UNIT ONE

Teaching Methods in Social Studies

A method must stand or fall by their suitability to the person

who adopts them. The same method can be a wonderful
success with one teacher and just a big failure on the hands
of the other. Similarly, a method which is successful with a
group of students may not be successful when used by the
same teacher with a different group of students or with the
same group of students under different conditions. A method
must, therefore, be flexible and workable. Therefore, let us
take methods as our servants and not allow them to become
our masters.
 1.1 Teaching Methods: Concepts and definition
 Broudy’s—‘Method refers to the formal structure of the
sequence of acts commonly denoted by instruction.
 The term method covers both strategies and tactics of
teaching and involves the choice of what is to be taught, and
in which order it is to be presented’.
 Wesley’s—‘Teaching method is the teacher-operated activity
by which the students get knowledge’.
 Bining and Bining—‘Teaching method is the mobile activity of
educational process’.
 It can be concluded that a method is a means or a procedure
which a teacher follows to make learning interesting, easy,
and effective.
 It is the process of planning, guiding, sharing, and evaluating
learning with a group of students.
 It is an orderly way of doing something. It is the logical,
systematized, and organized way of doing a thing for effective
control; it is an effective procedure of using experience.
 The meaning of a method can be further highlighted by giving
the characteristics of a good teaching method.
 1.2. Factors determining the selection and application
of teaching methods
 A Social Studies teacher is expected to be aware of the
various teaching methods in order to select and apply the
best for a particular lesson.
 Using effective teaching methods in a social studies
classroom creates excitement about the content, which leads
to student interest and success.
 Students do better when they take an interest in a subject or
make a connection to what is being studied. Vary lesson plans
and activities to meet all student needs and abilities. Review
and reinforce lessons with supplemental activities.
 Method forms the most important link in the total teaching
learning chain, which has, on the one hand, the goals and
purposes, and, on the other, results and values.
 All decisions regarding teaching procedures in social studies
need to be governed by the objectives of teaching this
subject.
 For the achievement of comprehensive objectives of teaching,
methods used should expose the pupils to knowledge and
experience helpful in the development of understanding,
 Cont’d
 It is desirable, rather necessary, that social studies
teacher is well conversant with the different teaching
procedures to be able to pick up the right one for a
particular unit or lesson.
 It is said there no single road to successful learning,
rather there are many roads- highways.
 A good method of teaching social studies has the
following characteristics:
◦ It should rouse a large range of interests in the minds of
students.
◦ It should inculcate among the students desirable values,
proper attitudes and habits of work.
◦ It should shift the emphasis from verbalism and memorization
to learning through purposeful, concrete and realistic
situations.
◦ It should evolve out of the teacher’s experimentation on actual
classroom situation.
◦ It ample scope for the students’ activity and participation.
◦ It should stimulate the desire for further study and
1.3 Classification and characterization of teaching
methods
 Nowadays there is a significant change in the methods of
teaching and learning. Formerly the dominant method of
teaching was the traditional one-dimensional teacher
centered method. But in recent years there is a shift to the
multi-dimensional learner centered approach or active
learning strategies.
 Active learning as an approach to instruction in which
students engage the material they study through reading,
writing, talking, listening, and reflecting. Active learning
stands in contrast to "standard" modes of instruction in
which teachers do most of the talking and students are
passive.
 In the active learning method the teacher serves as a coach
or facilitator guiding students through activities and letting
students to take control of the learning environment.
 Active learning strategies can be either problem based or
content based. Problem based strategies focus on applying
the concepts being learned to solve a problem or in an
application. On the other hand, content based strategies
 Cont’d
No Teacher-centered Learner- centered
1 the teacher talks; students the teacher models; students interact
listen(they are passive vessels to with the teacher and one another (they
be filed) are active constructors)
2 Students work alone Students work in pairs, in groups, or
(individualistic) alone depending on the purpose of the
activity
3 the teacher monitors and Students talk without constant teacher
corrects every student utterance monitoring; the teacher provides
feedback/correction when questions
arise
4 Competitive learning Cooperative learning
5 the teacher chooses topics Students have some choice of topics
6 Classroom is quiet Classroom is often noisy and busy
 Cont’d
7 Knowledge is transmitted from Students construct knowledge through
teacher to students gathering and synthesizing information
and integrating it with the general skills of
inquiry, communication, critical thinking,
problem solving and so on
8 Students passively receive Students are actively involved
information
9 Emphasis is on acquisition of Emphasis is on using and communicating
knowledge outside the context in knowledge effectively to address enduring
which it will be used and emerging issues and problems in real-
life contexts
10 Teacher’s role is to be primary Teacher’s role is to coach and facilitate
information giver and Teacher and students evaluate learning
together
primary evaluator
11 Teaching and assessing are Teaching and assessing are intertwined
separate
12 Assessment is used to monitor Assessment is used to promote and
learning diagnose learning
 A. Lecture Method
 The lecture method means, “Teaching by means of the spoken
word”. It means a formal talk by the teacher. It may be known as
“Telling of story or conversational method” with primary and lower
middle classes.
 With higher secondary and college classes it may be known as
“Lecture Method”. It is the oldest and the most widely used teaching
strategy.
 In the lecture method, it is the teacher who does most of the work
or the talking. The teacher is more active and the students are
passive listeners.
 The lecture method may be safely used at higher and college stages.
 Even at this stage the lecture must not be dry but well prepared and
well presented to stimulate interest and mental activity of the
students.
 The students should be prompted to ask questions at the end of the
lecture. Their questioning is a sure proof of the success of a lecture.
Merits and Demerits of Lecture Method
 Merits:
1. It is suitable to large classes. A large number of students may
be
taught at a time.
 Cont’d
2. It is suitable to cover large portions.
3. It saves time and enables teachers to cover syllabuses on
time.
4. It is effective in providing factual information
5. It is important to explain complex and difficult historical
problems;
6. It is economical as it needs no apparatus and no
laboratory.
 Demerits:
1. Students do not learn much from lectures and even
retain less.
2. Lectures tend to be boring and may sometimes lead to
problems of classroom disciplines.
3. Lectures do not allow students to think, explain, interact,
generalize and make their own conclusions.
4. It is difficult to accommodate individual differences;
B. Story Telling Method
 By nature children are fond of stories. Children have genuine
interest in listening to stories.
 Cont’d
 History was originally presented in stories and it is felt that students,
particularly at the early school stage, should be taught history through
a series of stories.
 Stories can give them immense pleasure, extend their imagination and
develop their creative powers. There are mainly three types of stories:
 True Stories:- Stories based on real facts and figures are included in
this category. Such stories are interesting presentation of the actual
events and activities of the great personalities. These stories are the
sources of history and contribute greatly to the teaching of history.
 Myths:- these are purely imaginary stories and have no historical basis.
These are usually fairy tales and deal with supernatural elements.
Since these stories have no truth, these cannot be used for teaching
history.
 Legends:- these are in between true stories and myths. These stories
have certain elements of truth. The incidents narrated in the myths are
not true nor are the details accurate. Since these stories are generally
interesting, these can be used for teaching history in a lively manner.
 Story-telling is an art and this method is a skillful teaching process.
Success in this method mostly depends on the competence of the teacher.
 .
 Cont’d
 Both selection of suitable stories and their presentation in the
classrooms are important. The former depends on the teacher's
knowledge as well as understanding and the latter depends on his
skill in story-telling as well as dramatization.
 Advantages
(1) Story-telling method creates immense interest in the class
room.
(2) It develops the power of imagination.
(3) It promotes the growth of pupils' creative talents through
story-
writing, designing, drawing pictures, making models etc.
(4) It inculcates virtues in the young students.
(5) It helps in understanding and remembering historical facts
easily.
 Limitations
(1) It usually encourages exaggerations of facts which create
misconception and wrong ideas in the pupils.
(2) It sometimes minimizes the importance of personalities and
shows
 Cont’d
(3) The story-telling method is not found suitable for teaching
history to
the students of higher classes.
 In sum, the success of this method largely depends upon the
teacher. He/She must be a good story teller and imaginative, as
well as resourceful actor. He must be a knowledgeable person
with deep historical background, as well as a keen sense of
honor and sympathy.
C. Discussion Method
 Many teachers consider discussion as the backbone of most
lessons taught in schools. It is sometimes difficult to separate
discussion from question and answer method, for questions
may be asked and answered during the course of a class
discussion.
 According to the discussion method, the teacher and the
students raise a series of questions designed to bring about a
certain concept or generalization.
 In this strategy, the role of the teacher is to act as facilitator to
the discussion and to encourage students to elaborate their
 Cont’d
 To make discussion method effective:
o The teacher should consider fully the topic (issue) to be
discussed. The discussion must have a purpose and a
focus.
o The teacher should consider group dynamics. He/she has
to establish some rules.
o Be considerate of classmates - do not interrupt, insult or
ignore a student who is speaking.
o Encourage rather than discourage classmates.
o The teacher should decide on which form of discussion
(formal, informal, large group, small group, debate or
panel) is most appropriate for the topic being discussed.
o Before the discussion, the teacher needs to establish
whether or not students will have to do any research in
preparation for the discussion.
o The teacher may wish to develop a procedure to be
followed in every discussion. However, the procedure
must be flexible because students will easily become
familiar with the procedure and know what is expected.
 Cont’d
o Let students arrange their chairs (desks) in a circle so
that they could make an eye-contact.
o Establish a stress-free environment to make students
more responsive.
o Never encourage the attitude that the teacher is the
“all-knowing” leader. Let students in on the fact that the
teacher often learns as much from the discussions as
they do.
o Encourage the participation of all students.
o Be aware of the following occurrences:
a. One or a few students may try to dominate the
discussion.
b. Volatile arguments based on differing opinions may arise.
c. Because of the unpredictable nature of discursion, long
time may be
needed.
d. Students who are uncomfortable with the discussion
process may “tune
 D. Jigsaw Groups
 In jigsaw method, first the teacher divides the students’ into a
number of groups. Next, he assigns them or gives them different
questions or topics to each group for discussion. Then group
representatives from each group will share their discussion views
by moving from one group to another.
 Hence, jigsaw method is a bit like group work and presentation.
The difference is that each member of the group has to actively
share their work with a small group of students. Here below are
the steps of the jigsaw method:
◦ Arrange the students into groups of equal numbers.
◦ Give each group a different question(s) to answer.
◦ Give each member of each group a number (the number of
different questions that have been answered).
◦ Ask the members of number 1 to stand up. Ask them to come
and sit in one group. Repeat for each number.
◦ Students from the different groups share what they have done
with their new group so that all the students know the answers
to all the questions.
 E. Crossover Method
 Crossover method is almost similar with the above mentioned,
the jigsaw method. It combines both group work and
presentation.
 In crossover method the teacher divides the students into
groups to discuss on similar topics or questions. After five or
few minutes, two members of the group move to another group
to share ideas from their original group. After five minutes, they
will cross – over or “move” to another group. This will ensure
that the information you want the students to learn travels
throughout the entire class. This avoids the need for a lot of
feedback. The steps are:
◦ Arrange the students into groups of equal numbers.
◦ Give each group the same question(s) to answer.
◦ Give each member of each group a number (the number of
different questions that have been answered).
◦ Ask the members of number 1 to stand up. Ask them to
come and sit in one group. Repeat for each number.
◦ Students from the different groups share what they have
done with their new group so that all the students know what
the other groups have discussed.
 F. Goldfish Bowl/ Historical Debate/
 This is a method whereby many students can actively
participate in discussions and role plays. The discussions can
involve more than two people and the role plays can involve as
many groups as you have characters.
 It is useful to debate on controversial issues or “hot issues.” In
this method the teacher divide the class into two and assign
each side one viewpoint for the debate. Then, the teacher
selects two students who sit in the center of the classroom
surrounded by other students.
 The two students initiate the debate defending their viewpoint
on the debate topic and then when other students desire to join
the debate, they move to the center and touch the student
shoulder and replace him/her.
 In this way each student can be substituted in turn. The
teacher can also intervene to get other students involved.
Thus, the method gives opportunity for all students to
participate actively in the debate.
 Eg. By forming two groups debate on Emperor Menilek’s
decision to stop pursuing the Italians in the Mereb Melash after
his resounding victory at Adwa in 1896. Group A supporting his
 G. Field Trip Method
 The phrase “field trip” may bring to mind long bus rides, sack
lunches and museum tours, but field trips can take a variety of
forms that meet a variety of needs and can enhance deep,
active learning.
 Along with the engagement with concepts that is required by
these experiences, the student bonding that occurs on field
trips enhances the learning experience and creates a learning
community as students continue onward in a discipline.
 Teaching in the field also gives instructors the opportunity to
get to know their students in greater depth in terms of how
the students see the world differently than the instructor. This
insight into student world-views can help the instructor to
better communicate the concepts of the course.
 Field trips refer to students’ visit of some historical site of an
old castle or an ancient cathedral or any historical place in
your locality. It is believed that history classroom extends out
of the school into the community.
 The students should be made to observe or visit historical
places, archaeological sites, say a monument, a temple,
institution, museum, castle, historical buildings, etc.
 Cont’d
 It provides the opportunities for seeing, hearing, examining,
gathering data, and asking questions.
 Organized historical visits become much more practicable,
and are of high value because they carry the subject outside
the walls of the classroom.
 The groups, however, must not be too large, and they must
be given beforehand a brief explanation on what they may
expect to see, and what they must particularly look out for. If
possible especially with young children they should be given a
series of questions to which they will be expected to find out
the answers during the course of the historical visit.
H. Question and Answer Method
 Question and answer teaching gives the student the
opportunity to reflect their inquiries and needs for further
information. At the same time, by soliciting answers to key
questions the teacher gains some insight into the class’
progress.
 Although the use of questions does not automatically produce
effective teaching, adequate use of the question and answer
 Cont’d
 Along with satisfying the need for involvement, this
approach to teaching also solicits feedback. By asking
questions we can determine whether people understand
what we are teaching and whether the message of
Scripture is being properly applied to contemporary life.
 The use of questions and answers in class is a perfectly
legitimate approach to teaching, but it is often confused
with discussion.
 Question and answer teaching almost always deals with
factual data and objective responses. Very often it is a
review of material previously studied by the students, or
just covered in a lecture or story.
 A common weakness in question and answer teaching is
the framing of superfluous or shallow questions which
offer no challenge to the class.
 Questions cannot impart objective data and are not well
used to accomplish such teaching goals.
 Sometimes teachers spend too much of the class time
 1.4. Ethics of the Teaching Profession
 There is considerable power and authority in teaching. Like
doctors and lawyers, teachers are considered experts and are
expected to act in the best interests of their constituents.
However, unlike medicine and law, the profession of teaching
does not have a formal code of ethics.
 Ethical issues are concerned with the ideas of right/wrong,
duties/obligations, rights/responsibilities.
 When making decisions, teachers should rely on ethical
standards (based on objective obligations) and should not rely
merely on values (based on subjective considerations).
 Many issues will be unproblematic based on the informal
standards shared by most teachers (i.e., that plagiarism,
cheating, favoritism or discrimination are unethical).
 Scholars point out the following general ethical principles which
teachers should consider in thinking through an ethical
dilemma:
1. Respect for the autonomy of others: as long as actions do not
interfere with the rights and welfare of others, value free
expression of appropriate ideas, student discovery, and a
comfortable environment conducive to learning.
 Cont’d
2. Doing no harm (physical or emotional resulting from acts
of commission are unsure.
3. Benefit to others: accept responsibility for student
welfare, deliver services students deserve and
recognize your roles as models.
4. Fairness and equity: be impartial; treat others as you
would like to be treated.
5. Fidelity and honesty: Exhibit integrity and follow through.
Use informed consent procedures when applicable.
6. Dignity: consider the dignity of all and respect diversity.
7.Caring: be compassionate toward peers and students;
exercise professional duties with care.
8. Doing one’s best: value the pursuit of excellence and
take pride in one’s work.
Indeed, much of beginning teachers' professional learning
during the induction phase occurs through collaborative
action and reflection, individual reflection and observation of
others' practice.
 Cont’d
 This professional learning is also linked to personal growth
and each person's reflection on, and modification to,
assumptions about his or her role and work.
 Professional socialization in the workplace is a significant
component of the induction period for beginning teachers.
The associated personal learning that takes place involves
the identification of principles upon which to operate in a
given workplace and the reconciliation of these principles
with the values and understandings held by the individual.
1.5. Classroom Management in Social Studies
 Management implies the skill of dealing with people or
situation. Classroom management, therefore, gives us the
meaning of being able to deal with students during the
learning process.
 Recent researches have made it clear that successful
classroom management involves not only responding
effectively when problems occur, but also preventing them
from occurring frequently. This may be achieved by
recognizing the five major elements of classroom
 Cont’d
 The five major elements of class-room management are:
1. Developing a solid understanding of students' personal,
psychological
and learning needs.
2. Establishing positive student-teacher and peer relationships that
help to
meet students' basic psychological needs and build a community
of
support within the classroom.
3. Implementing instructional methods that facilitate optimal learning
by
responding to the academic needs of individual students and the
classroom group.
4. Using organizational and group management methods maximizing
students' behavior on task.
5. Responding effectively to inappropriate students' behavior and
using a
wide range of counseling and behavioral methods that involve
students in
 Cont’d
 By understanding the background of their students and trying
to approach them with this understanding in their day to day
relation as well as using the best teaching method that
motivates students in the lesson, teachers can avoid disruption
of the class and consequently have effective lessons.
Preconditions for effective classroom management
 One of the preconditions for effective classroom management
in social studies lessons is getting students informed about the
"What to do" and the "What not to do" things in and outside
the class prior to the semester's lesson.
 Much research on classroom management has focused on
student participation in establishing codes of conduct. It
suggests that students should actively participate in the
creation of guidelines governing classroom behavior. This
belief suggests that students will support rules they establish.
 Best practices recommend minimizing the number of rules.
Children have a tendency to recommend a list of rules.
Teachers, however, should provide limited structural input so
that rules are direct, clear, and consistent, and encourage
positive behavior.
 Cont’d
 In addition, teachers must make sure that rules are designed
to support a concept of consequences for inappropriate
behavior rather than punishment.
 Sample Classroom Rules of Conduct (As suggested by
students):
 Punctuality
 Switching off mobile phones
 No hitting
 No using bad language
 No talking without raising hands . . .
 The other precondition for effective classroom management in
social studies lesson is being with a well prepared daily lesson
plan and adhering to it in the process.
 To avoid disruption in classrooms, some scholars also suggest
four rules: “Get them in”, “Get on with it”, “Get on with them”,
“Get them out”.
1. "Get them in"
 This rule emphasizes on the point that a lesson making a sharp
start avoids difficulties that can arise when pupils are not
 Cont’d
 The process of getting students in may involve three
phases: greeting, seating and starting.
 Greeting: - this is simply by arriving in the class before the
students, the teacher establishes the role of host, i.e.
receiving the students. This enables the teacher to
underline his/her authority by deciding when pupils enter
the classroom. It also enables him/her to check whether the
room is tidy, i.e., if materials are available and necessary
instructions/examples are written on the board.
 Seating:- a sitting plan showing who sits where quickly
enables teachers to learn and use individual names.
Sometimes teachers encourage children to sit with friends
to promote cooperation, but this may cause a disruption.
 Many experienced teachers recommend assigned seating
for students to facilitate discipline and instruction. They
argue that students left to their own devices will always
choose a seat that places the teacher at the greatest
disadvantage.
 Best practices suggest a few common-sense rules to guide
 Cont’d
 Starting:-This depends not only on managing the physical
entrance and disposition of the students but also their mental
tunings. A lesson should begin with some activity, though the type
of activity depends on the age and ability of the students and also
on the nature of the subject matter.
 The starting should reinforce previously acquired skills, recap
earlier work or set the scene for new learning. Simply it means
that this is a warming up period that lasts for some four of five
minutes.
 So, directing students by giving them suitable (comfortable) seats
and starting the lesson by making them involved in some
motivating activities facilitates the classroom environment for the
next action, i.e. conducting the lesson.
 “A good classroom seating arrangement is the cheapest form of
classroom management. It’s discipline for free.” Fred Jones
2. "Get on with it"
 This refers to the main part of the lesson, i.e., the nature of the
content and the manner of the presentation. It is to keep students
interested in the lesson taught. Lessons, as much as possible,
should address the needs of the three types of learners: auditory,
visual and kin-esthetic.
 Cont’d
 Auditory learners tend to benefit most from traditional teaching
techniques. Many teachers use a lecture-style forum, presenting
information by talking to their students. Regulating voice tone,
articulation, and body language will help all students to maintain
interest and attention.
 Auditory learners succeed when directions are read aloud,
speeches are required, or information is presented and requested
verbally.
 In the case of visual learners, on the other hand, some students
may rely upon a visual learning style: "Show me and I'll
understand." Visual learners benefit from diagrams, charts,
pictures, films and written directions.
 These students will value to-do lists, assignment logs, and written
notes. Many of these techniques, however, also benefit kinesthetic
learners.
 In the case of kinesthetic learners finally, most of the school
population excels through kinesthetic means: touching, feeling and
experiencing the material at hand.
 Children enter kindergarten as kinesthetic learners, moving and
touching everything as they learn. By second or third grade, some
students have become visual learners. During the late elementary
 Cont’d
 Kinesthetic learners are most successful when totally
engaged with the learning activity. They acquire information
fastest when participating in a science lab, drama
presentation, skit, field trip, dance, or other active activity.
 Because of the high numbers of kinesthetic learners,
education is shifting toward a more hands-on approach;
manipulative and other "props" are incorporated into almost
every school subject, from physical education to language
arts.
 Hands-on teaching techniques are gaining recognition
because they address the challenging needs of kinesthetic
learners, as well as the diverse needs of auditory and visual
learners.
3. "Get on with them"
 Teachers need to develop good personal relationships with
their students. They need to be aware of the name and
background of each of their students and be sensitive to the
mood of the whole class. They should know "who is who"
and keep the track of what is going on in the class.
 Cont’d
 Effectively managed classrooms are orderly (relatively
speaking) with a minimum of student misbehavior and
reasonable levels of time on task.
 Effective classroom managers are more skilled at
preventing disruptions from occurring in the first place.
 Kounin (1970) identified specific approaches to keep
students focused on learning and reduce the likelihood of
classroom disruption. These included:
 Wittiness: Communicating that you know what the students
are doing and what is going on in the classroom.
 Overlapping: Attending to different events simultaneously,
without being totally diverted by a disruption or other
activity.
 Smoothness and momentum in lessons: Maintaining a brisk
pace and giving continuous activity signals or cues (such as
standing near inattentive students or directing questions to
potentially disruptive students).
 Group alerting: Involving all the children in recitation tasks
 Cont’d
 Stimulating seatwork. Providing seatwork activities that
offer variety and challenge.
4. "Get them out"
 This is the most vulnerable time providing many
opportunities for trouble making students. Careful planning
up to the end of the lesson is crucial.
 Teachers need to consider the two phases: concluding a
lesson and dismissing a class.
 General Classroom Management Strategies
 Hold and communicate high behavioral expectations.
 Establish clear rules and procedures, and instruct
students in how to follow them; give primary-level
children and those with low socioeconomic status, in
particular, a great deal of instruction, practice, and
reminding.
 Make clear to students the consequences of misbehavior.
 Enforce classroom rules promptly, consistently, and
equitably from the very first day of school.
 Cont’d
 Work to instill a sense of self-discipline in students; devote
time to teaching self monitoring skills.
 Maintain a brisk instructional pace and make smooth
transitions between activities.
 Monitor classroom activities; give students feedback and
reinforcement regarding their behavior.
 Create opportunities for students (particularly those with
behavioral problems) to experience success in their
learning and social behavior.
 Identify students who seem to lack a sense of personal
efficacy and work to help them achieve an internal locus of
control.
 Make use of cooperative learning groups, as appropriate.
 Make use of humor, when suitable, to stimulate student
interest or reduce classroom tensions.
 CLASSROOM DISCIPLINE
 Effective classroom discipline is one aspect of teaching which
is rarely fully achieved. Some of the causes of classroom
discipline are:
 Cont’d
i. Teacher related
A. Inexperience:i.e, inexperience in working with a particular group of
students or lack of knowledge about inter-group relations.
B. Communication skills: i.e, making unprofessional statements or
resorting to empty threats (insulting a student in front of the class).
C. Attitudinal difference: i.e, unable to consider students' attitude toward
the subject you teach.
A. Personal problems: i.e, bringing family or school problems into the
classroom and unable to create a stimulating atmosphere.
E. Planning: i.e, unable to set realistic objectives for the class
F. Classroom setting: i.e, the arrangement of furniture
ii. Student Related
 Peer pressure: This causes a student to rebel against school and class
rules in order to prove his/her self worth to the peer group.
B. Lack of academic success: Poor grades, learning problems, the
inability to attain some measure of success may cause disruptive
behavior.
 Cont’d
C. Nourishment and sleep: Missing a meal or functioning without
adequate
sleep can be the cause of unpleasant behavior patterns.
D. Boredom: The daily use of the same teaching material contributes
to
boredom.
Social Studies/ History Teachers’ Class-room Management
Styles
 Understanding your profile increases your ability to address
inappropriate behavior before it escalates into something more
serious.
 Knowing your limitations (that is, your level of tolerance of certain
behaviors) and your students facilitates your capacity to de-escalate
potentially problematic situations.
 Thedescriptions of the four management styles of Social Studies/
History teachers are provided hereunder:
1.The authoritarian history teacher:
 Theauthoritarian teacher places firm limits and controls on the
students.
 Students will often have assigned seats for the entire term. The
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 Students must be in their seats at the beginning of class and
they frequently remain there throughout the period.
 This teacher rarely gives hall passes or recognizes excused
absences. Often, it is quiet. Students know they should not
interrupt the teacher.
 Since verbal exchange and discussion are discouraged, the
authoritarian’s students do not have the opportunity to learn
and/or practice communication skills.
 This teacher prefers vigorous discipline and expects swift
obedience.
 Failure to obey the teacher usually results in detention or a trip
to the principal’s office. In this classroom, students need to follow
directions and not ask why.
2.The authoritative history teacher:
 The authoritative teacher places limits and controls on the
students but simultaneously encourages independence. This
teacher often explains the reasons behind the rules and
decisions.
 If a student is disruptive, the teacher offers a polite, but firm,
reprimand. This teacher sometimes metes out discipline, but only
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 The authoritative teacher is also open to considerable
verbal interaction, including critical debates.
 The students know that they can interrupt the teacher if
they have a relevant question or comment. This
environment offers students the opportunity to learn and
practice communication skills.
3. The indifferent history teacher:
 The indifferent social studies teacher is not very involved in
the classroom. This teacher places few demands, if any, on
the students and appears generally uninterested.
 The indifferent teacher just does not want to impose on the
students and often feels that class preparation is not worth
the effort. Things like field trips and special projects are out
of the question.
 The indifferent teacher simply will not take the necessary
preparation time and may use the same materials, year
after year.
 Also, classroom discipline is lacking. This teacher may lack
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4. The laissez-faire history teacher:
 The laissez-faire teacher places few demand or controls on the
students. “Do your own thing” describes this classroom.
 This teacher accepts the students’ impulses and actions and is
less likely to monitor their behavior. The teacher strives not to hurt
the students’ feelings and has difficulty saying “No” or enforcing
rules.
 If a student disrupts the class, the teacher may assume that the
student is not getting enough attention. When a student interrupts
a lecture, the teacher accepts the interruption with the belief that
the student must surely have something valuable to add.
 The following are a few tips that are helpful to better address the
needs of some challenging students.
A.Get to know the child. Solicit support from family members.
Uncover the child’s likes and dislikes.
B. Never publicly humiliate a child. You cannot imagine how this
can
adversely impact this child.
C. Yelling at children all day is ineffective. Try lowering your voice.
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D. Tell children something about you, perhaps a funny story.
Children want
to know that you are human too!
E. Remember what it was like being a child.
F. Acknowledge good behavior.
G. Learn from family members, other teachers, or any
available resource
what works with the child.
H. Give students choices. Repeated choice opportunities
allow students to
build a sense of competence and may prevent
challenging behaviors.
I. Help students celebrate their successes, however, small.
This will help
them open up to more positive thoughts and actions about
themselves.