Curriculum, Instruction, Classroom Management, and Discipline

by Marvin Marshall

Gain a clear understanding of the differences in order to pinpoint the cause of a problem.
 

Curriculum

Curriculum refers to what is to be taught. Sources include state and local boards of education, professional associations, textbooks, teacher preferences, and increasing influence from the federal government.
Instruction

A) What the teacher does

 
It is the teacher's responsibility to make the curriculum interesting, relevant, meaningful, and/or even fun. Activities that create interest, challenge, inspire creativity or are personal are excellent approaches. A good starting point is for the teacher to ask, "Why am I teaching this?" and then share the reasons with students.

Every lesson should have planned time for reflection in order to  enhance understanding, reinforcement, and retention.
B) What students do

 
Learning that is retained requires participation. Consider the following regarding retention: We remember:

10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we say
90% of what we say and do

Classroom Management

Classroom management deals with how things are done.
It has to do with procedures, routines, and structure.
It is enhanced when procedures are:

1. Explained to students,
2. Modeled for students,
3. Practiced by students, and periodically (when necessary)
4. Reinforced by practicing again.
When procedures are learned, routines are established.
Routines give structure to instruction.

Classroom management is the teacher's responsibility.
Discipline

Discipline is the student's responsibility.
Discipline deals with how people behave.
It is about impulse management and self-control.

So, if you have an unsuccessful lesson, ask yourself,

(1) Was it the curriculum? e.g., I just didn't make it appealing,
or
(2) Was it instruction? e.g., I had a wonderful lesson planned, but I did all the work; the students were not engaged enough,
or
(3) Was it classroom management? e.g., I had a wonderful lesson, but it took 10 minutes to get everything organized,
or
(4) Was it a discipline problem? e.g., I prompted the students' curiosity, taught a good lesson with meaningful student activities, had everything organized, but Jason still interrupted the lesson.

Asking yourself these questions is a significant step toward increasing your effectiveness.

 

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