Jacob Kounin's Theory Of Classroom Management

Classroom management is an important aspect that needs to be mastered by all teachers. This allows a teacher to keep control of his or her classroom with multiple procedures and practices to ensure that instruction time is used to its fullest and that the children will be kept in control. This idea that classroom management did not just come into existence; it was actually coined in by multiple theorists who have made their theories to contribute to this main idea that is now called classroom management. These theorists, including Skinner, Glasser, Kohn, Kounin, Gordon, and Canter, all have valid points that allow teachers to have an ample amount of research to use this in his or her classrooms today. (G -CITE TEXTBOOK) One famous theorist …show more content…
His theory, Integration of Teaching and Discipline in the Classroom, states that a successful classroom management system is not how the students behave, but how the teacher’s behave. He examined forty-nine classrooms to find that this theory stands true in almost every class. For example, a teacher needs to engaged the children with what they are learning and make the lessons fun and interesting to prevent any time to even think about misbehaving or acting out. (TEXTBOOK). He is basically saying that a great classroom management plan will prevent misbehavior and discipline in the first place. He has six main features that contribute to his theory. The ripple effect occurs when a teacher uses a specific tone to correct a misbehaving child allowing the other children to receive the same manner of correction resulting in a ripple effect of good behavior. “Withitness” is a word made up by Kounin that means that the teacher should know everything going on in the classroom or area at every second to prevent misbehavior from forming when his or her eyes are turned away; basically, he is saying to be “with it,” do not slack off, and give one’s attention to the children at all times. Overlapping is when a teacher can do more than one thing at a time which inevitably lets the students know that their teacher is there to help at any time and …show more content…
Thomas Gordon calls his theory Teacher Effectiveness Training. The main component, listening, is important, because that is how a teacher can see dilemmas the students are having and to determine how the students comprehend the teacher’s lessons. If this communication is misread or not present, then there will be a range of problems that will occur. One part of this theory is the Twelve Roadblocks to Communication. These are simply twelve ways a child interprets responses from the teacher which could in fact prohibit the child’s ability to solve the problems and questions on his own to succeed. Some of these interpretations include, ordering, warning, offering a solution, judgin, degrading, sarcastic, supporting; these are a few of the many feelings that a child can get from a single response to a problem they may have. Imagine if a child is degraded like this many times in one day; it would be quite difficult for the child to build up his confidence to take another shot at the problem or question he may have. It is up to the teacher to fix the way he or she responds to the child, because the teacher is the one who sets the class mood for the day and needs to be supportive and helpful so that the child knows not to give up or start misbehaving. Active listening is another feature of this theory that simply means that the teacher should ask questions during a normal conversation he or