Classroom management

Using ICTs to support classroom management

Krista Hamilton, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Problem

When students do not behave the way that is expected of them in the classroom, these inappropriate behaviors create a problem for teachers (Finn & Pannozzo, 2004). These teachers, who must use their time to correct challenging behaviors, are left with less time for teaching (Ikoya & Akinseinde, 2010). Many avenues of correction are exhausted for these disruptive students with no solution found (Condon & Tobin, 2001). In some cases these challenging behaviours are being encouraged and maintained by attention from other students and redirection from teachers (Condon & Tobin, 2001). Laffey, Espinosa, Moore and Lodree (2003) also observed that teachers with a high number of student conduct issues spent a large amount of time attending to these behaviors with little success.

Ikoya and Akinseinde (2010) concluded that the inadequacies of new teachers contribute to poor classroom management skills. It is when these skills are lacking that discipline problems arise within a class (Ikoya & Akinseinde, 2010). Yilmaz and Cavas (2008) determined that there was a significant difference between teachers’ beliefs about classroom management during schooling and during their first teaching assignment and that there is a gap between theory and practice in classroom management that needs to be bridged. Mahon, Byrant, Brown and Kim (2010) also found that pre-service teachers do not have enough experience maintaining proper student behaviors in a variety of settings.

Finn and Pannozzo (2004) examined student behaviour in terms of learning and social behaviors. They found that when a student engages in disruptive behaviour, learning is hindered. Hung and Lockard (2007) observed that “children who are impulsive, inattentive, and over-active not only disrupt the home and classroom, but also have difficulty learning and achieving” (p.21). The author noted that teachers face great challenges in developing strategies to overcome these inappropriate behaviors that negatively affect the classroom learning environment.