Christy Pryde
May 10, 2010
EDTE 440
Classroom Theorists Presentation: Jacob Kounin
Overview
Jacob Kounin focused on a teacher’s ability to affect student’s behavior through
instructional management. His information is based off of two case studies he conducted in the
1970’s. During these studies he noticed traits like the ripple effect, which led him to conduct
further experiments. He noticed the reactions of teachers affected classroom management in a
negative way, and decided that there must be something a teacher could do to prevent
misbehavior in their classroom in the first place. Kounin introduced what was a novel idea at the
time, to incorporate both instructional and disciplinary aspects of the classroom together.
He wrote Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms (1977) and believed that
organization and planning are the keys to keeping students engaged in the classroom and
learning. Kounin focuses heavily on preventative discipline; techniques and strategies designed
to prevent discipline problems before they happen, as opposed to how to deal with discipline
problems in the classroom setting.
Key Ideas
As a teacher, when you positively encourage a student, or reprimand a student, it has a
ripple effect that leads other students nearby to be influenced. If students hear one student
receiving a “good job putting away the scissors,” other students are likely to crave the same
praise and being cleaning up their supplies as well. The same happens negatively as well; if the
teacher tells one student “to get back to work,” other students who are off task realize they also
must get to work to avoid reprimand from the teacher.
Teachers should know what is going on in all parts of the classroom at all times. The
ability to provide smooth transitions between activities, and to maintain consistent momentum
within activities is crucial to effective group management. This includes as a teacher staying on
topic with your students, and quickly and smoothly going from one activity to the next to hold
attention. Teachers should strive to maintain group alertness and to hold every group member
accountable for the content of a lesson through providing variety. Student boredom can be
avoided by providing a feeling of progress and by adding variety to curriculum and classroom
environment so classes are not dull and predictable.
Ripple Effect
When a teacher corrects the behavior of one student and it positively affects the behavior
of other students nearby this is ripple effect. It works for both encouragement & reprimands of
students. Works best at primary school levels where students want the praise of the teacher and
do not want to be in trouble with the teacher. It is weaker at secondary levels, where its
effectiveness depends more on the prestige of the teacher.
Withitness
The definition of ‘withitnesss’ is a teacher knowing what is going on in all areas of the
classroom at all times. It has also been referred to as “having eyes in the back of your head.” It
is communicated best by teacher behavior rather than words, ie. the teacher walking around the
room, looking around, and being aware of student behavior. It is effective only if students
believe the teacher really knows what’s going on.
Overlapping
The definition of overlapping is the teacher’s ability to attend to two issues at the same
time. Example: while working with a group of students (1) and another group is off task (2), give
group 1 something to address while you go get group 2 back on task, then return to group 1 to
check on their progress while still keeping one eye on group 2.
Movement Management
Movement management has to do with pacing, momentum and transitions of instruction
to the students. It deals with a teacher’s ability to move smoothly from one activity to the next
and keep momentum within an activity. Also, if a student comes in late or the class is
interrupted, the teacher needs to not react to that, but deal with it later so it does not distract from
class time, something Kounin refers to as “rolling with the punches.” This correlates closely to
ability to control behavior in the classroom, because if students are always engaged in a task they
will not be bored and tempted to be off topic and have poor behavior. Smooth transitions have
student attention turned easily from one activity to the next, thus attention is kept on the activity
at hand.
Elementary School
In an elementary setting, the teacher could pair up the class in groups of 3-5 students and assign
a team name. The teacher could have a visual of a pocket chart to show where that group will be
during the time granted. For example, a pink card for Suzy, Bobbie, and Billy could stand for the
Phonics station. A green card could stand for Lizzy, Gary, and Greg to be at the Math station.
The time could be set for 30 minutes. Once the timer has elapsed the students would be
instructed of how to rotate. The teacher must not remain idle at any time. This should be used as
reinforcement/enrichment of the content in which the teacher has already covered the material
and could informally assess understanding and application of content. The centers assure the five
strategies by having directions at each center, a visual to state where students should be after the
time is up, and a way for teachers to actively listen to concerns/speed-bumps that are holding
them back. The teacher should make each center as kinesthetic as possible with many
manipulatives at each station (i.e. Magnetic letters for spelling center, dice or play money for
Math, etc.) It is very important that elementary instructors maintain their energy and enthusiasm
when presenting to their students.
Middle School
The first two terms he uses, "Withitness" and "Overlapping," can be used for preventing the
misbehavior of other students. When one student is about to throw a paper airplane or punch his
friend in the shoulder, the teacher can make eye contact with him and shake his head. The belief
is that doing this will show other students that they will not get away with this either. In Middle
School, however, it usually becomes more necessary to make an example of a student who
willingly breaks a rule so that other students know they will share the same fate if they do so as
well. Also, the "overlapping" ability to do more than one thing at once is essential, since most
middle school students will capitalize on the opportunity to get away with outlawed behavior
while the teacher's back is turned. When every student always has something to do, each will not
become bored and find off-task behavior to engage in.
High School
In a high school setting, a teacher needs to incorporate all of the aspects of Kounin's philosophy
in their teaching practice. This means that with-it-ness, overlapping, smoothness, momentum,
and group focus all must meld together to form a coherent whole. This could be implemented
through teachers having at least a week’s lessons ahead of time in order for them to be sure that
lesson fluidity occurs. The with-it-ness that comes with being an effective teacher is most often
the fruit of planning and keeps students on task. This takes a special ability to diffuse potentially
distracting situations in which teachers need to bring students back to the task at hand. In
showing students the connections between one subject to the next, using previous vocabulary to
prepare students for learning new vocabulary, a teacher will show overlapping. This overlapping
ties into the momentum aspect. Students that feel as thought they are learning will make
connections between old and new material. This confidence will allow them to contribute to the
momentum of the classroom. The group focus aspect in the high school setting really takes a
quick attention to detail. A teacher needs to be able to spot check for students not paying
attention and rapidly engage them back into the subject, while holding the rest of the class’
attention. This can be done through exciting announcements, demonstrations, or by changing the
atmosphere of learning.
References
Andrius, J. (2008, October). The Kounin Model. Retrieved May 2010, from Teacher
Matters: http://www.teachermatters.com/
Classroom Management Theorist and Theories (n.d.). Retreived from the WikiBooks
Wiki:http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Classroom_Management_Theorist_and_Theories/Jacob_Koun
in
Classroom Management and Discipline. Retrieved from:
http://www.elearnportal.com/courses.education.classroom-management-and-discipline-theorists
Kounin, J., (1971; 1977), Discipline and group management in classrooms, Holt;
Rinehart and Winston, New York.
Terms Defined
Kounin’s
Terms
Ripple Effect This effect is
accomplished when one or
more students improve
their behavior due to a
teacher correcting the
behavior of a fellow
classmate.
Examples of Classroom Application
“Steve, remember our classroom rules about what each of you do
when you finish with a test or other activity. You can get out your
work for the next class to have everything ready or you may
quietly read in your library book until everyone else in the class in
also finished. You can also check over your own work to proof it
for possible mistakes.”
Withitness
This term is the ability of a
teacher to be aware of
what is going on
throughout the class.
A teacher with “withitness” is one students think has eyes on the
back of his/her head. The teacher can be working with one or more
students and, at the same time, correct student behaviors or get
students back on track without appearing to stop individual
instruction to a group.
Overlapping
Overlapping is a process
by which a classroom
teacher can attend to more
than one activity at one
time.
“Gregg, you need to remember the rules in algebra before you can
solve an equation.” “Jason, it is your turn to work at the computer
now.” “Gregg, remember that you must first multiply and divide
before we can add or subtract.”
Effective
Transitions.
Effective Transitions are
accomplished when a class
can move from one
activity to another without
loosing valuable
instructional time.
“Class, since we have been studying the effect of the blockade on
the South’s industries during the Civil War, let’s move quickly into
math. Jerry, our text gives the number of metric tons of material
shipped to Europe during the four years of the war by the North
and South both during the war and for the preceding ten years
prior to the opening of hostilities. In terms of percentages, what
was the average increase or decrease in the tonnage shipped to
Europe during the four years by both sides?”
Momentum
Momentum is being able
to keep a brisk pace in the
classroom.
The daily lesson plan is perhaps the best tool to ensure that
momentum is maintained. When a teacher has done a thorough job
of planning the lesson, the class can move along at a brisk pace.
Smoothness
The ability of a teacher to
continue with a lesson
without being distracted.
During a lesson, a teacher may be interrupted by someone at the
door or the public address system. Here, smoothness means that
the teacher can immediately continue with the lesson after the
interruption.
Group
Alerting
Making sure the entire
class is “on task.” This can
be done either through
verbal communication or
non-verbal cues.
A teacher might say, “This is a fact that you will need to know for
this week’s test.” Another example could be the following: “Class,
today and for most of tomorrow’s class we will be using a variety
of chemicals. Some of them can bleach your clothing, and so I am
asking each of you to be very careful!”
Christy Pryde
May 10, 2010
EDTE 440
Assignment #9: Management Theorist Presentation
Direct Lesson Plan
Set: Introduce Kounin as a practical theorist. Point out that as future teachers we can use his
model to influence classroom behavior in our future classrooms.
Objectives: Students in the class will show comprehension of Kounin’s Management Theories
by applying them to real-world classroom scenarios.
Input: The teacher will demonstrate examples of how to apply the information from Kounin to
real-world situations to the students, then work with the students as they attempt to do the same
in pairs.
Checking for Understanding: The teacher will have students work in pairs to figure out how
the teacher in the example could use Kounin’s Model to deal with a student in class. Assign each
group a topic of how to apply Kounin’s Model, i.e. Ripple Effect, Awareness, Involvement,
Progress, Variety, Group Focus.
Guided Practice: After the students have worked together for 5 minutes to come up with some
ideas of how to practically apply Kounin’s model to the classroom, bring everyone back together
as a class and review the answers. Have each group give their suggestions and ask for input from
others about what they think.
Closure: A quick summary regarding Kounin’s practices, theories and how they can be applied
in our future classrooms. Ask if anyone has any questions or comments.
Independent: Double check for understanding with a quick game of “Fact or Fiction,” students
will have to decide independently what the correct answers are.