Comprehending and Connecting Teenage Taste in the Classroom
Robin Gordon (1997) outlines fundamental behaviors teachers should adapt to teaching and classroom management in her article How Novice Teachers Can Succeed with Adolescents. Gordon notes that beginning teachers lose sight of the fact that managing their classroom involves more than teaching content. The article focuses on the concepts of social insight and withitness in classroom management and how diving into the culture of the adolescent student can create a trouble-free classroom environment.
Article Summary
The first behavior Gordon (1997) identifies as essential to helping teachers connect with their students is social insight. Social insight involves learning the student’s culture and behavior. What are the student’s interests, communication styles, fashion, beliefs etc.? Effective teachers are thought to be those who can tie in the adolescent’s interests with educational curriculum. One of the greatest areas of social insight that a teacher to student relationship can utilize in successful classroom management is communication. When a teacher communicates in a way students can understand and relate with, interest in the subject matter is held. Frustration and acting out as a byproduct of not knowing what is going on is eliminated. A student who feels their teacher understands their perspective may feel a reduced intimidation of asking for help and at ease in the classroom environment.
The second behavior presented in the article is the term coined by Jacob Kounin as withitness. Ryan and Cooper (2010) describe teachers who are with it as “picking up on the first sign of misbehavior, dealing with the proper pupil, and ignoring a minor misbehavior to stop a major infraction”. Teachers with withitness are effective because they get to know their students and their behavior patterns quickly. They are aware of their classrooms, and students realize that they know what is going on even when their attention seems to be elsewhere. Teachers who are with-it quickly address behaviors and earn the respect of their pupils.
The conclusion of the article speaks to approaches teachers can use to show that they possess social insight and withitness in the classroom. The first step is familiarization with the adolescent culture. Browsing a Cosmo magazine, turning on MTV, asking questions, reading the Twilight series, and searching for Justin Bieber on YouTube all facilitate social insight. Once you know aspects of the culture, relate it to content in the curriculum. Spend time getting to know your students outside of the classroom. Listen to what they are saying, and show in subsequent days that you truly were listening and are interested in them as a person. Affirm with their emotions. If it’s the day of a big dance, voice to them that you know they are excited and their energy may be in a different place than on doing their work. Don’t try to ignore that life happens outside of the classroom environment. Lastly show your students that you are human. If your students see that you too make mistakes, have good days and bad days and don’t have the answer to every question they will feel a common association which will lead to effective teaching practices.
Defence of Position
I strongly agree with the views of the article that teachers can increase the effectiveness of classroom management through developing social insight and withitness of their students. Bennett and Smilanich (1994) account one reason students view a teacher as effective is because “they were interested in what we did outside school”. When students understand that teachers watch television, listen to music, shop, and make mistakes just like them, an inviting foundation is laid in the classroom environment. When teachers can reciprocate awareness in their interests they show that they matter as an individual and have an important role to play in the community. Developing this connection, builds a respectful relationship between individuals throughout the classroom.
Knowing a student’s social life and culture can also help with teaching the curriculum. When students are struggling with a concept, developing a metaphor they can relate too can often generates that “ah ha” moment. In a recent teaching experience students were struggling with understanding how producers and directors can appeal to your senses to implicit a feeling in oneself. The opportunity arose to relate the concept to the popular MTV show Jersey Shore. The question was posed to them on the type of music the creators play in the background when Sammy and Ron are upset with one another, or when the group is getting ready to head out on the town for a night. Bringing in this social concept allowed them to see that the music throughout television shows will evoke feelings of excitement, anger, and sadness unconsciously to sway the viewer’s mind-set of a situation. The concepts related to consumerism were starting to be understood by a simple relation to their interests.
As a student-teacher, I can relate all too well to the importance of withitness in a classroom setting. Students see the fresh new face in the classroom and the competition begins on seeing how far they can push the limits. The first few days as the teacher you learn the ins and out’s of each student’s personality and if you’re one of the lucky ones, quickly establish your insight into their antics. Classroom management becomes easier because you quickly learn which misbehaviors you need to address to divert a chaotic situation. M. Lee Manning (n.d.) explain that with-it teachers can work one on one with an individual while still keeping the remaining students on task, acknowledge those who are struggling, stop disturbances and track time. The students in a with-it teacher’s classroom quickly recognize they will not get away with misbehaving and gain the respect and understanding of the expectations they will be held too.
Social insight and withitness are behaviors that can potentially be time consuming to develop. Adolescent culture is constantly changing and new fads are always coming in. What is loved one day may be hated the next. Taking an hour out of an already jam packed day to sit down and watch an hour of MTV may not always be the most ideal situation, but it will pay off in the end. Spending the first few weeks of school evaluating every student, situation and relationship in your classroom may feel like a monotonous task, but the withitness that develops will lead to effective classroom management.
Conclusion
Becoming an effective teacher encompasses many different elements including educating content, conducting evaluation, proper questioning and controlling classroom management. To aid in improving these elements of effective teaching, developing the behaviors of social insight and withitness can help a teacher comprehend the standpoint of their students. When one knows how to relate and communicate with their pupils while having the intelligence and quickness to manage behaviors, the day to day workings in a classroom transpire in stress free manner. Classroom management also requires the flexibility to understand that social insight and withitness is inconsistent from classes, students, periods and years so a teacher can never believe they have it all figured out.
References
Bennett, B. & Smilanich, P. (1994). Classroom Management: A Thinking & Caring Approach. Toronto, ON: Bookation Inc.
Gordon, R.L. (1997, April). How novice teachers can succeed with adolescents. Educational Leadership, 54.7, 56-58.
Manning, M.L. (n.d.). Strategies for Improving Student Behavior. Retrieved from http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/gohrw_rls1/pKeywordResults?keyword=HN2%20PRO%20REF
Ryan, K. & Cooper, J.M. (2010). Those Who Can, Teach (12th ed). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Article Link
http://0-web.ebscohost.com.darius.uleth.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=26d00aa7-662e-4d08-b47e-d7af1fa9c747%40sessionmgr13&vid=8&hid=15
Critical Response Peer Feedback
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your paper and overall I feel that it is very well done. The topic was both applicable to our course and interesting to me as the reader. I loved that you took the time to talk about how the paper made you feel personally and explained what implications it had for you as a beginning teacher. I thought that the writing had a good flow to it and the transitions between ideas were effectively planned out.
The one area which I think may be useful to expand on is defending your position. The description of the assignment asks for discussing both positive and negative implications of the content in the article. It also mentions anticipating objections from opposing points of view. While you did an excellent job of supporting the ideas that you agreed with from within the article, it would be helpful to think of objections that the reader may have and write a rebuttal for these points. For example, a person might think that using Jersey Shore to connect with students is a step too far in establishing a connection. I think there are very few teachers who would argue that a connection with students isn’t vitally important. However, some teachers may believe that you can establish a connection in other ways, without social insight and a cultural withitness. I have seen many teachers who chose to distance themselves from this type of a connection and create connections to the students in other ways. What would you say to this teacher to help support your position?
Thanks Gina for sharing your thought provoking paper with me. I do think it is very well written and shows excellent understanding of the sources you were using. Bravo you are well on your way! Have a great long weekend :)