Introduction
Professionals of education and educational psychologists often describe the term class management in various ways such as the manner in which the teacher or instructor holds the business of running a classroom, an art which organizes different classroom procedures and activities and the act of managing the classroom, students and the instructional techniques.
Class management is a complex process and it includes multifaceted and contradicting activities. The central duty of a teacher is teaching his or her children but the teacher’s complementary duties are manifold and varied.
Numerous independent variables implicate this duty like the thoughts and maxim of the school, the written and practical discussion activities in the school, the teachers, the students, the involvement of parents and the rules and relations in schools. Skillful class management requires specific rules and regulations for the effective functioning of learning and teaching procedure.
A structured and well planned attitude from the teachers and students is also essential for effective class management. Students in a classroom have different cultural, religious and socio-economics backgrounds. Their intellectual abilities also differ from one another. Here the teacher’s role in a class room reaches complex level and it requires the ability of effective class room management.
Then ultimate aim of education is to facilitate a structured personality for children, and the teacher often plays the role of a social engineer in his or her classroom.
In the age of technologies and information the teacher’s role has confronted various challenges such as the use of instructional strategies, techniques, tools, psychological learning theories and assessment. Implementation of effective classroom management helps the teacher to improve the teaching process.
Literature review
The term class management has a wide context and it plays a vital role in the process of education. Teacher’s competency and class room management are highly interrelated. One requires the other for effective functioning of the learning process.
Robert T. Tauber states that “The connection between perceived teacher competency and successful classroom management has existed for more than150 years” (Tauber, 2007, p.5). Here the author remarks the inevitable connection between teacher and classroom management.
Class room management is widely accepted as one of the significant ingredients intended for middle and high school teachers for more than a few years.
The primary and important fact is that it is center to the duty of teaching, and not including superior administration practices the teacher’s occupation is a more difficult and But organization of classroom is a multifaceted process and contradicts the outside impression shaped by incalculable hours used up for a student.
According to Carolyn M. Evertson, and Carol Simon Weinstein several education institutions has followed good classroom management systems and therefore this good management helps to encourage student commitment and it generates chances to learning good subjects. But some schools have underprivileged managed arrangements, so it dissolves student’s time and attentiveness, and concentration.
Besides it decrease, knowledge and also depresses educational achievements. They point out that the teachers managerial abilities are very closely related to all students’ performance and character. Good classroom management helps to control student’s inappropriate activities and enable them to retain from troublemaking and interfering with the other student’s education practices.
The book entitled Handbook of classroom management: research, practice, and contemporary issues points out that “students’ beliefs about their behaviors guide their actions. Positive beliefs can lead to better classroom behavior, more respect for authority, and increased group participation.
To help perceive themselves positively, teachers must not overreact to a student’s poor behavioral history or academic achievement” Evertson & Weinstein, 2006, p.412).
Bruce A. Marlowe, Alan S. Canestrari remark that in most of the classrooms the teachers get together and observe a wide section of students on a daily basis. Authors rightly comment that teachers can make up a strong connection through students by making them abstain from condemnation, gratifying small success of students, and generating a good classroom atmosphere where students eschew the violent community.
All of the teachers make close context with their student which is very helpful to students in the process of learning and other good activities. The book article Educational psychology in context: “A reading for future teachers helps the reader to understand more about the term classroom management.
It states that; “Teachers- student relationships provide an essential foundation for effective classroom management and classroom management is a key to high student achievement. Teacher – student relationship should not be left to chance or dictated by the personalities of those involved.
Instead, by using strategies supported by research, teachers can influence the dynamics of their classroom and build strong teacher – student relationship that will support student learning” (Marlowe & Canestrari, 2006, p.34).
Grant Miller (Classroom Management Prepared by Grant Miller, Graduate Research Assistant, Boston College and Tracey Hall), points out that cooperative learning is an important and effective method of class management. Cooperative learning characteristically occupying a small group of students frequently no more than four is absolutely reliant. These students will be ahead all other while carrying out an allocated job.
The author says that teachers, when they practice cooperative learning clusters may find an end result of teaching and accomplishment of the constitution. All of the students required to be taught how to get position and interrelate in the federations. Each and every one of the teachers is required to check and hold up students while in supportive learning assemblage.
Grant Miller comments that “One option for teachers to consider when forming cooperative groups is to arrange students based on ability. For instance, heterogeneous groups would consist of low, middle and high achievers (based on achievement tests and teacher ranking). For high-achieving and capable students, there are advantages and disadvantages to this clustering” (Miller, n.d, p.10).
Methodology
Research design is either Quantitative or Qualitative. Class management is a social science topic of study and therefore the research draws its conclusion from a vast number of literatures that is reviewed in this research. For this research quantitative method has been adopted.
The quantitative research shows the result of the research in numerical form which leads to better data analysis and is more subject oriented. The quantitative method mainly uses interrogative type research questions. Quantitative research is specifically used in survey studies.
For the purpose of research on class management quantitative method has been employed.
In the topic of class management the constant factor is the improvement of classroom management while there are a numerous independent variables involved like the thoughts and motto of the class, the written and practical discussion activities in the class, the teachers, the students, the involvement of the parents and the rules and regulations in schools.
Improvement of class management has been considered as a dependent variable because this factor is dependent upon many independent variables like the motto of the school itself, its constituents like the teachers, students rules and regulations and last but not the least the role of parents also.
So, the influence of independent variables over the dependent variables is high in the research of class management. “Classroom management is a skill that is not only learned but practiced daily” (Kelly, 2010, para.1).
Classroom management is dependent on factors like class set up, the teachers, the students, the parents etc. For efficient class management there should be lots of positive energy in the school environment.
Classroom management is more of a study topic for newly appointed teachers who need to really study the class environment for efficient class management. Class management is a learning experience and skills are developed gradually with practical experience. This research is based on research questions rather than hypothesis statements.
Research Questions
“Research questions are interrogative statements or questions that the investigator seeks to answer” (Creswell, 2003, p.108).
Some research questions are:
- What is actually class management?
- Can exactly the difference between skilful class management and unskillful class management be easily identified?
- Does the motto and thoughts of the school play an important role in Class Management?
- What role do students play in class management?
- What role does rules and regulations play in class management?
- State the role of teachers in class management?
- What is the role of parents in class management?
- Does the viewpoint of students play an important role in class management?
- State the importance of recognitions and reprimands in class management?
- What are the skills and strategies that need to be taken for efficient class management?
For the purpose of conducting this research we have first used the survey method because this is more of an objective topic and conduction of surveys is the most appropriate in making data analysis and conclusions.
“Survey methods involve gathering information about the current status of some target variable within a particular collectivity, then reporting a summary of the findings. The summary includes data in quantitative form” (Thomas, 2003, p.41).
For the purpose of conducting this research, on class management the trend and longitudinal survey research has been used. Surveys were done by means of mails, telephonic interviews, internet surveys etc. Marking and Grading is a very important part of class management and teachers should be very clear regarding the characteristic of grading.
For the efficient class management teachers should first of all understand their own teaching style, their attitude towards students. A class mainly consists of teachers and students and there are both positive attitude and negative attitude students in a class. It is very necessary for teachers to be aware about their teaching and reprimanding style so that class management is easy for them.
Random sampling in the city was used for the purpose of the research because random sampling is based on the assumption that in the set most of the participants will be answering or participating in the survey. The population consisted of mainly teachers, educationists, children and parents.
Data was collected from respondents in questionnaire forms and it was stated to them their it was for the purpose of analysis on a general topic of study and so confidentiality cannot be maintained at all times.
In class management the teacher should have a good overall command over the class but at the time the teacher should not be too commanding on students that instead of respecting the teachers the students are afraid enough to clear their doubts itself. Therefore the teacher has to use her own skills for class management and she can also urge the students to create a good class environment.
The teacher should be friendly with the students and should give them convincing reasons of her rules and judgments. The questions incorporated in the questionnaire are same as the research questions and these are a mix of both open ended and close ended questions.
Reference List
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and mixed method approaches. SAGE, p.108. Web.
Evertson, C. M & Weinstein, C. S. (2006). Handbook of classroom management: Research, practice and contemporary issues. Routledge. Web.
Kelly, M. (2010). Top 10 tips for classroom discipline and management. About. Web.
Marlowe, B. A & Canestrari, A. S. (2006). Educational psychology in context: Readings for future teachers. SAGE. Web.
Miller, G. Classroom management. NCAC, p.10. Web.
Tauber, R. T. (2007). Classroom management: Sound theory and effective practice. Greenwood Publishing Group, p.5. Web.
Thomas, R. M. (2003). Blending qualitative and quantitative research methods in theses and dissertations. Corwin Press, p.41. Web.