Lect 21

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CREATING OPEN, PROFESSIONALLY APPROPRIATE DIALOGUE WITH STUDENTS  Although

decisions teachers make concerning relationships with students vary depending on the age, the basic themes related to teacher student relationships are similar across grade levels

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT EST 213 Lecture 21

A primary factor involves the level of openness chosen. We can chose a teacher –student relationship characterized by: 1) Almost complete openness, in which we share a wide range of personal concerns and values with students 2) Openness related to our reactions to and feelings about the school environment, with limited sharing of aspects reflecting our out-of-school life. 3) An almost exclusive focus on a role-bound relationship; that is, we share no personal feelings or reactions, but merely perform our instructional duties 

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the same time, they need us to be interested enough in them and open enough with our own values to share our ideas with them and engage them in discussions.

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addition to letting students know us as people, we can model a degree of openness to our students‟ verbal expressions of concerns and feelings in our classroom.

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important question is how open and involved a teacher wishes to be with students

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you should avoid becoming overly involved in student‟s interests or activities outside of school, particularly if you are a secondary teacher.

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need to know that we have interesting lives apart from them and that we find life stimulating and challenging in some ways that are different from theirs.

SYSTEMATICALLY BUILDING BETTER RELATIONSHIPS We can express our interest in and concern for students by: 1) Monitoring the quality of our relationships with students, with a focus on maintaining a high rate of positive statements; 2) Creating opportunities for personal discussions with them; and 3) Demonstrating our interest in activities that are important to them

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MAINTAIN A HIGH RATIO OF POSITIVE TO NEGATIVE STATEMENTS  Children are sensitive to praise and criticism given by adults. Unfortunately many teachers find disruptive behaviours to be more noticeable. And respond to it more frequently than to on-task behaviour.  Frequent negative remarks by the teacher are usually accompanied by student‟s‟ dislike for school.  Though we often believe that critical remarks will improve students‟ behaviour, research suggests that the opposite is true.

COMMUNICATING HIGH EXPECTATIONS 

How teachers communicate their expectations about how well students will do in the classrooms is an important factor in teacher-student relationships.

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School effectiveness research has consistently pointed to teachers‟ high expectations of students‟ performance as a key factor associated with students‟ achievement.

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In a variety of ways we tend to communicate to some students that they are bright, capable, and responsible, while other students receive the message that they are dull, incapable, and irresponsible.

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR PERSONAL DISCUSSIONS

USING EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Demonstrating Interest in Students‟ Activities  Eating Lunch with Students  Arranging Interviews  Sending Letters and Notes to Students  Using a suggestion box  Joining in School and Community Events  Joining in Playground Games  Making Birthday Cards  Introducing New Students to Adults in the School  Being Aware of Issues Related to Sexual Harassment

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CREATING POSITIVE PEER RELATIONSHIPS

Communication Skills for Confronting Inappropriate or Disruptive Behaviour: 1) Deal in the present. 2) Talk directly to students rather than about them. 3) Speak Courteously 4) Make eye contact and be aware of nonverbal messages 5) Take responsibility for statement by using the personal pronoun I.

ACQUAINTANCE ACTIVITIES 

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Peers play an important role in determining the quality of the learning environment.

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Research indicates that time spent creating a positive peer group can eliminate much misbehaviour and can provide a classroom climate that enhances students achievement.

The Name Chain A name chain is the most effective method for helping students learn each other‟s names. Explain to the students that each person will be asked to say his or her first name and tell the group one thing about himself or herself (something they like to do, something interesting that happened to them, how they are feeling).

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What’s in a Name? This activity is excellent as a first-acquaintance activity or as an activity following a name chain. Students are placed in groups of five or six. Briefly lead a discussion on the value of names. Ask students to tell these facts about heir names. 1) State their full name. 2) How did they get their name? eg: Were they named for someone? Does the name represent a family heritage or nationality? 3) Do they have any nicknames? Who calls them by this name? Do they like the nickname(s)? 

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Know your classmates Each student will need a ditto sheet entitled „Know Your Classmates‟ and a pencil or pen. Ask students to find a person in the class who fits each description listed on the sheet and to obtain the person‟s signature on the line in front of the description. To encourage students to interact with numerous peers, inform them that they cannot have the same person sign their sheet more than twice. (Fig 4.2)

4) Do people change their name in any way? Eg: Is it often shortened and so on? How do they feel about this? 5) Do they like their name? If not, what name would they prefer? 6) What do they want used in the class? After all groups have finished, one student in each group can volunteer to introduce each member of the small group to the entire class. They do so by giving the name each student wants to be called in the class

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Interviews Interviews are excellent means for students to become better acquainted with each other. The activity will often foster new friendships and feelings of self-importance. Lack of information about others is often a major barrier to establishing new friendships. We can use interviews in the classroom in many ways. One method involves introducing the interviewing process by having students list 10 questions that would help them know a classmate better.

ACTIVITIES FOR ESTABLISHING A COHESIVE, SUPPORTIVE GROUP Class History - Development of a class history or year book. Four to six students are chosen either by the teacher or by their peers to write the history, and all students are encouraged to contribute ideas. - Every month the history writers meet and decide what events, assemblies and new lessons, and so on they wish to incorporate into their class history. It can also include poems, addresses and phone numbers, autograph page, a page about students thoughts on the year, letter written to the students by the teacher etc.

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Photo Album Whenever a special event occurs, capture the moment in a photograph. Students can become actively involved by learning to use a camera. Pictures taken by students can be accompanied by written statements and put on the bulletin board until replaced by a picture and description of a new event. The old material can then be placed in the class photo album and some written material can be incorporated into the class history.

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Special Days Creating special days allow students to have some influence over their environment while enhancing a sense of group identity.

W ORKING WITH PARENTS  Parents

are the most important and influential adults in students‟ lives. Even at the secondary level, parents‟ attitudes toward school dramatically affect students‟ feelings and behaviour.

Special days might include a day on which everyone wears the same colour, a day for dressing up, listen to related music on such days ( such as 1950s day) etc.

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few exceptions, parents want to know about their children‟s progress and to have them be successful in school.

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Parents are delighted to hear that their youngsters are performing well and they expect to be informed immediately when a problem arise. Effective teachers accept the important role parents play in student‟s lives and implement methods for communicating positively with parents.

Methods for Obtaining Parental Support There are many approaches to developing parental support for student achievement and positive classroom behaviours. An Introductory letter Perhaps the easiest approach for making initial contacts is to send a letter to each student‟s parent(s). The letter will include information that you will want to present personally to students, and is best to send so that it arrives one or two days after school begins. Introduce yourself in letter, state your interest in developing positive teacher-parent contacts and invite so that you can get opportunity to meet and discuss the school year 

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Keeping Parents Informed Importance of early contacts Obtaining parental support is facilitated by making parents familiar with the teacher‟s instructional goals and classroom methods as soon as possible. Parents are no different from children or teachers. They are more likely to feel positive about and support issues they clearly understand and have had the opportunity to discuss.

The Initial Meeting It is very important to try to meet parents as soon as possible. Have an evening where parents can visit their child‟s classroom(s) and discuss the teacher‟s approach to instruction and classroom management. It is sometimes necessary to arrange an alternate meeting time for parents who are unable to attend or uncomfortable to attend evening sessions. Information about the times that are convenient can be obtained by requesting in the initial letter sent to parents 

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Follow –up Do not wait too long before reinforcing the ideas presented in the orientation meeting. Another follow up activity involves sending positive notes to parents about improvements or achievements their children have made in the specific areas discussed during the orientation meeting. All parents care about their children and want them to be successful in school, therefore it is important to keep parents continually informed about their child‟s progress in your class.

1) Greet the parent in a pleasant manner. It is more difficult for parents to remain critical and aggressive if you seem glad to see them. 2) Use active listening to defuse the parent‟s emotions. Becoming defensive or initially arguing will usually only intensify the parent‟s emotions. Phrases like “I can see your concern” help the parent feel that you understand. It helps parents to calm down and replace angry or frightened feelings with more positive and productive ones. 3) Look genuinely interested and listen carefully.

7) Ask

the parent whether the student is aware of the problem. Because the student is the most important person involved it is important to clarify how she or he feels about the issue being raised by parent. Question helps the issue of student‟s responsibility for any problem that may exist 8) Be honest. When confronted by parents, it is easy to understate the seriousness of a problem or accept too much responsibility for a problem that is largely something the child must work on. 9) Emphasize specific data. If a parent angrily states that his daughter did well in math last year but is having difficulty this year, the most logical and effective approach is to examine data on the student‟s math.

DEALING EFFECTIVELY WITH PARENTS’ CRITICISM AND CONFRONTATIONS

Anyone who has taught for several years has had to deal with an angry or critical parent. Many teachers state that, along with classroom discipline, this type of confrontation is perhaps the least desirable aspect of teaching.  Although there is no foolproof method for dealing with an angry parent, there are several strategies that can be used to cope with such situations in an effective, professional manner. 

4) Present a calm, professional manner. Stand erect, look at the parent, and remain calm. Just as students respond more effectively to teachers who remain calm and in charge during a crisis, parents need the structure provided by a calm response. 5) Ask the parent what he or she wishes to accomplish. “ I appreciate your concern. What would you like to accomplish with our discussion today?” 6) Set a time limit if necessary. If your time is limited, it is important to inform the parent. Do by stating “I have 20 minutes before I have to be back with my class. Let‟s see how far we can get in solving the problem in that time. If we need more time I will be glad to schedule a conference as soon as possible”.

10) Tell the parent specifically what will be done to deal with the problem. Parents have a right to know what the teacher will do to alleviate a difficulty. Furthermore, critical parents can often become strong supporters if they learn that they will be listened to, shown data, and presented with a plan. If the parents‟ worry was not justified, the plan may involve a follow-up to examine the results of the current programme. If, however, the parent highlighted an area that required attention, developing a plan shows respect for the parent‟s concern and competence on your part.

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Source: Jones,V.F.& Jones, S.J. (1998).Comprehensive Classroom Management:Creating Communities of Support and Solving Problems(5th).Allyn &Bacon.USA

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