Charney’s (1992) article defines the importance of problem-solving techniques that can be utilized within the context of a public classroom meeting with students and the teacher. One important quote that I found interesting was based on the idea of cooperation and providing problem-solving skills for children to learn in a group setting: “In a class meeting, we are teaching (as well as exercising) vital skills in cooperation and problem solving. We will need to be patient and encouraging” (78). In the article, Charney (1992) defines the problem of cliques, secret sabotage, bullying, and infighting that many children endure, which can be exposed within the context of these classroom meetings. Teachers can challenge students to interactively …show more content…
When I was younger, I remember that a student’s lunch money had been stolen during recess, and the principle had to come into the classroom to find out who took the money. Certainly, this is very different that the class meeting proposed by Charney, but it illustrates how the school ‘s principle sat down with each student where they had been during recess. During this time, every single student in the classroom was present, which put pressure on the one student that was “late” to lunch/recess and found to be the culprit, as the individual was found to be holding the hungry student’s lunch money. This form of public “exposure” made it possible to expose the secrets of the student within the classroom environment, which created the same concept of an open forum in which bullies and troubled-students were exposed and taught a moral/ethical lesson about their wrongdoings. More so, it taught the rest of us in the classroom a moral lesson about theft/stealing as being wrong as a collective. Charney’s (1992) article is an extremely valuable way to understand the instructive influence of the “class meeting” as a way to expose wrongdoers and to also create a respectful and cooperative learning
Fritz Redl and William Wattenberg are two of the most influential psychologists and educators in the history of psycho education. Their work is centered around understanding youth behaviors and integrating proactive strategies to positively influence group behavior. Together, they altered the way many teachers view their role inside the classroom. Their unique ideas and principles helped open the eyes of many educators to ways of managing classroom behavior while strengthening individuals emotional and psychological development. Together, they created a model for managing classroom behaviors by focusing on the concept of group dynamics.
Our school aims to provide a healthy balance between recognition and consequences. Pupils should learn to expect recognition for positive behaviour and fair and consistently applied consequences for inappropriate behaviour.
This model is centred around principles of rights, rules, respect responsibilities, and relationships. Rogers emphasises the need for teachers to establish a set of student led classroom rights, rules and responsibilities during the establishment period of the year (Killian, Ogden, Shipston, & Facas, 2017). These rights, responsibilities and rules entail the behaviours that are expected in the classroom and protect the student’s rights to; feel safe, be treated with respect and to learn. The rules are to be developed reasonably and provide freedom in the sense students are free to move around the boundaries. As the rules are decided and agreed upon by the students, this develops a sense of understanding and accountability for their own behaviour and learning (Edwards, & Watts, 2008). In order to ensure students are respectful to the rights of students, the teacher must also treat students with respect. The teacher must consider the dignity of the students and their rights in the classroom ensuring they avoid any behaviours they
We hold these truths to be axiomatic: that all students, no matter their background, ethnicity, or rank, are created equal in status and in identity; no student is higher than the other. Each student is equipped with secure and unalienable Rights; that among these rights are Respect, Rightful Identity, and Freedom of Speech. We also believe that rules are formed to protect these certain rights and that the power of these rules comes from the power of the students; whenever any part of the rule fails to protect these rights, it is the right of the students to change it and to form a new rule that follows such principles which organizes its powers to end in Security and Happiness. Fair judgment, as a matter of fact, will ordain to say that long prevailing consequences should not be changed because of trivial, temporary, or fleeting reasons; and, in fact, history proves that students are more likely to suffer the bullying,
In this model Marilyn brewer and Norman Miller (1984) suggest contact works best when group diversity are minimised. This allows others to see each other as individual rather than a group member. The Jigsaw classroom is a technique that is used in classroom settings to reduce racial biases. The teacher divides the children into groups and gives each child a segment of the topic they are covering that day. Each child presents their piece of the information they hold and this facilitates for others to present their information. This shows that each child holds a piece of the jigsaw. The teacher can follow similar steps and try applying this method to their lesson. Teachers to be aware of in order for this work, they need to be an equal number of both girls and boys in each
In the education world of today, it is understood that one can only be effective in teaching by taking into consideration the different learning styles of students. In a classroom, it is expected that teachers would want their students to acquire a meaningful knowledge base, become proficient problem solvers and learn how to work productively with others (Biehler and Snowman, 2006, p. 370). If this is the case, teachers need to know how to be able to develop this situation in the classroom and make it more conducive to learning. Therefore, it would seem that they need to encourage students to converse with each other with group discussions and assignments, to make sure they are active in
The most effective strategy Joshua Halberstam used in his essay “Class in the class room” was the author’s audience awareness. I have read a couple of essay about class room behavior but they were too formal and they looked like sets of instructions for how to change the engine oil. But, Halberstam’s essay was different. Although it gave vital information, the essay was simple and fun to read. He knew he was addressing young college students.
During my second preclinical experience at Westview Hills Middle School, I learned the importance of cooperation and collaboration among teachers at a school. I was able to observe team and department meetings during this experience. It became clear that it is important for teachers to work together in order to provide a positive atmosphere at a school and in a specific department. Although it became obvious that personalities and teaching styles were different throughout the school, the teachers still acted professionally and used each other as resources in
“The Breakfast Club” characterizes this phenomena by depicting the “jock, the brain, the basketcase, the princess, and the juvenile delinquent”. In the movie each character is representative of the social class to which they belong. The “jock” signifies the sports star that can do no wrong, but the movie character bullies another boy and when caught all he received was detention. Although on the other hand the delinquent who is a dope smoking, foul mouthed punk, received the same punishment for talking back to a teacher. Administrators and teachers are very quick to meet out severe punishment to those students that they have deemed worthless, while good kids get a slap on the wrist. The movie’s jock is placed in Saturday detention, instead of being suspended, so that he may wrestle in an upcoming tournament; a case in which Hollywood makes an accurate depiction. This is the “holding of power” that Wehlage and Rutter spoke about in their study, High School and Beyond. Students who receive better treatment seem to do better in school when subjected to “an orderly environment, a committed and caring faculty, and an emphasis on academic pursuits”(Nieto,100).
There are three teachers in the classroom, one does reading/lesson circle with a small group of students, another does arts and crafts, and one of them circulates throughout the room helping students with their work-plans. The teacher that circulates around the room all the time appears to be the head teacher and when a conflict arises she is the one to mediate it. The way that the teachers speak with the children is as if they are equals, they aren’t talked down to and the students give the teachers complete respect.
The first stragtey to discuss is her use of effective groupings arrangements. For instance, students are part of a whole group lesson, small group, cooperative activity, and partner work. First, Ms. Sullivan starts the lesson with the whole group seated on the carpet. This is when she introduces both the content and language objectives, discusses the target vocabulary, and explicitly reviews the lesson targets using visuals and modeling. Next, students work in partner groups using a “think, pair, share” strategy. To illustrate, students work together in partner work to discuss how they solve problems. At the end of the lesson, students also work collaboratively in a small group to complete a graphic organizer to reflect on what they learned. These grouping strategies are supported by Lev Vygotsky’s Constructivism theory. According to Vygotsky, discourse and interaction are channels for learning
Student behavior and discipline in the classroom have been impacted by legislation and litigation as was discussed in an article written by Mitchell Yell and Michael Rozalski, The Impact of Legislation and Litigation on Disciple and Student Behavior in the Classroom. The authors believe that all students should receive their education in safe, orderly, and well-disciplined schools but maintaining these environments has become a major challenge for educators (Yell, M & Rozalski, M, 2008). Most states have laws that govern discipline in schools which also protect the rights of students in public education (Yell, et.al, 2008). These state laws control the actions of school officials when they carry out certain discipline-related functions, such as gathering evidence (e.g., searching students, their lockers, or their personal property), seizing contraband from students’ backpacks, or conducting any administrative actions that restrict a student’s property interest to attend school (e.g., suspension, expulsion) (Yell, et.al, 2008). A student’s entitlement under state law to a public education is
4. What conflicts did you observe in this classroom? What conflict resolution methods could you use to resolve the conflicts in this classroom? Are there any peer mediation methods that you could use in this scenario?
As a future educator there are many ideas or philosophies on how teachers should teach students. Students learn best when they are able to relate to the material that is being taught. Cohen (1999) writes, “This educational philosophy stresses that students should test ideas by active experimentation. Learning is rooted in the questions of learners that arise through experiencing the world” The curriculum is based on the needs, ability, and experiences that the student has. From the curriculum, teachers create lessons that influence their students to actively participate and encourage development. The teacher is merely an organizer who offers encouragement as well as prompting the students to use critical thinking skills by challenging them with questions. Students then use this skill to cooperate in groups as well as discuss view point that they may not agree with. This form of duel communication is a skill that allows the student to become more comfortable with their social skills as well as team working.
Moreover, special anti-bullying rules should be put into effect. To this end, the playground, corridors, and rest rooms should be monitored by the teachers, these areas being unsupervised in the majority of schools across the nation (Coy). Apart from the teachers, certain bodies of students, such as members of the student council, could be deployed as watching squad to observe any acts of bullying taking place and to report such acts to the authorities (Coy). In this regard, one factor which is often overlooked and which forms the basis of hesitation on the part of the students is the non-availability of anonymity when reporting such cases (Coy).