Prevention And Cure

CHAPTER  I

INTRODUCTION

Being a teacher is one of the dominant and the majority job in Indonesia today, but many teachers can not improve the quality of education when teaching, they do not know how to manage classes, solve problems in the class made ​​the students and just without regard to student teach more. this happens because a poor teacher with teaching skills and lack of knowledge more in regulating the conditions of the classroom while teaching.

            Sometimes a teacher was afraid when there is a naughty student, lazy and disrespectful. they can only be stopped when once reprimanded but no respond for it, a solution to this, we can learn and understand the chapter on "Prevention and cure" as a preparatory step of teacher to manage the classes.

CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

I’ve told him, he needs to be firmer in the afternoon because they’re more difficult. He’s a trainee teacher who hasn’t quite grasped that yet, so they mess about bit. Then he gets angry, which is a big mistake.

(supervising teacher-mentor, year 5)

What does it mean to be firm but fair?

You may wonder why experienced teacher can seem rather hard on their students yet still retain a sense of humor and positivity. They know that if they deal with small problem early, they will have fewer serious difficulties later on. As soon as you possibly can, develop a teaching style where you are active. Rather than passive, determined and quietly insistent rather than patiently tolerant of poor behavior. When trainees are given the usually advice “Be firm, but fair”, there are no real indicators of what this means. One teacher’s idea of being firm is another’s idea of bossiness. May be you want to be nice as a good role model for your class. However, teacher in their first year of a full-time post often wish that they had been firmer at the beginning of year. Children test limits, so you need good idea of what being firm actually means. If you want to create a good working relationship there are steps along the way to professionalism that will probably go against your instinct.

Three ways to deal with behavior

There are 3 main ways of tackling students who behave as you would not like them to :

1.      Distraction;

2.      Conduct reminders;

3.      Consequences;

First, you can remind students about work targets to distract them. Second, you can refer to infringement of behavior codes and the student’s responsibility for conduct. Third, there are consequences for  not responding to the first two.

It is a mistake to see firmness as being in any way military and enforcing because that can be counterproductive. An authoritarian  formal approach is likely to make students clam up and not offer much. Sometimes you can roll forward the activities that students will do, striking a balance between formality and your determination so succeed. You can be tolerant but absolutely determined that you will involve the class by contrasting enthusiastic teaching and mid sentence pauses to regain attention.

Firm behavior management is never supposed to be battleground. If you want to win battles , choose another profession, because turning teaching into a war is not good way to avoid stress. Your firmness is sometimes a statement made to a difficult child rather than a battle won. You cannot make students do anything they refuse to do. Only persuade them they should think about the consequences if they do not. If you let them know that you disapprove, as in ‘you need to think about acceptable behavior and what happens if you don’t do that’ , at least you have stated your firmness. There is no guarantee that students will change direction, but at least their behavior was registered.

Refusing to Be Hooked by The Bait

It is too easy to say “ignore the bad behavior and praise the good” because not everything student do can be ignored. Sometimes you can distract them instead of confront them, a process of involving students in work by directing their attention toward what you want. Provided, that is they were set up well in the first place. You have codes of conduct and procedures that are points of referral or there is no  basis for letting student know what is reasonable and acceptable. Sometimes they may be listed as rules because young children seem to understand them better than more global behavior codes, such as “being polite” or “treating each other with respect”.

Ignoring bad behavior is possible but difficult and you will need to use your judgment about when to do this.  If you ignore bad behavior it sends out a powerful signal-it gives the message that the behavior gets no reward. Students often misbehave to see if you will take the bait, in which case they win because they gain your attention or because it invites a power struggle that they can enjoy. For ignoring to be a successful and powerful signal there has to be plenty of praise continually given elsewhere. The idea of giving plenty of praise elsewhere is that the malcontent in the class will actually want some of it.

Teachers who are poor managing their class shout much more frequently at students and use anger as the main but misguided means of class control. It is far better to sound as if you are very much in control of yourself and keen to move lesson forward as positively as you can. Control yourself in crisis before you control the class. Remember that  outer wall of your stomach. During those first a few moments of gaining attention, or even when you want refocus intention, you can occasionally use a very strong and loud “NO!” when there is too much chatter. This needs to be done immediately there is too much chatter, no left as a last resort. Follow it with a pause and calmly but firmly add whatever you need to persist in refocusing attention. An assertive teacher does not wait forever. Problem arise when a loud “NO!” become a bad habit. Once you diminish the effect of your “NO!” by overuse, out will come a fresh idea to bait you and see if you respond.

You might be offered the bait twice, maybe three times. But you must return to your one-liner. The best response to a further attempt to bait you,.  Although this technically counts as cheek, you can ignore it for the time being. If you hear mimicry, you can always laugh/ you refuse to be manipulated. As tactic it has there four basic steps, including the final strategy of stating your case and walking away :

1.      Ask the student what they are doing.

2.      Expect the attempt to bait you, but respond by describing what you see that need changing.

3.      Ask what student should be doing.

4.      If there is no satisfactory reply, describing what you need the student to do. Make this one-liner and just repeat it. Turn your back and walk away.

One further low-level way in which students disrupt is to pretend that they are helpless, sidetracking teachers into helping them. This is sometimes quite subtle and consequently it needs astute handling. It not appear to be disruptive, but what follows this helplessness certainly can be.

Switching the focus to  the positive behavior of the whole class can change agreed rules into good habits. How student sit is not exactly a rule, but it stem from the general expectation that they will be ready to learn. You can praise students for what they are doing that emphasizes the good work happening. You can praise students who show that they are ready and those who remember those six or seven “readiness” items of which you hoped you never needed to remind them. You can praise students who are concentrating on their work. You ca praise effort as well as achievement.

Not every thing regarding low-level disruption needs punitive action. There is an ancient Chinese saying that sump up many difficult situations : “ Muddy water, if left alone, will clear by itself . I think I would change that slightly for a beginner teacher : “Muddy water, if left alone, will sometimes clear by itself”. If you deliberately choose to ignore certain facets of behavior, this is not the same as taking no action whatsoever. The water clears it self because you recognize what s happening and make a decision to leave it alone. You are not passive about this because you move on quickly and distract students gaining attention without waiting forever.

Positive Prevention Through Class Rules and Targets

When facing a new class, experienced teachers rarely pin a list of rules to the wall in their first lesson. This is because the ability  to manage  a class is actually demonstrated from minute to minute. You may need some rules, but you will fare better if first you involve students  in an enjoyable task with clear directions about what you want. Rule can wait. The reason that they need demonstrating is because student forget them form from moment to moment anyway. Stop the class if its conduct does not match expectation an refer to acceptable codes of behavior. There will be routines about going to the toilet. You may have a rule about when students are legitimately out of their seats and a code of behavior for how they behave when they are in their seats. There will be for what happens when students are late. They may be rules about school uniform and PE kit. There may be expectations about homework or behavior on school trip.

Rule can invite students to break them, which is why they need to be few in number and eventually refer to responsibilities. Points of reference, such as class rules and targets are set up so that both of you and the student that you teach understand what is agreed. Rules and routines are useful for anyone; they are there so you can quote them without getting personal or confrontational. You refer to rules when students are  not involved in work, are off-task or socially irresponsible. They are your reference only when learning targets fail.

Target can divert attention away from quoting rules because they focus on learning and away from bad behavior. Specific learning targets, such as ‘Finding the vocabulary for our work on pollution’ or ‘Using scissors accurately to cut the card for our models’ give you reference points for praising work. I prefer work targets and effort targets accompanied by deadlines to rules any day. Rules can be quoted all over the place but targets can refer specifically to achievement, motivation and progress. The way that target function is that they are put into teaching plans on a daily basis to emphasize what the teacher will be looking for.

Class rules need to be simple  reference points or they are soon ignored. If you decide to set up a discussion to agree rules. You may find that unnecessary rules emerge. Instead of ‘Speak politely’ you may be offered ‘No Swearing in class’, which is negative and not necessary. Rules need to have consequences attached or they are worthless.

Rules

·         Look and listen to talker

·         Follow instructions carefully

·         Treat other as we would like to be treated

·         Move carefully and quietly in class

·         Keep our hands and feet to ourselves

·         Respect our own and others property

Consequences

·         Warning

·         Isolation

·         Lost play or lunchtime

·         Detention

·         See head teacher

·         Contact parents

Transforming Rule into Responsibilities

Teachers often use rules as reminders when they refer to them. “David, remember our rule about sharing please” emphasizes a class rule but may not persuade David to behave responsibly. David might need to be reminded constantly because there is no real reason why he should remember. Perhaps he has very few social skills so rules do not mean much, and he forget them anyway. You could have a rule that nobody speaks at the same time as you, but do you need one? If it is a class rule, you stand a better chance of enforcing it but you have not yet handed over responsibility for listening. Your longer-term aim is to encourage self-discipline. Doing this successfully involves you in a gradual process of abandoning rules and handing over responsibility. This does not mean that you create a class full of little parrots who continually shout out the rule themselves. It means that there is some subtle teacher talk to learn.

Referring to the rule                 :  Remember our rule about not shouting

Referring to responsibility       : Peter, you’re able to use your voice better than that so we can all   concentrate.

Prevention as A Resource Issue

Many behavioral problems can be prevented by remembering an anticipating the resources needed to teach. Nothing new there, you might think, but if you are starting out on your career this requires some thought. There are a few obvious issue, such as a whether students need the same resources at exactly the same moment. This is something you try to avoid, which is why there are enough scissors, paper and so on for the class. You need to overplan your resources, leaving nothing to change.  Some teachers have racks for almost everything. The reason for this is to run a resource system where the rack is always full. Having brushes, scissors even pencils in rack mean that they can be search for without counting at the end of the day or the end of a practical session. Otherwise there are your secret monitors to do the counting. More advantages resources are necessary for subject such as design technology and science. Student cannot saw wood if there are not enough saw or bench books and science makes similar demands for enough equipment. The prevention actually fades into the background once you discover how smoothly lessons can go if they are well resourced. There are fewer frustrations and fewer students left queuing for equipment.

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION AND CLOSING

A.    Conclusion

·         There are three ways to deal with misbehavior; distraction, conduct reminders and consequences. First, refer to  the students back to work. Second, refer to infringement of rules. Third, give consequences for ignoring distraction and conduct reminders.

·         Control yourself in a crisis before you are control the class.

·         “Muddy water if left alone, will sometimes clear by itself.”

·         Never bargain with students.

·         Make sure you have a culprit’s  attention before you direct them to do something.

·         If you haven’t set anything up in the first place, your praise will be general rather than specific.

·         If you stand firm, the routine will happen. If you give way and blur the routine, it will fail.

·         Rules set clear boundaries of agreed social behavior.

·         Say “you can” and defer it with “when”.

·         You distract, assert yourself, or impose consequences.

·         Prevent problems by thinking carefully about the resources needed.

B.     Closing

Finally, prevention through good resourcing includes checking whether those resources actually work. Science seasons can be ruined because bulbs and batteries fail. Computer suites are relatively reliable but can still fail. You may not manage to do anything about computer failure, but you can do something about the provision of glue, fastener, tape and other teaching resources. Traditionally, prevention is better then cure, you may think that this chapter is full good ideas that work , but the underlying message is that quite mundane resourcing and managing is necessary to prevent problems arising in the firs place.