as immediately as possible.

There are many ways to respond to inappropriate behaviors, of course, and they vary in how much they focus on the immediate behavior compared to longer-term features or patterns of a student's behavior. There are so many ways to respond, in fact, that only a sample of the possibilities can be described here. None are effective all of the time, though all do work at least some of the time. We start with a response that may not seem on the surface like a remedy at all—simply ignoring misbehaviors.

Ignoring misbehaviors

A lot of misbehaviors are not important or frequent enough to deserve any response at all. They are likely to disappear (or extinguish, in behaviorist terms) simply if left alone. If a student who is usually quiet during class happens to whisper to a neighbor once in awhile, it is probably less disruptive and just as effective to ignore the infraction than to respond to it. This is often referred to as tactical ignoring.

Some misbehaviors may not be worth a response even if they are frequent, as long as they do not seem to bother others. Suppose, for example, that a certain student has a habit of choosing quiet seat-work times to sharpen her pencil. She is continually out of her seat to go to the sharpener. Yet this behavior is not really noticed by others. Is it then really a problem, however unnecessary or ill-timed it may be? In both examples, ignoring the behavior may be wise because there is little danger of the behavior disrupting other students or of becoming more frequent. Interrupting your activities—or the students'—might cause more disruption than simply ignoring the problem.

In addition, sometimes students will comply with a directive or redirection but make it clear that they do not like doing so. This is usually manifested by sighs, grumbles, getting the last word, and so on. If we choose to re-engage with the student with these secondary behaviors, we risk re-igniting potential conflict and compliance. Teachers are better off letting such behaviors go unchecked in the classroom. An after-class conference can address issues of disrespect and unhappiness. This is called tactical ignoring.

That said, there can still be problems in deciding whether a particular misbehavior is truly minor, infrequent, or unnoticed by others. Unlike in our example above, students may whisper to each other more than "rarely" but less than "often": in that case, when do you decide that the whispering is in fact too frequent and needs a more active response from you? Or the student who sharpens her pencil, mentioned above, may not bother most others, but she may nonetheless bother a few. In that case how many bothered classmates are "too many"? Five, three, just one, or...? In these ambiguous cases, you may need more active ways of dealing with an inappropriate behavior, like the ones described in the next sections.

Gesturing nonverbally

Sometimes it works to communicate using gestures, eye contact, or "body language" that involve little or no speaking. Nonverbal cues are often appropriate if a misbehavior is just a bit too serious or frequent to ignore, but not serious or frequent enough to merit taking the time deliberately to speak to or talk with the student. If two students are chatting off-task for a relatively extended time, for example, sometimes a glance in their direction, a frown, or even just moving closer to the students is enough of a reminder to get them back on task. Even if these responses prove not to be enough, they may help to keep the off-task behavior from spreading to other students.

A risk of relying on nonverbal cues, however, is that some students may not understand their meaning, or may even fail to notice them. If the two chatting students mentioned above are engrossed in their talking, for example, they may not see you glance or frown at them. Or they might notice but not interpret your cue as a reminder to get back on task.

Misinterpretation of nonverbal gestures and cues is more likely with young children, who are still learning the subtleties of adults' nonverbal "language" (Guerrero & Floyd, 2005; Heimann, et al., 2006). It is also more likely with students who speak limited English or whose cultural background differs significantly from your own. These students may have learned different nonverbal gestures from your own as part of their participation in their original culture (Marsh, Elfenbein, & Ambady, 2003).

Natural and logical consequences

Consequences are the outcomes or results of an action. When managing a classroom, two kinds of consequences are especially effective for influencing students' behavior: natural consequences and logical consequences. As the term implies, natural consequences happen "naturally", without deliberate intention by anyone.

If a student is late for class, for example, a natural consequence is that he misses information or material that needed to do an assignment. Logical consequences are ones that happen because of the responses of or decisions by others, but that also have an obvious or "logical" relationship to the original action. If one student steals another's lunch, for example, a logical consequence might be for the thief to reimburse the victim for the cost of the lunch. Natural and logical consequences are often woven together and thus hard to distinguish: if one student picks a fight with another student, a natural consequence might be injury not only to the victim, but also to the aggressor (an inherent byproduct of fighting), but a logical consequence might be to lose friends (the response of others to fighting). In practice both may occur.

In general research has found that both natural and logical consequences can be effective for minimizing undesirable behaviors, provided they are applied in appropriate situations (Weinstein, Tomlinson-Clarke, & Curran, 2004).

Consider a student who runs impulsively down school hallways. The student is likely to have "traffic accidents," and thus (hopefully) to see that running is not safe and to reduce the frequency of running. Or consider a student who chronically talks during class instead of working on an assigned task. The student may have to make up the assignment later, possibly as homework. Because the behavior and the consequence are connected logically, the student is relatively likely to see the drawback of choosing to talk, and to reduce how much he or she talks on subsequent occasions.

In either case, whether natural or logical, the key features that make consequences work are (a) that they are appropriate to the misbehavior and (b) that the student understands the connection between the consequences and the original behavior.

Notice, though, that natural and logical consequences do not always work; if they did, there would be no further need for management strategies! One limitation is that misbehaviors can sometimes be so serious that no natural or logical consequence seems sufficient or appropriate. Suppose, for example, that one student deliberately breaks another student's eyeglasses. There may be a natural consequence for the victim (he or she will not be able to see easily), but not for the student who broke the glasses. There may also be no consequences for the aggressor that are both logical and fully satisfactory: the aggressor student will not be able to repair the broken glasses himself, and may not be able to pay for new glasses either.

Another limitation of natural and logical consequences is that their success depends on the motives of the misbehaving student. If the student is seeking attention or acceptance by others, then consequences often work well. Bullying in order to impress others, for example, is more likely to lose friends than to win them—so bullying motivated in this way is self-limiting. If a student is seeking power over others, on the other hand, then the consequences of bullying may not reduce the behavior. Bullying in order to control others' actions by definition actually achieves its own goal, and its "natural" result (losing friends) would be irrelevant. Of course, a bully might also act from a combination of motives, so that natural and logical consequences limit bullying behavior, but only partially.

A third problem with natural and logical consequences is that they can easily be confused with deliberate punishment (Kohn, 1999). The difference is important. Consequences are focused on repairing damage and restoring relationships, and in this sense they focus on the future. Punishments highlight a mistake or wrongdoing and in this sense focus on the past. Consequences tend to be more solution focused. Punishments tend to highlight the person who committed the action, and they often shame or humiliate the wrongdoer. This shame and humiliation is not constructive to building relationships and moving forward.

Conflict Resolution Strategies

When a student misbehaves persistently and disruptively, you will need strategies that are more active and assertive than the ones discussed so far, and that focus on conflict resolution—the reduction of disagreements that persist over time. Conflict resolution strategies that educators and teachers tend to use usually have two parts (Jones, 2004). First, they involve ways of identifying what "the" problem is precisely. Second, they remind the student of classroom expectations and rules with simple clarity and assertiveness, but without apology or harshness. When used together, the two strategies not only reduce conflicts between a teacher and an individual student, but also provide a model for other students to follow when they have disagreements of their own. The next sections discuss the nature of assertion and clarification for conflict resolution in more detail.

Step 1: clarifying and focusing: problem ownership

Classrooms can be emotional places even though their primary purpose is to promote thinking rather than expression of feelings. The emotions can be quite desirable: they can give teachers and students "passion" for learning and a sense of care among members of the class. But feelings can also cause trouble if students misbehave: at those moments negative feelings—annoyance, anger, discomfort—can interfere with understanding exactly what is wrong and how to set things right again. Gaining a bit of distance from the negative feelings is exactly what those moments need, especially on the part of the teacher, the person with (presumably) the greatest maturity.

In a widely cited approach to conflict resolution called Teacher Effectiveness Training, the educator Thomas Gordon describes this challenge as an issue of problem ownership, or deciding whose problem a behavior or conflict it really is (Gordon, 2003). The "owner" of the problem is the primary person who is troubled or bothered by it. The owner can be the student committing the behavior, the teacher, or another student who merely happens to see the behavior. Since the owner of a problem needs to take primary responsibility for solving it, identifying ownership makes a difference in how to deal with the behavior or problem effectively.

Suppose, for example, that a student named David makes a remark that the teacher finds offensive (like "Sean is fat"). Is this remark the student's problem or the teacher's? If David made the comment privately to the teacher and is unlikely to repeat it, then maybe it is only the teacher's problem. If he is likely to repeat it to other students or to Sean himself, however, then maybe the problem is really David's.

On the other hand, suppose that a different student, Sarah, complains repeatedly that classmates refuse to let her into group projects. This is less likely to be the teacher's problem rather than Sarah's: her difficulty may affect her ability to do her own work, but not really affect the teacher or classmates directly. As you might suspect, too, a problem may sometimes affect several people at once. David, who criticized Sean, may discover that he offended not only the teacher, but also classmates, who therefore avoid working with him. At that point the whole class begins to share in some aspect of "the" problem: not only is David prevented from working with others comfortably, but also classmates and the teacher begin dealing with bad feelings about David.

Step 2: active, empathetic listening

Diagnosing accurately who really has a problem with a behavior—who "owns" it—is helped by a number of strategies. One is active listening—attending carefully to all aspects of what a student says and attempting to understand or empathize as fully as possible, even if you do not agree with what is being said (Cooper & Simonds, 2003). Active listening involves asking questions in order continually to check your understanding. It also involves encouraging the student to elaborate on his or her remarks, and paraphrasing and summarizing what the student says in order to check your perceptions of what is said. It is important not to move too fast toward solving the problem with advice, instructions, or scolding, even if these are responses that you might, as a teacher, feel responsible for making. Responding too soon with solutions can shut down communication prematurely, and leave you with inaccurate impressions of the source or nature of the problem.

Step 3: assertive discipline and I-messages

Once you have listened well to the student's point of view, it helps to frame your responses and comments in terms of how the student's behavior affects you in particular, especially in your role as the teacher. The comments should have several features:

•They should be assertive—neither passive and apologetic, nor unnecessarily hostile and aggressive (Canter, 1996). State the problem as matter-of-factly as possible: "Joe, you are talking while I'm explaining something," instead of either "Joe, do you think you could be quiet now?" or "Joe, be quiet!"

•The comments should emphasize I-messages (Gordon, 1981), which are comments that focus on how the problem behavior is affecting the teacher's ability to teach, as well as how the behavior makes the teacher feel. They are distinct from you-messages, which focus on evaluating the mistake or problem which the student has created.

•An I-message might be, "Your talking is making it hard for me to remember what I'm trying to say." A you-message might be, "Your talking is rude."

•Delivering an I-message includes describing the inappropriate behavior and its effect on the class, followed by the teacher's feelings regarding the misbehavior.

•Immediately following the I-message, the teacher should make a direct request for the student to stop the behavior and let all students know that a rule is being broken.

•The comments should encourage the student to think about the effects of his or her actions on others—a strategy that in effect encourages the student to consider the ethical implications of the actions (Gibbs, 2003).

•Instead of simply saying: "When you cut in line ahead of the other kids, that was not fair to them," you can try saying, "How do you think the other kids feel when you cut in line ahead of them?"

•Another variation of I-messages is to simply state what needs to happen by phrasing the directive as "I need" or "I want that to happen too. However, right now, I need you to..."

•If a student offers resistance to an I-message, such as ignoring your statement or replying with a variation of, "I don't care," you might try verbalizing what it is that you think the student wants. For example,

Teacher: "You think completing these worksheets is boring?"

Student: "Yeah."

Teacher: "Would you think working on a project might be better use of our time?"

Student: "I'd prefer to do nothing."

Teacher: "Well, we know that's not an option, but what if we could do a project that involves a topic you're interested in and that would be a bit more engaging?"

Avoiding and Deescalating Confrontations

Albert's Six Guidelines for Intervention

Guideline 1: Focus on the behavior, not the student

You want to be objective when you note a student's behavior, so record the behavior in your written records as if you were a video recorder, simply stating what happened, without judgments or opinions.

Describe the behavior instead of evaluating it. Use objective terms without loaded language. For example, instead of saying, "Boy, that was a stupid move!" you might say, "You made a choice to ignore our rule on treating others with respect when you took Jimmy's pencil without asking."

Deal with the moment. Don't get lost in references to past events or what the future might hold if the behavior doesn't change. Focusing on the past and the future rather than the present paints a picture of the student locked into the behavior instead of being in control in the moment.

Be firm and friendly. Be firm when addressing the misbehavior but show empathy, patience, and interest in resolving the issue.

Guideline 2: Take charge of negative emotions

Control negative emotions. We cannot allow anger and frustration to overwhelm us and force us into a position of acting illogically or rashly. If we display these negative emotions through loaded words or body language, we risk reinforcing the student's decision to misbehave. Some students who seek power or revenge actually thrive on this type of reaction. It is critical to understand that when we lose control of our emotions, we are placing that control into the hands of someone else. In this case, a child. This is wholly unacceptable.

When we control our emotions, we accomplish more than avoiding reinforcing misbehavior; we also allow for successful redirection. Conflicts must always have two participants. If you refuse to be a part of the conflict, the conflict disappears, giving you an opportunity to work with the student to rectify the problem.

Release negative emotions. There's no doubt that responding to misbehavior can really upset us, and any leftover negative feelings can fester and dispirit us. It is for this reason that effective teachers look for appropriate ways to vent their emotions away from school so that we don't jeopardize relationships with our students.

Griping about the situation with other teachers in the teacher's lounge is not appropriate. Taping a picture of the student on a punching bag is not appropriate.

Exercise helps a lot. Pretending to vent on the student in your solo drive home from school might do the trick. Some people might just need to eat a warm chocolate chip cookie. Whatever works for you, go for it, as long as your release doesn't spread animosity and ill feelings at school.

Guideline 3: Avoid escalating the situation

Extending on the advice in the previous guideline, it is recommended that you not escalate the conflict by being combative, argumentative, or even submissive. Even if you think the action will end the conflict, experience and research do not bear this out. Some of the behaviors outlined in the following list may stop a student from misbehaving for a moment, but the trouble will often reappear later with more severity.

The behaviors listed below do not allow students to feel respected or give them an inherent sense of belonging. Several of the misbehaviors may actually accelerate the conflict that spirals out of control with either the teacher bargaining to get compliance or elevating emotions to unacceptable levels.

Unacceptable Responses to Student Misbehavior

•raising your voice

•yelling

•saying, "I'm the boss here!"

•insisting on having the last word

•using tense body language (crossed arms or clenched fists)

•using degrading, insulting, humiliating, or embarrassing putdowns

•using sarcasm

•acting superior

•attacking the student's character

•using physical force

•drawing unrelated persons into the conflict

•having a double standard

•preaching

•nagging

•making assumptions

•backing the student into a corner

•pleading with the student

•bribing the student

•rewarding the student

•bringing up unrelated events

•generalizing about students ("Kids knew how to act in my day" or All you kids are the same!")

•making unsubstantiated accusations

•mimicking the student

•commanding, demanding, dominating

Guideline 4: Discuss misbehavior later

Working on solutions to poor choices by the student rarely occurs at the moment of the misbehavior. That is usually the time the student would make such a conversation an elaborate show with which to entertain the class and decrease valuable instructional time.

The moment of the misbehavior is too raw for either party, the student or the teacher, to really grapple with a solution. Calm redirection toward on-task behavior is the right move. Wait until later in the class or immediately after class to discuss the matter with the student in private. In this way, you remove the student's potential audience, and you can maybe get to the heart of why the student misbehaved in the first place.

Some teachers may be worried that not addressing the misbehavior at the time it happened might send the wrong message to the rest of the students. Not so. If you have established clear and consistent rules and procedures, students understand what is acceptable and what is not. What they will understand is that you will intervene and redirect quickly and humanely.

Guideline 5: Allow students to save face

Students who seek power feel important when they appear to be running the show. However, they truly know that the teacher has the ultimate authority and that they will have to choose appropriate behavior eventually.

They will eventually do what we ask, but in their way--not ours. If they do what we ask, then that should be sufficient, even if they do it their way. We got compliance, and they got to save face. It's a win-win situation.

Basically, this boils down to choosing our battles, not obsessing over every little transgression. If a student is asked to return to his seat and he mutters something under his breath while he does it, then so be it. Don't give a snide look. Don't ask the student to say what he said louder. Simply accept the fact that he complied with your request.

Guideline 6: Model nonaggressive behavior

Stay calm. Remember you are an adult with a fully developed brain, and that you are the person to whom authority for the class was vested. Calmness always wins out over aggression.

Aggression can lead to many negative repercussions (see Guideline 3) and can jeopardize your relationship with students, not just the one with whom you are having the conflict.

•Calmness is manifested by slow movements rather than quick ones.

•A steady gaze that transitions students back to the instructional activity os preferred over a glare and clenched teeth.

•Stay calm. Move slowly. Intervene.

Considerations

Gender Differences

Although they are few controlled, empirical studies on the impact of differentiating between girls and boys on the effectiveness of classroom management or instructional methods, some researchers (notably Bonomo, 2010; Gurian & Stevens, 2004; and King, Gurian, & Stevens, 2010) indicate there are salient differences between boys and girls with respect to classroom management:

Boys

•Boys tend to be highly engaged in activities that are hands-on or competitive, and teachers should understand that the attention span of a boy is tied to kinesthetic, visual, or challenging problem-solving situations.

•Boys work best when goals and expectations are clearly and explicitly communicated and are particularly successful when they can see a skill modeled or demonstrated. Further success is directly tied to having

measurable goals, as can be accomplished with a rubric.

•Boys are less apt to engage in material that does not have relevance or feel authentic.

•Boys appear to need alternating short periods of rest and activity, especially when the activity involves language as opposed to active engagement

Girls

•Girls tend to be skilled at gaining information by listening and seem to be more engaged when lessons relate to emotions and feelings.

•Girls are apt to be more effective at handling multitasking and quick transitions, unless the transition involves a competitive element.

Specifically, girls tend to respond less well to being called on with an expectation of an immediate response

•Girls tend to work very well in cooperative groups in which the focus is on discussion of writing materials.

Cultural Differences

Cultures and ethnic groups differ not only in languages, but also in how languages are used. Since some of the patterns differ from those typical of modern classrooms, they can create misunderstandings between teachers and students (Cazden, 2001; Rogers, Malancharuvil-Berkes, Mosely, Hui, & O'Garro, 2005).

Consider these examples: In some cultures, it is considered polite or even intelligent not to speak unless you have something truly important to say. Chitchat, or talk that simply arms a personal tie between people, is considered immature or intrusive (Minami, 2002). In a classroom, this habit can make it easier for a child to learn not to interrupt others, but it can also make the child seem unfriendly.

Eye contact varies by culture. In many African A

merican and Latin American communities, it is considered appropriate and respectful for a child not to look directly at an adult who is speaking to them (Torres-Guzman, 1998). In classrooms, however, teachers often expect a lot of eye contact (as in I want all eyes on me!) and may be tempted to construe lack of eye contact as a sign of indifference or disrespect.

Social distance varies by culture. In some cultures, it is common to stand relatively close when having a conversation; in others, it is more customary to stand relatively far apart (Beaulieu, 2004). Problems may happen when a teacher and a student prefer different social distances. A student who expects a closer distance than does the teacher may seem overly familiar or intrusive, whereas one who expects a longer distance may seem overly formal or hesitant.

Wait time varies by culture. Wait time is the gap between the end of one person's comment or question and the next person's reply or answer. In some cultures wait time is relatively long, as long as three or four seconds (Tharp & Gallimore, 1991). In others it is a negative gap, meaning that it is acceptable, even expected, for a person to interrupt before the end of the previous comment. In classrooms the wait time is customarily about one second; after that, the teacher is likely to move on to another question or to another student. A student who habitually expects a wait time long than one second may seem hesitant, and not be given many chances to speak.

A student who expects a negative wait time, on the other hand, may seem overeager or even rude. In most non-Anglo cultures, questions are intended to gain information, and it is assumed that a person asking the question truly does not have the information requested (Rogoff, 2003).

In most classrooms, however, teachers regularly ask test questions, which are questions to which the teacher already knows the answer and that simply assess whether a student knows the answer as well (Macbeth, 2003). The question, "How much is 2 + 2?' for example, is a test question. If the student is not aware of this purpose, he or she may become confused, or think that the teacher is surprisingly ignorant! Worse yet, the student may feel that the teacher is trying deliberately to shame the student by revealing the student's ignorance or incompetence to others.

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