INTERVIEW ON EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES 11

Introduction

Classroom management philosophy is how a teacher manages to gain and maintain control in class while offering student instruction aimed at learning, building character, and values. The interview conducted was meant to sensitize the teachers to know that they are responsible for coming up with philosophies to be implemented in the class setting to ensure the success of the students. Moreover, they are also required to invent ways of averting future problems by understanding their students' behaviors and learning methods. Classroom management involves ensuring that the students are active in-class activities as well as teaching them on the need to value self-control as opposed to being controlled as this will reduce the chances of them engaging in time-wasting activities (Scruggs et al., 2017). Also, students need to be motivated, and the teacher, therefore, needs to devise effective methods of rewarding their students to ensure fairness and equity for all students. The study also points out about the issue of discipline among the students which requires the teacher to come up with ways to deal with menace to ensure that they keep the students on the right track at all times.

Literature Review

Classroom management is a crucial activity that a teacher should always think about if they want to achieve a thriving class. The teacher should relate well to the students as this will make them work in harmony without fear and intimidation hence leading to excellent academic performance. The interview performed enabled the interviewer to collect information on various methods that an effective teacher uses to manage the class well. The research seeks to determine the role of the tutor to the students' life at school to help to prosper in their academics. The general classroom management identifies the general class philosophies, methods used by the teacher to prevent problems among students in future, how to maintain the students actively in class and how the teacher can instill to the students, the need for self-control among the students. The other part also highlighted seeks information on how the teachers give reward and recognition to the students to motivate them to do even better in their academic works as well as the methods to deliver punishment to the students to prevent them from repeating the same mistakes in the future.

Instrument

In this inquiry, the use of a questionnaire as a tool for guiding the data collection was used. Four teachers at different class levels were interviewed and their responses recorded. The data collected were tabulated (Appendix A), for analysis using content analysis. The same questionnaire was used for all respondents. We received data from four independent variables namely; General classroom management; rewards, praise, and punishment; and teacher involvement and relationships.

Research questions

What effective classroom management techniques need to be implemented by the teacher to ensure student success? What student recognition methods motivate them to work even harder, and how often do you need to carry out the practice? Will the excellent relationship between the teacher and the students bring academic excellence?

Methodology

The methodology involved preparation of a questionnaire for a qualitative survey of teachers in enabling collection of data. Four teachers were interviewed and responses recorded. The information collected was reduced to a chart (Appendix A). The respondents were assured of their confidentiality since it was a class exercise.

Results and findings

The research shows that general classroom management is essential for any students to prosper in their academic work. Techniques such as preventing future problems (Pepper et al., 2013), ensuring student participation class add to their academic achievement. For instance, one of the interviewees explained that they have to go around the class to keep the students on task as well as calling their names at random when asking questions which makes them keen and attentive all the time. Another interviewee elaborated that they have invented a method that students will raise their thumbs up if they agree or thumbs aside if they don't agree with some suggestions taught in class.

Moreover, the interview also found out that student recognition, praise, and reward played an essential role in ensuring the students are motivated to work better in the future. One of the interviewees illustrates that they only acknowledge rewarding their students when they deserve the reward. Moreover, one of the interviewees believed that teachers need to have a system of rewarding the students. For instance, in their case, they think that students should be rewarded on merits of positive behavior, cessation of bad behavior and excellent performance as well as the continued effort of improvement.

The results also indicate that rules and regulations are part of practical classroom management philosophies. Students are made aware of the rules at the beginning of the year. Strategies for instituting punishments are used to enhance compliance with the regulations. In severe situations, the teachers are forced to develop a behavior modification program to assist students with difficulty to comply with rules and regulations. Teachers give stars that are put on a chart and rewarded monthly. Students who don't meet are given a stripe, and if behavior persisted they were asked to write a letter to their parents indicating what they did, this was effective since most students didn’t want to write letters to their parents. In regards to teacher’s role in the students' life, teachers saw themselves as role models, character builders for future citizens.

Teacher-student relationship should be paramount to ensure success in academics. The warm relationship will make the student develop the sense of belonging and do away with fear. One interviewee has however elaborated well that there must be some boundary that has to be observed as too much of this relationship can result to indiscipline among some students. To ensure quality service, the teacher needs to know their role in students' lives. Their position is raising all-around student in life who possess all the qualities, knowledge and skills to be applied in real life. Problems affecting the students need to be communicated to the parents for immediate action to be taken to correct them.

Discussion

The study found out that most classroom philosophies follow a standard procedure of rules and regulations. The ability of the tutor to prevent future problems in the students helps deal with issues that could have affected the students in the future. Different strategies of reward, praise and discipline were effective in maintaining compliance with class rules. Recognition of students was essential to the students. One of the interviewees explains that having lunch with the teacher, having students star put in the teacher's room and also recognition in class. In regards to punishment and discipline, one of the interviewees explains that there should be no mistake that should go unpunished as this will make them remember in the future and avoid same problems. This finding is in agreement with. Parents have to be involved in the upbringing of their children by having open communication and joint interventions to correct errant behavior (Burden, 2016). With regards to teachers’ role and their relationship with students, it is evident that teachers play a significant role in the formative years of their students regarding molding future citizens that have values, respect for law and order and appreciate diversity. Teachers need to remain teachers and not change and become friends with the students. The focus of staying a teacher will enhance learning and mutual respect. A more elaborate study with a good sample is a possible area of further research. The effect of language barrier and culture on classroom management is an essential area for research further inquiry is necessary. This study implies that it will direct future research in classroom management from the insights pointed out.

Recommendations and suggestions

There should be ways of encouraging the teacher-student relationships as this will lead to a good cooperation between them, therefore, helping the student attain their academic excellence. For future research, more teachers should be involved in the interviews to increase the information base that can assist the other teachers to apply most of the learned techniques to better the lives of their students. The limitations of this study are that the sample was small only four respondents this cannot allow generalization of the findings. Secondly, the data was collected from one school environment in a primary school setting the result may not apply to all schools and all regions. The teachers should be encouraged and told that their responses are personal and their identity is not revealed to enable them to provide prompt answers without fear of intimidation from other people.

Conclusion

Classroom management remains an integral part of managing learning, character, and compliance with regulations (Jone et al., 2015). The philosophies used in classroom management are diverse from teacher (instructor) situation, their level of training, skills, and experience. The classroom management, in reality, involves teachers, students, parents and school administration. The collaborative approach needs to be adopted for effectiveness.