Albanian Teachers’ Approaches to Classroom Management

Introduction

Students facing the teacher in a class, waiting for instructions, and being taught new subjects is quite a burden on teacher`s shoulders as each individual requires different approaches to their inner worlds of comprehension. There are no two people in the world that have exactly same values of interest, or sharing same characteristic traits. Thus, motivating different people around the same purposes or set goals is quite a difficult task for instructors, educators, especially the ones that are willing to educate students for a better future in terms of a better university, and a better or satisfying job which requires a long term plan of diligent hard work. Literature, on the other hand, suggests that effective classroom managers take greater measures to prevent misbehavior from occurring (Emmer, Evertson, & Anderson, 1980) and that such measures should be emphasized before and during the first days of the school year (R. T. Wong & Wong, 1998), and (BROOME, 2013). Thus; if a measure is to be taken for classroom management it should be from the beginning and consistent in its application.

The followings are some of the headings that can be applied in order to reach a healthier classroom management: (1) Provide Appropriate Supervision, (2) Provide Appropriate Structure and Routines, (3) Model Appropriate Behavior, (4) Reinforce Appropriate Behavior, (5) Provide Predictable and Consistent Discipline, (6) Avoid Looking for Biological Causes of Behavior, (7) Be A Teacher, Not A Friend, (8) Let Students Know You Like Them & Are Interested In Their Interests, (9) Have Fun! (10) Be Consistent. Among the above mentioned techniques I would like to write in favor of the tenth approach as consistency would also cover the other techniques as it plays the most crucial role in classroom management.

Literature Review

1. Provide Appropriate Supervision

Students being observed throughout the lesson may indicate better performance, however the ones that are supervised even in their daily lives would perform much better performances in terms of being planned in terms of what to do, when to do, and how to do. “The students are secure in knowing what is going to happen every day” (H. Wong, Wong, Rogers, & Brooks, 2012) as to make sure students have their days planned and sure of being supervised; “There are procedures that help students organize their day” (H. Wong et al., 2012).

1. Provide Appropriate Structure and Routines

On daily basis, students need to know the things they have to do in completing their daily learning or knowledge gaining process. Teacher should provide some principles and routines that will help students avoid distraction. For example daily assignment checks should be done via check lists in an orderly fashion which will also help the teacher to have a reliable collected data on student`s improvement.

“Create four to six classroom rules that clearly specify appropriate behavior. Consider Involving the students in the generation of the rules. Write the rules using positive language. Post and refer to classroom rules as necessary. Develop routines to provide direction about how different classroom tasks are accomplished. Teach and demonstrate classroom rules and routines as specifically as you do academic content.” (Garrett, 2013)

1. Model Appropriate Behavior

Role modeling is also essential in having students reflect the expected behavior as their personality and characters get shaped by what they observe from their parents and teachers. Children turn into what we put in front of them; if they have good role models in front of them, and then they can manage to build strong characteristic traits. “Two independent characteristics of teacher behaviour can be used to map the teacher–student relationship: control and affiliation. As described in Wubbels, Brekelmans, den Brok, and van Tartwijk (2006)” (Wubbels, 2011).

1. Reinforce Appropriate Behavior

Reinforcing positive behavior is also an essential element in canalizing students` behavior into the positive learning. Students should see that their positive behavior is valued by the teacher so that he\she can reflect the same behavior when needed; otherwise the behavior would diminish throughout time. “One new direction gaining momentum is the application of a Positive Behavior Supports model in a multitier system of intervention” (Ihlo & Nantais, 2010). Promoting a prevention oriented positive environment involves universal supports found successful in the past (Roskos & Neuman, 2012).

1. Provide Predictable and Consistent Discipline

Teachers should provide predictable and consistent discipline. In order to gain trust and fairness among students, the rules and guidelines should be clear and perceivable. Once the rules are explained though rational reasons their consequences should also be given as to avoid misunderstandings on both student and teacher side.

1. Avoid Looking for Biological Causes of Behavior

When encountered with unwanted behavior, biological reasons such as tantrums behind the behavior shouldn`t veil the real reason behind it. A good teacher should be able to see beyond the matters when needed. Sometimes normally well-mannered students may reflect negative behavior which could be given a logical explanation by the student when given the chance of expressing himself\herself.

1. Be a Teacher, not a Friend

The relation between teacher and students shouldn’t trespass the red lines which is quite vital in keeping the balance as it may cause loss of control and make the whole process of hard work going astray. On the other hand, it is important that a teacher keeps a good relation with his\her students.

1. Let Students Know You Like Them & Are Interested In Their Interests

While being able to keep the distance between the teacher and student, teacher should also be able to show his\her interest in students’ hobbies or areas of fun. They might be able to make some little jokes to each other, and talk about things out of lesson. On the other hand, students’ being in the same class with different backgrounds is itself a mixture as no two students are alike. Each individual has his/her own traits, especially when it comes to teaching where differences are to lessened or at least blurred in order to emphasis unity and reach every person in the class. Thus, differences are to be reflected as variety of values.

1. Have Fun!

While trying on heavy burdens of teaching and learning processes both teachers and students may spare some time for fun, more importantly the lesson shouldn`t be given in a very serious, mundane way as it would cause boredom. There can be little breaks of entertainment and lesson process should be provided together with fun, in other words, students should learn through funny activities.

1. Be Consistent

Among above mentioned techniques the most inclusive one that also covers the other techniques in a way is being consistent in whatever discipline, rules, or guidelines are being followed. If students are well aware of the fact that their teachers are following some principles persistently they will eventually start to indicate positive behavior no matter what obstacles they face during the process of educational year (Lewis, Newcomer, Kelk, & Powers, 2000).

“Management procedures and routines that have been deliberately established in the first few weeks of school stabilize when teachers adhere to a small set of well-defined expectations (e.g., “Be respectful; be responsible; be a problem solver”), provide reinforcement when expectations are met, and swiftly apply stated consequences when they are not”(Roskos & Neuman, 2012).

Methodology

A. Research Questions

1. To what extent are the classroom management strategies being employed by teachers?

2. How do teachers’ gender, age, and years of teaching experience influence their choice of classroom management strategies and confidence in classroom management situations?

B. Participants

Participants of this study were composed of 45 teachers. Out of these 45 teachers, 20 were females and 25 were males. They were between 23 to 68 years old. These teachers were teaching in a private school in Tirana.

C. Instrument

Teacher Classroom Management Strategies Questionnaire (2012) created by The Incredible Years was utilized in this study. It is of reasonable length and should prove to be a useful tool for researchers interested in exploring the classroom management strategies of teacher.

There were 4 sections A, B, C and D. These sections were managing classroom behavior, specific teaching techniques, working with parents, and planning and support. There were 3 items in section A; items 1 (confident in managing current behavior problems), 2 (confident in managing future behavior problems), and 3 (confident in emotional, social and problem solving teaching); and were offered on a 6-point Likert scale, ranging from: 1- very unconfident, to 6- very confident.

There were 38 items in section B and related to the five subscales and measure the frequency of use and the usefulness of five teacher strategies: coaching, praise and incentives, proactive strategies, social & emotional teaching strategies, limit-setting strategies, and inappropriate strategies.

Items 1(coach positive social behaviors), 3 (frequency reward with incentives), 4 (frequency praise), 18 (frequency use group incentives), 19 (frequency use special privileges), 20 (frequency individual incentive programs), 31 (call parents to report good behavior), and 28 (send home happy grams about positive behavior) were measuring the coaching, praise and incentives.

Items 15 (frequency use problem solving), 16 (frequency use anger management), 17 (frequency prepare for transitions), 21 (frequency clear positive directions), 23 (frequency clear classroom discipline plan), 24 (emotion coaching), 26 (persistence coaching), and 29 (call child after a bad day) were measuring proactive strategies.

Items 32 (model self-regulation strategies for students), 33 (teach specific social skills in circle time), 34 (use imaginary play to teach problem solving), 35 (set up problem solving scenarios to practice pro social solutions), 36 (promote respect for cultural differences in classroom), 37 (teach children to ignore disruptive behavior), and 38 (teach children anger management strategies) were measuring social & emotional teaching strategies.

Items 5 (frequency use time out for destructive behavior), 13 (frequency ignore non-destructive misbehavior), 14 (frequency use verbal redirection for disengagement), 22 (frequency warn of consequences for misbehavior), and 25 (frequency nonverbal signals to redirect) were measuring limit-setting strategies.

Items 2 (frequency comment on bad behavior), 6 (frequency single out child or group for misbehavior), 7 (frequency use physical restraint), 8 (frequency use comments in loud voice), 9 (frequency in-house suspension), 10 (frequency warn to send child out of class), 11 (frequency send child home), 12 (frequency call parents report bad behavior), and 27 (frequency send home notes re problem behavior) were measuring inappropriate strategies. These 38 items were offered on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from: 1- rarely/never, to 5- very often to measure the frequency of use and the usefulness.

There were 10 items in section C; items 1 (promote parent involvement), 2 (teach parenting skills), 3 (collaborate on behavior program), 4 (hold extra conferences for problems), 5 (involve parents in home activities with child), 6 (develop parent partnerships), 7 (send home teacher communication letters or newsletters), 8 (talk to parents/culture), 9 (home visits), and 10 (parent support groups). Section C items and in section B item 30 (student interest survey) were measuring frequency of use of positive approaches with parents. In section D 8 items were measuring planning and support related strategies. Section C and D items were offered on a 6-point Likert scale, ranging from: 1-never, to 7-daily.

The reliabilities of the scales of classroom management strategies for the present study follow: 0.81 for managing classroom behavior and 0.70 for specific teaching techniques.

D. Procedure

Teachers completed the Incredible Years Teacher Strategies Questionnaire (TSQ) section A and section B only to measure classroom management behavior and the frequency of use and the usefulness of five teacher strategies: praise and effectiveness, proactive strategies, limit-setting, total positive approaches, and inappropriate strategies.

Results and Discussion

Forty-five teachers anonymously completed the questionnaire and all analyses for the study were done with SPSS 20. The first three questions asked participants general information about themselves. The first question asks gender. Of the forty-five participants, 25 were male and 20 were female. The second question asks age of participants. Of the forty-five participants 25 were between ages 20 and 34, 11 were between ages 35 and 44, 3 were between ages 45 and 54, and 6 were ages 55 or above. The third question asks years of teaching experience. Of the forty-five participants, 14 have 5 or less years, 12 have between 6 and 10 years, 7 have between 11 and 15 years, 3 have between 16 and 20 years, and 9 have 21 or more years of teaching experience.

The section A uses a 6-point scale rating. Participants were asked if they “unconfident”, “somewhat unconfident”, are “neutral”, “somewhat confident”, “confident” or “very confident” to three separate statements focusing on confidence in classroom management situations such as confident in managing current behavior problems, confident in managing future behavior problems and confident in emotional, social and problem solving teaching. The highest response was “confident” with 58.5%. The second highest response chosen was “very confident” with a much lower percentage of 16.3%. Male and female teachers differ in terms of managing classroom with confidence. In terms of participants’ gender the highest response “confident” was chosen by male teachers are 65.3% and by female teachers are 50.0%. However, the “unconfident” response was chosen by male teachers with 4.0%. In terms of participants’ age and years of teaching experience the most frequently chosen response was “confident”. But it decreased significantly and response “very confident” increased with increase of age and years of experience. By analyzing the responses percentages are combined, “often” and “very often”, it can be assumed that there was positive correlation between years of experience, age and confidence. In terms of gender, age, and years of teaching experience, the Table 1 shows percentages and totals are based on responses to a group of three statements on confidence in classroom management situations.

The section B were focusing on how often teachers use the specific teaching and classroom management techniques. This section has five scales for frequency; coaching, praise and incentives; proactive strategies; social & emotional teaching strategies; limit-setting strategies; inappropriate strategies. Total positive strategies include items in the first three scales.

The scale coaching, praise and incentives includes eight separate statements such as reward targeted positive behaviors with incentives (e.g. stickers) and praise positive behavior. The Table 2 shows that the highest response was “often” with 29.3%. However, the second highest response chosen was “sometimes” with a slightly lower percentage of 28.1%. The response of “rarely/never” was 14.1% which is almost half of highest response. The scale proactive strategies include eight separate statements such as use problem-solving strategy (e.g., define problem, brainstorm solutions) and use anger management strategy for self (e.g., deep breaths, positive self-talk). The highest response was “often” with 28.1% and other selected responses were closed to the each other. Other responses for group of proactive strategies statements were “rarely/never” with 18.5%, “sometimes” with 20.0%, “half of time” with 16.3%, and “very often” with 17.0%. The scale social & emotional teaching strategies include seven separate statements such as set up problem solving scenarios to practice pro-social solutions and teach children to ignore disruptive behavior. The Table 2 shows that the highest response was “often” with 31.9%. However, the second highest response chosen was “sometimes” with a slightly lower percentage of 30.4%.The scale limit-setting strategies include five separate statements such as use time out (time away to calm down) for aggressive behavior and use verbal redirection for child who is disengaged. The Table 2 shows that the highest response was “sometimes” with 33.3%. However, the second highest response chosen was “often” with a slightly lower percentage of 28.9%. The scale inappropriate strategies include nine separate statements such as use physical restraint and reprimand in a loud voice. The Table 2 shows that the highest response was “rarely/never” with 45.4%. However, the second highest response chosen was “sometimes” with percentage of 36.8%. It is significant that majority of participants were not using inappropriate strategies with an 82.2% of response (together with “rarely/never” and “sometimes”).

Table 1. Comparisons for gender, age, and teaching experience and confidence scale

Table 2. Management strategies scales and percentages of respondents

Table 3 shows that in terms of gender male teachers more often were using coaching, praise and incentives strategies with 32.7% compare to female teachers with 11.2%. Female teachers’ highest response was “sometimes” with 30.8%. Both male and female teachers chosen highest response were “often” with respectively 26.7% and 30.0%. Female teachers more often were using social & emotional teaching strategies with 38.3% compare to male teachers with 14.8%. Male teachers’ highest response was “sometimes” with 30.7%. Male teachers more often were using limit-setting strategies with 32.0% compare to female teachers with 25.0%. Female teachers’ highest response was “sometimes” with 39.0%. Female and male teachers answered “rarely/never” to the inappropriate strategies statements with respectively 44.0% and 47.2%. Male and female teachers differ in terms of coaching, praise and incentives, proactive strategies, and social & emotional teaching strategies they employ. According to the Table 3, male teachers are better at coaching, praise and incentives and proactive strategies, however female teachers are better at social & emotional teaching strategies.

Table 3. Comparisons for gender and management strategies scales

The Table 4 shows total response percentages “often” and “very often” between classroom management strategies scales and participants’ age. The total response percentages “often” and “very often” for coaching, praise and incentives strategies were highest in age group of 45-54 with 72.2% and lowest in age group of 55 and over with 41.7%. The total response percentages “often” and “very often” for social & emotional teaching strategies were higher in age groups of 45-54 (7.8%) and 55+ (72.2%) and lower in age groups of 20-34 (36.0%) and 35-44 (33.3%). The total response percentages “often” and “very often” for proactive strategies were 40.0% (20-34), 54.5 %( 35-44), 55.6 %( 45-54), and 44.4 %( 55+). Table 4 data shows that below 34 aged teachers (11.5%) and 55 and above aged teachers (16.7%) were using inappropriate strategies in the classroom comparing to the middle aged (35-54) teachers (totally 10.3%). According to the Table 4, teachers in age group of 45-54 are better at coaching, praise and incentives, proactive strategies, and social & emotional teaching strategies.

Table 4. Comparisons for age and management strategies scales

The scale, “coaching, praise and incentives”, provided an interesting result since nineteen of the forty five participants who had years of teaching experience 6-10 and 11-15 chose “rarely/never” (16.7% and 21.4%) which were quite high response, while fourteen of them who had years of teaching experience 0-5 chose “rarely/never” (9.5%) but were having second highest response of “sometimes” with 31.0%. If the percentages of responses “often” and “very often” are combined for proactive strategies, participants who had years of teaching experience 6-10 chose highest response with 61.1%. Nine of the forty five participants who had years of teaching experience 21 or over not only chose highest response of “rarely/never” with 29.6%, but also chose highest response of “often” with 44.4% for the proactive strategies scale. The scale, “social & emotional teaching strategies”, also provided an interesting result, if the percentages are combined, “often” and “very often” make up 66.7% of the participants’ (21+) responses.

Above 16 years experience had participants’ selected responses of “often” for inappropriate strategies were high with percentages of 12.5% and 11.1% compare to the less years of experience had participants with percentages of 8.9%, 6.3%, and 7.3%. In terms of participants’ “often” and “very often” response percentages were highest for coaching, praise and incentives strategies with 61.2% (16-20), were highest with 61.1% (6-10) for proactive strategies, and were highest with 66.7% (21+) for social & emotional teaching strategies. By analyzing the responses percentages are combined, “often” and “very often”, it can be assumed that there was no positive correlation between years of experience and coaching, praise and incentives strategies and proactive strategies. Only there was a positive correlation between years of experience and social & emotional teaching strategies. This analysis is illustrated in Table 5 below.

Table 5. Comparisons for teaching experience and management strategies scales

There were totally 540 responses to the positive strategies statements. Only 247 responses were “often” and “very often” which is less than half responses with 45.7%. And also used inappropriate strategies were quite high with 17.8%. By analyzing the percentages, it can be assumed that a solid half of the study’s participants were not using positive classroom strategies and lack of these management strategies were also causing use of inappropriate classroom management techniques. This analysis is illustrated in table 6 below.

Table 6. Classroom management strategies scales and responses & percentages

Conclusion

The search for unknown throughout history brought us to the interrelation between school, teacher, and students; as it has always been a need for human beings to quench their thirst for learning more and more. However, environmental issues, different talents, variety of the goals, methodologies used in teaching or learning, and most importantly technology are some of the factors that determine the level of teaching and learning on each individual. Thus providing sustainable, maintainable principles and following them in order to achieve success is quite vital on both teacher and student side. Overall, this study sought to highlight the importance of classroom management, and shed light on how this influences teachers’ confidence and preparedness in the classroom.

References