We are a group of graduate level students studying about classroom management from veteran teachers in lower, middle, and upper-income schools.
As new teachers to be, we feel that learning about classroom management will be important to our success as teachers. When we say classroom management, we are referring to the structure and organization of a classroom, how a teacher models behavior, how to minimize disciplinary problems, while creating a learning environment conducive to learning. We also wanted to learn about classroom management in schools ranging from higher income to lower income areas, whether or not a child has breakfast can make a difference of how they learn. Our research questions as we interviewed and observed veteran teaches are:
How can the teacher find the balance between engaging students and having effective classroom management skills?
How do the needs of students’ different socio-economic backgrounds change the dynamics of classroom management?
How often do you use humor in your classroom?
When you are speaking to students in the classroom, do you use different pitches of your voice to grab the students attention?
If a student makes a derogatory comment, how do you handle this situation?
What type of disciplinary methods do you use when rules are not followed in the classroom?
Through protocol, how do you handle a situation when a child threatens someone in class?
The broad goal of the group was interviewing and researching different classroom management strategies. We tried to zone in on the importance of what types of strategies were the most effective, and which strategies didn’t work so well. We have compiled all of the strategies that we have discovered that seem to work best. For most of us, as new teachers in a public/private school, we worry about how well we can manage our students in the classroom. The group took into consideration what types of strategies and situations most teachers will be involved in, and what the best ways are to regain control without losing one’s cool.
We began this study with several initial questions: How can the teacher find a balance between engaging students and have effective classroom management skills? How do different social classes change the dynamic of classroom management? By understanding different classroom management techniques, how can future teachers learn these strategies?”
Review of Literature
In our topic we sought out several classroom strategies and ideas that can be useful in the class. We found information on “flogging,” humor/tone, discipline, and protocol.
l. Flogging is referred to the act of ignoring the disruptive student by sarcastically agreeing with their remarks of ignorance. For example, a student can clam that you are the worst teacher that she/he has ever had and for a response you can reply with, “well maybe you’re right” and continue on with the lesson. This allows the class to continue on without any further interruptions and the students can stay focused on the lesson. Through the use of humor/tone in a classroom, a teacher can grab the attention of the students through jokes that relate to the lesson, and pitches in the voice that keep the student involved and aware of what is being taught in the lesson. Disciplinary methods involve ways of dealing with unacceptable behavior within the classroom, depending on how the child is acting in the classroom. While protocol involves the methods of how you go about dealing with the disruptive child in the classroom.
Our group member, Rich Blumberg, was introduced to the term Flogging. The veteran teacher that he observed had been in the teaching profession for twelve years. This veteran stated that the term “Flogging” was founded in a textbook used during one of his doctrine courses. Flogging is ignoring the disruptive student by sarcastically agreeing with their remarks of ignorance. In the case presented by Rich of this experienced teacher we see how a student tries to distract the teacher from the lesson by rudely shouting during a reading session, “Mr. Palsnic, you have got to be the worst teacher in the world.” Now, here is where the flogging technique comes into play. Instead of getting his feathers ruffled, approaching the student and reprimanding him/her during the class time, Mr. Palsnic would simply turn towards the novice making a minor response to their quote by saying, “You know what? You’re right probably right,” and continue with the lecture. Dumbfounded, the student will not know what to do because the teacher so graciously accepted the possible truth of the statement they had made. Ultimately, the student’s attempt at distracting the class, is resolved, patiently and wittingly. 
Through the Peters studies he looking at the humor and tone aspect of classroom management. In the literature that he has read, he tried to focus on how effective certain styles of humor could be useful in the classroom. While reading the article, “All Joking Aside: Five Reasons to Use Humor in the Classroom,” by Michael E. Skinner, the author stated, “Students learn and retain more when humor is used . . . students exposed to lectures with humor outperformed their peers who were taught the same material without humor.” (p. 19). As Peter noticed in the classrooms that he observed, he saw teachers who used humor had more interaction with their students, than teachers who did not use humor. He also noticed and discussed with the group that a teacher he interviewed in a middle-income New York school that this teacher treated all of the student with respect. This teacher would always speak to the student as a person rather than a child and treat teach student with respect in his classroom. While Peter was reading further in the article by Skinner, he noticed that Skinner believed humor creates a positive learning environment. Humor helps keep the classroom climate at a high healthy level where, “students feel emotionally safe, and free to actively participate and experiment” (p. 20). Peter also read about classroom personalities and how to manage them. As teachers and future teachers know, there will be multiple personalities to deal with in the classroom. In a article by Richardson and Arker, “Personalities in the Classroom: Making the Most of Them,” the authors provided Peter with an understanding of how to deal with childrens’ personalities and their learning styles. If humor is used properly, it can help you to understand a child’s personality which can help you understand a child’s learning style. Most of the website articles that Peter has read, say that humor must be used in a respectful way that allows student to be comfortable classroom setting. From the readings that he has done, Peter has noticed one reoccurring fact of humor; students learn and retain more when the teacher uses humor in the classroom. 
Andrew’s part of the study focused more on the various disciplinary measures that could be taken in the classroom. Through observation, research and interviews, he discovered numerous ways to deal with different problems that may arise within the classroom. He learned that sometimes, all that is needed may be a stern look towards the problematic student or students. Other times, if a problem is more severe, sending a student to a dean of discipline, making a phone call home or issuing a detention may be more appropriate. One similarity between all of these different methods was that they all are only effective as much as they are feared by the student. For instance, since Andrew focused on upper-class areas, the students feared a phone call home because most of them came from families that were active in their child’s lives. Students would dread a phone call home because, nine times out of ten, the parents would both agree with the teacher’s decision and reprimand their child. Andrew found that, with a well-developed rapport between teacher and students, discipline problems happen far less frequently than in a classroom where the students have no respect for their teacher. 
Jennifer’s focus was on classroom protocol. The literature she reviewed said that the teacher should use what works best for him or her and be open to whatever changes will improve learning for their students. The missing voices are what, why, and where are the input of parents . The gaps are whether these teaching methods are working. We used our interviews to fill in the gaps about what works and what doesn’t.
Data Collection and Analysis
The group collected data through interviews with veteran teachers, and observations in their classroom, we chose at least two teachers each, with a total of eight teachers interviewed to obtain more ways of effective classroom management. We chose the teachers to interview based on the school we observed. The teachers were all very willing to do the interview and excited to be able to help out future teachers with strategies for successful classroom management. These teachers were all veteran teachers that have tenure, at least ten plus years of teaching, and they provided strategies that worked for them along with some strategies that did not work for them. Also, the teachers all taught different subjects in the schools, and every teacher has their own strategies that work. Our interviews lasted an hour long for each teacher, which allowed us time to receive an in-depth answer for each question that became really useful for our research in classroom management. Some of us transcribed the interviews that were conducted while, one of us used a tape recorder in the interviews, and then listened to the recording again and chose key phrases to answer our own questions after the interview. After the interview, we wrote notes of what we saw of the teacher we did interview. We tried to see what worked well, how the students responded to what the teacher did and, with the different strategies shown, we analyzed what made these strategies so effective. We were curious about how these students reacted to the teacher when these strategies were used? Furthermore, we wanted to connect the ideas that the teacher presented to us with how they actually managed their classroom. Basically, did they practice as they preached?
We then started to read through our data and see what findings hold truth and which ones seemed to be bias. After separating the biases in our research, we started to combine our findings to form coherent ideas.
Findings
For collecting the data for this project we visited teachers of high wealth, middle blue collar, and lower level societies. The interview between us and the teacher’s were conducted during a free hour period in the teacher’s lounge, their classrooms, or other settings of appropriate secludedness on the school grounds. Forty-five minutes was the time frame of a full class period, so the interview was completed without any hassle. These interviews were not recorded by audio or visual technology; everything was documented in writing. During the observations notes were taken to connect the interview responses with the instruction of the classrooms that were observed.
To find out on how humor played a role in classroom management in a middle-class school setting, I tried to find categories that would fit well with each other. In several classrooms that Peter observed, he was able to noticed that most to all students are actively engaged with the lesson. In one classroom that he observed in a middle-income school in New York, the students are sitting in rows facing the board, and the teacher goes over the events/lesson for the week to the students. The teacher teaches the lesson, but while the lesson is being taught, the teacher used Social Studies puns and jokes, no matter how corny to keep the students aware of what is being taught in the classroom. For example, one teacher was going over events that happened in World War I, and his joke was, “The milk for Moscow is better than from Pascow,” considering that the capital of Russia is Moscow, and this teacher was able to have some smiles on the students faces while teaching the lesson. Also, from what Peter have noticed is that most teachers tried to stay away from sarcastic remarks toward students, because you could lose the entire classroom, and then build trust issues with the students in that classroom. Through the findings, he noticed the several personalities in the classrooms that were observed, and try to take into account of how these veteran teachers able able to understand and deal with those personalities in their classrooms. In Richardson’s article, “Diverse personalities impact relationships, motivation, and ease learning in the classroom and work environments.” (p. 78). While these personalities in the classroom, teachers must be able to understand how students can work with other students in the classroom. Teachers need to be able to understand a child’s humor, and personality in order to provide a healthy learning environment in the classroom.
In order to determine how different discipline methods could be employed in an upper-class classroom setting, I (Andrew) tried several of them, when they were appropriate, at a private school that I substitute teach at. What I learned was that the disciplinary measure taken needs to fit the level of misconduct on the student’s part. For instance, If I caught a student whispering to his or her neighbor for a pencil after I had asked the students not to speak, I would typically only need to give a stern glance. In this situation, a detention would be an overly dramatic punishment. I also found that the students responded well when they felt that the disciplinary measure was appropriate. As long as they didn’t feel as though they were being treated unfairly, they were quick to acknowledge that they had misbehaved.
When comparing our interview to the research we found a lot of similarities. For instance, in the movie School of Life, the presentably younger teacher, Michael D’Angelo, introduces multiple ways that the “flogging” term is used. Flogging, when used in the movie, doesn’t seem to pertain to just distractive behavior, but can also be used towards common questions in general. One incident in the movie where Mr. D’Angelo is coaching the basketball team he quotes, “We’re down by thirty goals.” A student responds, correcting him, “Uh… 30 points.” D’Angelo wittingly replies, “Thirty goals *and* thirty points? Okay, so we have no chance of winning this game. But are we all having fun?” (School of Life) This is a great way in which flogging can be used in a humorous way towards keeping the students focused. So we see, it’s not only the classroom that proper management techniques can be used, it’s any educational setting; that’s including coaching.
Through continuous findings on humor, we have noticed several themes that have emerged. Mostly a teacher would tell you that there is not one good strategy to combine humor with an engaging activity, but there are strategies that can help. One theme that I came across was classroom environment. This depends on how certain teachers set up their classroom, and how that set up is made for optimal learning. Most of my findings on the environment of the classroom revolved around safety, acoustics, and brightness of the classroom which keeps the students attention in the classroom. Humor was also seen as a positive environment for the learning experience. The use of humor help have healthy climates in a classroom, and help maximize the learning experience because it activity engages students in the learning process.
Andrew found, specifically through his observations and assessment of his interviews, that discipline in the classroom is crucial. Although it is always best to try to prevent a problem before it happens, misconduct on the part of the students is practically inevitable. How a teacher deals with a particular student-related problem is a good indicator of how his or her classroom management skills are. By knowing your students and knowing how to properly address certain problems, a teacher with a good understanding of discipline can work towards reducing the frequency of misconduct in the classroom.
We each chose a school and teacher with experience and tenure. I, Jennifer, chose the teacher I used in my research because he was recommended by one of his former students. I conducted more than a 3 hour session interviewing. I didn’t tape the interview because the teacher didn’t want to be taped. I went home and reviewed the results of my data collected. I transcribed my data. I didn’t use codes for categories The themes leaned were that learning is Universal and good teaching ig the key. I learned how to be a great teacher. By that I mean what to do and not do. A what works and doesn’t work?
Conclusion
We chose to research classroom management, because as future teachers we want to know how we can effectively engage students while having an effective classroom. The questions that we brought up were based on, how we can be effective in engaging students in the classroom of different social structures, and how these different techniques will be useful, not to just us, but other teachers as well?
Preparing ourselves as teacher is the our first priority. Great preparation will lead to perfect classroom management. By keeping ourselves prepared for any situation we will be able to improve our lessons without having any breakdown or relapses towards our main goal of having the students learn. Keeping our classrooms, but most of all ourselves, in a organized, professional and relaxed, understanding fashion, will help us as the instructors to develop terrific classroom management for our learning environments.
Through Peters research findings he noticed that humor is more than just joking around. Humor is a valuable tool in a teacher’s tool belt, when used effectively. With the use of humor, teachers can grab a students’ attention for a lesson, and have then engaged while that student is learning. Furthermore, the group realized that humor can be very motivational for lessons that may seem boring, as long as teachers can connect the lesson and ‘joke’ together. Students will then be able to answer a test question because they will remember the ‘corny’ joke that their teacher said in class, and that could make the difference for a student to do well on a test.
Andrew has found that discipline is much more than yelling at a student for talking. Appropriate disciplinary measures demonstrate what sort of teacher you are. No matter how clear you are with what is and is not permissible in the classroom, it is likely that at least one student will attempt to push the boundaries. Some teachers will be pushovers and allow misconduct to continue which tells the students, “the rules will not be enforced.” Other teachers will be overly strict and give punishments that are excessive for the bad behavior. Ultimately, it is the job of the teacher to decide how best to respond when a student breaks the rules.
According to Jennifer, the implications are that her teaching will be bases on the instructor I interviewed. The reasons I was interested is because I wanted to be the best teacher ever no matter what economic level I will be teaching.
References
Hart, Robert. “Classroom Behavior Management: Educational Psychologists’ Views on Effective Practice.” (2010). Emotional and Behavioral Difficulites. 15:4. p 353-371. <www.ebscohost.com>
Richardson, Rita C., & Emily Arker. “Personalities in the Classroom: Making the Most of Them.” Kappa Delta Pi (2010): 76-81. Web. 25 Feb 2011. <www.ebscohost.com>.
Rosanne Milliken (Producer), & William Dear (Director). (2005). School of Life (Motion picture).Canada: Gynormous Pictures
Skinner, Michael E. “All Joking Aside: Five Reasons to Use Humor in the Classroom.” Education Digest. (2010). p 19- 21. Web. 15 Feb 2011. <www.ebscohost.com>
This is a very interesting and useful article. It brought to light the term “flogging” that I had never heard before. The techniques that were discussed to diffuse problematic situations and comments seemed really helpful. When sarcasm was used on negative comments, I was shocked but could see how it would work. I also remembered back to being in high school when a teacher actually used that technique and it definitely worked. Making the transition from student to teacher is new, and yet it is only now that I really comprehend the techniques (as stated above) that were used by teachers and the mood and tone it set in my classes. Though it sounds unconventional, sarcasm, humor and jokes, and an enthusiastic tone grabbed my attention in the class and that in turn made me enjoy those classes the most. I will try these techniques in my classroom someday and I hope to engage and interact positively with all of my students.
I agree that this is extremely useful. Curriculum development for teachers is my first education class and these tools all seem to be extremely helpful not only in a classroom setting, but also for tutoring. So many situations arise where students can take control of an instructor’s valuable class time and these classroom management tool are necessary to all teachers.