What is withitness in education

Recall your favorite teacher and think about the way she or he managed the class to make it a positive learning experience for you. Now, read Chapter 5 of your text to explore the various strategies for effectively managing a classroom and see if you can make a connection between what the text says and your favorite classroom experience. Keeping that comparison in mind, answer the following questions:

· When you think about managing a classroom, what do you feel most confident about?

· What are your biggest concerns? State carefully one possible way to deal with your greatest concern and relate it to Kounin’s preventive approaches to managing a classroom.

· Why do you think your solution will work? What challenges or obstacles could impede its success? Explain.

Refer to Chapter 5 of your text, additional resources and your own insights/experiences.

CHAPTER 5 BELOW

The classic study of what effective teachers do when it comes to managing the classroom was published in 1970 by Jacob Kounin. Kounin's research involved the analysis of numerous hours of videotaped segments from classrooms at various grade levels. Kounin observed that teachers who prepared and proactively managed their classrooms were far more effective in teaching and engaging students. Because of the impact of his work, some have called Kounin the "father of classroom management." In this section, we will learn some of Kounin's concepts that emphasize preventive approaches to managing the classroom.

Managing by Being "Withit"

Photo of students in a classroom using cellphones.

Blend Images/Blend Images/Superstock

There are so many things to consider when teachers begin their teaching careers that crafting a classroom management system often falls low on the priority list, when in fact it should be one of the first topics addressed.

Jacob Kounin (1970) is known for introducing several helpful management concepts. Perhaps the best known is withitness. This term signifies a teacher's awareness of what is going on in his classroom and the communication of this awareness to his students. Teachers most often communicate their withitness in nonverbal ways, anticipating potential difficulties and warding off problems very quickly. Withit teachers act as if they have eyes in the back of their heads. For example, a withit teacher might go right on teaching when two students are chatting with each other, simply laying a hand on each desk as he walks by. In most instances in a well-managed classroom, this is the only action necessary to nip things in the bud.

Withit teachers also possess the ability to overlap, that is, to do more than one thing at a time. By "overlapping," Kounin meant the teacher's ability to handle two or more simultaneous events, or in today's terminology, to multitask. For example, a teacher who can overlap can answer a student's question and hand another student a hall pass without neglecting the first student. Situations continually arise in the classroom that call for the teacher to overlap.

Kounin (1970) also discovered that effective classroom managers are conscious of momentum and aim to achieve smoothness. Momentum refers to the rate or pace of the lesson, and smoothness involves the lesson's flow. Teachers carefully watch students for signs of boredom or frustration and intervene appropriately. They must be aware of the lesson's momentum and plan ahead for transitions, those times between lessons and activities when chaos can erupt if not planned for. Teachers can productively use transition time, either by giving warnings (e.g., "You have 2 minutes to complete this task") or by preparing for the next task in advance (e.g., "Once you have turned in your math problems, take out your daily journal and enter today's date and a sentence about what we did first this morning").

As a way to enhance lesson smoothness, teachers can use group alerting. Group alerting includes what the teacher does to keep students on their toes. For example, teachers who wait to call on a particular student until after giving all students a chance to think about a question are using group alerting. In addition, a teacher who says, "Everyone look up here," is also using group alerting as a way to focus the class's attention.

Along with exhibiting specific behaviors, maintaining activity flow means that the teacher does not engage in certain behaviors. Kounin (1970) used some colorful terms for these behaviors. One such teacher behavior that leads to what Kounin called "jerkiness" is overdwelling, in which the teacher goes over the same point or direction repeatedly. When a teacher overdwells, students lose interest, become frustrated, and may take advantage of opportunities to misbehave. Another teacher behavior to avoid is what Kounin labeled stimulus-boundedness. This occurs when the teacher is distracted by some external stimulus (e.g., the teacher may comment on something she sees in the hallway and thus cause the students to redirect their attention). A teacher who is stimulus bound is easily drawn off track; the result is confusion on the part of students.

Holding Students Accountable

Kounin (1970) observed that, in a well-managed classroom, teachers hold students accountable for the work assigned. Emmer, Evertson, and Worsham (2000) present three ways teachers can promote greater student accountability. First, teachers should clearly communicate assignment expectations and requirements. This can be done both verbally and in writing. Directions must be clearly stated. It is also helpful to provide students with the grading criteria at the time an assignment is given.

Second, in order to hold students accountable, teachers should monitor their progress. During class, this can be accomplished by circulating around the classroom and giving corrective feedback. For assignments completed outside the classroom, the teacher can monitor students' work by scheduling progress checks.

Third, students are more accountable when teachers provide regular and prompt feedback. The importance of such feedback was described in Chapter 3 in our discussion of Skinner and behaviorism. Now we can see that it is important for both learning and behavior. When students know where they stand, what they are lacking, and how closely they have hit the mark, they are more motivated to perform. Note how this feedback mechanism already exists in most sports. For example, kids know immediately whether they have hit an archery target and can see where they need to aim next time. Teachers need to provide students with a similar kind of feedback in order to keep them focused on learning tasks. They also need to help students learn how to self-evaluate.

An issue related to helping students be accountable is raised by Kohn (1996, p. 19) when he suggests that a key question to ask when students are off task is "What's the task?" Sometimes students do not follow through with the work assigned because they do not see the purpose of it; they may perceive it as busy work or may question its relevancy. Thus, teachers should make sure that what they are asking students to do has value. Can they provide a reason for students to do what they are asked to do? Is the task itself interesting, relevant, and meaningful? If not, then teachers must recognize that students may not engage in the work.

Also note that if students are held to a high level of accountability, they will usually rise to that level, but if students are not expected to perform well, they probably will not. This is true for both academics and for teachers as well as students. The foundational research leading to this finding came from the work of Albert Bandura (1993) on self-efficacy. When teachers have a strong belief in their capabilities, they tend to make greater efforts toward their students' success. This leads to better student performance and the students' beliefs in their own self-efficacy. Next, the teachers are encouraged by the students' successes, believing even more strongly in their own self-efficacy, and the cycle continues.

Important to the self-efficacy theory is the idea that teachers have a willingness to persist in their efforts, to try new practices including better planning, organization, and professional commitment. Such attitudes on the part of teachers have been shown to lead to more positive student attitudes toward school. In other words, schools that implement processes to help students meet their high academic and behavioral expectations have high rates of academic success (Akey, 2006; Gambone, Klem, Summers, Akey, & Sipe, 2004). This means that everyone (including the teacher) should be held to high levels of expectation. This does not mean the same goals for everyone. For individual students, it may mean different expectations based on their individual capabilities. For teachers, it means not giving in to assumptions and stereotypes, instead, as Bandura would say, believing that all students can succeed to the best of their abilities, no matter what their backgrounds may be.

Take, for example, a recently admitted student. The principal tells the teacher that she is homeless, has not been in school for several months, and has attended five schools in the last 3 years. It is not out of the question to assume, at least initially, that this student will be below grade level and in need of support simply because she has not been in school. Whether this is true or not is not important. What is important is to give this student the respect, acceptance, and high expectations as well as the tools and support she needs. The messages that teachers communicate to students are important; they affect their self-image and ability to be successful. Conveying positive and high expectations in a classroom and school environment can affect students' beliefs about themselves. In addition to having successful students in an academic sense, schools with high expectations have lower rates of problem behaviors, including dropping out, alcohol and drug abuse, teen pregnancy, and delinquency (WestEd, 2008).

In the classroom, there are many ways that teachers can communicate high expectations from academic and behavioral standpoints. For instance, teachers should not accept students opting out of participating in class or achieving success, regardless of students' excuses. This approach is known as "no opt out" (Lemov & Atkins, 2010). Looking at "no opt out" from a behavioral standpoint, a teacher must ensure that students don't have the option to behave inappropriately and provide accommodations to help them succeed. If teachers set high expectations, all students, even the ones with typically poor behavior, will eventually rise to them if proper supports are implemented.

A second way to communicate high expectations is called "right is right" and is about accepting things being partially right versus completely correct. This means that teachers should encourage students when they are on the right path and their answers are almost correct. The teacher can make statements that convey that students are closing in on the right answer or that she likes the work they have done so far (Lemov & Atkins, 2010). The same can be said of expected behaviors in the classroom. Teachers should compliment and acknowledge behaviors to let students know they are on the way to achieving the acceptable standard. Recall from Chapter 3 that this is known as "shaping."

A third way to communicate high expectations, called "without apology," describes the fact that we often inadvertently lower expectations by the way we talk about students and apologize for having to set a rule or expectation. Holding students to high expectations requires no apology.

Planning the Physical Setting

Think back to the dinner party described at the start of this chapter, with its advance environmental preparations so important for success. As we mentioned then, these preparations are as important in the classroom. While the physical environment was not a focus of Kounin's study, a teacher can be proactive in this area as well, and such decisions about layout and décor will affect how students think and act. It might be said that the furniture even "talks," telling students that they are to be quiet and listen to the teacher if the desks are placed in rows facing the front, or, alternatively, telling them that they are expected to participate actively with each other if the desks are placed in groups of four or five. The younger the students, the more they are affected by layout. Kindergarten children, for example, need room between tables and centers to navigate their still-awkward bodies. They, and primary children as well, need frequently changing concrete materials that hold their attention, rather than a day filled with dreary pencil-and-paper drills (Slentz & Krogh, 2001).

All ages will respond to a colorful and friendly environment. Prints of professional artwork can provide enjoyment as well as a basis for study. Posting student artwork promotes an atmosphere of respect. While at the beginning of the school year it is the teacher's responsibility to create a pleasant environment, turning that responsibility over to the students adds even more respect and fosters independent decision-making. In general, student-created art should be emphasized over beautiful, aesthetically pleasing work. In addition to student artwork, photos of the students, newspaper clippings that contain students' names, and calendars of students' birthdays make the room more personalized. Classroom space should be attractive and inviting. Students should feel welcome there.

For making decisions about the layout of the classroom, Emmer, Evertson, and Worsham (2000, pp. 2–3) provide the following five keys to good room arrangement:

Use a room arrangement consistent with your instructional goals and activities.

Keep high-traffic areas free of congestion.

Be sure students are easily seen by the teacher.

Keep frequently used teaching materials and student supplies readily accessible.

Be certain students can easily see instructional presentations and displays.

Some teachers ignore (or are unaware of) these guidelines, and thus, through neglect, ignorance, or oversight, they contribute to a poorly managed learning environment. Of the five keys, the first one is the most important. Your decisions about the look and feel of your classroom should be determined by what you are trying to accomplish. Thus, before arranging your classroom, you will need to think through your long-term goals for students. For example, a high school business education teacher who desires to prepare students for the workplace might decide to arrange her classroom to resemble an office. Similarly, a third-grade teacher who wants students to learn how to work cooperatively and plans to use small groups frequently may place students' desks in pods of four. And finally, a teacher at any grade level who wants to provide easy computer access for Internet research would set up the classroom so that computer usage could be monitored and so that those students on the computers would not disturb other students.

The major work of preparing your classroom takes place during the few days before students arrive. However, changes can and should be made throughout the year in response to students' needs and on the basis of instructional changes. You should not view arranging your classroom as a onetime event. Whenever behavior problems arise, look for signs that the physical environment could be the source. It may be, for example, that arranging students in small groups has led to misbehavior on the part of some children. Placing desks in rows for a time―possibly a week or two―might be helpful in returning the class to better organization and calm.

MORE OF CHAPTER 5

Effective teachers implement a management system at the beginning of the school year. Rules and procedures are important components of any management system (Emmer, Evertson, & Worsham, 2000). Rules are clearly stated expectations that guide student behavior. If rules are unclear or fuzzy, or if they change from day to day, students are likely to push or test the limits. Rules can be established by the teacher, or by the students with guidance from the teacher. Research offers the helpful information that "students are much more likely to adhere to a set of rules that they helped establish than those they perceive are forced on them" and that "it is important to explain the classroom standards clearly and state the reasons for them" (Bradley, Pauley, & Pauley, 2006, p. 37). During group learning, rules also protect students from harm (both physical and psychological) and assist in the smooth operation of the class so that learning can result.

When developing rules, with or without participation from the students, teachers should create a small number (generally three to five), phrase them clearly, and use positive statements (i.e., state what students should do rather than what not to do). Once decided upon, the rules should be posted where they can be seen by everyone and easily referred to. Younger students will need opportunities to practice the rules. As an example, the class might have established a rule that asks everyone to line up for recess quietly. Practicing once or twice immediately following the rule's creation will prove helpful later when it is time for recess, because otherwise, children might be too excited about going outside to think about appropriate behavior.

Procedures are routines for accomplishing tasks, making efficient use of time and space. Think about everything that happens in the classroom on a daily basis. Procedures range from how students enter the classroom and how homework is collected, to how students ask for help or how permission is granted to go to the nurse's office. Students must master learning classroom procedures just as they master subject matter material. Thus, procedures, like anything else in a classroom, must be taught and reviewed regularly. Research has demonstrated that "fewer behavior problems occur in classrooms that adhere to established routines" (Bradley et al., 2006, p. 37).

Keeping It Clear and Simple

Advance thought and planning, with buy-in from the students, will be well worth the time devoted to it, because "ultimately more time can be devoted to teaching and learning" (Bradley et al., 2006, p. 37). Part of the classroom management system is to create procedures and systems that make classroom expectations clear, so it is important to be transparent and succinct about what they are. Expectations must be meaningful, relevant, and connected to the work in the classroom. Having rules and procedures that are clear and well thought out reduces wasted time and allows everyone in the classroom to work efficiently. One of the key characteristics of a well-managed classroom is that "there is relatively little wasted time, confusion or disruption" (Wong, 1991, p. 89).

Photo of young students lining up to be counted in class.

Cusp/Cusp/Superstock

Something unexpected will always come up in the classroom, often with unique consequences. Simplicity is the key to remembering your classroom management system well enough to be able to adapt it in the face of unexpected events.

Of course, having a set of rules or procedures that covers every classroom misbehavior or disruption is unreasonable and impossible: "Just as the list of behavior problems is nearly endless, the effects of misbehaviors are also limitless" (Manning & Bucher, 2013, p. 6). Something unexpected will always come up in the classroom, often with unique consequences. Simplicity is key to remembering your classroom management system well enough to be able to adapt it in the face of unexpected events. Simplicity is even more important for students. It will ensure that they remember expectations, rules, and procedures. As an example of what doesn't work, take the complicated directions that come with new technology or an appliance. Few people ever read them, and most of us try to figure things out as we go. It is only when we stumble or get hopelessly lost that we read directions, search for answers online, or ask for assistance. The point is, we rarely read directions or follow procedures when they are not short, simple, and easily accessible. The same is true in the classroom. The list of rules should be easily manageable and simple enough to explain in a couple of minutes. The rules must be reasonable, positively worded, enforceable, and integrated into your classroom systems (Burden, 2006; Grossman, 2004; Kerr & Nelson, 2006; Maag, 2004).

As an example of how rules can be made to work, let's assume a class of second graders. It is the beginning of the year, the teacher is new, and the children have just now graduated from the K–1 playground to the field that the big kids use. The teacher gathers the class together and prepares the children for this new and more grown-up playground they are about to enter. She asks them, "What do you know about a good way to go to the playground?" Responses might include:

We should all line up quietly.

In first grade, if we were noisy we had to go to the end of the line.

"Great," responds the teacher. "Those are the only two rules we need. What about coming back in?" The children look a little confused. They're really not ready to think that far ahead. So, the teacher continues, "When it's time to come in, I'll blow this whistle three quick times." She gives a brief demonstration. Hands now go up:

I guess we should line up quietly all over again.

And go to the end of the line if we fool around.

Now there are just two rules for leaving and two for coming back. "We can write them down later," says the teacher. "Since it's our first time, let's just see how well your rules work. Good job thinking of some helpful choices!"

Another piece of important advice is to know yourself and what you can and cannot handle in the classroom. Many classrooms are poorly managed because teachers do not take enough time thinking through their own needs. Do you like to have a lot of movement in the classroom, with students walking around and working with other students? Do you prefer to have a quiet room? Do you want students to ask for permission to use the restroom? How do you want homework passed out or turned in? Who should be in charge of these things: teacher or students? It is important to know what keeps you calm, collected, and able to function, thereby helping you and your students succeed. Many teachers react in the moment and change rules and procedures because they have not thought through what they needed. Perhaps the second-grade teacher in the example has already determined that she will have the class line up quietly and that misbehavers will go to the end of the line. Not wanting to chance the children thinking of inappropriate suggestions, she doesn't engage them in dialogue but simply informs them of the rules. She may include the children in such decision-making another time. The time it takes to reflect on your own needs will save time down the road. Benjamin Franklin perhaps stated it best when he said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Using Appropriate Methods

Spotlight: Classroom Rules

Pre-planning can save the teacher many headaches once class begins. Teachers must be familiar with school policies and procedures, documentation, and support structures. Students can also help devise rules that allow each student to learn.

Critical Thinking Questions

Both the video and the textbook suggest it is a good idea to let students participate in establishing classroom rules. Does this approach in any way make you feel uncomfortable or unsure about your capabilities? If so, list your concerns and ways you might deal with them. If not, prepare a statement you can share with others in which you give your reasons for thinking it will be a positive experience for you.

The video suggests it will be important for you to learn your school's behavioral expectations and to establish your own expectations so that they do not conflict. What will you do if your philosophies of management and discipline conflict with those of the school? For example, perhaps you support the idea of students helping establish classroom rules but the administration believes principals and teachers should establish them before school opens each year.

Rules work best when they make sense to students and to the teacher and when they are explicit with no possibility of misinterpretation. The same can be said for having a list of consequences. Rules can serve as a mechanism to build cohesion and community among students and teachers, particularly when students have had input in their construction (Henley, 2006). When students know they can rely on fair and equal treatment, they will more readily accept and respect the rules.

Reconsider Punishment

In the past, the most frequent response teachers had to behavior problems was punishment. In recent years, the use of punishment has been widely criticized (Gordon, 1989), although, as discussed in Chapter 3, B. F. Skinner had unkind things to say about it decades ago. Kohn (2006) challenges teachers to consider the messages sent to students about learning when punishment is the method of correction. He suggests that teachers need to examine why they use punishment. Among the reasons that he outlines are the following:

Punishment is expedient—it's fast and easy (for the teacher).

Teachers may know no other strategies.

The use of punishment makes teachers (and other adults) feel powerful.

According to Kohn (2006), one of the primary reasons why teachers use punishment is because they falsely think that it is the only choice, that "until we have made the wrongdoer suffer, we haven't really taken any action" (p. 31). There is no reason, Kohn argues, to think that punishment will ever be "effective at helping students to become caring, responsible members of a community" (p. 32). A problem-solving approach, on the other hand, not only helps offenders learn better behavior, but also fosters the building of a classroom community.

Favor Natural and Logical Consequences

When teachers view rule enforcement as a teachable moment, they are more likely to use natural or logical consequences instead of punishment. A punishment is discipline imposed by an external authority; a natural consequence is something that occurs naturally as a result of behavior. In many situations, natural consequences already exist in the students' worlds, thus making the concept easily understood. For example, if a student fixes dinner while wearing nice clothes, a natural consequence might be that her clothes become soiled. Or perhaps the student makes an unkind remark to another child. The natural consequence of this behavior, perhaps, would be the other child's unwillingness to interact again with the student who hurt his feelings. In other words, the unpleasant consequence can be thought of as a type of natural punishment, leading to an avoidance of these acts in the future.

Natural consequences can be distinguished from logical consequences, which are defined as "situations where the consequence is, in effect, arranged by the parent or another adult rather than being solely the result of the child's own acts" (Dreikurs & Grey, 1968, p. 65). In order for the consequence to be effective, the student must experience it as logical in nature. In fact, Wong and Wong (1998) emphasize that students cooperate more readily when they understand that consequences logically follow behavior. For example, should a student leave a messy work station in science lab, the logical consequence would be for her to clean up the area.

According to some education writers, teachers should follow three guidelines when selecting consequences (MacKenzie & Stanzione, 2010; Nelsen, Lott, & Glenn, 2000):

The consequence should be related to the behavior.

The consequence should be reasonable.

The consequence should be delivered in a respectful manner.

When consequences are related, students see the connection between what they have done and its outcome. For example, if a student leaves paper on the floor, a related consequence would be to pick up the trash. Teachers can formulate reasonable consequences by making sure their decisions do not seem arbitrary to students. In addition, consequences that are respectful are administered in a way that does not seem overly harsh; respectful consequences have well-defined beginnings and endings (MacKenzie & Stanzione, 2010).

Another way to ensure that consequences are respectful is to be sure that they are not viewed by the students as punishments, which could so easily happen. If everyone—teacher and students alike—views the classroom as a community, then consequences are simply a step in repairing a problem or restoring a positive atmosphere. And everyone is responsible for this. For example, if paint is spilled from a kindergarten easel, the child who did it knows it is his responsibility to clean up the mess. If this happens in a highly functioning community, other nearby children would offer to help. And if the classroom has been efficiently set up, the necessary clean-up materials would be near at hand. As a second example, two middle school girls might have engaged in a quarrel that includes loudly interrupting each other. In this case, the teacher begins to realize that the class rule "Be respectful of one another" is perhaps too vague. In this case, she would work with the students to define the problem and create a solution that would be satisfactory to them both. Together they might decide to refine the rule to be "Listen as much as you speak."

Deciding on the consequences of inappropriate behavior (the middle school argument) or unintended mistakes (the easel mess) is a part of creating rules. It is also the case that these two experiences offer two different examples of rulemaking. In the example of the easel spill, the teacher, with the children's help, no doubt created a rule for clean-up at the beginning of the school year. Thus, there are no questions about what to do when mishaps occur. The middle school disagreement, however, leads to the need for in-the-moment rule creation. The general rule for being respectful doesn't fit every occasion, including this one. Now, the two students and teacher will need to refine the rule to meet the current problem. They can later take the situation to the class as a whole for agreement or further refinement.

As discussed earlier, students have more ownership of rules that they help create (Scherer, 2008). The same is true in deciding on consequences, and part of teaching children to create rules is teaching them what consequences would be most appropriate. The latter is actually a more difficult process, particularly for younger children. This is an important reason for keeping rules to no more than three to five. If we use the same two examples again, we can see that a simple consequence for making messes will be to clean them up, and the consequence for fighting will be to create a satisfactory resolution, possibly with accompanying apologies. In both cases, rules and their consequences as created by teacher and students together will lead to the creation of a well-functioning community of learners.