Developing Positive Teacher-Student Relations - Case Study Example

Running head: BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT Course title Instructor’s name: Insert name: June 25, 2010 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Essential elements of an adequate discipline model 4 Developing positive Teacher-Student relations 5 Establishing clearly defined parameters of acceptable classroom behaviors 5 Putting monitoring skills into practice 6 Consequences 6 Theory-based program 7 There are numerous hypotheses that are found in school. Theory-based program calls for innovations that represent potentially valuable fits. Theory based program requires the motivation of teachers and commitment of administrators. Theory-based program makes use of two main theories: hypothesis of pedagogy reflects on postulations regarding to education, training in addition to performance; a hypothesis of deed is inclined to local perspective like the circumstances beneath which the model would function. The main advantage of theory-based programs is that they foster student participation thus making the student develop values such as helpfulness, responsibility, and understanding of others. 7 The Eclectic approach or program 7 The eclectic approach combines the traditional materials, un-schooling time, unit studies as well as anything that works. It emphasizes flexibility to tailor educational experiences to the student, without an overlay of educational philosophy. Students are given a lot of freedom with no philosophical constraints of un-schooling. The main advantage of eclectic approach is that a balance exists between the traditional and the innovative aspect of a child. Students learn how to learn through the un-schooling component of this approach and learn how to handle the traditional materials and in-depth projects or unit studies (Taylor, 2002 p. 144). 8 8 Shifting-discipline program 8 Behaviour Modification approach 8 Instructional methods 9 Tokens 10 Social reinforcement 10 Modeling 11 Feedback 11 Conclusion 12 References: 12 Introduction Behavior models of the past were founded on a system of rewards and punishments intended to change unconstructive actions to constructive. Learners were given prizes for high-quality behavior in addition to being disciplined for poor manners. Response to regulation troubles were frequently more knee-jerk than intended, moreover, they were not essentially founded on what was paramount for learners. The old models that were founded on stimulus/ response or reward and punishment techniques worked for students who were motivated to learn, but they were a dismal failure for those students whose needs were not being met or who learn differently. Essential elements of an adequate discipline model It is important to focus on how we can teach toward the positive – building and reinforcing the traits of kindness, forgiveness, patience, compassion, respect, responsibility and other morally upright aspects of character. It is not only important to address discipline, law enforcement and justice but there is need to pursue relentlessly the development of fine character in the young children. Character education should have an adequate theory of good character, should encompass the cognitive, affective and behavior aspects of morality, ought to view good character as consisting of knowing the good, desiring the good and doing the good. Character educations should also assist kids comprehend the main principles, become accustomed to them, along with acting upon them within their personal lives. Finally, character education must view as critical the emotional side of character, which includes conscience, self-respect and self-control. On the other hand the comprehensive approach in classroom calls upon the teacher to act as a care giver, model and mentor, create a moral community, practice moral discipline, create a democratic classroom environment, teach values through the curriculum, use cooperative learning, encourage moral reflection through reading, research, easy writing, journal keeping, discussion and debate as well as teaching conflict resolution (Komarnicki, 2004 p. 7). Developing positive Teacher-Student relations Every person desires to sense cared for as well as being valued by the important people in the society. This is not an exemption to students. A classroom teacher wields a great deal of power over the students since he or she controls their destiny for up to six hours everyday, five days in a week. Increasing constructive teacher-student relationships is among the mainly efficient steps one can undertake to institute a constructive regulation environment in the classroom. It is significant to realize that once you treat students with respect, they tend to appreciate and like you. When the children are pleased about and become fond of you, they are more prepared to make you happy – this makes them to conduct properly. This is the reason as to why it is important to remember that, when it comes to student behavior, it is far more often the relationship students have with you than it is the rules themselves that encourage students to follow those rules. Student behavioral conduct is also reliant to huge extent on the prospect of important grown-ups in student’s life. It is critical for teachers to supervise their relations with the objective of communicating properly high behavioral as well as intellectual expectations to every scholar. Establishing clearly defined parameters of acceptable classroom behaviors Establishing and teaching clearly defined parameters of acceptable behaviors is a critical part of a classroom discipline. Every teacher should formally take the time teach and enforce clearly defined parameters of acceptable student behaviors. Unfortunately, teachers make mistake of announcing rather than teaching parameters to their students. Students do not learn what is announced but learn what they are taught. It is important for the teacher to take time and teach the discipline plan and the rules of conduct as they apply to his or her class. This eliminates confusion in students as they attempt to determine what the acceptable policies and procedures are for the classroom. Putting monitoring skills into practice Developing monitoring skills is crucial to the success of your classroom discipline plan. The ability to effectively monitor your student’s behaviors is one of the most powerful discipline tools available to you, as well as, one of the best ways to prevent incipient classroom discipline problems from growing. Keen monitoring skills will help the teacher to communicate to students that he or she is aware of what they are doing and that any inappropriate behavior needs to stop at once, and to do this in a manner that does not hinder or disrupt the teacher’s instruction. The appropriate use of monitoring skills promotes positive changes in students’ behaviors while allowing students to keep their dignity (Boynton M. and Boynton C., 2005 p.34). Consequences Consequences offer a good opportunity to the teacher to instill good discipline in students. When the students learn from the consequences of their behaviors, they are able to change their behavior so that the negative consequences may not repeat again (Konza, Grainger and Bradshaw, 2001 p. 89). Theory-based program There are numerous hypotheses that are found in school. Theory-based program calls for innovations that represent potentially valuable fits. Theory based program requires the motivation of teachers and commitment of administrators. Theory-based program makes use of two main theories: hypothesis of pedagogy reflects on postulations regarding to education, training in addition to performance; a hypothesis of deed is inclined to local perspective like the circumstances beneath which the model would function. The main advantage of theory-based programs is that they foster student participation thus making the student develop values such as helpfulness, responsibility, and understanding of others. The Eclectic approach or program The eclectic approach combines the traditional materials, un-schooling time, unit studies as well as anything that works. It emphasizes flexibility to tailor educational experiences to the student, without an overlay of educational philosophy. Students are given a lot of freedom with no philosophical constraints of un-schooling. The main advantage of eclectic approach is that a balance exists between the traditional and the innovative aspect of a child. Students learn how to learn through the un-schooling component of this approach and learn how to handle the traditional materials and in-depth projects or unit studies (Taylor, 2002 p. 144). Shifting-discipline program This is assessing the strengths and needs of the current practices and looking at where there needs a change to school-wide discipline. A new approach of discipline could be shifting from an authoritarian zero tolerance approach to a more positive authoritative approach. This is done when there are weaknesses in the existing practices. This program is helpful to the school in achieving its program goals and mission. It also helps the school reflect on the things it has performed perfectly well as well as the areas that need change. Behaviour Modification approach Tom’s school has a rule that all students need to wear hats in the playground. For him to make sure that this is followed, he needs to employ behavior modification approaches that will see the rule is followed. First, it is necessary to encourage and train teachers in the school to change their style of classroom management, so that they emphasize praise for good behavior, rather than disapproval of bad behavior. In some cases rewards such as sweets and toys may be necessary in addition to praise and attention from the teacher. Increased number of students wearing hats in playgrounds will correlate with improved classroom behavior. There are five main components that teachers need to modify children’s behavior in the classroom and in playgrounds. These are: instructional methods, feedback, social reinforcement, token reinforcement and modeling. For best effect on the behavior of the children in classes and playground, it is important for teachers to maintain their new techniques. Instructional methods Praise of appropriate behavior is the key to successful class-room supervision. If this is applied in the field, the student will eventually desire to be appreciated for wearing their hats in the playgrounds. A student like being appreciated in presence of other students whenever they have done what is right. This will eventually cultivate the urge in the other students to be appreciated too. Ignoring a child may not always be sufficient action to extinguish inappropriate behavior and stronger intervention may be necessary. Selective use of disapproval may be profitable and indeed, such negative forms of intervention clearly cannot be ruled out when learning is being disrupted, or when a child may be hurt by another’s aggressive behavior. Collecting and punishing learners for an unsuitable behavior is an essential and imperative component of each teacher’s profession. The aim of correcting scholars should be aimed at having them think on what they did, feel remorseful that they frustrated you, and make a healthier option in future. Tokens Giving tokens to student who wear their hats in the playground will enhance the ones that do not wear to remember to wear their hat so that they can as well be given tokens. Sometimes other methods may not work except introducing the token program. The token program helps the students to be attentive to instructions and become eager in accomplishing and following them. Once a student realizes that he or she will get a token for wearing the hat in the playground will make him or her not forget the hat. This method when used in classroom also eliminates the bad behavior in classroom like making noise. Tokens are superior methods of controlling and improving the conduct of students. Token reinforcement systems have as strong an effect on secondary school age children’s academic behavior as they have on their social behavior. Token reinforcement acts as an accelerator that increases the rate at which a behavior occurs and its effect on the student. Social reinforcement It is important for the teacher to help students acquire the skills that make for effective interpersonal relationships in their peer group. Students that do not wear hats in the playground can be influenced by their peers in they acquire good interpersonal skills. When the teacher reinforces the social skills of students, they tend to act uniformly thus avoiding some bad behaviors like forgetfulness. It is important that the teacher develops positive classroom pride which eventually flows even in the playground. This can be done by teachers developing pride with the students that always wear their hats in the playground. If applied efficiently, pride is capable of being an enormously influential power in developing constructive teacher-student relations. The aim of the teacher should be to help students take pride in their accomplishments and positive behaviors rather than in their negative behaviors. Displaying the students that wear hats always in front of others will let the others know that you value what they have done and that you take pride in what they have done (Kolvin, 1981 p. 97). Modeling The educator plays a big task in the development of the student. The way a teacher acts affects the behavior of students. For instance, if the teacher tells the students to wear hats when in playground and he or she does not wear may influence the students’ willingness to wear hats. The educator ought to operate as a role model to the learners. Along with being a role model, a teacher should demonstrate caring. The teacher spends most of the daytime hours with the kids and thus showing care is one of the mainly powerful means to create constructive relations with students. This will make them understand that doing what you instruct them to do is being appreciated. Feedback It is extremely significant to pay attention to what the students have to say. Asking them how they feel with wearing hats in playground will help you as a teacher understand their wishes. This will as well offer a good opportunity to explain why it is important to wear hats in playground. Feedback help the student understand that their grievances are being listened and taken care of. This attracts the learners nearer to the educator and thus building a strong teacher-student relationship. Conclusion After doing all this work, it is important for teachers to maintain the good behaviors acquired by the students. A good classroom environment should be created to ensure that the behaviors are maintained. Praise and attention are good examples of consequences that can help maintain and support a developed behavior. There should be attempts to transfer from one program to another. Children with the substitute program maintain their behavior better than those without one (Kolvin, 1981 p. 98) References: Boynton M. and Boynton C. (2005). The educator's guide to preventing and solving discipline problems. VA, ASCD. Retrieved June25, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=rubj_B1hw-UC&pg=PA3&dq=CLASSROOM+DISCIPLINE+AND+MANAGEMENT&lr=&as_brr=3&cd=14#v=onepage&q=CLASSROOM%20DISCIPLINE%20AND%20MANAGEMENT&f=true Komarnicki J. W. and Komarnicki Ed D. (2004). How to Teach Toward Character Development. PA, Buy Books on the web. Retrieved June25, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=ULrW_IP2S6EC&pg=PA6&dq=essential+elements+of+an+adequate+discipline+model+in+classroom&hl=en&ei=FNokTKn5NIjaONuF5c4C&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=essential%20elements%20of%20an%20adequate%20discipline%20model%20in%20classroom&f=false Konza D., Grainger J. and Bradshaw K. (2001). Classroom Management: A Survival Guide. Victoria, Thomson Learning Nelson. Retrieved June25, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=h7GbRKLtIaUC&pg=PA80&dq=CLASSROOM+DISCIPLINE+AND+MANAGEMENT&as_brr=3&cd=9#v=onepage&q=CLASSROOM%20DISCIPLINE%20AND%20MANAGEMENT&f=true Kolvin I. (1981). Help starts here: the maladjusted child in the ordinary school London, Taylor & Francis. Retrieved June25, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=MawOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA83&dq=Behaviour+Modification+approach&hl=en&ei=DAAlTIzGGND4_Ab33720BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Behaviour%20Modification%20approach&f=true Taylor K. (2002). The California Home-school Guide. Victoria, Trafford Publishing. Retrieved June 27, 2010 from http://books.google.com/books?id=DmcRIpYWdHcC&pg=PA144&dq=advantage+of+eclectic+program+in+schools&hl=en&ei=oi8nTLL9MuGlsQbn7bHEBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBzgK#v=onepage&q&f=false Read More