Teachers of youth ages 11-18 in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints receive no specific training in classroom management techniques. Youth teachers without access to professional training express less confidence that they can handle discipline problems in the classroom compared to those LDS teachers who receive church-provided professional training (Smith, 2019). Twenty-six percent of these untrained learners lack confidence that they can handle discipline problems in the classroom This course will help these teachers express more confidence in classroom management through peer-mentorship, exposing learners to new techniques, providing opportunity to select applicable classroom management techniques, and by providing opportunity to practice classroom management techniques in a mock classroom.
1. Technology Needs
In order to teach this course, the instructor will require
- a computer with internet access
- a printer
- a Mind Doodle Account
- a Kahoot! Teacher account
- Acrobat Reader (if your computer doesn't already have it installed)
Mind Doodle
During Lesson 2: Identify Situations that Require Classroom Management, learners will create a digital mind map. Learners will work as a team to brainstorm activities that require classroom management, and they will classify these situations using the mind map. If you are unfamiliar with digital mind-mapping or mind-mapping using Teams, use the links below to learn how to mind-map collaboratively:
- REGISTER FOR A MIND DOODLE ACCOUNT: Register or Log In
- TUTORIAL: How to use Mind Doodle
- TUTORIAL: How to use Teams in Mind Doodle
Kahoot!
This course relies on the instructor to create a custom assessment based on student discoveries in Lesson 3: Identify Classroom Management Techniques for Real-life Situations. We have provided a sample quiz that you can use to create an assessment for your learners. After you have registered and logged in to a teacher account with Kahoot.com, you can copy and alter the sample quiz using the steps below:
- REGISTER FOR A KAHOOT! ACCOUNT: Register or Log In
- INSTRUCTIONS: How to duplicate a Kahoot!
- SAMPLE QUIZ: Classroom Management Assessment
2. Instructional Goal
Teachers of youth in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who receive training on classroom management techniques will express increased confidence in their ability to handle discipline problems in the church classroom.
Audience
Learners in the target group are English-speaking members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are adult males and females who teach in pairs and who are assigned to instruct classes of youth ages 11-18. These teaching pairs teach a group that consists of all males, all females, or mixed sex. Each teaching pair instructs a group of youth that can vary in size from one student to as many as twenty.
Learners in the target group have various levels of experience with classroom management, ranging from professional teachers with many years of experience to newly assigned teachers with no experience. The course will capitalize on varying experience levels and allow opportunities for more experienced teachers to teach or demonstrate classroom management techniques to those who are less experienced. All students will have opportunity to discuss and role play techniques in the training setting. Role play will aid students in utilizing practiced skills in their own classrooms.
Attitude and Motivation
Sixty percent of the target population agree or strongly agree that teacher training can help the average gospel teacher handle discipline problems; however, only forty-eight percent of the target population agrees or strongly agrees that church-provided teacher training is effective (Smith, 2019). The course will emphasize interactive learning to help overcome negative attitudes about church-provided training. As learners learn and develop, and as they see others do the same, their attitude about the effectiveness of training will improve.
Culture
Learners in the target population are of different genders and ethnicities. Reported ages range from 18 to 60+ (Smith, 2019). While each learner is an English-speaking member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, each has different expectations for proper classroom behavior and how to handle discipline issues that are influenced by their upbringing, experiences, or culture. The course will include a module to help learners develop a classroom management style appropriate to their culture and needs. It will focus on simple classroom management techniques that can be utilized by any learner, regardless of their age, gender, or experience. Since learners always teach in pairs, the course will include opportunities to practice teaching in pairs and for teaching pairs to develop their own classroom management strategy.
Length of Instruction
The course will vary in length from 8-12 hours, depending on the size of the group being taught.
Delivery Approach
Course instruction occurs in a church meetinghouse with ample seating, internet access, and standard classroom supplies, like chalkboards and paper. The instructor is the unit Sunday School president.
This course is intended to increase learner confidence in their ability to handle discipline problems in the gospel classroom. It focuses on identifying and finding methods to handle real-life situations that occur in each learner's classroom. It also capitalizes on the different ages and experiences of learners by helping each identify someone in the class that can be accessed in a difficult situation. Instructors should ensure learners are comfortable and invited to participate according to their ability and temperament. The instructor will focus on encouraging learners, emphasizing that every person can become confident in their ability to handle difficult classroom situations by using classroom management techniques to head off problems before they begin.
Instructional Sequence
After a pre-test, the course will be taught in 5 steps:
- Get to Know a Subject Matter Expert
- Identify Situations that Require Classroom Management
- Identify Classroom Management Techniques for Real-life Situations
- Develop a Classroom Management Plan
- Demonstrate Proficiency
Each of these lessons builds on previous material to help learners gain confidence and practice the skills they need to handle difficult classroom situations. At the end of the course, a post-test will be administered where student attitudes about teaching will be assessed.
3. Materials Needed
The instructor will provide
- A classroom with adequate seating positioned so that learners can see and hear each other comfortably
- Internet access
- Chalkboard and chalk
- Paper and pencils
- Minion stickers
- Books that contain classroom management techniques
- Team Teaching Assessment Rubric
- OPTIONAL: a projector or television that can accept external digital video output to help learners see digital output more easily.
The learner will provide
- Learners should come to class prepared to discuss problems they observe in their classrooms.
- Learners should also bring a tablet, laptop or other mobile device capable of accessing the internet for any online group activities and for the assessments.
- OPTIONAL: Learners may also wish to bring an address book to record the contact information of their peer mentor.
3. Lesson Plan Summary
Lesson 1: Get to Know a Subject Matter Expert (45 minutes)
During Lesson 1 learners will identify at least one potential peer-mentor from their learning group. Learners will take the pretest, play the Name Aerobics game, and discuss the need for mentors with the group. When that activity is complete, each student will identify at least one potential peer-mentor from their learning group during an interview with the instructor. Learners are presented with a minion sticker at the interview as a physical reminder of the day's lesson.
Lesson 2: Identify Situations that Require Classroom Management (45 minutes)
Through Lesson 2's group discussion, learners will identify at least one situation that requires classroom management. During this lesson, the learning group will work together to build a digital mind-map that identifies situations they are experiencing in their classrooms that might require intervention. Once situations are identified, learners will group the situations into categories. These categories will be used during the next lesson, when learners will work together to seek out classroom management techniques that can apply to each real-life situation.
Lesson 3: Identify Classroom Management Techniques for Real-life Situations (5 hours)
Learners will identify at least one classroom management technique that applies to each situation identified in Lesson 2. After learners review the mind-map they developed in the previous lesson, learners will work collaboratively to find classroom management techniques that they can apply in their own classrooms.
To plan this lesson the instructor will design at least three mini-lessons for using the classifications learners created during the mind-mapping exercise in Lesson 2. For example, if learners have identified the following categories: creating classroom rules, managing hallway behaviors, minimal intervention strategies, gaining and keeping attention, and other, the instructor might group these into three one-hour modules: (1) managing hallway behaviors and gaining attention, (2) minimal intervention strategies, and (3) other. During each mini-lesson, learners will be invited to use instructor provided books, their peers, and internet searches to find at least one classroom management technique that could be applied in each situation listed on the mind-map, and write a brief description of it on a piece of paper to provided to the instructor at the end of class. This paper work will be used to create a digital assessment that will show students can identify classroom management techniques for each assessment.
Lesson 4: Develop a Classroom Management Plan (1 hour)
Teaching pairs will create a classroom management plan that accounts for needs of their students and temperament of the teachers. Learners will identify potential problems with teaching in pairs and discuss preferred classroom management style with teaching partner. They will write a simple classroom management plan and then present it to the group.
Lesson 5: Demonstrate Proficiency (2+ hours)
In a mock classroom situation, teaching pairs will respond to at least three classroom disruptions requiring classroom management. During Lesson 5, each teaching pair will receive the same short lesson plan to present. The remaining class members will receive a case study for a student role they should play in the classroom (needs to go to the bathroom, cries, makes an off-topic comment, comes in late, leans chairs back, talks to neighbor, wiggly, bored, etc). The teaching pair will demonstrate classroom management techniques as they guide students into the classroom and teach the lesson utilizing classroom management techniques they have learned throughout the course. Peers will evaluate each other by assessing whether the learners demonstrate mastery of classroom management against a rubric.
4. Assessment
The instructor will assess the effect of the course using an anonymous post-test that asks students to report on their confidence about handling discipline problems in the classroom. The instructor will compare the pre- and post-test results to determine if students did gain increased confidence in their ability to handle discipline problems in the classroom.
References
Smith, J. (2019). JNT1 – Task 1: Needs Analysis. Unpublished manuscript, Teachers College, Western Governor's University, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
