Jacob+Kounin

**Jacob Kounin and his Contributions to Classroom Management**


Jacob Kounin is best known for his research and contributions to classroom management. Specifically, he is known for his theories on instructional management and managing behavior in the classroom. Kounin believed that prevention techniques used in the classroom, rather than a teacher’s personality, were extremely important for managing classroom behavior. He also believed that great lessons were an effective strategy for managing behavior. If lessons have “activity flow” then they have the ability to keep students engaged, and provide less opportunity for poor behavior or disruptions (Evertson & Emmer, 2013).

In order to maintain activity flow and manage whole-group instruction, teachers need to be prepared to prevent misbehavior, manage movement, and maintain group focus. Kounin believed that preventing misbehavior in the classroom involved specific techniques: withitness, overlapping, ripple effect, momentum, and smoothness. Kounin describes withitness as the teacher’s ability to communicate to the class that they know what is going on at all times. These teachers know what misbehaviors are occurring, when they are occurring, and who is involved in them. Students should be aware of the teacher’s withitness and in return they are more likely to stay on task as well as demonstrate appropriate behavior in the classroom (Ormrod, 2011). Another strategy for preventing misbehavior is the idea of overlapping. Overlapping refers to the teacher’s ability to react to multiple simultaneous acts occurring in the classroom. Most of the time there is a lot going on in the classroom and in order to keep the desired flow, teachers should not be pausing and individually addressing situations (Evertson & Emmer, 2013). An effective technique for managing misbehavior is a term Kounin refers to as the “ripple effect.” He believes that when a teacher specifically corrects the undesired behavior of an individual student, then other students nearby who are misbehaving will be influenced to demonstrate desired behavior. Teachers could also encourage positive behaviors of individual students to motivate nearby students to follow the same lead (eLearnPortal).


 * Withitness:**



The second type of strategy for maintaining activity flow that Kounin suggests is the idea of managing movement. In this practice the lessons should have momentum and smoothness in order to keep the students engaged (Evertson & Emmer, 2013). If the lesson slows down and is broken into pieces, or if conversation becomes off topic at any point, this could provide the opportunity for students to disengage or misbehave. Kounin believes smooth transitional periods are important for effective classroom management as well. When teachers need to switch to a different activity, students can become distracted and start to misbehave. It is the teacher’s job to provide effective transitions by establishing routines, and providing clear directions for the class to follow (eLearnPortal).

The third type of strategy that Kounin suggests for maintaining activity flow is the idea of maintaining group focus.Teachers can maintain group focus by group alerting, encouraging accountability, and using high-participation formats (Evertson & Emmer, 2013). When teachers are “group alerting” they are engaging the entire class even if only certain individuals are responding. For example, by calling on students in a random pattern during a lesson, they may make an effort to pay attention in anticipation of being called on next. When teachers encourage accountability, they are letting students know that their work and performance is important and being observed. High-participation formats are also ways of maintaining group focus in the classroom. These lessons keep students actively involved in the lesson instead of just sitting and listening to other students respond to answers. These lessons may include writing down questions, reading along, or even manipulating materials.

**Kounin's Theory** media type="youtube" key="jHVFwuiWlAU" height="360" width="640"
Briana A. Sheard, page created on February 8th, 2015

References:

Evertson, Carolyn, M. and Emmer, Edmund T. (2013) //Classroom Management For Elementary Teachers.// (9th ed.) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

Ormrod, J. E. (2011). Educational Psychology (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.

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