Behaviour Management in Year 8 Science
June 06, 2017
Given a clear focus by my supervising teacher, I was sent off to observe some different behaviour management techniques that other teachers utilise in their classroom. My first stop was in Mrs. M's Year 8 Science class.
Prior to stopping by, I was given a bit of a run down on this particular class. It was one of the more challenging Year 8 classes, with a number of students who liked to avoid work at every possible occasion. There were disruptive students, and students with behaviour management challenges. On top of all that you had the good, studious students as well, but they were not the focus of today's lesson. With all that in mind, it was set to be an exciting lesson.
Mrs. M kept a pretty tight reign on this class, quickly stopping the lesson when the noise level was getting too high, or when particular students were not focused in her initial instruction. One thing I really liked about her behaviour management was that she made it clear that she wanted respect from the students in the classroom and would not speak over the top of disruptive students. To make this known, she used prolonged moments of silence to gain the classes attention. Instead of shouting over the top of students, she would stand silently at the front of the room, waiting for students to redirect their attention, before continuing. One thing I noticed when she used this technique was that students actually told those who were talking to be quiet.
This use of silence was actually a technique that she recommended to me, being someone who is quieter in demeanor. She told me to ‘not be afraid of silence’, that it ‘often works well to catch students attention, allowing students to quieten down their peers’ (L. Montero, personal communication, 6th May 2017). I thought this was actually a really useful technique. I do not have the biggest voice, compared to male counterparts and even some female, so silence may be a really useful tool for me. I think there has long been this idea that we need to be loud in order to manage and be heard in a classroom. This is not something that necessarily resonates with me, but silence and non-verbal cues. As the teacher, we are not the only ‘classroom manager’ (Barbetta, Norona, & Bicard, 2005). There are, fortunately, a number of other people in the classroom who can assist with the behaviour management, including the students (Barbetta, Norona, & Bicard, 2005). Students self-monitoring is a great way for students to see what they are doing wrong and help to correct this (Barbetta, Norona, & Bicard, 2005). Students then, often, extend this to their peers, correcting or making a point about incorrect behaviour (Barbetta, Norona, & Bicard, 2005). This is what was happening during Mrs. M’s moments of silence. Students were ‘shhing’ each other to get the silence that she wanted, without her even having to raise her voice.
Silence isn’t going to work in every classroom situation. There will be times when you will need to be louder and more present verbally. However, as a quieter person, this technique resonates with me. I think it helps to teach students the ability to self-monitor as well, which is a skill they will need outside the classroom, for the rest of their life. For me, the biggest challenge, as Mrs. M pointed out, will be in not being afraid of silence. As my supervising teacher pointed out, we are all taught that we need to fill those silences with information, but sometimes silence can be extremely useful (D. Gilmour, personal communication, 6th May 2017). I will definitely be practicing this idea in my lessons for the rest of the lesson.
Bibliography
Barbetta, P., Norona, K., &
Bicard, D. (2005). Classroom Behavior Management: A Dozen Common Mistakes and
What to Do Instead . Preventing School Failure, 49(3), 11-19.
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