Classroom Management Resource Page – Shindler – ASSC/School Climate – PLSI – Teaching
- Workshops
by JVS
Chapter 2: Classifying Approaches to Classroom Management and Moving Up the Teaching Style Continuum
From Transformative Classroom Management. By John Shindler. ©Allyn Bacon
Pub.
Reproduction is unlawful without
permission
In this Chapter:
·
Introducing
the Teaching Style Matrix
·
Vertical
Axis – Function vs. Dysfunction
·
Moving
Up the Axis – Examining the roots of Dysfunction
·
Things
to Start Doing
·
Things
to Stop Doing
·
Examining
the Effects of Our Thinking
·
Horizontal
Axis – Teacher-Centered vs. Student-Centered
·
Brief
Descriptions of the Four Management Approaches
·
Comparing
the Advantages of a 1-Style vs. 2-Style Approach
·
Moving
up from a 3-Style Approach
Each
teacher has his or her own style of teaching and classroom management. There
are as many styles as there are teachers. Much of the style of any teacher will
come from their own unique personality. However, a great deal of what we might
call our classroom management style comes from our attitudes and pedagogical choices.
In the domain of personality, each of us can find ways to translate our
personal style into an effective teaching demeanor. Yet, in the domain of
choices and attitudes, some styles will be lead to substantially different
outcomes than others (Harris, 1998).
Chapter Reflection 2-a: How would you characterize your
teaching style, and/or the style that you would most like to have?
In this
chapter, we will examine how the classroom management choices that we make as
well as our orientation to discipline itself will determine the results that we
will achieve. To help support this
examination it will be useful to incorporate a four-quadrant classroom
management style matrix (see Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1: Four-Quadrant
Matrix of Management Style Orientation and Practice
This Classroom Management Style Orientation Matrix, depicted in Figure 2.1
above, has proven useful as a tool for classifying the management orientations
and strategies used by teachers (Shindler,
Jones, Taylor, Cadenas, 2003, 2004, 2005), and will provide one of the fundamental frameworks for the ideas and
concepts in this book. The matrix is formed by the intersection of two
continuum or axes. The vertical axis of the matrix represents the level of
effectiveness and function of the management practices. The horizontal axis
represents a continuum of theoretical orientation defining each approach or
“Style,” from more student-centered on the left, to more teacher-centered on
the right. The intersection of these two axes produces four distinct teaching style quadrants. It should be noted that
on the level of personality, any personal style could be fit into each of the four
quadrants. However, as well we explore, each of the four styles represented by the quadrants will produce dramatically
different results in practice.
Vertical Axis – Effectiveness and Functionality
The vertical axis of the matrix is related to the continuum
of effectiveness and function of the management practice. At the top of the
axis are the most effective forms of practice defined by high function, sound
relationships, high levels of motivation, and high productivity. At the base of
the axis are the least effective forms of practice defined by low function,
relationship dysfunction, low motivation and a lack of productivity (see Figure
2.2).
Figure 2.2 Depicting the Defining Qualities
of the Vertical Axis
|
High Function |
·
·
Internal
Locus of Control ·
Environment
defined by Efficiency ·
Emotionally
encouraging ·
High
Levels of Awareness ·
Efficacy |
|
|
Low Function |
·
Accidental
Climate ·
External
Locus of Control ·
Environment
defined by struggle ·
Emotionally
discouraging ·
Low
Levels of Awareness ·
Incompetence |
What contributes to one’s placement on this effectiveness
continuum? When the classroom management performance of teachers in the field
was examined, three factors were found to predict effectiveness (Shindler,
Jones, Taylor, Cadenas 2004). These factors were related the following three
domains:
1.
Orientation and Dispositions
2.
Choices and Practices
3.
Thinking and Assumptions
First,
to be an effective teacher one must have an orientation to teaching that is
defined by a sense of responsibility, and intentionality. Second, effective
management will relate to a great extent on the quality of methods and
strategies that one chooses to incorporate and the effectiveness with which
they apply them. In this chapter, we will examine practices that will lead on a
path up the continuum and others that will leave one mired in the ineffective
realm. Third, we will examine how our attitudes, assumptions, and patterns of
thinking will substantially determine our ability to realize effectiveness and
function. Each of these three factors are inter-related, but will be examined
independently.
Orientation and Dispositions
The
degree of classroom management effectiveness and function were found to relate
to the orientation taken by the teacher and their dispositions related to
teaching (Shindler, Jones, Taylor, Cadenas 2004). High levels of effectiveness
were related first, to the degree to which the locus of control of the teacher
is internal rather than external, and second, the level intentionality of the system
of management. Therefore, the peak of this axis represents practices that are
less accidental and reactive and more systematic, deliberate and reflect an
increasing level of teacher ownership for student outcomes. Let us examine both
of these sub-factors in more depth.
Responsibility and Internal Locus
of Control
If you talk to a teacher who does an effective job of
classroom management and possesses a high degree of self-efficacy (Henson, 2001), you
will hear in their words the underlying convictions – “I believe it is about
what I do,” and “I am responsible for helping my students succeed.” The frame
of mind that is expressed in this attitude is both internal – “Success will be
dependent on the investment I make in my variable in the equation,” and responsible – “My job
is to help every student succeed.” Contrast this to the mindset of a teacher
who, after a sufficient amount of training and practice, still demonstrates
ineffectiveness and experiences a high level of student failure. In most cases,
the attitudes that these teachers express are both external – “There is nothing
that I can do with these kids,” and irresponsible – “It is not my fault.”
Chapter Reflection 2-b: Recall a teacher that you judge to be
excellent. When they speak about their students and their profession, how would
you characterize their language? Does it reflect a more internal or external
locus of control?
Intentionality and Consciousness
Put simply, more effective teacher practices are
demonstrated by those who know what they are trying to accomplish and how then
intend to accomplish it. That is, they are “intentional” in their practice (Richardson & Fallona,
2001). This approach is contrasted to those that are short-sighted, reactive
and unconscious, which could be described as “accidental.” Intentional practice
is characterized by efforts undertaken within a larger scheme within which each
specific teaching act fits (Pajares, 1992).
An accidental set of practices has no such coherence, and therefore
collectively amount to little if anything beyond a series of
disconnected strategies. This lack of vision creates a lack of confidence and a
feeling of discontinuity in the students, in other words, a sense that they are
part of a class that lacks leadership.
Teaching Choices and Practices
Not all classroom management strategies will get us where we
want to go. Some will lead us up the effectiveness continuum and others will
keep us treading water or can even promote greater degrees of dysfunction. In
this section we will examine those practices that will lead to the highest
levels of sustainable effectiveness, and those to avoid.
Management practices come in three types:
·
Effective practices that we do that we would want to keep doing.
·
Effective practices that we don’t yet do, or do
very well yet (that would affect improvement) that we would want to begin
doing.
·
Ineffective practices that we do, that we need to stop
doing (because they are limiting our success or in some cases actually leading
us down the effectiveness continuum)
Moving Up the Continuum to a More
Functional Approach
As we examine the list of management practices that will
contribute to our movement up the continuum (represented in Figure 2.3), it should
be noted that there are no quick fixes on the list. Effective practices will
have the effect of creating a fundamentally more functional classroom, and will
produce increasingly more effectiveness over time. They have the effect of empowering students
and bringing out their best. Truly effective practices have the effect of not
only promoting better student behavior, but in addition helping students become
fundamentally better individually and collectively. Below, six practices are described
that have the effect of increasingly and sustainably raising the level of
function in a class. In addition, three strategies for moving to the highest
level on the effectiveness continuum are introduced.
Figure 2.3: Management Practices that One Will Want to Engage in to Move
up the Continuum toward more Functional Approach
|
Practices
That Lead to Higher Levels of Function
|
1. Create Clarity with All
that You Do 2. Be a Model of
Consistency 3. Incorporate Pedagogy
that Supports Your Management Goals 4. Develop a (Basic) Needs
Satisfying Learning Environment 5. Facilitate the
Collective Social Bonds and Social Contract among Students 6. Teach and Practice your
Management Procedures Transformational Ideas: Moving to
the Next Level 7. Intentionally Promote a “Psychology of Success”
in Your Students 8. Move from the role of a Manager to that of Leader 9. Create Communal Bonds and Community among the
Students in the Class |
1.
Strive to Create Clarity with All that You Do.
Most classroom management dysfunction is related to a lack
of clarity in some form. Let’s examine four areas where the existence of
clarity can be seen to mitigate dysfunction. First, students need clear
expectations. Without them, they are forced to guess. This can create a
“vacuum” in expectations, which students fill with their own ideas of conduct.
When we use abstract terms such as responsibility, respect, or “good behavior,”
without defining those concepts in a concrete and material way, these ideas
remain only abstractions. Much of what
we call misbehavior is simply students guessing how to act in ways that we do
not like (i.e., their guess was wrong!). Second, the teacher needs to infuse a
sense of intention and movement to the class. When the class experiences the
deliberate movement toward a goal they are much less likely to be bored,
distracted, or feel their work lacks purpose. Third, students need to be given
clear boundaries. Boundaries help students understand where lines exist
(Bluestein, 1999). In their absence, problems arise. In part, this is due to
the fact that inevitably students come to any class with a wide range of
previously learned behavior and expectation for boundaries. Fourth,
abstractions such as respect, listening, effort, responsibility, etc., need to
be “operationalized” or they will remain only abstractions. Many teachers
complain that their students lack these traits, yet do not make the concepts
concrete and practical for their students. Clarity can only exist in a concrete
and observable world. Words can only point to behavior. Clarity, therefore,
requires an intentional effort on the part of the teacher to make the abstract,
conceptual and assumed into something that is concrete, behavioral, personally
relevant and collectively shared.
Chapter
Reflection 2-c: Recall the last class that you observed that you would call
well managed. Did you get the sense that the students had a clear sense of the
expectations? Recall the last class that you observed that you would consider
poorly managed. Did you get the sense that the students had a clear sense of
the expectations?
2. Be a
Source of Consistency
Along with clarity, if the element of consistency exists in
a classroom, things will run relatively smoothly (Evertson & Emmer, 2003).
Even a flawed set of strategies, if applied consistently, will result in
relatively effective results. How is
classroom function and/or dysfunction and the idea of consistency related?
First, the consistency of one’s actions promotes or detracts from another’s
sense that a person is trustworthy. Part of being trusted by students is being
reliable. When our decision-making process is perceived as too subjective, or
random, students lose trust in us. The loss of trust usually translates
ultimately into a loss of commitment on the part of the student. Second, when
the teacher follows through and consistently implements consequences, it makes
the (concrete and practical) statement that the agreement (our social contract,
class rules, bill or rights, etc.) is primary and the teacher’s subjective
interpretation is secondary. Third, when
we are working with a student or a class to help shape behavior, reinforcing
more functional behavior is necessary. In many cases, even a small amount of
contradictory reinforcement can undermine our efforts. Consistency helps
clarify the cause and effect thinking we are trying to build. Inconsistency
confuses it.
Chapter Reflection 2-d: Related to consistency, a useful
principle to maintain as a teacher is that “it is not the severity of the
consequence that will make it effective, it is the certainty.” Consider the
consequences that we negotiate everyday. Typically we take those that are
certain more seriously than those that are more severe but less likely.
For example, imagine, if you were a driver who had a tendency to
like to drive faster than the speed limit, which intervention would be more
likely to modify your behavior:
- If your car was
equipped with a meter that fined you $1 for every time your car went over the
limit?
- If you knew that
there was a patrol car that gave $1,000 tickets to a handful of speeders each
year?
3. Incorporate Pedagogy that Supports Your Management Goals
If you offer students a curriculum defined by monotonous
tasks, mindless busy-work and exclusively teacher-directed learning, expect problems. Students involved in
passive learning often use disruptive behavior to achieve a sense of control,
engagement, satisfaction, and fun. Students who are engaged, challenged, and
see a real-world value to their work will be much more interested in learning
than creating problems. When students
feel successful, they associate that success with the source (you the teacher),
when they are bored and unsuccessful they associate that failure experience
with you as well. Teachers who accumulate positive association over time are
able to use that “emotional capital” later when they need to make
requests.
4. Create a (Basic) Needs Satisfying Learning Environment
If the students’ basic needs for power, competence,
belonging, freedom, and fun are not met by what you provide in their
experience, they will find ways to meet those needs by other means (Glasser,
1998). Often those other means include unwanted and/or problem behavior (Driekurs
1974, Albert 2003). If we look at a
student’s actions from within the lens “is this student doing what I want?”
then when that student misbehaves, we have little useful insight for a solution
to the problem. However, if we examine student’s actions within the lens “what
basic needs are the students attempting to meet with this behavior?” then we
are well on our way to making sense of the problem, and identifying solutions.
When we create engaging learning activities that create a sense of “psychological
movement” in the class, a good portion of the reasons for misbehavior are
removed, and replaced with reasons for students to invest and enjoy their time
in our class. Moreover, our students experience our curriculum as culturally
relevant and meaningful to their lives, they are more likely to connect with it
and less likely to express their sense of disconnection in very understandable
acts of passive and/or active resistance.
5. Facilitate the Collective Social Bonds and Social
Contract among the Students
We are the primary force in the room that can help the
students become responsible to one another and develop a set of social bonds
that support the group’s capacity to function. Rules answer the question, “What
am I supposed to do in here?” The Social Contract answers the question, “What –
if I did it – would help the class function more effectively, and best ensure
my rights as a member?” Few students feel a sense of ownership over rules.
However, bonds by their very nature are owned by those that share them, and are
therefore are much more likely to lead to responsible behavior.
6. Teach and Practice your Management Procedures
If our students do not know how to behave, listen,
transition from one thing to another, interact respectfully, work cooperatively
in a group, resolve conflict, process failure, line up, perform when you leave
the room, etc., it is our responsibility to teach them these things, or to stop
complaining when they do them poorly.
Burden (2003) suggests that we think about teaching our
classroom procedures in the same way that we think about teaching any other
content. In Chapter 6, we will discuss strategies for promoting this area--strategies
that we will refer to as “Technical Management.”
Chapter Reflections 2-e: When you observe a class that is
running smoothly early in the year, ask the teacher how it got to be that way.
There was likely a lot of practice and intentional effort put toward the
management in the first few days.
Transformational Ideas: Moving Your
Management to the Next Level
As you become more skilled at recognizing and executing the
six ideas listed above, you may find yourself ready to stretch your efforts
toward a more advanced set of ideas for achieving effectiveness. These next
three ideas represent avenues for not only reducing behavioral dysfunction but
for helping your students transform their current level of functioning into one
in which they can truly thrive.
7. Intentionally Promote a “Psychology of Success” in Your
Students
In Chapter 8, we will explore in depth the three core
psychological orientations of the successful learner, and how to cultivate
them. They are: an internal locus of
control, a sense of acceptance and
belonging, and a mastery orientation
to learning. As you will recognize
upon examining the factors that promote or detract from one’s psychology of
success, much of what is accepted as common discipline practice actually acts
to elicit a “failure psychology” in students.
8. Move from a Manager Role to a Leader Role
As you progress through the book you will be given ideas for
thinking about classroom management as not simply a process of keeping students
on task and motivated, but to help them become self-responsible. Glasser (1998)
describes the role of teacher leader as one who sets and models high
expectations, encourages students to evaluate their own work, and promotes a
climate of support and empowerment that is free of coercion.
9. Create Communal Bonds and Community among the Students in
the Class. Societal bonds answer the question, “What am I required to
do, and what can I expect from others?” These bonds are critical for helping
reduce problems and providing a functional environment. However, if students
experience their class as a community it opens up a wide range of new ways that
they can grow both personally and collectively.
Communal bonds are characterized by the question, “What can I do to make
the collective better?” As students increasingly take on this mindset, there
will be a corresponding decrease in the number of classroom management
problems. Moreover, problems themselves become opportunities for growth.
Developing community is discussed specifically in Chapter 16.
Chapter Reflection 2-f: In what ways do you want your
teaching and classroom management to have a transformative effect on your
students?
Practices that Draw us Downward on the Continuum and will Eventually Lead
to a Greater Degree of Dysfunction
Most ineffective classroom management practices are done
under the assumption that they are on some level “working.” As we later examine
the notion of the phrase “it works,” (as in such phrases as “it works for me,”
or “it is the only thing that works for my students”), we will begin to
recognize the fallacious logic that keeps us bound to practices that don’t
work, or operate to maintain a dysfunctional dynamic in the our classrooms.
While the practices listed in Figure 2.4 are relatively common, when observed
in action, the dysfunction that they eventually generate becomes evident. All
of them appear to the user to have a desired effect, and in many cases will
help the user experience a sense of efficacy in the short term, but each will
inevitably leave a long-term residue that is counterproductive to one’s
ultimate success, and will lead us downward on the effectiveness continuum in
the long-term. For many of us, these ideas may have been modeled by or
suggested to us by teachers whom we respected. It is understandable to
therefore have an attachment to the ideas, but that is not a sufficient reason
to retain them and thereby keep hindering our own success. And as we recall our
“model teacher’s” practices more critically, we will likely recognize that
while they may have been generally effective, there was a cost for the use of
any of the practices listed below.
Figure 2.4: Management Practices that Ultimately Lead a Class in a Downward
Movement in the Continuum toward Greater Dysfunction
|
|
1. Relying on Bribes, Gimmicks and Short-term Fixes 2. Incorporating Negative Strategies, Assuming they
will Eventually Produce Positive Results 3. Using Punishments and/or a “Pain-Based Logic” in
Your Discipline 4. Intermingling the Personal with the Performance 5. Involving those that are not involved |
1. Trusting Bribes and Gimmicks to Motivate Students
Short-term fixes such as bribes and gimmicks may obtain an
apparent desired outcome initially, but in most cases they will erode the
long-term quality of classroom discipline and/or motivation. Bribes such as
prizes for desired behavior, giving preferred activity time, rewarding students
with inactivity (free time or avoiding work), stickers, stars, and gimmicks
such as names on the board, or colored behavioral charts seem like good ideas
on the surface. But as we progress further in the book, you will better
recognize that each of these strategies actually does more long term harm than
good. Bribes, by definition, make the
statement “you need to be given something of no educational value to con you
into doing something educational.” The students’ need for bribes will
inherently grow, as their intrinsic appreciation for learning will become
suppressed. Later, in Chapter 7, we will explore how extrinsic rewards used
purposefully can promote clarity of expectations as opposed to operating as
bribes. Colored card behavioral charts
and names on the board work on the principle that public shame will modify
behavior. For some students this might be true in the short-term, but in the
end, these strategies will work against the development of responsible behavior
and against the reduction of misbehavior. While they are common and seductive,
in Chapter 20 we will explore the many reasons why they create more problems
than they solve.
2. Incorporating Negative Strategies, Assuming they
will Eventually Produce Positive Results
If we are waiting for our complaining, lectures, guilt,
shaming, put-downs or any other negative actions (or, more accurately, passive
and hostile inactions) to translate
into better student behavior, it is a safe assumption that we will be waiting
forever. These strategies may provide us
with a momentary relief from the feeling of responsibility, and may even feel
like action, but they are at best useless actions to which students become
immune very quickly, and are toxic and destructive influences that erode the
motivation and emotional climate in the class. The law of cause and effect
dictates that every action will have an equal and opposite reaction, thus these
negative actions will breed a corresponding negative response from students.
This reaction exhibits itself in a wide range of manifestations of dysfunction
ranging from apathy to conflict. We can’t discard these practices soon enough!
The remaining chapters will offer positive and practical alternatives.
Chapter
Reflection 2-g:
Recall someone you knew who constantly told you what you did that was wrong.
How did it make you feel? Did it motivate you to succeed?
3. Using Punishments and/or a “Pain-Based Logic” in
Your Discipline
The deliberate use of punishment presumes that if one
administers enough pain to a student it will result in that student changing
behavior. This same logic goes for showing disapproval, put downs, or anything
else that implies the use of discomfort in attempt to modify behavior or “teach
a lesson.” There are two problems with this logic. First, punishment does not
do a very good job of teaching lessons, unless the lesson is how not to get
caught and/or how to avoid the source of the punishment. Second, introducing
more pain into the equation of a class environment will inevitably create a
ripple effect that will manifest itself in such behavior as rebellion,
displaced aggression among students, negative identity promotion, as well as
increasing the level of fear and anxiety.
In Chapter 19, we take a closer look at how this “pain-based
logic” is at the heart of the 4-Style management approach that has remained so
prevalent. We will examine how to move from this style, up the continuum, to
one both healthier and more effective. In Chapter 10, we will examine why
logical and related consequences are vastly more desirable alternatives to
punishments for both changing behavior and encouraging more self-responsible
thinking and actions on the part of the students.
4. Intermingling the Personal with the Performance
It is tempting to try to encourage better student behavior
with personalized strategies, such as personal praise, disappointment,
affection and withdrawal of affection. We
can assume that these types of strategies will help us leverage our
relationship with the students into better performance and/or behavior, but in
the end, it will work against each of our goals – the relationship, the level
of performance, and the quality of behavior.
Let’s examine why. When a student is given personal praise (i.e., “you
are good because you are done” or “I like you because you are behaving well.”)
for desired performance, or given personal criticism (i.e., “you are not good
because you are not done.” Or “I am disappointed in you because of the way that
you are acting.”) for undesirable performance, the line between self and
actions is confused. Consequently, there are a whole series of problems that
stem from this confusion. Let us briefly identify two of them. First, it results
in a student who spends an unnecessary amount of time thinking about whether they
have pleased the teacher rather than learning to love the process of learning
for its own sake. In the younger grades, this is experienced as love and the
loss of love depending on one’s performance. In the later grades, this is
experienced as the teacher’s public comparison of students, playing favorites
with those that perform better in their course, or threatening to lower grades
for students who “act up.” Second, when the performance and the personal are
co-mingled it introduces an external and random/subjective logic into the
class. The result is a diffusion of the clarity of classroom expectations and
students’ internal locus of control, in which students think and act
tentatively, always keeping one eye on the teacher, as opposed to developing
their own sense of self-direction. This invites more misbehavior and collective
dysfunction. Instead of students learning to function for self-responsible
reasons, they behave to please the teacher - to the degree they want to please
the teacher. What we achieve over time with these personalized strategies are
students who behave on days that they want to reward the teacher and not on
days that they do not want to reward the teacher or have more powerful internal
reasons (i.e., friends, the weather, bad moods, or meeting any of their basic
needs) to disregard their loyalty to the them.
Assessing student participation can be a healthy and
effective strategy. It can help clarify and reinforce student effort and
investment in the process. But in most applications it is used as a subtle or
not-so-subtle form of manipulation. This must be done intentionally and
thoughtfully or not done at all. Chapter 21 outlines a positive and effective
system for assessing student participation.
Chapter Reflection 2-h: When you observe those teachers who
seem to make the job look easy, do you find common attitudes among them?
Conversely, when you observe those teachers who seem to be perpetually unhappy
and fighting against their students, do you find common ways of thinking among
them?
5. Involving Those That Were Not Involved.
Albert Jones (2007) suggests that when we involve persons into
the equation of our discipline interactions who were not originally involved in
the event of significance, the result is a weakening of our discipline
environment. When we tend to use a lot of referrals to the office and administrative
interventions, we make the implicit statement that we cannot manage our class
ourselves. Likewise, having the parents involved in the learning process can be
an invaluable asset in helping our students succeed. However, when we out-source
our problems to the students’ parents it leads to an erosion of our authority.
When we involve those that were not involved, we shift the locus of control externally
and away from where it can be most effective – the cause and effect
relationship between the student’s choices and our consequent actions.
Chapter Reflection 2-i: Recall a teacher that you have observed that sent a lot of
students out of the room and regularly called parents requesting that they
straighten out their children. Did that teacher have a well-managed class? Do
you see a connection?
Commonly, dysfunctional practices like those described above
can be alluring and thus difficult to give up. But their use will inevitably
keep us mired in the bottom quadrants of the matrix. As you work on moving away
from short-term fixes, you will likely be tempted to resort to them in times of
crisis for a period of time. However, if you are ultimately successful in
resisting their appeal and instead put your efforts into developing a set of
effective long-term practices, you will increasingly notice the contrast
between the effects of the less effective practices and the more effective
replacements, and recognize that the old practices were in fact keeping you
stuck in a rut. However, if you do not take time to reflect on the beliefs and
misconceptions that first attracted you to these ineffective strategies, you
may find an irresistible desire to revert to them once again.
How Our Thinking Can Promote Either Movement Up or Down the Continuum
When we experience classroom management dysfunction it is
not enough to find a set of new practices. It is also important to understand
why you were drawn to the ineffective practices in the first place. As Eckhart
Tolle (1999) states “If we do not change the thinking that has created the
problem-making conditions in our lives, even if our situation changes, we will
soon find a new set of problems to replace the old ones.” Often just the way
that we think can produce the experience of dysfunction, dissatisfaction and/or
unease. To a great extent, our classrooms will be a projection of what is
taking place in our minds. Our thinking can be a great ally in our efforts or
our own worst enemy. Below we will examine thinking that will tend to encourage
the conditions in our classroom up or down the effectiveness continuum. These
domains of thinking are depicted in Figure 2.5.
Figure 2.5 Examining
the Effects of our Thinking on the Movement of our Management Practices on the
Effectiveness/Ineffectiveness Continuum.
|
|
Thinking Leading to Ineffectiveness/
Dysfunction |
Thinking Leading to Effectiveness/ Function |
|
|
|
·
Accidental and/or External Mindset ·
Faulty Assumptions ·
Taking events and student behavior personally and losing present
moment attention ·
Lack of Self-awareness ·
The “It works” mentality |
Intentional and/or Internal Mindset Sound Assumptions Maintaining focus on the present moment what is
important now (WIN) Desire for Self-awareness Pursuit of what really works |
|
Sound vs. Faulty Assumptions
Much of the practical as well as emotional dysfunction that
we experience in the area of classroom management will stem from our faulty
assumptions about our role as teacher. Here we examine a few of them.