I once had the belief that classroom management was one of the most important parts of a successful, effective classroom. However, now I have come to believe that classroom management is not sufficient on its own. Many classroom management strategies revolve around the aspect of a reward and disciplinary system. Within this form of behaviourism, rewards are used to keep students engaged and motivated however their intrinsic motivation actually decreases as students learn to rely on rewards. The act of discipline is not an effective tool in the classroom because it creates a classroom that is quite negative and lacks support. However, many teachers approach students’ social and instructional needs from a perspective in which management is the goal. This control-oriented organization and technique often backfires creating less motivation and increasing student disengagement and hostility (Hamre & Pianta, 2006).
It’s not so much classroom management that is important; it’s creating a positive classroom community that is full of supportive relationships. These student-teacher relationships should be based around trust, respect, and understanding. These relationships should form the foundation of the classroom. Classroom management is used as a way to control negative students’ behaviour, however, just because a student is now being quiet doesn’t mean they respect you as a teacher or are engaged and motivated to learn. Classroom management can only achieve so much. It is through the presence of supportive relationships, students better maintain interest in their academic pursuits which evidently leads to better grades and more positive peer relationships (Hamre & Pianta, 2006). Teacher-student interactions that lead students to feel supported by their teachers are important in enhancing children’s’ motivation and well-being (Hamre & Pianta, 2006).
In order to create relational development, explicit teaching of social and emotional skills needs to be provided. This will help provide students with opportunities to talk about difficult feelings and situations in a safe and supportive environment. Social and emotional programs within the classroom are very effective in altering the quality of the classroom environment and creating positive relationships by providing students with a larger emotional vocabulary, an ability to connect basic emotions to personal experiences, an understanding of emotional cues, and more confidence that they can manage their feelings (Hamre & Pianta, 2006).When students feel capable of managing their emotions and they feel safe to share their feelings in a safe environment, their motivation to learn increases.
Hamre, B.K., & Pianta, R.C.(2006). Student-teacher relationships. In G.G. Bear & K. Minke (Eds), Children’s Needs III: Development, prevention, and intervention, 59-71.