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Annotated Bibliography Del Guercio, Ryan. “Back to the Basics of Classroom Management.” //The Education Digest.// January 2011, v. 76 no. 5 p. 39-43. After having a difficult start to teaching this teacher says she returned to basics and goes through her four main points of classroom management; Establish control, create effective discipline policies, build rapport, determine the needs of problem students. For each of these four points she gives a list of things that should be done in order to establish the correct relationship with both the students and their parents. These suggestions also helped the author with maintaining good behavior in his class and he considers them good classroom management skills. Guardino, CarolineA.; Fullerton, Elizabeth. “Changing Behaviors by Changing the Classroom Environment.” //Teaching Exceptional Children//. July/August 2010, v. 42 no. 6 p. 8-13. This article is about a case study done using an organized classroom intervention to prevent disruptive behavior. It goes on to tell the reader the steps to go through in order to initiate this program. The first step is to observing the class and picking out problem areas so that you can then modify problem areas in the classroom. Two weeks of data were collected before the intervention and four weeks after. There was a significant increase in positive class behavior and participation, although, keeping these procedures going after the study proved harder. Pellegrino, Anthony M. “Pre-Service Teachers and Classroom Authority.” //American Secondary Education//. Summer 2010, v. 38 no. 3 p. 62-78. This study observed the classroom practices of five student teachers from three secondary schools. Most often these student teachers tried to use the same classroom management being used by the mentor teacher. This never worked for the student teachers as the mentor teachers often gained respect through years of teaching. One of the student teachers in the study admitted to wanting to be the “cool” teacher and tried to gain respect this way to no avail. This author states that they believe this lack of classroom management skill is due to the education these student teachers received; that they really had no idea of their own style and so often just wanted to copy that of their mentor teacher. Salmon, Angela K. “Engaging Young Children in Thinking Routines.” //Childhood Education.// Spring 2010, v. 86 no. 3 p. 132-7. The Visible Thinking Project Zero is a project developed to set up thinking routines in lower level classrooms. These routines are meant to build positive association of thinking in young children. They can be done in small or large groups and during play. When many of the children in this study were asked, “What is thinking?” they answered, “I don’t know.” The point of this study is to get children to answer simple questions such as, “What do you see?”, “What do you think about that?”, “What does it make you wonder?”. The idea is that children are sometimes afraid to answer for fear of being wrong, but getting them to look around them and just say what they see with no fear of being wrong can give them a positive outlook on thinking which will enable them to answer more freely in the future. Thompson, Aaron M.; Webber, Kristina C. “Realigning Student and Teacher Perceptions of School Rules: A Behavior Management Strategy for Students with Challenging Behaviors.” //Children & Schools//. April 2010, v. 32 no. 2 p. 71-9. The student and teacher agreement realignment strategy (STARS) was tested over 36 weeks with 10 middle school students. This study involves not only teach evaluations of the students but student self-evaluations, which give it a more proactive and individualized setting. This gives the students a better understanding of how their behavior affects the classroom and also gives them a say in how it should change. As this was a pilot study much of the data was inconclusive and the author suggested trying again with a larger study group.

Well I have to say there is very little I agree with in this chapter so we will start with what I did like. Seganti suggests that it is very important to dress appropriately and make eye contact when disciplining students. I have to say I have seen a number of teachers in my school career that looked more like student then teachers. I will be very hard for a student to respect you and the authority you hold if you do not present yourself that way. Also, eye contact conveys that you mean what you are saying. It is much easier for a student to argue with you if they think you don’t really mean what you say. I think I disagree with everything else in this chapter. I understand his use of detention but with my experience as a student I will say that this really would not have bothered me. It’s only ten minutes and I used to stay after and hang out with friends anyway. I empathically disagree with suspension as he handles it. I think this should be a last resort, for terrible actions, not handed out because a student was chewing gum and then did show up for detention. I don’t see the benefit for anyone in this. Most students, especially high school, are already behind in their education. To remove them from class because of something such as this seems more harmful to them then anything else. Oh and I love that he basically doesn’t let his student go to the bathroom. Here I felt he was only punishing the good student who really has to use the bathroom. This reminds me of a teacher I had in high school who gave us detention for yawning in class, teenagers are tired sometimes, and sometimes they have to go to the bathroom, punishment is not the way to handle this. I understand that some students use it as an excuse to leave class, but I would like to hope that you will learn who those students are and then you can deal with them appropriately instead of punishing everyone needlessly. Maybe I’m too nice, but I don’t think so. Many of Seganti’s techniques seem to create a dictatorship and as a student I feel as though class would be hard to enjoy if you are constantly worrying whether you look like your chewing gum or not. Chap 12 How Do Top Teachers Establish Personal Influence with Students Who Are Difficult to Manage? Dave Hingsburger caution of power seems a really important one, as we read in the pervious chapter, some teachers get a little carried away with it. Teaching gives you a lot of power and it is very easy to take advantage of it, but this attitude would do nothing but harm the learning environment in the classroom. Stephen Covey talks about listening and trying to understand where your students are coming from. This makes complete sense to me; you can’t really get through to someone unless you know where they have already been and understand how they deal with things, listening and taking a little time to find out is all it may take. Haim Ginott has very good ideas about how to talk to students. He does say they should be treated as social equals, and I do agree with this but you must be very careful to still maintain a certain authority while never belittling or putting down students. Jane Nelson and Lynn Lott suggest just being aware of the effect the things you do have on students. Basically treat them, as you would want to be treated. There is no need to order them around or show them disrespect just because you are the teacher. Tom Daly suggests making more connections with a few problem students in your class, because they are only asking for help in their own way. I do believe this is true in most cases and getting through to these students is not always easy, but I would caution that you do not show too much favor to these students as it can make others feel left out. Curwin, Mendler, and Mendler emphasize treating students with dignity. Many misbehaving students do so in regain some control in their lives and if teacher will just give them a chance and show them that they are important and that school can be meaningful to them it can change their outlook. Ed Ford uses the Responsible Thinking Process to teach students how to get what they want and need with out being disruptive and acting out. It makes sense that getting students to realize why their actions are wrong why they aren’t helping themselves is much more important hen yelling at them or telling them something is simply wrong. If you make the student make the connection it will have more meaning to them. Chap 13 How Do Learning Experts Engender Respect and Civility in the Classroom? P.M. Forni expresses the importance of teaching our students civility. He says that this is the first step it leading a good life. Students should be taught he importance of treating other with respect and kindness, and being aware of how our actions affect others. I do believe that this would make for a better classroom and world. Although it seems like it won’t be the easiest thing to teach. I think it could be worked into classroom rules. Getting students to realize that their actions affect the whole class as well as themselves may get them to better understand the importance of civility. Michele Borba goes through how moral intelligence should be taught in schools, which leads to good character. It seems right to say that teachers have a big impact on the character of students. After all we spend a good part of their day with them. Borba goes through the step of dealing with a problem caused by a student. Asking them why they did it and what they thought they would accomplish. Just making them stop and think about what they are doing as most student are probably acting out of emotion and have not thought it through. Then helping them understand other ways this problem could be handled. Diane Gossen talks about self-restitution in discipline. This does not place blame or dwell on what has happened but asks the students to reflect on the behavior, find out what cause it, and what they could do to be more productive about the problem. For this reason she is against reward-punish approaches. All three of these have a similar outlook on this problem. Punishment does not teach a student what they have done wrong and so the behavior is likely to happen again. Instead this chapter suggests forcing your students to look at what they have done and why, how it affect others and what it says about themselves. Having students think about their actions can have a very big impact on how they will come to act in the future. ||
 * Chap 11 How Does Craig Seganti Use Positive Teacher Leverage and Realistic Student Accountability to Establish Class Discipline?

Chap 7 How Does Fred Jones Establish Class Discipline by Keeping Students Responsibly Involved?

The first part of this chapter deals with five major problems Jones sees in the classroom; massive time wasting, student passivity in learning, student aimlessness, “helpless handraising”, and teacher nagging. I think Jones has a very good point here. These problems all have similar starts. For the most part he is saying that students simply don’t know what they should be doing, are not given instruction, or just don’t want to do what they should. This results it talking and students becoming off topic. Many of these problems start in transition from one activity to another and most teachers spend their time “nagging” the students to stop. Jones then offers ways to help prevent these problems. His examples are easy enough and tell you that classroom organization, setting rules and sticking to them, giving incentives, and watching students throughout the class are all very important. We have heard time and again that having a routine is probably one of the most important things in a classroom and Jones believes the same thing. Having an activity for the students as soon as they come in and working on your progression from one topic to another so the students do not have a chance to become off task. Also he says that a teacher should make sure to walk around the room if students are working in groups or on their own to make sure they are doing their work. From the little experience I have in the classroom I have to say this is very important. If the teacher is sitting at the front of the room it is very easy for the students in the back to become distracted and off task when not being watched.

Chap 8 How Does William Glasser Use Choice Theory and Quality Education to Establish Class Discipline?

Glasser is trying to say that there are certain things students need to want to participate and enjoy work in the classroom. He believes they have five basic needs; survival, belonging, power, fun and freedom. In order for students to actively participate these needs must be met and Glasser has found that when they are they generally don’t misbehave. Another important thing Glasser points out is giving your lessons real life relevance. I have heard this from a few different sources and I have to say that it only makes sense that students would better enjoy their class if they thought it had something to do with them personally and could connect it to things they do out side of school. Sometimes it is also a good idea to take the students opinion into consideration when planning lessons. If the lesson is something they want to do it only makes sense that they will enjoy it. When Glasser says that he believes today’s education consists of too much memorization I have to say I completely agree and it is something I have written in my own personal philosophy. Students don’t get anything out of memorizing and then forgetting the things you learn. Glasser also says that you can only control yourself, which means you can not make a student learn or participate if they do not want to. It is much easier to prepare lessons and activities that the students will enjoy. It is also important to make sure the students know exactly what is expected of them so that they can enjoy the lesson from start to finish. Glasser says teachers should avoid “adversarial relationships” with their students. I do agree that he feelings on this would be great but it is something that you may want to be very careful about. Involving the students in decision-making in the class can be dangerous and make the students think they have a little more power then they really do. So I would say this could be successful as long as you control the power these students have and make sure they know when their suggestions are a little ridiculous or that you are not able to do everything they may want to do.

Chap 9 How Does Spencer Kagan Use Structures and Teacher-Student Same-Side Collaboration to Establish Class Discipline?

Kagan believes that the classroom will be the best it can if the teacher and students (and some times parents) are involved and agree on what behavior is acceptable and unacceptable. This theory does make sense because I think students would be less likely to break rules that they set and believe in. Kagan also has an ABCD of disruptive behavior, aggression, breaking rules, confrontation, and disengagement. Many of these behaviors occur because students are bored or what to see what will happen if they break the rules. These are the very reason it is important to keep students active and engaged in class. Making sure the activities are stimulating is very important to keeping their attention. If you have the attention of the students you are less likely to have these problems, although this will not prevent problems. Kagan also offers strategies for dealing with misbehavior. He say that bad behavior can be caused by these things; wanting attention, fear of failure, anger and frustration, wanting control, being overly energetic, boredom, and not understanding what is expected of them. Many of these circumstances can cause the student aggravation or make them lose face with other students. These behaviors are results of the students trying to cover how they feel in these situations; sometimes it’s as simple as not wanting to look bad in front of friends. Having a relationship with parents is also helpful. From what I have learned so far this is not always the easiest thing to do. Often parents don’t have the time of wish to be involved in their childs educations and other times they are overly concerned and not willing to work with teachers if they do not agree with what they are saying. However, if a relationship with parents can be formed it offers the teacher another backup if they are having problems with students in their classroom.

Chapter 2 How Can I Anticipate My Students’ Behavior and Deal with Factors That Promote Misbehavior?

This chapter starts off by saying that it will not tell how to deal with diverse classrooms but does offer helpful hints to dealing with all students. The chapter starts by separating students by age and telling you how they learn and respond at those ages. By doing so telling you want you may expect from children when it comes to how they learn and communicate with others. The next section discuses what needs, interests and habits cause all kinds of behavior, both good and bad. There is a type of hierarchy of needs to keep in mind when teaching children in order to make sure they are receiving the things they need to develop and learn properly. Next the text talks about being knowledgeable about the sociological and cultural background of your students so that you may be able to handle any behaviors that may be associated with such, such as student helping to support family financially or student being quite around adults as respect. The last part of the chapter talks about personal and environmental factors that may cause misbehavior. Here we learn about different factors that may cause some children to act out such as; unmet needs, taking short cuts, temptation, poor behavior choices, etc. Two problems that are seen in groups of children are provocation, or the teasing or bullying of one student and contagious group behavior, or peer-pressure. The last thing that can add to poor behavior is the actions of those in charge, teachers and other faculty. Some of these actions are reacting badly to situations or provocation, not giving the right attention to students, and threatening students when they misbehave. They also offer suggestions to help prevent the wrong actions in all of these cases.

Chapter 3 How Do I Recognize and Deal with Atypical Behavior That Is Neurological-Based?

This chapter goes through eight major types of neurological-based behaviors (NBB), and give scenarios of situations dealing with students with NBB. NBB’s can be cause by either environmental factors, such as, bipolar disorder or autism, or biological factors, such as, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorders. We also read that these conditions as a whole are very prevalent in young students. The next part of this chapter gives some hints on how to recognize some of these conditions in your students. Problems understanding what is going on in the classroom, expressing themselves, and following directions a=can all be an indicator that the child is having trouble with on or more NBB’s. The chapter then goes through each disorder often giving an example of a situation involving a student with that have a particular condition and some things you, as a teacher, may be able to do to help. The last part of this section talks about rage, which is not a neurological disorder but can be a behavior caused by some NBB’s, and what you can do to recognize, prevent or stop rage. Next the Chapter talks about children with medication. Whether or not a child is taking medication is up to the parents. Teachers may be asked to watch for symptoms of the medication in some students, but the parents decide who administers it and how it should be handled. The best thing is to learn the signs and how to help prevent some of the misbehaviors these conditions may cause in the classroom. Learn what these student require and work with the parents to understand how they would like it to be handled at school.

Chapter 4 What Are the Foundation That Underlie Today’s Best Systems of Discipline?

School discipline has undergone a large change since the 1950’s when much more forceful ways were used to discipline. Since then discipline has become more and more progressive and now schools often help students learn how to become more civil, responsible and self controlled. This chapter introduces different scholars and their theories on behavior and discipline. Fritz Redl and William Wattenberg talk about how group behavior affect individual behavior. They say that it is the teacher job to learn to recognize and help prevent these behaviors in children by being more helpful and showing children positive influences. B.F. Skinner developed behavior modifications not necessarily for school use but it was eventually used to help students change their behavior for the better through using positive reinforcements. William Glasser says that most problems are cause by bad or no communication with people we depend on. He suggests that you remain mostly positive, and that you should try not to blame others for problems or judge based on a behavior. Jacob Kounin discovered by accident that good behavior in the classroom has a lot to do with how involved the teachers are. There are a few things he finds very important to have a well-behaved class. Teachers must try to pat attention to all students at the same time, provide chance for students to teach each other and work together in small groups, always having the attention of the class before giving directions, and keeping the class moving and interesting. Haim Ginott believes that the communication that goes on between student and teacher is very important. Good teachers will not dictate but give students a chance to help, and using I-messages. All of the people mentioned in this chapter have come up with helpful ways to run a classroom. All are good and help prevent misbehavior but it seems that all teachers should read and consider all of these approaches to discipline and pick and chose what will work best for you and your classroom. It is quite possible to mix and match many of these theories to make your class the best it can be.