For this blog post, I will be discussing “Defusing Disruptive Behavior In The Classroom” by Geoff Colvin. Chapter 1 discusses the foundation of classroom management, the seven key behavioral principles. There are a lot of key takeaways in this chapter for me personally, having little experience with classroom management. As known, it’s one of the biggest challenges new educators face, and is a daunting part of teaching.
One of the first takeaways from the chapter for me was avoid escalating the situation to more serious behavior. The example used for this section really stuck with me. Small disruptions such as two students having a side conversation should not result in office referrals most of the time. The way the teacher initially reacts to a problem in the classroom can have a major impact on the situation escalating. Bringing the entire class into the problem is usually not how you want to solve the problem. If these students need to be addressed, it should be when other students are completing work or during a private setting. If a teacher can avoid these escalations from occurring, the lesson can continue smoothly.
Another big takeaway for me was the last principle, establishing fluent responses. Fluency in general is usually difficult for me because I struggle with saying what I want in a smooth manner. In a classroom setting, these smooth fluent responses are very important. If two kids are talking during a lesson and the teacher pauses, looks at them, hesitates, and then acknowledges all students who are on task, it will not have the same impact as the teacher calmly and quickly acknowledging on-task students. As Colvin mentions, teachers can become more fluent with more practice. I hope to be able to improve this skill rather quickly so that I can prevent future scenarios like these. Another key part of this is establishing this early in the year. If students in your class know that you are confident and fluent in your responses and know your responses, they are less likely to continue these actions throughout the year. However, if they know that you have a hard time fluently talking to the class, problems may consist. Having a planned response can help aid in these scenarios too.
With my schooling experiences, I had students in my grade that knew what response teachers would give to certain outbursts. Several students in my grade loved when the teacher stopped what they were doing and yelled their name and told them to stop what they were doing. By doing this, all the students would turn towards this student and give them the attention that they wanted. I’ve always wondered what this particular student would do if the teacher just acknowledged on-task students and continued the lesson. As a student, it would very easy to see what teachers would allow certain things in their class. A lot of substitute teachers I had wouldn’t put up with a lot of the same things as the original teacher would. As a future educator, I strive to be a teacher that doesn’t allow students to get desired reactions and therefore getting this reactions again.
I can already tell that I have so much to learn in regards to classroom management and I am prepared to continue growing in this area. I completely understand why its such a challenge for new teachers and it can be scary to me at times. Being prepared and fluent can go a long way. Just getting out of grade school such a short time ago, I know what students strive for when they interrupt class. If a student wants to interrupt class during math time and the teacher sends them to the office, then the teacher did exactly what the student wanted. The student didn’t want to partake in math and that’s exactly what happened. Being able to address situations correctly and smoothly are two of my goals moving forward.
TravisEDU 