Teacher Management of Elementary Classroom Social Dynamics

Abstract

Teachers and students in 54 elementary school classrooms (first, third, and fifth grades) participated in a multi-method longitudinal study of classroom social dynamics. At each of three assessments within a single school year, observers rated teacher–student interaction quality, students completed sociometric assessments and reported on their sense of peer community and school bonding/motivation for schooling, and teachers rated students’ social behavior. Teachers also completed end-of-year ratings of their strategies and beliefs regarding the management of classroom social dynamics. Multilevel models indicated that teachers’ efforts to mitigate status extremes and support isolated students were associated with more positive patterns of within-year change in students’ sense of peer community, responsive teacher–student interactions predicted positive changes in school bonding/motivation, and teacher-rated efforts to manage aggression and promote prosocial behavior among aggressive students predicted within-year declines in peer-nominated aggression. Teacher attunement to classroom friendship and victimization patterns, when combined with responsive teaching, was associated with more positive changes in school bonding/motivation. Teachers rated children’s aggressive/mean behaviors as being more important for their teaching than social status or friendship dynamics and were more likely to believe that children should solve the latter issues on their own.

Improving the School Context of Early Adolescence Through Teacher Attunement to Victimization

“…Unfortunately, teacher attunement to bully-victim dyads is generally low, particularly as the number of students in a classroom increases (Ahn, Rodkin, & Gest, 2013). Low levels of attunement to victims of bullying, combined with lower levels of responsive teaching (i.e., teacher sensitivity, quality of feedback, positive climate, and quality instructional formats), are related to declines in school bonding and motivation over time (Gest, Madill, Zadzora, Miller, & Rodkin, 2014). …”

Teacher attributions for children's attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder behaviors predict experiences with children and with classroom behavioral management in a summer program practicum

“…Following the procedure of Gest, Madill, Zadzora, Miller, and Rodkin (), during the summer program teachers predicted, for each child, who the child would nominate as a friend in the summer program classroom. Teachers made these predictions independent from their teaching partners, so individual scores could be obtained for each teacher.…”

Supporting Teachers’ Management of Middle School Social Dynamics

“…Although the management of classroom social dynamics can be guided by evidencebased practices, it is also necessary to tailor interventions to the particular context and to address leverage points that are most likely to be amenable to specific strategies that can be implemented effectively by the teacher (Gest et al, 2014;Motoca et al, 2014).…”

“…Although such approaches are important, classroom social dynamics may also play a key role in students' peer relations and corresponding school adjustment (Gest, Madill, Zadzora, Miller, & Rodkin, 2014;Rodkin, 2011). The efficacy of individually focused interventions depends, in part, on whether stimuli in the social environment elicit and reinforce established problem behaviors that compete with students' generalization of new social skills (Gresham et al, 2001;Shores & Wehby, 1999).…”