" Dynamics of the Classroom" :A Reflective Classroom Teacher 23

There is going to be some conflict in your classroom. But, there is also going to be cooperation; some competition; a little accommodation and hopefully all of this will result in the assimilation of everyone into a productive, caring class. There are no guarantees the latter is going to happen but, if it does, the results will be monumental. We have been witnesses to this phoneme on more than one occasion in our classrooms. The effort needed to create such an atmosphere; is well worth the effort.
That feeling of unity and togetherness can stand up against any conflict that can be imagined. To develop that elusive element, we must make the children under our care, realize that they have greater importance to us than a statistic. They must understand that we are interested in the total package. We must go out of our way to establish a relationship that goes beyond assignments, assessment and promotion. We must cultivate the feeling that we want to help our students, rather than, we have to help them.
As stated, there will be some conflict in your classroom. No amount of preparation will eliminate that reality. However, all effective teachers have a way to minimize the effects of confrontations. Conflict is inevitable in the classroom. It is inevitable because students, like the rest of us, have several basic needs and at times choose to meet those needs with rather unorthodox behavior.
Most of your students will conform most of the time, but not always. The students needs become more important to them than your need to be their teacher. Now we have two distinct agendas and the result is conflict. If conflicts materializes, as teachers, we better have a plan; because surrender is not an option for an effective teacher. No matter what intervention model you adapt to your class, it will never do away with conflict in the classroom. Some children will refuse your directions and your help.
How each teacher resolves the conflict in his or her classroom might be directed by the district's policy on intervention. If there is not overall policy concerning the classroom discipline model, then the following suggestions are offered as excellent guides to conflict resolution
Conflict, created by a student's poor behavior, is a relative concept. It all depends. It depends on the teacher's tolerance level; the classroom values; a set of rules; defined procedures; time, place and circumstance and any number of variables.
If we as teachers are going to limit the amount of conflict we allow in our classrooms, then we must make a decision as to where the line is to be drawn. Where we place this line often depends on the mandates of the school district that employs us. However, when the door closes to the hallway, reality often transcends the ideal. What our absolutes are, becomes the policy of that particular classroom.
We are, in the end, the individuals who define the universal truths for our world. In the end, each of us makes a decision concerning what we must and what we are willing to control in our classrooms.
If we are in conflict with a student because of his or her behavior, our first universal should be; we did not cause that behavior. The student made a choice to break the class norm and we were not responsible for that choice. In our opinion, that student must also make a choice of how he or she will correct their unacceptable behavior.
This reflection is a life lesson. We will all make poor choices in our lifetimes and in most cases, there will a consequence for those choices. That is the nature of our world and our imperfection as humans. We will address the issue of intervention at a later time.
Why do certain students create an atmosphere of conflict on a regular basis? As educators, it is important that we are able to discern the difference between poor judgement and deviant behavior. The latter may only be affected if we understand the source of the behavior. Even then, the solution might go beyond our limited abilities as amateur psychologists and we will be forced to pass on the behavioral problem to more specialized staff members. Contrary to popular belief, we as teachers, cannot be all things to all people.
What we can do however is to be cognitive of the fact that most behavior has multi causation. Nothing about our behavior is simple and as a teacher we must take into account several possibilities. Cause and then cure would seem to be the most productive course to follow when dealing with serious negative behavior. A little reflective thought and deferred reaction serves us well as teachers. Temper your yourself, the behavior was not created overnight and neither will the cure. While we are on the subject, we will never be one hundred percent effective as teachers. Some children will refuse our help. In some instances, the students' goals for themselves and our goals for them are miles apart and the gap will remain no matter how hard we try to close it completely.
Cooperation This is the most desired results of interaction and the most difficult to maintain. Perfect cooperation suggest that everyone in the classroom has a group consensus as to the goals and the need for those goals and is cognitive of the means necessary to achieve those goals 100% of the time. It just isn't going to happen. Accept the fact that perfection does not happen all that often, if ever in the classroom. That includes our ability to teach as well as their ability to learn.
Accommodation: A wise teacher sets the standard high enough that they can retreat from that standard without compromising their integrity or selling out on the learning process. We are talking about reality and the reality is an effective teacher knows how to give and take and still achieve the desired goal. Offer the student several choices but these choices must be within your comfort zone as a teacher.
It is so simple really, learn how to bend or you are going to break. The secret is, decide before you ever walk into a class how far it is you are will to bend to accommodate your students. In addition to compromise, a wise teacher can call a truce. Maybe both you and the student need to be away from the issue for a time.
Accommodation must take place in any group if that group is to resolve conflicts and continue. There must be flexibility in any and all relationships. The most common of these accommodations would be compromise. This is nothing more than the teacher and student reaching an agreement on an issue of conflict, which is acceptable to both.
The secret is, decide before you ever walk into a class how far it is you are willing to bend to accommodate your students. In addition to compromise, a wise teacher can call a truce. Maybe both you and the student need to be away from the issue for a time. The student can not call the time out, but you can. A little reflection goes a long way. There will be times when a third party is needed to resolve an issue. I would use this as a last resort but mediation is a sound and proven form of accommodation. Usually it is your principal but it could also be a school counselor or a mentor in some cases.
Competition: In addition to cooperation, conflict and accommodation, the classroom is going to have competition among the students. This is not always bad, so long as there are rules to follow. Without rules, competition always turns to conflict. Remember, in competition, several people have as their goal, that which is not obtainable by all students in the class. When competition over-shadows the goals and objectives of the lesson then of course it is counter productive.
In some cases, competition can be used by the student to gain a social advantage over another student. This is not a desired result in an effective classroom. As a first year teacher, I would limit the use of competition as a motivational factor. There is enough competition created by peer and family .As teachers, we need not to manufacture any more.
The most desired results of interaction, within the classroom, is of course assimilation. Students will confide in you and their peers because of the feeling of trust and acceptance. Students will feel more secure in the classroom environment and take more risks. The class will move from a transitory group relationship to a recurrent group relationship. Roles will be more clearly defined, there will be more group consensus on goals and means of achieving those goals. Procedures will be followed more closely and the quality of work will improve significantly. The reality is, we strive to please the people who respect us and we in turn respect and admire.


Teachers as a group live in the ideal; that is probably why we became teachers. The reality that some students will fail intellectually and socially should not deter our efforts. We should not hasten to run up the white flag on a student but we must understand that there is always going to be a degree of failure in our classroom. Even our greatest efforts cannot prevent this reality. We did not make this choice. We are not responsible for this behavior. We are not perfect beings; at best we are good people trying to do what we can to improve on an imperfect world.