Jacob S. Kounin

1. Jacob S. Kounin Classroom Management Techniques

2. Who is Kounin? • Kounin is a classroom behaviourist theorist • Best known for his two studies done in 1970 • He wrote the book, "Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms" • Kounin worked to combine both discipline and learning in the classroom • Kounin believed that organization and planning are key to engaging students • This relationship is characterized by proactive teacher behaviour along with student involvement in learning

3. Rationale • Focuses on preventative discipline: using techniques and strategies to prevent misbehaviours from occurring.

4. Case Study: • Give suggestions of what proactive discipline is • Examples of proactive discipline (what does it look like in the classroom?)

5. Achieving Classroom Management Through Preventative Discipline Key Ideas: • Ripple Effect • “Withitness” • Overlapping • Movement Management • Smoothness • Momentum • Group Focus and Accountability

6. Strategy 1: Ripple Effect • By correcting the misbehaviour of one student it can positively influence the behaviour of another

7. Strategy 2: ‘Withitness’ • Awareness of what is going on in all parts of the classroom, i.e., teachers have eyes on the back of their heads! • Classroom layout benefits the teachers ability to see all students at all times

8. Strategy 3: Overlapping • When teachers can effectively tend to two or more events simultaneously • Students are more likely to stay on task if they know that the teacher is aware of what they are doing (body language)

9. Strategy 4: Movement Management • Smoothness: • Smooth transitions between activities • Momentum: • Appropriate pace and progression through a lesson • Group Focus and Accountability: • Keep the whole class involved and interested

10. When Managing the Classroom, Try to AVOID • Dangling: • Teacher leaves a topic and introduces new, unrelated material • Flip-flop: • like dangling, except that the teacher inserts left-over materials from a previous lesson

11. Avoid… • Thrust: • Teacher forgets to give clear instructions at the appropriate time of a lesson. • Teacher must then re-explain the instructions to each student on an individual level • Stimulus-bound: • Teacher is distracted by an outside stimulus and draws the class’s attention to it

12. Classroom Applications • Be aware of what is happening around the classroom. • Intervene before misbehaviours escalate. • Use routines, explanations and smooth transitions to gain the attention of the students. • Keep all students involved through constant supervision and accountability. • Reduce off task behaviour and boredom by creating challenges, extending tasks, providing progress and adding variety. • Be able to attend to more than one event at the same time. Note: Classroom management is most effective when these applications are applied at the beginning of the school year.

13. References Kounin 1970 http://www.educ.uvic.ca/epls/faculty/rowles/kounin1.htm Jacob Kounin http://scied.gsu.edu/Hassard/mos/10.2.html Kounin, Jacob from WikEd http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Kounin,_Jacob Learning Environment Article from The Premiere Website for Health and Physical Education http://www.pecentral.org/climate/april99article.html Maine Education Association http://www.maine.nea.org/index.htm The Kounin Model from Approaches to Discipline http://www.solwebs.net/sgfl/teaching/discplan/koun1.htm West Dunbartonshire Council http://www.wdcweb.info/home/