What Is Classroom Management?

Classroom management is a series of teaching behaviors for teachers to complete teaching tasks, regulate interpersonal relationships, harmonize teaching environments, and guide students to learn. Managing the classroom well is the cornerstone of teaching activities. Teachers must continuously improve classroom teaching management skills. Relevant elements of classroom management include physical environment and classroom discipline. There are three basic models of orientation: behaviorist orientation, humanist orientation, and teacher effectiveness orientation. School management level, teacher management ability, student learning behavior, class size and the nature of the class affect the effectiveness of classroom management.

Chinese name: Classroom management

Applied discipline: psychology

Implications of classroom management

Classroom management refers to various activities and measures adopted by teachers in order to effectively use time, create a good learning environment, and reduce bad behaviors. In classroom teaching, in addition to the task of "teaching", the teacher also has a task of "managing", that is, to coordinate and control various teaching factors and their relationships in the classroom to form an orderly whole to ensure teaching The event went smoothly. This activity is known as classroom management.

The tasks of classroom management are more complicated. It is generally believed that classroom management includes aspects of classroom interpersonal relationship management, classroom environment management, and classroom discipline management. The management of interpersonal relationships in the classroom refers to the management of teacher-student relationships and peer relationships in the classroom, including the establishment of good teacher-student relationships, the establishment of group norms, and the creation of harmonious peer relationships. Classroom environmental management refers to the teaching in the classroom. Environmental management, including the arrangement of the physical environment and the creation of a social and psychological environment; classroom discipline management refers to activities such as the formulation and implementation of classroom behavior norms, guidelines, and students' problem behaviors. ^[1]

Classroom management methods

1. Regulate the prevention law.

2. Intentionally ignore the law.

3. Sudden silence.

4. Approach to comfort.

5. Direct reminder method.

6. Timely conversion method.

7. Intonation method.

8. Humor regulation.

9. Performance incentives.

10. Education Contract Law.

Related elements of classroom management

Classroom management physical environment

Teachers and students are placed in a certain classroom to carry out activities. First of all, they must ensure that the surface entities in the classroom are comfortable and reasonable.

Seat arrangement

According to the requirements of teaching content and the characteristics of students, there are generally three design forms for student seating arrangements: basic classroom seat design, special classroom seat design, and temporary classroom seat design.

(1) Basic classroom seat design: Teacher-centered, teachers' activities are mainly in the front of the classroom, students only make eye contact and communication with the teacher, that is, all students are facing the teacher, so the students seats are Arranged in rows of seedlings.

This design pattern is conducive to teachers' teaching activities, such as lectures and presentations. Teachers can better regulate and control students, which is conducive to students' attention to the teacher, suitable for questioning, answering and classwork. Students can have more contact and communication with teachers. For example, elementary school teachers not only teach in the front, they can also walk around the aisle. Especially in China, the number of classes is relatively large, and the arrangement of classroom seating is generally more inclined to adopt this arrangement.

Basic classroom seating design

(2) Special classroom seating design: a student-centered, curriculum-centered seating arrangement. This model is generally adopted after students have a collective discussion on the teaching content. Facing other people like teachers, students also have opportunities for contact and communication between students. Such seat arrangements are rectangular, circular, and horseshoe-shaped.

This seating arrangement facilitates the connection between students, allowing students to talk and help each other. However, it is more difficult to explain and control the whole class, especially in the lower grades of elementary school, so that students will spend less time studying. If students are young and have poor self-control, they often tend to misbehave, so this form of seating arrangement is used more often in senior grades.

Special classroom seating design

(3) Temporary classroom seat design: The seat is temporarily adjusted according to the temporary needs of the teaching content to facilitate teaching activities. For example, if the teacher wants to make a presentation, I hope every student can observe it, so he can use the stack type temporarily. The students sit together near the attention center, and the students behind can stand and watch. If you want to have a whole class debate or watch a video, you can take the shape of an oval horseshoe. If students are required to conduct cooperative learning according to their interests, they can adopt the method of interest station to arrange seats.

2. Space use

The classroom space should be fully utilized to maximize the effectiveness of the classroom. For example, celebrities quotes and various evaluation tables can be posted on the classroom walls to stimulate students 'progress. Students' work and works can be displayed to give students a successful experience. The ceiling beams can be decorated with flowers that match the seasons. , Grass and other decorative objects, these decorative objects can be designed and produced by the students themselves, which not only beautifies the environment, but also strengthens the student's belief as the master of the class; plants can be planted on the windowsill, scientific experiments or handmade works; There can also be a "reading area" in a corner of the classroom.

To make full use of the various spaces in the classroom, teachers must not only make careful planning and preparation, but also mobilize the enthusiasm of the students, so that students can come up with ideas and think of ways to participate in the design and organization of the classroom. Only in this way can the classroom environment be truly achieved For teaching purposes.

Classroom management

The physical environment of the classroom provides an external material basis for the operation of classroom management. At the same time, classroom management activities also need system specifications as a prerequisite for its operation. In the process of classroom management, teachers should transform the expectations of students in the teaching goals into procedures and routines for classroom activities, and formulate some procedures and routines as classroom rules in order to guide students 'behaviors and promote students' initiative. Learn. Class rules are a static form of describing and expressing behavioral norms, and dynamic implementation and enforcement of these class rules is class discipline. Class rules and class disciplines are the institutional norms of classroom activities in classroom situations, and become the main basis for teachers to conduct classroom management, evaluate, and guide students' classroom behavior.

1. Formulation of classroom rules

Class rules are a prerequisite for good classroom discipline. Class rules must be carefully and carefully formulated. Class rules should follow certain principles and meet basic requirements.

(1) Class rules should meet four conditions, namely, short, clear, reasonable, and feasible. First, rules and routines must be concise so that students can remember them quickly. Second, the rules must be clear and reasonable. Such as "pay attention to your own behavior", this rule is not clear for students, it is difficult to play a restrictive and guiding role. Finally, rules should be operational.

(2) Class rules should be worked out through full discussion between teachers and students. Class rules should not be set by teachers on the basis of their own likes and dislikes, but should be discussed and approved by students. By participating in discussions and formulating classroom rules, students will consciously abide by and take responsibility.

(3) Class rules should be few and precise, and content presentation should be based on positive guidance. Teachers should summarize and delete the rules of the classroom to avoid irrelevant or unnecessary rules, and work out as concise, basic, and appropriate rules as possible, generally 5 to 10 are appropriate. If it is not comprehensive, you should wait for the students to learn some rules before gradually adding content. The content of the rules adheres to positive guidance, and uses more positive language, such as "hope ...", "suggestion ...", and less or no sentences such as "not allowed ..." and "prohibited ...".

(4) Class rules should be formulated and adjusted continuously. Teachers should seize the opportunity at the beginning of the semester to make classroom rules. Discuss with the students at the beginning of the school, learn about their status and learning style, solicit students' opinions on classroom rules, and share the needs and requirements of teachers with students. During the implementation process, it is necessary to continuously check and supplement, modify and adjust according to the specific conditions of various aspects.

2. Management measures for classroom discipline

Class rules are only static provisions, and only when these rules are implemented can they have the desired effect. To transform classroom rules into classroom discipline, pay attention to the following aspects.

(1) Reasonably organize the classroom teaching structure to maintain students' attention and interest in learning. Encouraging more students to spend more time on learning is not only one of the important goals of classroom discipline management, but also one of the effective strategies of classroom discipline management. Teachers are required to reasonably organize the classroom teaching structure, optimize time awareness, and pay attention to classroom time management strategies to maintain students' attention and interest in learning, thereby improving classroom teaching efficiency. Specific strategies include increasing participation, maintaining momentum, keeping teaching fluid, managing transitions, and maintaining the focus of the group during class.

Increasing participation requires teachers' teaching content to meet the needs of students, lively and interesting, engaging, related to student interests, and students are willing to actively participate. Teaching methods should arouse students 'interest. For example, suspense, careful questioning and discussion can be used to constantly change the angle of stimulation and focus students' attention.

Keeping momentum means that classroom teaching must have a compact teaching structure to avoid interruptions or slowdowns, so that students always have academic tasks. Teachers are required to be fully prepared before class, such as determining teaching goals, carefully designing lesson plans, choosing teaching strategies, and preparing teaching aids, etc. In the classroom, it is necessary to reasonably arrange the teaching progress and rhythm, and choose the appropriate classroom density, classroom intensity, classroom difficulty, Class speed and class enthusiasm. In addition, teachers should pay attention to the art of language and refine it without being obscure.

The fluency of teaching means continually paying attention to the continuity of the meaning of teaching, that is, it takes very little time to change from one activity to another in the classroom, and can give students a signal of attention. In order to maintain the fluency of teaching, teachers must give students an effective and sufficient amount of information in the classroom teaching to form a sequence of stimuli and activate the students 'receptive ability to maintain the students' attention and interest in learning.

Transition refers to the change from one activity to another, such as from lecture to discussion, from one course to another. Three principles should be followed during the transition: Students should be given a clear signal during the transition; Before making the transition, students should clearly do what they should do after receiving the signal; All people should do it at the same time during the transition, not one student at a time get on.

Maintaining the focus of the group during the lesson refers to the use of classroom organization strategies and questioning techniques to ensure that all students in the class are engaged in learning in every part of the classroom instruction.

(2) Differentiate the three behaviors in the classroom environment. Canadian educational psychologist Jiang Shaolun classifies students' behaviors in the classroom into three types: positive, neutral, and negative.

Positive behaviors are those that are linked to the achievement of teaching goals. Effective classroom discipline management should encourage students' positive behaviors. There are four ways to strengthen them: social strengthening, activity strengthening, behavior agreement, and alternative strengthening. Social reinforcement is the use of facial expressions, physical contact, language, etc. to enhance student behavior; activity reinforcement refers to allowing students to participate in their favorite activities or provide better opportunities and conditions when they show specific positive behaviors in the classroom; Behavioral agreements are agreements that teachers and students make to encourage and reinforce positive behaviors, such as "a pen can be awarded if the average mid-term test score is 80 points," etc. Alternative reinforcement is a demonstration of specific behaviors by teachers Acting as an alternative reinforcement, students imitate and learn.

Negative behaviors are those that significantly interfere with the order of classroom instruction. Teachers should choose effective methods to stop negative behaviors and stop them in a timely manner. The stopping methods usually adopted are signal suggestion, use of humor, creating a situation, diversion of attention, elimination of media, correct criticism, persuasion to leave the classroom temporarily, use of punishment, etc.

Neutral behavior refers to learning behaviors that neither enhance nor interfere with classroom teaching, such as sitting quietly in a seat, thinking badly, watching romance or martial arts novels, and sleeping silently in the seat. Neutral behavior is an indispensable transition link between the two extremes of positive and negative. Teachers should use the mediating role of neutral behavior to transform it into positive behavior.

(3) Correctly and effectively handle classroom discipline issues.

First, use nonverbal cues. Non-verbal cues mainly include eye contact, gestures, physical proximity or touch. If you maintain eye contact with a poorly performing student, you may stop the bad behavior. You can also walk over and pause, or put your hand on the student's shoulder gently. These non-verbal cues convey the same message: "I see what you are doing, I don't like you like this, come back to study."

Second, use praise and punishment appropriately. If teachers want to reduce students' bad behaviors, they can start by praising them for the opposite behaviors. For example, if a student likes to make small moves in class, the teacher can praise him when the student is studying hard. We can also praise other students to reduce the misbehavior of a student. Generally, we choose the classmate next to him or his best classmates to praise. This will make the misbehaving student realize that the teacher has known his Behavioral performance, he should control misconduct. The use of praise in classroom discipline management should pay attention to: praise should be specific classroom behavior, praise should allow students to have a positive disciplinary experience, praise should be timely, and students' classroom behavior should be timely and positive reinforcement.

Classroom management functions and goals

Function: maintain function; promote function; develop function.

Objective: American educational psychologist A. Wollfork (1993) pointed out that in order to achieve a good learning environment and promote effective learning of students, the classroom needs to be broken down into three specific goals: Academic study time; increase the opportunities for students to participate in learning activities; help students develop self-management capabilities.

Basic orientation of classroom management

To summarize the basic model of classroom management, they can be divided into three orientations: behaviorist orientation, humanism orientation, and teacher effectiveness orientation.

Behavioral orientation

The basic idea of this model is that the growth and development of students is determined by the external environment, and the bad behaviors they show in the classroom are either obtained through learning or because they do not learn the correct behavior. In classroom management, the teacher's responsibility is to strengthen appropriate behaviors and eradicate inappropriate behaviors. Typical behaviorist-oriented classroom management models include Skinner's model and Kanter's model.

1. Skinner mode is also called correction mode. He believes that the essence of human behavior is to respond to environmental stimuli. Whether the behavior can be sustained depends on the consequences. In classroom management, if teachers want students to show appropriate behaviors in the classroom, they must reward and strengthen the appropriate behaviors and ignore the students' bad behaviors. In order to maintain a good classroom environment, teachers must do the following: clearly state the rules; ignore bad behavior; and reward behaviors that follow the rules.

2. Kanter mode is also called decisive disciplinary mode. This model is also a classroom management model under the guidance of behaviorism. It is different from the behaviorism model that emphasizes behavioral reinforcement. It hopes to manage the subject discipline by effectively formulating and implementing classroom order. Kanter pointed out that many teachers believe that power control is dull and cruel, and that kind power control is actually responsible and effective for students. Teachers should use decisive discipline to manage the classroom, maintain good classroom discipline, and promote student development. Decisive discipline includes: state and explain the requirements and expectations in advance; adhere to your own expectations and requirements, such as "I ask you ...", "I like this approach" and other reminders to students, but do not harm the student's self-esteem; use clear and calm , Firm tone and gaze; use non-verbal gestures to support verbal requirements; don't use threats and rebuke to affect student behavior; repeat your requirements from time to time, don't upgrade to reprimand.

Humanistic orientation

Unlike behaviorism, humanistic classroom managers believe that students have their own decision-making abilities and that they can be primarily responsible for controlling their own behavior. In classroom management, teachers should not ask students to follow everything, but should pay attention to their needs, emotions and initiative, and provide students with the best opportunity to discover a sense of belonging, achievement and positive self-identity. To maintain a positive classroom environment; when problematic behaviors occur, teachers should use communication skills more, guide students to analyze the nature and consequences of problems, and solve problems themselves. Typical humanistic classroom management models include Grasse model and Kenotte model.

1. The Glasser model is called reality therapy and control therapy. He believes that people have two other basic needs, namely, the need to love and be loved, and the need for their own value to be recognized by themselves and others. If these needs are not met, behavioral problems arise. When these needs are not met, students will have behavioral problems and will not be responsible for themselves. In addition, he believes that students are rational and can control their behavior. Therefore, teachers should not accept students' bad behavior interfaces, but should help students make good choices. Grasse puts forward the basic procedures of realistic therapy: contacting students, correctly treating behavior problems facing students, forming judgments, making plans, making commitments, not accepting interfaces, and bearing natural consequences.

2. H. Ginott (1972) model is also known as wise information model. The core concept of this classroom management is to emphasize that teachers use wise methods to communicate harmoniously with students. Kenotte believes that discipline is formed little by little. In the process of discipline formation, teachers should lead by example, and when communicating with students with behavior problems, they should set themselves up from the perspective of the other party. The other is to trust students' self-control ability and encourage students to manage themselves. Teachers and students should communicate harmoniously: express "smart" messages, accept emotional release without rejection, avoid labelling, use praise wisely, guide cooperation, and express anger rationally.

Teacher effectiveness

Different from the behaviorist and humanistic approach to classroom management, the teacher's efficiency-oriented classroom management model focuses on the improvement of teachers' classroom management skills. Researchers who hold this orientation believe that classroom management mainly depends on teachers' management skills; improving the classroom management skills of teachers through training can achieve the effect of improving the quality of classroom management. Typical classroom models of teacher effectiveness orientation include the Gordon model and Kuning mode. The Gordon model is also called the teacher effectiveness training model. The Kuning model is a group management strategy used to prevent and respond to bad behavior. ^[2]

Influencing factors of classroom management

1. School management level. Classes are an integral part of the school. The level of school management and the quality of management directly determine classroom management. What kind of school management is there is what kind of classroom.

2. Teacher management skills. Teachers are the core of classroom management. Teachers' professional level, personal quality, working ability, teaching attitude, and organizational management experience directly determine the level of classroom management.

3. Student learning behavior. Students are both the object and the main body of classroom management. Students have clear learning goals, a correct attitude, solid basic knowledge, strong learning ability, standardized behavior habits, strong subject self-discipline management, and natural classroom management. Conversely, classroom management will be chaotic.

4. Class size. The size of the class collective affects the way the classroom is managed. The size of the class collective requires different methods of classroom management.

First, the size of the class group affects the emotional connection between students. The larger the collective, the weaker the power of emotional bonds.

Secondly, the more students in the class, the greater the individual differences between the students, which will inevitably lead to disputes and conflicts of interest.

Third, the size of the class collective also affects the mode of communication. The larger the class, the less frequent the internal communication between students, the relatively indifferent relationship between teachers and students, and the less they understand each other.

Finally, the larger the class collective, the students are often prone to form a variety of informal small groups due to the time and space constraints of interaction.

5. The nature of the class. The nature of the class also affects classroom management. Different classes often have different group norms and different cohesion. Teachers cannot use fixed classroom management models to treat different classes. If there is a class that is already excellent, for such a class, the teacher can use its inherent cohesion to give full play to the students' consciousness and initiative, focusing on letting students control and take care of themselves. For those less disciplined classes, teachers need to play an authoritative role and give students sufficient supervision and guidance. Therefore, on the basis of in-depth understanding, teachers should master the characteristics of the class collective, and use the high skills of promotion and maintenance to obtain the ideal management effect. ^[3]