TASK 2 : CRITICAL ANALYSIS | TSL3093

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Commonly, when a lesson is carried out formally in classrooms, the process

of teaching and learning will takes place during the session. The educators will be
responsible to deliver the input using various techniques of teaching whereby the
learners will be the recipients of the input given. However, when the teaching and
learning process is carried out, there are some challenges that educators need to
encounter to ensure the success of the lesson of that particular day. Dealing with vary
of learners behaviour is one of the utmost challenge that must being experienced by
educators.

Classroom management is the term educators use to describe methods of

preventing misbehaviour and dealing with it if it arises (Kelly, 2014). It is also can be
defined as a systematic instructional process used by teachers to guide students
toward successful rule compliance in the classroom, on the job, and in the community
(Kaliska, 2002). In other words, it is the techniques teachers use to maintain control
in the classroom. It is very important to have an effective classroom management as
it paves the way for the teachers to engage the pupils in learning. In order to face the
challenges, teachers should always be aptly prepared with knowledge and skills of
managing behaviour as well as to fit the needs of the teacher and the students.
Practicing appropriate and suitable classroom management theories will enhance
pupils learning and the learning objectives can be achieved.

2.0 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

In order to observe an English teacher teaching in classroom, as well as use

the recorded video to be analysed, my friends and I decided to ask help from Madam
Fong, our supervisory teacher during practicum. She was teaching the first class of
year 6 pupils whom the pupils were well-behave and quite difficult to detect disruptive
behaviours during the teaching and learning session.
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Based on my observation of this teachers teaching session, in my opinion she

can be identified as a laissez-faire teacher where she places few demand or controls
on the students. Basically, the environment of this classroom displays the mood of
"do your own thing". Laissez-faire teacher usually practice the democratic approach
in handling the classroom. The teacher that applied this approach tends to put more
power in the students hands, rules and obedience can be weakened. According to
(Ochoa, 2014), a teacher who embraces this style strives not to hurt the students
feelings and has difficulty saying no to a student or enforcing rules or regulations.
Besides that, interruptions are accepted with the belief that the student must surely
have something of value to say. Based on the recorded video, the teacher did not
forbidding her pupils to interrupt throughout the lesson. Instead, she let them to
speak out their mind as part of getting them to be engaged with the lesson of the
day. Hence, the pupils were allowed to share their thoughts regarding to the
lesson. In addition to that, discipline, while offered rarely, tends to be inconsistent
when comes to this democracy approach. The laissez-faire teacher or democratic
teacher cares for his or her students very much and is very involved in their lives.
This criteria is strongly opposed to the authoritarian and authoritative teachers.

Holistically, there was no serious disruptive behaviour happened during the

lesson. Teacher preferred and managed to practice the concept of prevention first
before cure, which means that teacher would try to prevent the misbehaviour of the
pupils if it possible. The teacher dare to prevent it by coming up with a simple yet
engaging activities and lesson for her pupils throughout the day. If the pupils were
engaged with the lesson, they were less likely to have poor behaviour (Stiffler,
2010). The teacher began the lesson by introducing the pupils the topic that they
were going to learn, 360. During the induction set, teacher triggered the pupils
schemata by asking them about things that can be related with the given topic. The
use of the globe enlightened the teaching process and it was able to attract the
pupils attention towards the lesson. The ability of creating lessons that are engaging
to pupils and fun. If pupils are having fun, they will be engaged. When they are
engaged in a lesson, they will not think about misbehaving, and will be focused on
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the task. By making lessons engaging and fun for pupils, teacher will have fewer
behaviour problems come up during lessons and the pupils will have fun instead of
having conflicts with one another.

Then, teacher proceeded with the presentation stage by giving some input of
places that can be visited all around the world. Most of the time, when it comes to
presentation stage, the teacher will be responsible to deliver input to pupils but
honestly it tends to make the pupils bored. Otherwise, teacher can involving the
pupils directly by asking them to give responds during the presentation stage using
many ways, for example by asking them to go to the front and tell his answers to
the rest of his classmates, allowing them to give comment in positive manner, share
their experiences that related to the topic of the lesson of that day and more else.
Based on the observed lesson process, the teacher asked a few of her pupils one
by one to go to the front to find their favourite places or countries on the globe. For
the first two stages of teaching, the pupils showed positive behaviour and the lesson
went smoothly. They showed their awareness towards the lesson delivered.

Indirectly, in my humble thought, the Choice Theory by William Glasser is

applied by the teacher for classroom management purpose. Eventually, it is based
on the idea that students are responsible for their behaviours, and that each individual
can control how he or she behaves (Stiffler, 2010). The age of the pupils observed
were actually matured enough to think about their behaviours in the classroom
especially they were in the first class. The Choice Theory provides an explanation of
motivation which is markedly different from what many of us have been taught. A
central aspect of Choice Theory is the belief that we are internally, not externally
motivated. While other theories suggest that outside events "cause" us to behave in
certain predictable ways, Choice Theory teaches that outside events never "make"
us to do anything. What drives our behaviour are internally developed notions of what
is most important and satisfying to us. Hence, the observed teacher managed to instil
the internal motivation among the pupils for learning purposes. Another major concept
in Choice Theory is the notion that we always have some choice about how to behave.
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This does not mean that we have unlimited choice or that outside information is
irrelevant as we choose how to behave. It means that we have more control than
some people might believe and that we are responsible for the choices we make (Dr.
William Glasser, 2010).

Next, during the practice stage, teacher asked pupils to think about the places
that they would like to visit and state the reasons for their answers. Teacher gave
those pupils plenty of times to think of the places. Within that times, teacher went to
the pupils in need if they were having problems regarding to do the given task. At the
same time, teacher was not ignoring the others when she was dealing with a pupil.
Teacher then called upon some volunteers to share theirs with their classmates. After
that, teacher continued the lesson with production stage by distributing a picture of
places that can be visited in Malaysia to each group. Based on the pictures, they were
required to write their own reasons of why they would like to visit the places in groups.
Beforehand, teacher had clarify and explained her instruction clearly so that pupils
knew and understand what they need to do after this. Teacher also repeated her
instruction once again after that. As the groups done with their discussion, the teacher
asked them to come to the front and present their outputs. During the presentation
session, teacher stressed to pupils to pay attention to the presenters. Every time
pupils responded to teacher or presented at the front of the class, teacher would said
thank you to them as an appreciation for their responses. Finally, teacher recap the
lesson by asking pupils again what they had learnt.

Based on the observation mentioned above, majority of the classroom

environment was controlled by the teacher using the practice of the Theories of
Instructional Management which was introduced by Jacob Kounin. Kounins key
ideas include the ripple effect, with-it-ness, overlapping, effective transitions,
momentum, smoothness and class management (The Learning House, 2016). These
characteristics would describe a teacher who knew what was going on at all times in
the classroom and was able to deal with more than one issue or problem at a time.
Therefore, by referring to the observed teaching and learning session, the teacher
was aware and noticed of the classroom environment as well as the learners acts.
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The principle of with-it-ness where the teacher have to always be alert to sights
and sounds in the classroom was being practiced by this teacher along the lesson. In
addition to that, the arrangement of the seats of the pupils helped the teacher to be
always within eyesight. According to this theory, when teacher is helping an
individual, the teacher has to make sure that he or she does not have his or her back
to the rest of the class. The importance of with-it-ness, is that the teacher knows
what is going on in their classroom at all times. They understand the importance of
having a close eye on students. Teachers who have with-it-ness are able to spot
areas where misbehaviour may arise, when students are upset, and are able correct
problem behaviours before they cause major distress to the classroom. These
teachers are able to manage their classrooms at all times and prevent problems from
occurring or expanding.

In a community of learners, it is the duty of the teacher to make sure everything

runs smoothly for students. By being able to spot problem behaviours before they get
out of line, it is better to keep the community of learners on tasks and helping keep a
safe learning environment. For an instance, while guiding a pupil in the classroom,
Madam Fong was not having her back for the rest of the class. The eagle eyes enable
her to look all around the class, by means that she was really aware with the
classroom environment. After she settled helping a particular pupil, she quickly went
to the other pupils in need. This attitude practiced by the teacher contributed in
preventing the misbehaviour to occur in the classroom. Good classroom
management would then facilitate student learning, by allowing teachers to
accomplish other important instructional duties. Kounin (Conte, 1994) thought
teachers who could be that "aware" would be better managers of children in the
classroom.

Apart from that, the principle of overlapping in Kounins theory demands the
teacher to be able to acknowledge difficulties that pupils of different groups may be
having so that instruction continues moving when instructing one particular group.
This also includes distractions from outside the classroom such as notes from the
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office or students walking through the hallways (Kounin, 1970). For example, Madam
Wong repeated her instructions during the production stage as the lesson was
distracted by two pupils who came into the classroom to deliver message. Hence, the
repetition by the teacher enable the pupils whom might not listening or got the
meaning of what they would do later to have a clear and clarify instruction. This is
quite important so that there would be nobody left behind without understanding the
instructions which can brings to the misbehaviour.

3.0 SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING PROCESS

Based on the analysis of observing as well as linking the received output with
the theories of classroom management learnt, in my opinion there are a few things
that teacher can improved in order to set a very effective classroom environment that
would be beneficial for both teacher and pupils. First and foremost, teacher need to
be clearly seen by the pupils. For example, during delivering the lesson, Madam Fong
tend to be a little bit front towards the centre table of the classroom. Hence, during
the teaching and learning process, there was a group of pupils on the right side of the
teacher told her to be back a few steps so that they can see what teacher wanted to
show or deliver input of the lesson orally.

Next, teacher also forget to appreciate the other pupils whom were not actively
responded during the lesson. For instance, teacher kept on calling the same
individuals to respond to her or to go to the front for sharing knowledge. In my opinion,
teacher should be more careful and sometimes be fair with them. Some of them are
able to respond especially in English well, but because of their shy and non-talkative
personality, teacher overlooked of them. If this happens for many times, the pupils
might be unsatisfied without showing tantrum or disruptive behaviour in the
classroom. They might be rebellious without telling nobody by refusing to pay
attention to teachers lesson. Teachers really need to be careful and quickly settle the
beginning of misbehaviour before it become worst.
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In addition to that, before begin the lesson of the day, it would be proper for all
the pupils to sit down on their respective chairs. Let them ready with the books and
stationaries needed. Based on the video, pupils were still moving from on places to
other places when Madam Fong was starting her lesson. It can be improved in future
so that pupils would not miss anything during the lesson.

4.0 CONCLUSION

To conclude, the occurrence of disruptive behaviours and misbehaviours by

the pupils are unexpected. Hence, teachers can help themselves to control and
manage the classroom properly by practicing the correct theories by the educator
scholars. However, teachers must bear in mind that not all the theories and concepts
introduced by the scholars are suitable to our particular young learners. The
successful teachers place more emphasis on classroom management than on their
roles as authority figures or disciplinarians. It is undeniable that good classroom
management is a key factor in teachers professional life. It helps to maintain
congenial and positive learning environment in the class. Apart from that, it also helps
to set standard procedures and rules to carry out in day-to-day teaching effectively
and smoothly. This subsequently helps the students to learn skills which they need
in the adult world. Never forget the power of one person to make a difference in the
life of a child.
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REFERENCES

Dr. William Glasser, M. D. (2010). Choice Theory Psychology. California: Harper .

Kaliska, P. (2002). Definition of Terms. A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY IDENTIFYING

THE MOST EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES AND
PRACTICES, 11.

Kelly, M. (2014, November 24). Definition of Classroom Management. Retrieved from

about education:
http://712educators.about.com/od/classroomhelpers/g/DefinitionOfClassroomMa
nagement.

Kounin, J. (1970). Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms. Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, Inc.

Ochoa, S. (2014, March 12). Personality vs. Teaching Style. Retrieved from Classroom
Management Styles: The Top 5: https://blog.udemy.com/classroom-
management-styles/

Stiffler, J. (2010). Classroom Management Plan.

The Learning House, I. (2016). Discipline Theorists. Retrieved from eLearnPortal:

http://www.elearnportal.com/courses/education/classroom-management-and-
discipline/classroom-management-and-discipline-discipline-theorists