Strategies of Effective teachers
Different student activities require different management strategies. Kounin’s 1970 study on effective teachers examined the nature of teacher behaviour when students were engaged in teacher-led and seatwork activities. Although his study showed that teachers in both the poorly managed and well-managed classrooms used similar disciplinary techniques, Kounin discovered that the most effective teachers were skilled at preventing misbehaviour from occurring in the first place. Below is a list of strategies of teachers in well-managed classrooms as identified by Kounin (1970):
Strategy
With-it-ness’
Momentum
Smoothness
Group alerting
Accountability
Multi-tasking or ‘overlapping’
Challenge, arousal and variety
Momentum
Smoothness
Group alerting
Accountability
Multi-tasking or ‘overlapping’
Challenge, arousal and variety
Teacher Behaviour
Effective teachers have ‘eyes in the back of their head’; constantly scan the classroom for potential disruptions and see a disruption almost before it starts. Teachers who are ‘with-it’ have low levels of misbehaviour.
Effective teachers maintain the flow of the lesson and do not engage in behaviours that slow down the pace of the lesson, e.g. 'hands-down please until I ask a question' or 'is it urgent? – if not it can wait'. ‘Flip-Flop’ teachers by contrast slow down the pace of the lesson by flip flopping from one instruction to another or ‘overdwelling’ on instructions by going over the same points again and again. Misbehaviour increases as momentum decreases
Effective teachers maintain a smooth flow of activities. ‘Flip-Flop’ teachers cause disruption and ‘dangle’ teachers may start an activity then leave it ‘dangling’ to do something else or backtrack to explain something they forgot.
Good teachers use a range of cues and signals to keep the group alert and focussed, such as waiting a few seconds for quiet, calling on the group for responses, and asking students to show they can answer a question.
Strategies such as questioning keep the group accountable to the goals of the lesson. Signals that indicate students should listen to their peers, or wait their turn to speak, also make the students accountable to one another.
Effective teachers can do more than one thing at a time, such as using signals like eye contact or hand movements to bring a student back to attention, without disrupting the flow of the lesson.
‘Flip Flop’ teachers might disrupt the momentum of a lesson by stopping to correct or reprimand a student, whereas more effective teachers use good overlapping skills to continue the lesson.
Effective teachers keep students enthusiastic and involved by providing varied tasks and activities that are targeted at the right level of difficulty – i.e. engaging the students though effective learning design and age appropriate pedagogy.
Adapted from Kounin 1970 (as cited in Krause et al 2010)
Effective teachers maintain the flow of the lesson and do not engage in behaviours that slow down the pace of the lesson, e.g. 'hands-down please until I ask a question' or 'is it urgent? – if not it can wait'. ‘Flip-Flop’ teachers by contrast slow down the pace of the lesson by flip flopping from one instruction to another or ‘overdwelling’ on instructions by going over the same points again and again. Misbehaviour increases as momentum decreases
Effective teachers maintain a smooth flow of activities. ‘Flip-Flop’ teachers cause disruption and ‘dangle’ teachers may start an activity then leave it ‘dangling’ to do something else or backtrack to explain something they forgot.
Good teachers use a range of cues and signals to keep the group alert and focussed, such as waiting a few seconds for quiet, calling on the group for responses, and asking students to show they can answer a question.
Strategies such as questioning keep the group accountable to the goals of the lesson. Signals that indicate students should listen to their peers, or wait their turn to speak, also make the students accountable to one another.
Effective teachers can do more than one thing at a time, such as using signals like eye contact or hand movements to bring a student back to attention, without disrupting the flow of the lesson.
‘Flip Flop’ teachers might disrupt the momentum of a lesson by stopping to correct or reprimand a student, whereas more effective teachers use good overlapping skills to continue the lesson.
Effective teachers keep students enthusiastic and involved by providing varied tasks and activities that are targeted at the right level of difficulty – i.e. engaging the students though effective learning design and age appropriate pedagogy.
Adapted from Kounin 1970 (as cited in Krause et al 2010)
