Images of teachers in movies and how they promote change in their students using classroom management strategies

Abstract

Classroom management is an important issue, especially for new teachers. However, classroom management is not given enough importance in teacher training. Since most of the classroom management training is theoretical, understanding which techniques are most effective in certain situations is challenging. Considering that movies are reflections of real-life events, observing fictionalized teachers in movies could help understand how these teachers promote change in their students’ lives by using effective classroom management methods. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors behind teachers’ success in terms of achieving student wellbeing and academic performance. For this purpose, five movies from different geographical locations in which a teacher interacted with a difficult classroom were purposefully selected. Qualitative content analysis method was used to explore the relationship between teacher’s success in promoting some kind of change in their students and the underlying factors. Five categories were created after multiple screening of the movies. These categories are in and out of management techniques, teachers’ personal traits, intersectional factors of race/ethnicity, gender and class and teachers’ relationship with other effective figures in students’ lives. The results of the study reveal that these five teachers are more effective with these groups of students than other teachers in the school because they manage to build positive teacherstudent relationship in a whole class level. Effective classroom management techniques play a substantial role in this relation. The analysis results indicate that maintain and restore order is the most extensively used management technique whereas establishing environment for instruction is the least used one. Teachers analyzed also tend to use classroom management models effectively to some extent. Transactional analysis is the most widely used whereas there is little emphasis on behaviorism and punishment. Apart from the management techniques, teachers use their characteristics help them enable this relationship. This study is expected to help both classroom teachers and education faculties because classroom management techniques are crucial when dealing with such difficult groups of students and preservice and in-service teachers can find creative ways to reach out to their students.