WITH-IT-NESS IN THE CLASSROOM

 By: Dr. Armãndo R. Tolliver | EDUCATOR | December 30, 2016

With-it-ness is a pedagogical term that describes a teacher’s continual awareness of all that is going on in the classroom at all times (Marzano, Foseid, Foseid, Gaddy, and Marazano, 2005). Good and Brophy (2003) stated, “Effective managers monitored their classroom regularly. They positioned themselves so that they could see all students and they continuously scanned the room to keep track of what was going on, no matter what else they were doing at the time” (p. 112). I recall times from my own schooling where I sat and thought to myself, “How did the instructor know that?” Literature has suggested four behaviors that constitute with-it-ness: a) occupying the entire room, b) noticing potential problems, c) using a series of graduated actions, and d) forecasting problems (Marazano et al., 2005).

When I began teaching, I really had to tap into my six sense of with-it-ness in order to curtail misbehavior, and be acutely aware of hotspots or combinations of activities that might spell potential problem. For example, there is an outlet on the left side of the classroom, hints why one student always tries to sit there to charge his cell phone. There is a substitute teacher in the building, hints why so many students are trying to get into that class. There is an incident in the downstairs hallway, hints why several students are asking to use the restroom. We are in the computer lab and students are working more quiet than usual, they are probably surfing the web on social media. When students were off-task and fooling around, I had to be sure to send a clear message that communicated to students that I see what they are doing and it needs to stop immediately. I also had to be sure that I reprimanded the right student, otherwise students might perceive me as not really being aware of what was occurring after all. Students had to know that I was constantly scanning the class, walking around the room, and mean business, which helped to eliminate any thoughts of misbehavior before they happened. Occasionally, misbehavior would occur anyway which made timing another important aspect of with-it-ness. I had to ensure that I intervened swiftly and early on when dealing with misbehavior in order to keep the behavior from having a domino effect.

These examples really happened. One of the things I do now, when setting up my classroom, is to look around the room for potential blind spots, traffic jams, or distractions. Doing this before students enter the room has helped me to make appropriate adjustments and eliminate loss of instructional time. Once students enter the room, I am constantly maneuvering throughout the room to monitor students plus the areas of potential concern. Though it may seem like an invasion of privacy in a regular sense, I also ear hustle during class in order to be on alert of student behavior or issues that might arise both in and outside the classroom. Taking note of various comments or signals has helped me to intervene in issues before they spiral into something more (e.g. student altercations, cheating, mischievous behavior, etc.).

Once in class, after noticing a few students might be trying to cheat before a test, I made a blanket statement to the entire class, “Be sure not to write any notes on your desk, scrap paper, or any body parts. I would hate to assume.” The students all looked around like who is he talking about. One student responded, “He must have eyes in the back of his head.” Perfect, I had alerted the students I was on to them. Accordingly, to ensure that all students were honoring academic integrity, I had all students place their items in the front of the classroom before the test. Upon returning to their seats, I had students lift their hands to ensure nothing was written on them. Also, I walked around the classroom to actively monitor the students during the exam, scanned each desk for written notes or erasures, and used proximity to keep students from cheating. One thing is for certain, if any student did cheat, they certainly had a harder time. I wound imagine this was probably the best approach given that it would have created a negative teacher-student interaction had the group of students in question not been guilty.

Suggested Citation

Tolliver, A. R. (2016). With-It-Ness In the Classroom. [Education Project Online]. Retrieved online at http://www.educationprojectonline.com/2017/04/classroom-management-with-it-ness.html.

References

Good, T. L., & Brophy, J. E. (2003). Looking in classrooms. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Marzano, R. J., Foseid, M. C., Foseid, M. P., Gaddy, B. B., & Marzano, J. S. (2005). A handbook for classroom management that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.