Exam 3 - Understanding and Managing Children

1) Glasser's 5 student drivers and how to address them in Class 1.

The first student drive as recognised by Glasser, is "love, belonging and acceptance". This is especially important when children are as young as they are when they come into class 1, only just leaving the more imaginative, dreamy world of kindergarten. To address this need it is important to create a positive, soothing classroom atmosphere where the children will feel comfortable and welcomed. A sense of inclusion and belonging can be brought about with the use of group activities and games. This also gives the opportunity for social interaction, through which we learn how to belong. Furthermore, including children's interests in lesson content or the way it is presented, is another way of recognising and accepting who the children are.

Encouragement and positive beliefs about the children is vital for the students to build a positive view of themselves, including a sense of competency and achievement. Rather than always focusing on whether all the students have finished the task at hand, it is important to notice and encourage effort put into the work, regardless of the gap between the different students' work. By setting clear, achievable goals, the students can also foresee their success and this gives them the confidence to go ahead with the task. All of these contribute to a sense of "personal power, competency and achievement".

Survival, safety and security. This is a very basic need, that is only second to physiological ones as presented in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and when not met, may result in students' refusal to participate in activities, or, on the other extreme, lash out and act out the cause or effect of their insecurities. These needs may not be met at home, in which case it is even more important to create a safe environment in the classroom - this may act as a retreat from circumstances at home. To do this, one must try to build a sense of connectedness and trust between all students and the teacher (this also relates back to having a sense of belonging), and caring and respecting students will, over time, allow them to go beyong their insecurities, and return the same care and respect. Any bullying or other issues that may arise, need to be ackowledged and addressed, and appropriate behaviour modelled and taught.

In class 1, children are still too young to make a lot of decisions for themselves. However, it is possible to incorporate choice through discussion, into how the classroom is run. Logical consequences may also be used rather than punishment. This gives the opportunity for responsible behaviour to be chosen over disruptive behaviour with its ensuing consequences. This means the students have a relative amount of freedom, independence and autonomy. This can also be addressed by having some flexibility in how tasks are carried out, and using creative activities.
In later years the need for freedom and independence is a lot more predominant, and the use of class discussions about behaviour, ideas and issues that matter to the students are a great tool for this. It can also be used in class 1 in a simpler, more teacher-directed form, where the students are asked if a certain behaviour works or not.

Fun and learning. At such a young age, children are very much focused on playing and having fun, and incorporating this is a wonderful tool to get the children engaged. Especially at Steiner schools, lessons are taught predominantly through the use of story-telling, singing, playing games, and representing the lesson's content through a creative activity like drawing, painting etc. Content is also put to practical use by building objects. This is not only a more interactive and fun way to learn, but also caters for a wider variety of intelligences as defined by Gardner.


2) Student motivation

Before attempting to plan a lesson, it is important to look at where the students are at the time - in their knowledge, understanding, emotional wellbeing and development, and in terms of interests. It is then possible to create a 'zone of proximal development' (Vygotsky) and build on their current knowledge. Students' interest is aroused by incorporating their general interests (in music, art etc) into the lesson content, thereby increasing their level of motivation.
Students' attention is best grabbed from the very start of the lesson. Giving clear, achievable goals and tasks at the start of the lesson, means students may foresee their success and therefore approach the tasks at hand with confidence. Curiosity is also a great enticer; this can be in the form of a dilemna, a mystery or riddle to be solved, or simply a physical task that requires creative thinking.
Having flexibility in how research is done and presented allows students to have more creative input, and addresses multiple intelligences, as described by Gardner. This can be left completely open, or it may help students to offer them a few possibilities, covering the 3 different groups of intelligences: personal/emotional, visual/spatial, verbal/linguistic (this includes music)[Gardner].
Allowing room for discussions within the lesson also means students can motivate and excite each other through the sharing of ideas or ways of doing the research etc. This gives them the opportunity to have some social time/interaction in the lesson which addresses Vygotsky's point that humans are mainly social beings and that they learn mostly through their social interactions. This way student drivers - as described by Glasser - for "love, acceptance, belonging" and "freedom and autonomy" are also met.
Giving regular encouragement and feedback is also important in maintaining students' motivation and building their self-esteem to follow through with tasks and keep on persisting. Without this, students may easily give up unless they already have a strong inner drive and/or self-esteem.
Finally, but not least, it is important to look at the general class environment. By making this a positive environment, ensuring students may feel safe and secure, and meeting all the students' drivers (Glasser), one may ensure students are receptive to new knowledge and learning.
The academic world has often become so serious, it is easy to forget one vital part of the last drive: fun and learning. Keeping that in mind, it is possible to have a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom, still having the mutual trust and respect between teacher and students, and learn/teach while having fun!

3) Restorative justice model used with bullying.

The aim of restorative justice is to resolve issues by bringing situations/relationships back to their original or even an improved state, through the involvement of both the victim and the perpetrator. It engages both parties and their affected communities in finding solutions that promote repair, reconciliation and the rebuilding of relationships. This method is about bringing the incident into a more human, empathetic context, and finding constructive resolutions, rather than working from a punitive approach.
This system was first designed to avoid retaliatory violence for wrongdoing, but is nowadays further used to promote a sense of mutual responsibility throughout communities.

In a classroom situation where bullying is occuring, I would first talk to the victimised student, asking them how they feel in the situation and details of what has occured, offering them my support and suggesting this method to deal with it. I would then consult fellow teachers who know the group of students quite well, about which students to include in a discussion about the situation. The discussion would include the perpetrators, their friends, friends of the victim and peers who know about the situation and may have witnessed it without intervening (and thereby allowing it to happen). This discussion is to be led with a 'no blame' approach, instead looking at how the victim might feel (asking the perpetrators how their actions might affect the victim), and looking at ways of resolving/improving the situation. If the victim has a particular drawing that reflects how they feel about the situation, this may be shown and discussed in this group discussion. After looking at how everyone can help and support the victim (and this way everyone takes some responsibility towards the situation) and agreeing to follow this through, a further meeting will be scheduled to assess the progress on the situation. Students would also be met individually to discuss the progress on their agreement and the situation in general. By getting other students to empathise for the victim, the perpetrators may genuinely regret their behaviour, and apologising to the victim - without making too big a deal of it and embarrassing the perpetrator - is a way for the victim's feelings to be acknowledged, as well as the inappropriateness of the behaviour.
Though in some cases it might also be important to sit down with both the offender(s) and victim(s) at the same time, talking with the victim alone at first, gives them the opportunity to speak up without fear of further retaliation/bullying from the offender.
Without pointing the finger at particular instances, general bullying behaviour needs to be addressed in class discussions if there is repeated offence, reminding everyone of the appropriate behaviour and the positive actions that help to avoid feelings of exclusion etc. Finishing the discussion with a focus on the positive helps students remember this last note and behave accordingly.
Having general awareness throughout the school by discussing these incidents with colleagues, also helps to get onto bullying faster and avoid it as much as possible.

This is how it would be applied within a school setting where a student is being bullied:
The victim would be met, providing support, explaining the proposed process and collecting information on the bullying or harassment. Other teachers who know the peer group would be consulted with to establish a group of perpetrators, supporters, friends of the victimised person and peers who have not attempted to prevent the bullying. The group would then attend a meeting (not attended by the victim), to discuss the bullying incidents, developping shared responsibility without blaming, and looking for ways to resolve the issue. Shared action is encouraged and further meetings appointed to discuss the progress.


4) My own beliefs about education and classroom management

I believe in nourishing the child as a whole - i.e. not just the physical or thinking realm, but every aspect of their being including their emotional and spiritual self. Every child deserves respect, nurturing and the very best in education and Life.
Relationships/social interactions, ways of thinking, assessing, adaptability and problem-solving are all issues that will come up time and time again throughout anyone's life and these areas need to be addressed within education, rather than random facts and figures. In other words the focus should be on tools for Life, rather than filling the mind with facts.
Though the thought may seem daunting at times, children's upbringing is a foundation for, and will have an effect on them throughout their lives; and so, it is vital - especially in their younger years, where they soak everything up like a sponge - to give them the safe, nurturing upbringing they need to flourish. For this, meeting Glasser's drivers is a must.
In an ideal world every child would be safe and loved on all (possible/necessary?) levels, so they may reach their full potential and follow their dreams as adults. Of course it can be argued that hardship builds strength and makes us who we are, and sometimes the hardships are the foundations of positive change and revolutionary work. Yet, that said, they should definitely not be applied on purpose. As discussed by various philosophers (Vygotsky, Bloom etc), challenges are part of student motivation for learning and allowing them to make the learning their own by coming to their own conclusions; however these challenges should be offered within a safe and 'warm' environment. Evidently we do not live in an ideal world, and parents may not be able to meet their children's needs, but we can still aim for this ideal, and thereby get closer to its reality as much as possible.
As far as discipline and classroom management is concerned, it is easy to fall back into habits that we grew up with ourselves - often a more rigid and authoritarian attitude. However, I aim to use more creative ways to discipline, making the use of games, songs and riddles to portray to children appropriate behaviour and gain their attention. This is especially effective with younger children. Within Steiner education for the under 7's, a non-blaming approach to inappropriate behaviour is taken by characterising the negative habit; for example 'kicker', 'pusher' or 'shover' needs to be washed off the children's hands, and a drink of water would wash away swearwords... This approach means the habit can more easily let go off and avoids a feeling of guilt or shame within the child. At an older age, children are generally more aware of their actions and consequences thereof, and accordingly the focus should be shifted to their choices and decision-making. Regardless of the approach, it is important to relate to the students in a calm matter as much as possible. There are always extreme behaviours, especially repetitive ones, that require stronger actions, yet generally getting angry and yelling at a child will only reduce them to fear. As much as this can occasionaly teach them the inappropriateness of their behaviour, its repetitive use will create anxiety and low self-esteem within the student(s). As Dreikurs pointed out, this may also create in the student the desire to seek revenge.
As a general rule I would like to create a relationship of trust with students, where they feel comfortable discussing any arising issues and where I can approach them about disciplinary matters without any focus on hierarchy or authority. Relationships built on understanding each other and aiming to work together.