Exploring the Theories of Instructional Management:

Jacob Kounin

• Kounin’s Model

• Positive Teacher Behaviors

• Negative Teacher Behaviors

• Effectiveness of Applications

• Conclusions

By Erika and Dennis

Introduction to Kounin’s Model

Jacob Kounin• Degrees in child and clinical psychology• Interested in educational psychology• Member of several professional associations• Wrote a book titled Discipline and Group

Management in Classrooms (1970)

Key Concepts• Teacher behavior: withitness, desists, etc.• Movement management: pacing and the ebb and

low of instruction• Group focus: appropriate instructional strategies

and activities

The Kounin ModelPhilosophical and Psychological Foundations• Teachers may affect learners behaviors both positively and

negatively• William Wattenberg

– Counteract mischief by keeping them productively busy

Teacher’s Roles and ResponsibilitiesThe teacher is primarily responsible for the learners’ behaviors• Clear transitions• Know what is going on• Maintain instructional momentum• Work toward group focus• Learning environment that is conducive to learning

– = effective classroom managers

Positive Teacher Behaviors for Applying Instructional

Management

• With instructional activities

• Teacher withitness

• Desists

• Overlapping

• Group Focus

With Instructional Activities• Clear procedures• Zone of proximal development• Focus on all• Pace instruction• Instructional contents that are relevant and

challenging• Appropriate instructional behaviors

Elementary:• Model• Music for transitions

Secondary:• Breaks

Teacher Withitness

• What is withitness?

• It is the idea that effective teachers are aware of all events activities, and student behaviors in the classroom and that they convey that knowledge to students

• Multi-tasking; being able to do more than one thing at a time

Activity

Take 2-3 minutes to think with your group of a possible scenario where a teacher demonstrates withitness.

Plan a brief skit to share it with the class.

Desists

• Efforts to stop misbehavior• Have the potential for a ripple effect

• They can be threatening!

• Firmness and roughness vs. clarity

• Depending on the circumstances teachers must quickly determine if they

should handle a misbehavior with a desist of more subtly

Let’s VOTE!

Would you use a desist or a quieter action?

Overlapping• It is what teachers do when they have

two matters to deal with at the same time• Multitasking• Simultaneous multiple stimuli

• For example, correcting a student’s misbehavior and never breaking instructional momentum

• It is an essential skill!• Withitness

Group Focus

• Group alerting: the degree to which a teacher attempts to involve all learners in learning tasks, maintain their attention, and keep them “on their toes”– Creating “suspense”

• Group accountability: the idea that the teacher holds the students accountable and responsible for their task performances– Use checklists and task cards– Student misbehavior decreases– Know when and how to use them

Negative Teacher Behaviors for Applying Instructional

Management

Satiation – an occurrence when a teacher elongates a lesson the to the point of exhaustion

THE REMEDY!

“Read” the classPrepare for alterationsBe positive and adaptable

Jerkiness – the characteristic of a lesson that lacks smoothness and momentum. Students are confused by the lack of relevance and transition.

REMEDY: avoid beating around the “Bush”

Subside from asking irrelevant questions, and ask students to keep unrelated questions to themselves until a lesson is finished.

Stimulus Bound – the loss of momentum in a lesson when a teacher is disrupted by another train of thought.

Remedy: stay focused and on your job

Recognize what could be a potential distraction and avoid them. Otherwise, your lesson may get kicked in the face!

Thrust – Similar to stimulus bound, thrusts happen when a teacher “butts” in on students already in motion with one focus; resulting in a disruption. Whether intentional or not, thrusts cause an instant termination in momentum because the disruption is initiated by the teacher.

Remedy – if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!

Just let things be if there isn’t anything to say. If attentive direction is needed, address the obstacle in a way that does not destroy momentum.

Dangles, Truncations, and Flip-Flops - Dangles occur when a teacher abruptly stops a lecture or activity, and does not return to it for a long period of time. Truncations happens when you never return to the initial activity. Flip-Flops take place when a teacher disrupts one activity with another, and then tries desperately to return to the primary activity only to find failure.

Remedy – Stick to the plan, dude

There is so much that a teacher desires for their students to know, but if forcing too many ideas into one course of action can be confusing. Just keep it simple.

Slowdowns (Over Dwelling and Fragmentation )

Over Dwelling: a teacher “sticks” to the point of obsession on correcting one behavior that he/she loses the momentum of a whole class

Fragmentation: an over bearing breakdown of an activity into unnecessary microscopic steps that causes a loss of attentiveness due to narrowness

Remedy – allow the students to create their own answers instead of answering everything for them

If you feel like you are giving a longwinded lecture, see how long it has been since you have questioned the students. It’s all about pacing.

We FINALLY reach the

Conclusions

trengths

WITHITness!!!I am there, even when you think I’m not, I AM THERE!!!!

DESISTS!!!You will obey, and it will RIPPLE towards others

OVERLAPPING!!!!

I can take care of you, and everyone….AT THE SAME TIME!

Satiation: The longest lecture in the world

Jerkiness:A plus B equals….wait, how did we get here?were we talking about again?

Stimulus bound:

Thrust:“…the land of the free, and the home of the…WHAT’s THE DEAL WITH CORN NUTS!?

Dangles and Truncations:

And the answer to the question is….(years later) ZZZZzzzzzzzzz

And that class is how….is that a squirrel in the window? I wonder what Justin Bieber is doing right now…

Weaknesses

Weaknesses (cont.)Slowdowns:

Over dwelling - Photosynthesis uses light to create energy. Do you get it? Okay good. Let’s go into more detail for no reason!!

Fragmentation - “Tis’ better to over prepare to the point where you can’t do anything than to straight up do it”-anonymous fragment teacher

FLIP FLOPS:Okay, let’s stop everything right now, and do something else. Now, remember what we did first in order to make logical sense!

Conclusions

Rule #1

WORSHIP JACOB S. KOUNIN

Conclusions

Rule #2

Question and RefineJacob S. Kounin

Questions?