Kounin Is a Discipline and Group Management Theorist

Jacob Kounin  Kounin is a discipline and group management theorist  Main goal was integrating teaching and discipline  Kounin believes that desirable attributes such as being warm and understanding will not manage a classroom  He though that it was necessary to have withitness, overlapping, momentum smoothness, group alerting, encouraging accountability, high participation formats and transitions were necessary to manage a classroom  Withitness: a teachers ability to correct misbehaviour before it gets out of control and before other students in the class see it and also begin to do it Ex. A teacher who is ‘withit’ is able to physically move towards a student who is misbehaving while continuing with the lesson  Overlapping: how a teacher deals with two or more events that are going on in the classroom at the same time Ex. During group activities a teacher is able to provide assistance to a student at one centre while providing words of encouragement to students at other stations  Momentum: refers to the teachers ability to have a steady movement or pacing throughout a lesson Ex. A teacher is able to notice that the class is taking too much time dwelling on a minor concept and quickly moves on while making a mental note to go more in-depth the next day  Smoothness: is the lessons continuity Ex. The teacher avoids allowing comments that may distract the attention away from the key points of the lesson  Group Alerting: is engaging the attention of the whole class while individuals are responding Group alerting is a technique to keep the entire class involved in the learning process so that students are, potentially, active participants at all times  Encouraging Accountability: communication to the students the their participation will be observed and evaluated Ex. At the end of a discussion and practice of a new skill, students are told to turn to a neighbour and explain the process to him or her  High Participation Formats: using lessons that define behaviour of students when they are not directly answering a teacher’s question High participation formats occur when students are expected to write answers, solve problems, read along, and use manipulative material  Transitions: the interval between any two activities Kounin found that smooth and effective transitions are one of the most important techniques in maintaining student involvement and class control  Kounin’s management strategies have promoted active learning not only in the regular education student but have the same effect on special education students  His strategies are also very prevalent in the education system today because they have proven to be effective ways to manage a classroom