Overview

Marc Hoberman

Nonpublic School teachers and mentors who attended Marc Hoberman's workshop on Classroom Management on November 28 not only left it more informed, but they had a great time acquiring the information. Mr. Hoberman gave the workshop in two sessions—the first was for grades K-6, the second, for grades 7-12. In each of them, he shared techniques for teachers to manage their classrooms effectively, which he garnered after many years of teaching in public schools – from the East Bronx to Rockland County - and in yeshivohs. His presentation was most entertaining as he gave hands-on tips for teaching and observations about students' reactions.

Illustrating his points with amusing anecdotes from his personal experience, he told the teachers that a primary requisite for classroom management is having good lesson plans. He said that a powerful tool for classroom management is the teacher making contracts concerning classroom rules with his/her class, with the students giving their input. For lower grades, pictures could be used in addition to words in making the chart of rules. The contract should be posted permanently in the classroom. He suggested making two copies of the contracts for each student and having the copies signed by the student and by the parent. The student keeps a copy in his notebook and the teacher keeps a copy on file. Teachers should be explicit when verbalizing what their expectations are and they should try to elicit ideas from the students.

He also recommended having notebook quizzes as a means of encouraging students to keep good notes and neat notebooks. The quizzes are based solely on the pupils having information written down, not on their knowledge of a subject. Positive reinforcement is of primary importance. This can be done verbally, either privately and/or publicly. Positive reinforcement can take the form of notes home, followed by phone calls to the parents. Whenever possible, he suggested, "catch a child doing something right" and remark about it. He explained his classroom version of a game called "You Got Caught!" When the teacher sees a child doing something right, s/he puts a "You Got Caught!" sticker on the child.

This can be done by parents, as well. The action of the child can be something simple, like being polite, being helpful, putting his/her things away, etc. He said that parents can suggest to their child (and probably shock him/her) that he/she take a few minutes break from doing homework.

He stated, "Criticize privately, praise publicly or privately."

He noted that especially for youngsters of high school age, he wants to get the students away from the need to be praised in front of a lot of people. A private word of praise should be sufficient to make a person feel good.

He didn't indicate a definite opinion about giving extrinsic rewards. Praise is certainly a desirable response, he said, and he is in favor of weaning the students away from expecting gifts and prizes as rewards.

If a child has a problem and the teacher wants to notify the parents, the teacher should be careful about phrasing things in as positive a way as possible. Mr. Hoberman said that whenever he makes a phone call to a parent , he has the child standing next to him in order to eliminate any misunderstanding.

Mr. Hoberman said, "Between the ages of five and eleven, a negative stroke takes fifteen positive strokes to cancel out."

Teachers should model proper behavior and they should follow rules, with the understanding that certain things are allowed for older people that are not allowed for youngsters.

He listed and explained the qualities that make one a responsible person: (1) When you agree to do something, do it. (2) Answer for you own actions. (3) Take care of your own matters. (4) Be trustworthy. (5) Don't put things off. For the high school segment, he added the subject of trustworthiness. The qualities of a trustworthy person include: (1) Keeping promises. (2) Being reliable; following through on commitments. (3) Being honest. (4) Keeping secrets; never betraying a confidence or a trust. (5) Having integrity; not caving in to temptation. (6) Being loyal when loyalty is appropriate.

He said a good teacher is fair and has high standards. He noted that students respect a teacher who sets boundaries, and can be strict, as long as s/he is fair.

Mr. Hoberman discussed many worthwhile insights concerning classroom management and behavior management in a captivating presentation.