Democratic Teaching

Rudolf Dreikurs
Democratic classrooms and teaching styles.
Mutual respect motivates students to behave
constructively. This occurs out of their heightened
sense of social interest.
Three types of teachers: autocratic (harsh boss),
permissive (uninvolved and no expectations), and
democratic (support internal motivation and
responsibility).
Students who do not feel a sense of belonging will
resort to: attention gaining, power seeking,
revenge, or displaying inadequacy.
Praise supports completion. Encouragement
supports the process. Logical consequences
produce better results than punishment.

Description of the theory
Provide lessons with social interest in mind.
Provide a teaching environment that supports
students sense of belonging.
Come up with a set of classroom rules as a group.
Support responsibility through freedom of choices
in lesson plans.
Avoid power struggles and encourage students
who display inadequacy.
Encourage students rather than praise them.
Provide students with logical consequences to
mistaken goals to support responsibility and
avoid punishment.

Strategies / Approaches
Strength and weaknesses
Strengths
In class, it allow students to work in small
groups and as a large group to support social
group belonging.
Promotes respect and communication among
teacher and students.
Logical consequences produce better results
than punishment.
Weaknesses
Might be difficult for teachers to identify and
understand students reasons for
misbehaving.
Teachers may not be able to respond properly
and to provide logical consequences for all
misbehavior.
Suitable to be used in dealing with
problematic students.
Uses different approach.
Gives students opportunity to correct their
misbehavior.
Practicality of the
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Instructional Management
Jacob Kounin
Description of the theory
There is a difference between well-run and ill-run
rooms and it is instructional management.
Withitness means the teacher knows what is
going on at all times in the classroom.
Momentum keeps the students engaged and on
track with their material.
Lesson presentation should be smooth to keep
students engaged.
Students may experience satiation when they
have been overexposed to a certain topic or
strategy.
Provide students with enjoyable and challenging
lessons.
Strategies / Approaches
Withitnessscan constantly, make notes of
repeated behaviors, get to know the students on a
personal level, keep moving through the classroom.
Do not allow for dead time during transitions. Keep
momentum by keeping the students engaged in
some activity at all times.
Give lessons multiple times and assess yourself
during teaching.
Ask students questions to make sure they are not
experiencing satiation.
Ask students their input before planning lessons
what interests them/what do they want to
learn/what challenging techniques do they want to
learn?
Strengths
Teacher affects the students behavior positively
and negatively.
Behavior problems are reduced to a minimum.
Smooth teaching and learning processes.
Create a positive classroom environment.
Weaknesses
Overlapping effect will loses effectiveness when
withitness is overlooked.
It is almost impossible for a teacher to know
everything that is happening in the class at all
time.
Teacher can lose control over a destructive
students.
Strength and weaknesses
Strategies suggested by Kounin is working in
both situations, the students negative
behaviors are put to stop almost immediately
to ensure the teaching and learning processes
runs smoothly.
Teacher should take charge of the class and be
aware and control the situation and also
ensure the behavioral problems of the
students can be avoided.
Practicality of the
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Assertive Discipline
Lee & Marlene Canter
Teachers should not make a students problem
their own problem.
Support student-owned responsibility.
Build relationships so that students are willing to
do more work.
Use enforceable limits.
Provide choices within limits.
Apply consequences with empathy.
Description of the theory
Use I noticed you rather than I like because
students will feel judged.
No warnings.
Do not delay consequences.
Build relationships with students by taking interest
in their lives both in school and out of school.
Use empathy with consequences so students do
not feel punished or that you are not listening.
Make sure they know you understand the situation
but are sticking to your guns.

Strategies / Approaches
Strength and weaknesses
Strength
Building relationships in the classroom will
definitely help with issuing consequences.
Sometimes consequences do not have to be
immediate. They can be discussed at a later
date to ensure the learning of everyone.
Providing choices within consequences is a
great idea.
Students will feel like it is a consequence and
not a punishment.
Weakness
Rules and consequences are determined by an
authority figure and students are told they can
choose to obey or not.
Listen to students. Get to know them as
individuals. Take an interest in them as
people. This includes communication with
their parents, guardians or caregivers.
Teach them how to behave. Teachers must
model the behavior that they expect their
students to exhibit. Establish clear routines
and procedures in the classroom.

Practicality of the
theories in esl classroom