Teaching

Instructional Presentation Follow-Up

Instructional Presentation Follow-Up

Part 1

These are the four strategies that a teacher can use in order to monitor students.

Instructional Match

Ensure that students are being taught at the optimal instructional level, one that challenges them but provides enough success to keep these students confident and invested in learning.

Scaffolding

Provide 'scaffolding' support (individual instructional modifications) to students as necessary to help them to master a new task or keep up with more advanced learners. Examples of scaffolding strategies include reducing the number of problems assigned to a student, permitting the student to use technological aids (e.g., word processing software which predicts student word selection to reduce keyboarding), and using cooperative learning groups that pool the group's knowledge to complete assignments.

Step-by-Step Strategies

For complex, conceptually difficult, or multi-step academic operations, break these operations down into simple steps. Teach students to use the steps. When students are just acquiring a skill, you may want to create a poster or handout for students to refer to that lists the main steps of strategies that they are to use.

Performance Feedback

Make sure that students who are mastering new academic skills have frequent opportunities to try these skills out with immediate corrective feedback and encouragement. Prompt guidance and feedback will prevent students from accidentally 'learning' how to perform a skill incorrectly!

Classroom management, often called classroom discipline, has been a priority for teachers for nearly 40 years, or for as long as there have been opinion surveys of educational priorities.   For example, the Gallup Poll designed to assess perceptions of public education (Rose & Gallup, 2006) has consistently cited classroom management/school discipline as a major issue. 

In a 2006 survey of Pre-K through 12th grade teachers' conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA), teachers identified help with classroom management and instructional skills as their top need. Results from over 2300 responses showed that teachers wanted assistance with classroom management because of their concerns about student safety and their desire for strategies to deal effectively with students' negative and/or disruptive behaviors.

Educators have consistently rated discipline as one of the most serious obstacles to promoting effective teaching.  In addition:

Classroom management has been cited as one of the most prevalent reasons for job burnout and attrition of first-year teachers;

Teachers' concerns over their own safety directly relate to the use of effective classroom management programs.

Students in public schools have also reported that they feel unsafe due to lack of effective disciplinary procedures and potential for violence.

Although there is no agreed-upon definition of classroom management, the framework offered by Evertson and Weinstein (2006) represents a current and widely accepted view.   According to Evertson and Weinstein, classroom management has two distinct purposes:  “It not only seeks to establish and sustain an orderly environment so students can engage in meaningful academic learning, it also aims to enhance student social and moral growth” (p. 4). The authors identify five specific tasks that show classroom management is a multi-faceted activity. It extends beyond some of the more traditional behavior management techniques frequently recommended to deal with students with disruptive ...