Classroom management Tool 

Theoretical underpinnings. 

 

As a teacher we cannot expect to keep control over the entire class with just sheer requests, according to Bozkus (2021), a classroom management tool or skill is vital in maintaining order, making use of classroom teaching materials as well as supporting the participation of the students. In order to make sure the learners are actively engaged and following the intended rules, the best possible theory to use would be one of Fredrick Skinner, the theory that was mentioned goes by Positive reinforcement, this is the theory of when an individual completes a desired action, they receive praise or rewards for completing such (Amutan & Gordan, 2014). This is vital for the classroom as from observations done by myself, it is seen that learners respond well to positive reinforcement while when scolded and receive negative reinforcement the learners tend to shy away and rather not try again, the opposite with Positive reinforcement. According to Amutan & Gordon (2014), science has expanded to try to explain this, but behavior cannot always be scientifically explained, this is one of the eldest theories and is still relevant in today’s classrooms. 

 

Therefore, due to these findings it is clear as to why I have used to select this theory for my classroom management tool, I would rather positively reinforce my learners and have a stronger connection with them than scold them for lessons they could rather constructively work on, this also motivates my learners to try harder and be the best they possibly be which is all a teacher could ask for. 

 

Now that it is understood why I want to make use of this theory the actual tool needs to be explained. The background to my tool surrounds my mother who has in fact been teaching for close to 30 years, she gave me the advice when I started that “Even with the students being so different over the years thy all respond well to positive reinforcement”, she further explained that the best way to motivate learners was to have a reward system and this is what I intended to do.

 

My tool is called the “Magic Pebble Jar”, the jar is one decorated and filled with glass pebbles (often found in fish ponds), each child receives a small plastic container, the students then get the opportunity to make their very own pebble jar, they can bring stickers, kokis, glitter glue, anything they feel they want to decorate their jar with (parents of the learners were contacted beforehand to send all decorative resources on the required date, they were given ample time), the learners then made their pebble jar into one they loved and were proud of (this relays a positive feeling with the pebble jar), the teacher then brought out her decorated pebble jar in it had all the pebbles, the teacher then explained the concept of the jar. If the learners got over 8 on their spelling test they would be allowed to pick a pebble out of the teacher jar and place it in their own, if they helped clean without being reminded the learners would be able to do the same, the same followed with being kind, working hard and listening and picking up litter even if it wasn’t their break to pick up the litter, the teacher then further explained that if the students got 5 pebbles they would be able to choose a secret sweetie from the teachers desk, if they reached 10 pebbles they could sit next to their friend for the entire day and if they finally reached 15 pebbles they got an ice-cream from the tuckshop. 

 

Reflection of Classroom management tool

 

The tool was a great success, the learners were quiet, worked harder, cleaned and were more polite overall, this lasted from when implemented (2nd week of Teaching experience, until the last, my mentor teacher even asked to keep the jar in her classroom.