Dr. Carl E.

Balita Review Center

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Classroom Management: Jacob Kounin

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Jacob Kounin is an educational theorist who focused on a teacher’s ability to affect student

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behavior through instructional management. His best-known work was done in the 1970s, where he
conducted two major case studies. From educational psychologist to a well-known theorist today,
Kounin brought a novel idea that incorporated both the instructional and disciplinary aspects of the
classroom together. Before this happened, most educators viewed their role as a straight-forward

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passing on of skills and knowledge to their students. After publishing his book, “Discipline and Group
Management in Classrooms”(1977), Kounin attempted to influence the original viewpoint of educators

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and to integrate teaching and discipline in the classroom.

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Kounin’s first observation of an intriguing pattern in student behavior was when he asked a
student in his own classroom to put something away; he noticed that the students around him suddenly
followed in focusing their attention. He watched as the correction of one student behavior actually

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spread to other students engaging in inappropriate behaviors, and resulted in a much more ordered
room. He later described this phenomenon as the “Ripple Effect”.
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This first observation led Kounin to conduct experiments over 5 years with students from all
levels, but later Kounin changed his focus to seeing how teachers actually prepared or proactively
managed their classrooms before behavior occurred. He noticed how the reactions of teachers to
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students affected classroom management in a negative way. He learned that teachers were always
receiving similar responses from their students no matter how they reacted to misbehavior in the
classroom. From this observation, he concluded that there must be something a teacher could do to
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prevent misbehavior in the first place, which would lead to more effective classroom management.
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From his studies, Kounin developed theories about classroom management that were based
around a teacher’s ability to organize and plan in their classrooms while using proactive behavior and
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high student involvement. He believed that in order for a teacher to have an effective connection
between management and teaching, there needed to be good Lesson Movement. This Lesson
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Movement is achieved through withitness, overlapping, momentum, smoothness, and group focus.

Withitness was Kounin’s word to describe a teacher’s ability to know what was going on at all
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times in his/her classroom. This can be as simple as making scanning looks around the room every once
in awhile. Kounin said that is was not necessary for the teacher to know what is going on, but for the
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students to perceive that the teacher knows.

Overlapping is the ability for a teacher to in a word, multi-task. Being able to present a new
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topic while preventing misbehaviors is essential for a teacher. The concept of overlapping ties into the
idea of withitness as well.
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60-Day Sure LET Challenge

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Momentum is the flow of a lesson. A teacher must be able to “roll-with-the-punches” in
acknowledging that things might go wrong and being able to fluidly adapt and continue onward despite

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distractions and disruptions. An example of this would be a student late for the class interrupts or
technology that is being used goes wrong.

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Smoothness is also highly related to momentum. Being able to keep on track without getting on
tangents as well as being diverted by irrelevant questions or information is important. Many times, a
teacher can get distracted and leave a topic open and not come back to it until later, which can be
confusing to students. Another thing that can ruin smoothness is when a teacher does not have a plan

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or course of action, it can seem as though the lecture is jumping from one topic to the next.

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The final aspect that results in Lesson Movement and effective teaching through integrating
management and learning is group focus. Group focus is the ability of a teacher to engage the whole

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class using techniques such as building suspense or asking community questions. This can also look like
asking random questions, or asking a student a question and then looking around at other students to
see if they are thinking or ready to respond. These are the main theories and history of Jacob Kounin.\

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Jacob Kounin, author of Discipline and Group Management in Classrooms developed a theory
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focused on preventing unwanted behaviour by implementing effective lesson management. Kounin
found that teaching style directly affects student behaviour, and that teachers who are organised, have
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well planned lessons, and are constantly aware of all students and happenings in their classroom will
have success in preventing unwanted and off task behaviour.
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Kounin outlined specific ways to prevent misbehaviour, manage the lesson and maintain focus
in the classroom. In order to prevent unwanted behaviour, Kounin asserts that teachers should maintain
high levels of “withitness", referring to a constant awareness of all students and situations in the
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classroom. Overlapping is another term used by Kounin, which refers to a teacher’s ability to manage
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and attend to two or more classroom activities at a given time.

According to Kounin, overlapping and withitness are critical to preventing off task and unwanted
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behaviour in the classroom. Effectively managing a lesson is also critical to Kounin’s theory. He asserts
that momentum and smoothness are key to keeping students engaged and on task. Momentum refers
to the speed and consistency of lesson. An effective lesson with proper momentum will continuously
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move in a forward direction and be free of dead spots. A lesson with smoothness will transition between
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activities effortlessly, without confusion or abruptness.

Finally, maintaining focus with group alerting and student accountability will ensure
understanding and participation. Group alerting refers to the process of gaining attention from all
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students prior to explaining a concept or giving directions, whereas student accountability refers to
notifying the students about participation expectations and frequently calling on students to
demonstrate their knowledge through explanation and questioning
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60-Day Sure LET Challenge

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Implementation Of Kounin's Philosophy

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"With-it-ness"

The teacher is responsible for inhibiting poor behavior. The teacher can maintain this strategy

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by making eye contact to all students at all times. The teacher should know each student on a personal
basis (i.e. name, interests, strength, weaknesses, etc.)The teacher can use other non-verbal techniques
to show students that they are alert and care about the well-being of all students. The teacher may also
want to make a respectable suggestion to inform the student that their behavior is unacceptable. The

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teacher should have communicated to all students the expectations and can have these displayed so
everyone can be "with-it".

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 Awareness of surroundings

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 “Eyes in the back of your head”
 All students within your eyesight at all times
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Propose alternative behavior at first sign of misbehavior

Overlapping
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The teacher can have procedures that will allow the teacher to be effective when two situations
occur at the same time. For example, if a student is done with an assessment or an assignment early
have something for them to do such as moving on to another assignment, reading a book, or a quiet
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enrichment exercise. While the early-finishers are staying busy the teacher is allowed to move around
the room to answer question or assist struggling students. Another example, if the teacher is in the
middle of a lecture and a student enters the room the teacher should make eye contact with the
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student, have an area for the student to turn in work, and continue with the lesson. Once the students
are doing their work the teacher can go to the tardy student and tell them what they missed or answer
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any questions from the homework assigned the night before.

 Completing two tasks at once

 Body Language is important

Momentum
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The teacher should make lectures short to allow students to group together and move around
to gain more knowledge of the content. The teacher should make sure that these exercises remain short
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so students do not get bored. A teacher can keep a timer and assign roles to students to keep the
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students moving and on a time deadline. If students are struggling the teacher can reflect on what they
can do to make the lesson more meaningful and easier to understand for their students.
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60-Day Sure LET Challenge

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Smoothness

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The teacher can have students make hand gestures, that will tell the teacher whether the
student has a comment or question concerning the lesson. This technique allows the teacher to have an
idea about those students who may cause an unwanted tangent and those who may have a good

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question, pertaining to utilise the time effectively. When placing students in group-work, the teacher
can walk around facilitating and listening to discussions of other students. The teacher can then
intervene or take the group to a different track if required.

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Group Focus

The teacher can implement this strategy with several techniques:

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A. Encourage Accountability: Make students aware that they will be graded for their participation

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and contributions to the group.
B. The teacher can have a canister of popsicle sticks that have each students name on them. The

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teacher can pick the popsicle stick at random to keep students on track and out of their seats
with anticipation for question/answer time, board problems, etc.
C. The students can facilitate a discussion. Once they have finished a task they can turn to each
other or they could pair up with those who are already done and compare answers.
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In order for implementation to be effective the teacher must be well organized, communicate their
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expectations to their students, and hold them responsible for their actions to encourage motivation and
attention.
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Kounin's key ideas that help make an effective classroom:

If a teacher can correct a misbehavior by using one student as the instigator, other students
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within the classroom normally will correct their misbehavior as well! This is what Kounin meant by the
"ripple effect".
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All teachers should be aware of what is taking place within all parts of the classroom at any
given time. "Withitness" is what Kounin describes this as.
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According to Kounin, if the teacher can create little chaos between activities, keep on task, and
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utilize good time management skills they are modeling effective group management.
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All educators should be able to maintain group alertness, as well as hold each member of the
group accountable for understanding the content of the lesson. Kounin believes that by doing this, all
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students have a chance for optimal learning.

In order to avoid students getting bored or uninterested, the teacher should give assignments
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and tasks that provide the students with a feeling of progress or accomplishment when completing the
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 Dr. Carl E. Balita Review Center
60-Day Sure LET Challenge

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assigned work. Kounin also stresses the importance of creating a diverse curriculum, as well as a change
in environment every now and then. (MW)

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Ripple Effect

 Correcting one student’s behavior while influencing others

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 Name behavior and why it is wrong
 May deter others from misbehaving

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Be Proactive, Not Reactive

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