Classroom Management Essay

Classroom management is one of the most important functions of good instruction. It refers to the planning, directing, and controlling of classroom activities that can be carried on efficiently and economically. It is relatively confined to the more mechanical aspects of teaching activities. Some of the things a teacher should consider in planning classroom management are consistency in the exercise of rules or standard set by the students themselves, regulations on seating and attendance, the handling of instructional materials and equipment, and the control of activities during the class period. The success or failure of teaching is determined often by the way the class is organized and managed. A well-managed class creates an atmosphere conducive to exchange an interaction and will develop well-disciplined students who participate in class activities (Hibaya:2003). Successful teaching and learning are affected by many factors. One of which is the classroom itself. Classroom is where all the participants are involved in teaching and learning interaction. It accepts that teaching and learning do take place anywhere and everywhere. It is said that a good teacher should be able to teach in spite of unfavorable circumstance. However, teaching in an atmosphere conducive to learning is always an advantage. The proper setting can make up in the other areas that affect student learning. In the classroom culture there is a direct connection between respect and credibility. In other words, if a student respects the leader, he is more likely to pay attention to the teacher who teaches him. Teachers have to earn respect when they abdicate being in charge of their own classroom resulting in the loss of large part of the students belief in their credibility as a teacher. If the teacher loses credibility, the students will learn less from them sometimes substantially less. Teaching Mathematics is not an easy task. The teacher should give more motivations to catch up the attention of the students in learning Mathematics. Among the five major subjects namely: 1) English; 2) Filipino; 3) Science; 4) Mathematics; and 5) Makabayan ; more of the students dislike Mathematics in the sense that it is very difficult subject. Cagbabanua (2002) opined that in order for one to compete globally, he should be an excellent fellow in mathematics and science. However, only few Filipinos are good in the two areas mentioned above specifically in the latter subject. According to Jaymalin (1997:12), students are not good in Algebra, Chemistry, measurements and proportionality. In fact, he stressed that the Philippine educational system is declining. He warned that something should be done, otherwise neighboring countries will overtake the Philippine nation. He mentioned that to improve the nation’s standing, the teachers should engage in serious classroom teaching. Proper assessment of learning outcomes should be given due consideration since this reminds teachers and students of what they lack in the teaching-learning process. Furthermore, parents should make a religious follow-up of what their children are doing in school. From time to time they should hear feedback from teachers who are entrusted to take care of their children during daytime. It should be remembered that Mathematics learning is indeed important in this modern era. Mathematics education plays a vital role in the lives of man. Every citizen should acquire competence and development of power qualitative thinking and of the use of mathematics procedure in daily living. It is never-ending struggle to help the students to become literate, to acquire mathematical concepts and skills and to develop favorable attitudes toward mathematics. Time and again curriculum planners, policy makers and researchers have been exploring the extent through which numeracy among students develops and improves via mathematical instruction. The quality of mathematics education in the country is alarming as stipulated in research findings. However, some measures have been exhausted to address this discipline’s status which are attributed to multi-faceted reasons and causes. William Betz as cited in Salazar (2001:365) said that a citizen of the modern world cannot afford to be ignorant of mathematics because the world people live in is so highly mathematical. Hence, effective mathematics instruction has become an absolute necessity in all levels of education, particularly in the elementary level for it is here where initial mathematics foundation is laid and basic mathematical concepts are first developed. Quality mathematics education in the higher levels would only be possible if the mathematical foundation in the elementary level is solid and strong. The issue on low quality mathematics education causes more implication as people strive to deal with the plethora of globalization, educational reforms, technological change and survival issues. Mathematics as one of the languages of survival should be an attendant tool to reengineer the nomenclature of the twenty-first century criterion. It is important for without it, the students would be wanting computational skills which are very necessary in the present society. He is able to communicate with people who live about him and work with him; thus mathematics contribute to effective citizenship. It always held a key in positioning the school curriculum because it has been considered a knowledge indispensable to the educated man. In recent years, the educational system is faced with many educational problems including an oversupply of unqualified teachers, substandard quality of instruction, high drop-out rate, poor quality output and lack of textbooks and reading material. Because of these problems, it cannot deliver efficient and effective teaching-learning process. Sutaria as cited in Vios (2000), pointed out that although one cannot discount the other school elements, the teacher stands out as the primary factor behind the deterioration of some schools. She added that, â€Å"for sometimes, elementary education has been a poor step-sister in the Philippine education family. It has been referred to as education system’s weakest link and its products have often been assailed as ineffective for the world of work†. Good teaching therefore, is determined to a large extent by teachers. Obviously, teachers are a vital component of the school system in creating the excellent teaching-learning environment. Good teaching involves certain personal qualities of teachers. The identification of able teachers, the likelihood of attaining desirable teaching-learning outcomes is substantial. The teacher must manage his students so that teaching may take place. Potentials of the teacher become less important if he is unable to control his students in the classroom, hence little learning takes place. Many worthwhile mathematics tasks have been introduced to make learning effective. The idea of just verbalizing the rules and principles in mathematics and presenting examples and solutions on the chalkboard have undergone improvisation. Innovative approaches have been intertwined with the usual class presentation. Students can learn to think mathematically when teachers help them develop the conceptual and proce dural understanding of the contents of mathematics. The researcher chooses this study in order to evaluate the selected approaches in classroom management employed by the secondary school teachers. Through this the researcher will probe deeper to identify the students’ performance in Mathematics. Theoretical/ Conceptual Framework This study will anchor on several theories of learning. Ornstein (1990:58) provided some bases of this study. He enumerated several approaches to classroom management, namely: 1) assertive approach, 2) business academic approach, 3) behavioral modification approach, 4) group managerial approach, 5) acceptance approach, and 6) success approach. The assertive approach to classroom management accepts teachers to specify rules of behavior and consequence for disobeying them and to communicate these rules and consequence. The classroom manages in such a way that students should always remember who is in charge of the classroom. Teachers hold students accountable for their actions. The idea is for the teachers to respond to students’ misbehavior quickly and appropriately. If misbehavior is ignored at an early stage, it will eventually become uncontrolled, more students will become disruptive and it will affect their performance in Mathematics. The business – academic approach was developed by Evertson (1989), emphasizes the organization and management of students as they engage in Mathematics work, lead to a clear set of procedures for students and teachers to follow. Behavioral modification roots in the work of Skinner (1984) as cited by Ornstein (1990:58) involve a variety of techniques and methods, ranging from simple rewards to elaborate reinforcement training. It assumes that behavior is shaped by environment and pays little attention to the causes of problems. Teachers using this approach spend little time on the personal history of students on searching for the reason for a particular problem. They strive to increase the occurrence or appropriate behavior through punishment. With regard to the group managerial approach to classroom management, Kawains (1987) as cited also by Ornstein (1990:58) emphasizes the importance of responding immediately to group student behavior that might be inappropriate or undeniable in order to prevent problems rather than having to deal with them after they emerge. He said that if student misbehaves but the teacher stops the misbehavior immediately, it remains an isolate incident and does not develop into a problem. If the misbehavior is not noticed, ignored, or allowed, continuing for too long, it often spreads throughout the group and become more serious and chronic. The present investigation will delve into the classroom management approaches of the teachers and the performance of the students in Mathematics. The independent variable of this study will include the teachers’ classroom management approaches namely: assertive, business – academic, group managerial, acceptance and success. On the other hand the dependent variable compromises the students’ performance in Mathematics.