Middle school teachers are faced with great demands such as ensuring student participation and class management. The teachers are expected to be knowledgeable of the content and create lesson plans that are appropriate for every student in the classroom. Classroom management ensures that the lessons are well covered and the content is taught in an environment that is not disruptive but engaging. It is the responsibility of teachers to win their students hearts by understanding their behavior (Wolk, 2003). Research shows that teachers who establish positive relationships between them and the students have high class achievement and fewer cases of misconduct from the students. Therefore, teachers are required to interact and engage the students by providing a positive learning environment.
Research indicates that a teacher’s behavior in the classroom has greater impact on the student’s performance compared to factors such as community involvement and educational policies. In the middle grade years, classroom management is vital since at this age, students have an increased probability of a decline in academic motivation. The declines have been linked to classrooms and teacher –student relationship. Although surveys indicate that adolescents view academics and completion of their education essential, studies on sixth through ninth graders show that academic motivation decline during early teenage years. A critical strategy to effective classroom management is establishing quality relationships between students and teachers. According to Marzano, Marzano and Pickering (2003), teachers who develop relationships with the student report 31% fewer cases on discipline and behavior related problems.
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The first step of establishing a positive relationship is to understand the learner. The teacher is required to identify the distinct characteristics of the students since they are at a critical stage of development. Although the children at this age disguise their feelings, they carve meaning participation with their peers, positive social interactions and opportunities for self-awareness (Davis & Miller, 2012). Teaching students at middle grades is a unique experience and teachers must be willing to break away from the conventional way of teaching. According to research, teachers who develop a class management approach that is based positive relationships encourage a positive learning environment with acceptable behavior. The relationship is not based on the teacher’s personality or how well he/she is liked by the students on specific strategies and behavior.
For effective classroom management, the teacher does not treat all students in a similar way but develops a different strategy for each student. The teacher becomes aware of the students with high needs and determines the best way to meet those needs. A different strategy is requires for each student since 12% to 22% of the students suffer from emotional, mental and behavioral disorders (Adel & Taylor 2002). According to the association of School Counselors, one in every five students require requires special intervention as opposed to typical classroom treatment.
The special children prove difficult to manage if the teacher has not developed a different strategy to relate with them. Such a strategy is building empathy, which makes a student feel understood. Empathetic relationships are important when dealing with difficult adolescents. However, most teachers assume they understand a student and try to communicate their understanding, which only increases the distance between them. Instead of responding to a student based on the teacher’s interpretation, the teacher should learn to listen and see things from the student’s perspective.
The second strategy a teacher can develop is admiring negative behaviors and attitude. Although the approach goes against behavior modification, it is based on positive psychology. In this approach, the teacher looks at the behavior as a skill that has been acquired and practiced over time. In most cases, the behavior has been acquired in early life and refined as the student advances in age (Davis & Miller). For instance, if a child learnt to be manipulative for them to get something, they are likely to bring the behavior to the classroom. Instead of engaging the student in a power struggle, the teacher should acknowledge the student’s skill and redirect it to a positive behavior. The teacher should also learn to leave their ego at the door and have the capacity to suspend their impulses and negative reactions. Teenagers are able to observe what annoys or makes the teacher impatient and they may use this to disrupt order in the classroom. If the teacher reacts to the comments from the students, interpersonal chaos are likely to take place.
Action Plan
SMART Goal
• Specific – My goal is to improve my class management skills by establishing a management plan with clear strategies to use,
• Measurable – I will measure the progress weekly by evaluating the students engagement and participation in the classroom.
• Attainable – To implement this goal, I will make a list of the strategy to use each week and adjust it based on the outcome.
• Relevant – The plan will increase student participation and discourage disruptive behavior.
• Time-bound – I will seek to improve my classroom management skills each year.
Strategies
Classroom management requires a combination of fewer big strategies and a variety of different strategies. As a teacher, you should keep the consequences of breaking rules minimal and evaluate if the job is done instead of executing a more serious consequence too fast. A teacher should anticipate problems such as time wastage when students are coming into the classroom and develop a creative solution. Having understood what the students like and the topics they engage in, you are able to interact with them. For instance, ask the students to line up outside the classroom where they are supposed to answer random or content related questions to get into the classrooms.
As a teacher, you should show the students that it pays to behave. For instance, you can develop weekly awards for good behavior and academic effort where the students get different awards such as books or tickets to a movie. The awards should relevant and appropriate to the students’ age. In case of misbehavior in the classroom, you should never punish an entire class since there are students who are follow directions. By punishing the class as a group, you are encouraging further resistance. In teaching, build content-related anticipation at the beginning of the class by using sentence such as “Later today, I will tell you why…” then include an interesting fact about the topic. The goal of the introductions is to get the students interested and keep them engaged. Engage the students with your words, say how wonderful it is to teach them and that they are a great class. Also, give the students the freedom to make some of the choices. For instance, ask them if they want a class assignment or a take-home quiz. Since the goal is classroom management, let it be known by the students by making complementing them on the previous day’s behavior and you expectations on the present day.
- Adelman, H. S., & Taylor, L. (2002). School counselors and school reform: New directions. Professional School Counseling, 5, 235–248
- Davis, H., Summers, J., & Miller, L. (2012). An interpersonal approach to classroom management. Thousand Oaks, Calfornia: Corwin.
- Marzano, R. J., Marzano, J. S., & Pickering, D. J. (2003). Classroom management that works. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
- Muharremi, A. (2014). Change Disruptive Behavior by Changing Teaching: Improve Class Management by Adding a Variety of Teaching Strategies. Mediterranean Journal Of Social Sciences.
- Wolk, S. (2003). Hearts and minds. Educational Leadership, 61(1), 14–18.
