The Action Research of Classroom Management

The Context
During my past two years of teaching, there has been many challenges that I have encountered, from
learning a new school system, materials, and strategies to learning the structure and regimentation through
my own personal experience.  The one thing that I have found to be the most challenging though is finding
my own individual teaching style and structure for classroom management.  In a trial and error process, I
am slowly finding my own individual style for classroom management.  To enable me to learn more about
my ability to manage the classroom and to reduce disruptive behavior, I have conducted action research on
classroom management.  
My research focuses on my third period health class, which consists of thirty, ninth grade students at
Chicopee Comprehensive High School (academic and vocational school).  In this class, there is an almost
equal division of males (14) and females (16).  The divisions between academic and vocational students are
not as heterogeneously split.  There are seven vocational male students, two vocational female students,
seven academic male students, and fourteen academic female students.  This combination of students,
from different areas of interest and different learning abilities and levels, has been the source of my
exploration and need to find appropriate classroom management skills for this unruly mix of learners.
Origin of the Problem        
            In investigating the variety of students that were grouped together, I came to the realization that I
needed to create a solution to the chaos in order to accomplish daily classroom assignments.  Through
researching my five classes and their behavior, I realized that my third period health class possesses a
combination of disruptive behaviors that needed to be addressed.  In developing my starting point, which
originated with all five of my classes, I decided to focus on the following question: Does the feeling of safety
or the lack of safety affect the learning of the students?.  After contemplating this question, I realized that
the true problem that was involved was classroom management not safety.  Therefore, I needed to learn
how I could structure this particular health class in order to avoid or reduce the amounts of disruptive
behavior in class. 
The questions that I investigated for the health class were: what are the students doing that is disruptive;
why are they being disruptive; when or at what point of the period are they being disruptive; how do I
respond to their disruptive behavior; and how do the students respond to my actions?  By researching
these questions, my goal was to find answers to the questions above, while exploring solutions to prevent
these behavioral problems from continuing.  As the semester continued, I learned a great deal about the
dynamics of this particular group of students by deploying a variety of classroom behavior strategies.
Methods
            In the beginning of the process, I began to keep a journal of the events that took place that I believed
endangered the safety of the students.  In about a months time, I had accumulated random clips of
information that did not seem to have much sequence.  I then came to the realization through general
questions posed to my students that their feelings of safety varied from individual.  The feeling of safety
was not something that I could truly have an impact on other than in my particular classroom by providing
structure and positive classroom management, which was the means to the variation of my action
research.  After I decided to restructure my focus to classroom management, I continued to keep a journal
specifically for period three, my most challenging class with behavior.  I wanted to see if there was any
particular pattern of events that caused the students to misbehave (how, why, and when) during the class
period.  I also wanted to investigate how I reacted to the situations and how the student reacted to my
strategies of classroom management. 
I began this process by reviewing the guidelines of the classroom and talking with the students about my
expectations of them.  I also stated the consequences of their actions if they choose to break the guidelines
and why it is important to abide by the rules of the classroom.  Some of the consequences dealt with
include of talking in class, throwing objects, pushing, hitting, and harassing another student.  All of theses
actions would be addressed with a stern verbal warning, detention, demerits, or time-out.   I used these
consequences as the basis to managing classroom behavior and as a reminder of the importance of
guidelines for each students learning style. 
            In the middle of the semester, after I had been keeping the journal for over a month, I asked the
students for some of their thoughts on what would prevent disruptive behavior.   I took some time at the
end of one overly disruptive class period to ask the students for suggestions on some ways to improve the
class to ensure that it kept running smoothly (Appendix 1).  By asking the students for their opinions on
how to structure the classroom, it helped them to see the problems that existed.   Having the student
participate in this activity also enabled me to adjust management techniques accordingly. 
             Towards the end of the semester, I administered a survey for the students to complete on behavior  
(Appendix 2).  I asked the students for information that would be comparable to my findings through
journalizing.  I wanted to see if the students were aware of the activities that seemed to encourage or
discourage disruptive behavior.  I also wanted to know how they categorized me as a teacher and my
classroom management skills as being fair, unfair, nice, mean, etc.  I then had the students explain what I
could change or how they could change to reduce the amount of disruptive behavior.   I then asked them to
provide any additional information that was relevant and that would be useful in my understanding of their
feelings.  I then broke down the surveys into an overall summary and numerous categories by gender and
division of study (Overall Summary- Appendix 3), (Female Academic- Appendix 4), (Male Academic-
Appendix 5), (Female Vocational- Appendix 6),  (Male Vocational- Appendix 7), (All Female- Appendix 8),
(All Male- Appendix-9), (All Academic- Appendix 10), (All Vocational- Appendix 11), (Please see Appendix 12
for a written analysis of the survey findings). 
            Using this method of data collection enabled me to improve my awareness of detail and increased
my understanding of the importance of organization, preparation, and consistency.  Asking the students for
their input and opinions through both verbally and in survey form helped my classroom management
situation empowering the students by giving them a voice in the classroom and implementing some of their
suggestions.  From a personal perspective, I found journalizing their suggestions to be quite time
consuming and difficult to keep up with while teaching classes consecutively throughout the day.  The lack
of time in the school day also limited me to only researching one of classes as opposed to all five.   Period
three is conveniently located before my preparation period and the most problematic for the intended
research on disruptive behavior and classroom management.
The Findings
            Through journalizing, I found a few recognizable patterns.  I found that if the students were busy
from the moment they walked into the classroom until the moment the bell rang they were generally less
disruptive.  As soon as they were granted free time and not kept busy, disruptive behavior increased.   I also
found that when the students were participating in groups, completing a graded assignment, listening to a
speaker, or viewing a video, they tended to behave appropriately and with respect.   However, when I
assign class work such as reading and questions from the book, behavioral problems seem to materialize. 
In addition, when some students completed the assignments quickly, disruption usually occurred because
they were left without an assignment while they waited for other students to finish.  I also found that when
I was checking notebooks and walking around the room, my attention is not focused on the whole
classroom, disruptive behavior occurred. 
            I also found that in a classroom of thirty students in their freshmen year of high school, students
tend to be very curious, especially about health topics.  Many of the students, predominantly male, seemed
to be extremely immature about the topics of suicide, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, reproduction, etc.  They
seemed to act out by telling stories and showing off to their peers.  Some students failed to understand the
importance of learning about their health and its impact on their future.   I was also able to identify through
journalizing the students that were being disruptive on a continuous basis.  It seemed that four male
students in particular, were the main perpetrators of disruptive behavior.  When any of the four were
absent, it seemed quieter and easier to manage the classroom.  One particular male was absent for almost
two weeks during this observation time and the class seemed to become a little more manageable.   As the
semester progressed, I was also able to identify an increase in independence, self-responsibility with daily
activities and assignments, and personal maturity.
            By asking my students to give their opinions on what would reduce disruptive behavior in class to
enable it to run more smoothly, it help me to understand their opinions and use their suggestions on a trial
an error basis.  The following day in response to their suggestions, I stated to them the various
consequences of their actions.  That same day I had a student misbehave by throwing paper at another
student.  I immediately addressed his behavior with see me after class, which the students know means to
schedule when their detention will be.  The follow through on this disruptive behavior seemed to set the
tone for the rest of the class and the students seemed to be much more aware of the rules by me
responding to inappropriate behavior without hesitation. 
When a student would arrive at detention, I would talk with them about their behavior and asked them
why it took place.  They usually knew why they were there and I asked them to complete a behavior plan.  I
then had the student write me a plan for how he or she was going to avoid getting detention again, sign it
and they pass it in to me.  The student would usually apologized for their action and would agree to try not
to let it happen again.  This was the process that I followed for all the detentions that were given to
disruptive students.  The second punishable offense was a write up and the receiving of demerits by the
disruptive student.  The following step would be to send the student to the time out room, where they
would be responsible for completing their work in complete silence and would receive demerits for being
sent there.  Beyond that, telephone calls would be made to the parents and a meeting with the guidance
counselor would be scheduled.  The farthest I had to go in the disciplinary process was the demerit stage. 
Many of the students would settle down after a warning or a detention and use one another as examples of
what not to do. 
In the survey I administered to my third period class, I learned a lot about my students views on activities
relating to disruptive behavior and their perception of my classroom management techniques.  Many of
them stated that I was fair or nice to the students when I addressed their inappropriate behavior, but
thought that I needed to be more strict by not giving the students so many chances.   The students restated
the techniques that I had used and suggested that I pursue consequences at a faster rate, by not letting
students get away with behavior that causes disruption.  Many of the students who provided me with these
suggestions were the ones whose behavior was not disruptive.  The ones that tended to be more disruptive
believed that the best disciplining procedure was to give demerits, send them to time out, be more stern,
show more videos, and that there is nothing that I can do to change their behavior.   Although they may be
the ones being disruptive, they still seem to believe that consequences should be administered.
Implications
            Through conducting action research on this class, I have learned a number of beneficial skills that
will follow me through my teaching career.  I have learned that providing explicit instructions prior to a
lesson has enabled the students to prepare for the day, be more responsible by not asking as many
questions, and to stay on task. through the duration of the class period.  I have also learned that providing
them with a variety of teaching methods breaks up the monotony of the classroom, and helps spark their
interest to the topic of the day.  Through this research project, I have also discovered that providing
students with a reminder of what behavior is both appropriate and inappropriate has helped the students
to abide by the guidelines of the classroom.  Another tactic I have found that has helped this particular class
is to provide them with in-depth explanations of why we learn what we do in health class and giving them a
reward at the end of the class.  The would regularly reward them by giving them the rest of the class time
to start their homework and to talk quietly in their seats. 
Before this course, I never realized the importance of explaining why we need to behave appropriately in
the classroom and how breaking the rules effects others.  I also did not realize the value of keeping the
students in their seats until the bell rings.  Prior to this research project, I would let the students pack up
and stand near the door until the bell rang.  In my mind, this was a way to insure their ability to arrive to
their next class on time.  However, through my journal, I learned that this is when students behavior would
be at its worst, since it seemed to invite easy contact with other students, such as pushing or hitting.
Action research has also enabled me to pay attention to the details surrounding classroom management.  It
has also helped me to look into behavior problems at a new level.   Instead of just punishing, I have also
acquired an interest in understanding why the students do what they do.  At first, I was unsure what
keeping a journal would do for my teaching.  After analyzing the information, I discovered over only a
three-month period, I began to see the value in reflecting on my feelings on behavior.  I discovered that a
pattern arose in my students behavior that had an adverse affect on my attitude towards my classroom
management style.  If I had a positive attitude at the start of the class, my frustration with their noise level
seemed to be quite low and tolerable.  It seemed as if the students could quickly sense the kind of mood I
was in and knew the limits they could take with their behavior. 
This research has also increased my awareness of how I let too many inappropriate behaviors go unnoticed
because I am sensitive to the students needs and I feel bad.  I have always had the suspicion that I may be
too nice when it comes to managing the classroom and that I need to be more strict on a consistent basis.  
In the beginning of each semester, I have the tendency to start with a very strict, regimented approach, but
as the semester progresses, I always seem to become more lenient.  I enjoy the time that I spend with the
students and I make an effort to develop a personal relationship with each of them.   Showing an interest in
the students lives seems to open the door for my leniency.  Although I become less strict as the semester
progresses, I believe that I gain more respect from my students by learning more about their interests.  It is
a respect that I hope to gain from all of my students while still finding ways to implement new strategies for
classroom management. 
Through learning how to systematically conduct research, critically view my journal reflections, and sharing
my findings with my notebook group and other peers, I have begun to understand the importance of
applying action research to my teaching.  I do not believe that my action research on classroom
management will ever be complete.  As soon as I reduce the amount of disruptive behavior in one class,
another will challenge me.  There will be a number of strategies that will work for one class that will have
no influence on the behavior of another. 
The art of teaching is exciting because of its constant challenges and changes providing a venue for
personal growth.  Teaching never seems to be dull or predictable due to students behavior, which is one of
the main reasons I chose to become a teacher.