Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Classroom Management

TAKING SIDES: CLASHING VIEWS ON CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES IN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT presents current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. Each issue is thoughtfully framed with an issue summary, an issue introduction, and a postscript. An instructor’s manual with testing material is available for each TAKING SIDES volume. USING TAKING SIDES IN THE CLASSROOM is also an excellent instructor resource with practical suggestions on incorporating this effective approach in the classroom. Each TAKING SIDES reader features an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites and is supported by our student website, www.dushkin.com/online.

PART 1. Behavior Management and Classroom Instruction

ISSUE 1. Can Teachers Manage the No Child Left Behind Mandate and Student Misbehaviors Too?

YES: George W. Bush, from “The Essential Work of Democracy,” Phi Delta Kappan (October 2004)

NO: Susan Black, from “Stressed Out in the Classroom,” American School Board Journal (October 2003)

George W. Bush, our forty-third president of the United States of America, proposes that the essential work of democracy is to educate future Americans to govern in the twenty-first century and that the No Child Left Behind Act reflects a belief that every child can learn through greater teacher and student accountability. Susan Black, an American School Board Journal contributing editor and education research consultant from Hammondsport, New York, contends that teachers are stressed out since the passage of No Child Left Behind due to the mounting needs of troubled students, accountability demands to accomodate a widening range of student behaviors, and preparing students for the relentless series of standardized assessments.

ISSUE 2. Is There a Relationship Between Teacher Stress and Student Misbehavior?

YES: Ross W. Greene, Sara K. Beszterczey, Tai Katzenstein, Kenneth Park, and Jennifer Goring, from “Are Students with ADHD More Stressful to Teach? Patterns of Teacher Stress in an Elementary School Sample,” Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (Summer 2002)

NO: Tawnya Kumarakulasingam and Robert G. Harrington, from “Relationships Between Classroom Management, Teacher Stress, Burnout, and Levels of Hope,” Dissertation Abstracts International (2002)

Ross W. Greene is director of cognitive-behavioral psychology at the Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of psychology in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Professor Green and his research associates contend that students with AD/HD are significantly more stressful to teach than their classmates without AD/HD. Tawnya Kumarakulasingam is coordinator of school psychological services in the Scottsdale, Arizona, schools, and Robert G. Harrington is a professor in the department of psychology and research in education at the University of Kansas. They found that teacher stress and teachers’ levels of hope are predictive of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Hope serves as a moderator of teacher stress.

ISSUE 3. Is Teaching the Habits of Highly Successful Students the Best Approach to Improve Student Motivation?

YES: Elizabeth A. Linnenbrink and Paul R. Pintrich, from “Motivation as an Enabler for Academic Success,” School Psychology Review (Summer 2002)

NO: Kathryn R. Wentzel and Deborah E. Watkins, from “Peer Relationships and Collaborative Learning as Contexts for Academic Enablers,” School Psychology Review (Summer 2002)

Elizabeth A. Linnenbrink is an assistant professor of educational psychology in foundations of education at the University of Toledo, and Paul R. Pintrich was a professor of education and psychology and chair of the combined program in education and psychology at the University of Michigan. These authors conclude that it is not appropriate to label students as "motivated" or "unmotivated" since they believe that motivation is a skill that can be taught to all learners. Kathryn R. Wentzel is a professor at the University of Maryland in the department of human development, and Deborah Watkins is an assistant professor at York College of Pennsylvania in special education. They argue that levels of peer support and acceptance in the classroom are important social factors in improving student motivation and behavior; without them, students may not be able to improve motivation.

ISSUE 4. Students with AD/HD in the Regular Classroom: Are Teachers Prepared to Manage Inclusion?

YES: Eric Carbone, from “Arranging the Classroom with an Eye (and Ear) to Students with ADHD,” Teaching Exceptional Children (November/December 2001)

NO: Regina Bussing, Faye A. Gary, Christina E. Leon, Cynthia Wilson Garvan and Robert Reid, from “General Classroom Teachers’ Information and Perceptions of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,” Behavioral Disorders (August 2002)

Eric Carbone is a professor in the department of teaching and learning at New York University. He describes how classroom teachers can improve the learning enviroments of students with AD/HD in their inclusionary classrooms in ways that support the strengths of these students. Regina Bussing is an associate professor and chief of the division of child and adolescent psychiatry, department of psychiatry, pediatrics, and health policy and epidemiology at the University of Florida. Professor Bussing et al. contend that large class sizes, time requirements, and a lack of teacher training combine to make teachers unprepared to teach students with AD/HD in the regular classroom.

ISSUE 5. Can There Be Too Much Tolerance and Accommodation for Diversity of Student Behavior in the Classroom?

YES: James M. Kauffman, Kathleen McGee, and Michele Brigham, from “Enabling or Disabling? Observation on Changes in Special Education,” Phi Deltan Kappan (April 2004)

NO: Jennifer R. Holladay, from “Survey Says? Teaching Tolerance Asks Educators About the Social Climate of Their Classrooms,” Teaching Tolerance (Spring 2000)

James M. Kauffman is the Charles S. Robb Professor of Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville; and Kathleen McGee and Michele Brigham are high school special education teachers. They believe that sometimes there is too much tolerance and accommodation for a wide range of student misbehaviors in classrooms. Teachers need to raise their learning expectations for students with special needs. Jennifer Holladay is a program coordinator for the journal Teaching Tolerance. She participated in this survey project that found that teachers think that teaching tolerance to their students and other teachers should be a top educational priority.

PART 2. Teacher Management of Student Misbehavior

ISSUE 6. Does the Authoritarianism of Traditional Classroom Management Contribute to Student Disrespect?

YES: Alfie Kohn, from “Almost There, But Not Quite,” Educational Leadership (March 2003)

NO: Jeremy Swinson and Mike Cording, from “Assertive Discipline in a School for Pupils with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties,” British Journal of Special Education (June 2002)

Alfie Kohn is an author and lecturer. Kohn postulates that traditional classroom-management strategies often used in schools today do not promote a mutually caring and respectful classroom environment and results in increased student disrespect. Jeremy Swinson is a senior educational psychologist and honorary lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, and Mike Cording is an educational consultant in Southport, England. They support the use of assertive discipline (a traditional classroom-management strategy), even for those students who are disaffected, discouraged, and disrespectful. They maintain that corrective procedures change behavior and do not contribute to student disrespect.

ISSUE 7. Is Positive Reinforcement Overused?

YES: Alfie Kohn, from “Five Reasons to Stop Saying ’Good Job!’” Young Children (September 2001)

NO: K. Angeleque Akin-Little, Tanya L. Eckert, Benjamin J. Lovett and Steven G. Little, from “Extrinsic Reinforcement in the Classroom: Bribery or Best Practice,” School Psychology Review (Summer 2004)

Alfie Kohn, the author of eight books on education and human behavior, believes that positive reinforcement is overused and that, contrary to common belief, may have potentially negative effects on students. K. Angeleque Akin-Little and Steven G. Little are professors at the University of the Pacific. They debate that the benefits of positive reinforcement far outweigh the detriments to students and offer suggestions for the appropriate use of reinforcement programs in educational settings.

ISSUE 8. Should Time-Out Be Timed Out?

YES: Christine A. Readdick and Paula L. Chapman, from “Young Children’s Perceptions of Time Out,” Journal of Research in Childhood Education (Fall/Winter 2000)

NO: Robert G. Harrington, from “Time Out: Guidelines for Parents and Teachers,” National Association of School Psychologists (2004)

Christine A. Readdick and Paula L. Chapman are professors at Florida State University whose child interviews have shown that preschoolers perceive time-out as a punishment, and they are unable to explain why they were placed in time-out, thus reducing its effectiveness. Robert G. Harrington is a professor in the department of psychology and research in education at the University of Kansas who argues that time-out has been used effectively with preschoolers and elementary students to reduce noncomplicance, and he provides guidelines for the effective use of the time-out strategy.

ISSUE 9. Is Punishment an Effective Technique to Control Behavi or?

YES: Shannon R. Brinker, Sara E. Goldstein, and Marie S. Tisak, from “Children’s Judgements about Common Classroom Punishments,” Educational Research (Summer 2003)

NO: John W. M...