A classroom is an interactive, independent and influencing group. Pupils
and the teacher in any class are interdependent and influencing each other.
Without the students, the teacher does not have existence in classroom.
Likewise, students without the teacher cannot carry on purposeful activity for
long. When they are together, they interact and in course of interaction,
influence is exerted.
Interaction among the members of the group causes perpetual change in
personality and behavior of the members in the group. Thus, Group dynamics
means the change of behavior through interaction in the group. Dynamics means
the act of changing.
Group dynamics refer to the forces, which operate in group situations.
It studies the structure of the group, and other phenomena, that emerge out of
group interaction.
Teacher must be aware of the group dynamics, as they spend a lot of time
with groups of children. Group dynamics refers to a set of behaviors such as
role playing, influencing and performing certain activities. Observation, role
play, buzz sessions, feedback of group processes and group decisions are some
of the techniques of understanding that enhance the desirable influences and
likewise dilute or discourage the negative forces influencing the group, thus
promoting the dynamic nature of the group.
Group dynamics comprises all the principles and laws governing the group
and improving the functions of the group. It stresses the social and
psychological forces within the group.
Methods:
Sociometry- Classroom must remain dynamic and not dormant. Sociometry
studies the classroom dynamics. It was devised by Austrian psychologist
J.L.Moreno.
It is the study of those aspects of the socio-emotional climate in the
classroom having to do with feelings of attraction, rejection or indifferences.
Which pupils express toward each other, when faced with situations calling for
interaction within classroom.
It is a method of discovering and analyzing patterns of relationship or
friendship within a group setting. It is
a method that includes study of social relations in the classroom. It attempts
to know how feelings are transmitted among class-members.
It provides clues to the reasons for behavior-problems. It improves
human relations.
Society is basically an “attraction-repulsion” system. It involves a test
to know the reactions of students among themselves. Within a few weeks each one
would know about others. The teacher prepares a open-ended questionnaire, but
he/she also keeps the information confidentially from the others. It has some
questions which the students have the freedom to choose. Either the students
give a positive response or a negative choice. Based on the student reactions
the teacher could prepare a socio-matrix. Each card given to student is checked
and the choices are entered in the matrix in the form of ‘tallies.’
In a class of 40 students there would be 40 squares horizontally and 40
vertically making a total of 1600 squares, of which 40 squares would be
eliminated by drawing a diagonal line from the top left to bottom right square.
Sociogram- A sociogram is a diagrammatic representation of the mutual
choice, rejection and indifferences of the people. The socio-matrix could be
represented in the form of a diagram, called sociogram.
In order to draw such a diagram, a few rules must be followed--
Rules:
A à B A likes B.
A ßà B Reciprocated choice,
A like B and B like A.
A ------à B A dislikes
B.
A à B A likes B, B dislikes or rejects A.
ß----
If neither a broken nor a
continuous line is drawn towards a student, it must be taken as ‘ignored.’
In order to draw a
sociogram for a class consisting of 30 or 40 students, four concentric squares
or circles, one within the other are drawn and students are placed based on the
positions depending upon their score obtained in the socio-matrix.
Star, Isolate and
Rejectee-
In sociometric language, a
star is one who has been chosen more often by his classmates. He is the ‘natural’
leader.
An isolate is one who has
been ignored by his classmates. It is the duty of the teacher to identify such
isolates and help them to mingle with other students.
A rejectee receives
maximum number of negative scores. He is disliked by all. He is one who creates
nuisance in the class by frequent fighting and quarrelling.
A teacher’s observation
and evaluation may not always be right, so it is good to have a sociometric
study.
Recapitulation- For more
effective learning, students must be allowed to have exchange of ideas freely
without much intervention by the teacher. This freedom would make them think
and articulate. Communication skill is very important.
Ned Flander, an American
educationist tried to study such pupil-interaction and relate the same to the
learning outcome. Such a study is called Interaction Analysis.
Example: - Does the
teacher talk all the time in the class, or does the teachers allow students to
talk. By his analysis he identified 10 categories of interaction. The student
will record the happenings in a sequential order in a matrix.
After his analysis Flander
concluded, Indirect influence being better than the direct influence.
As a teacher we at times form teams
at school, we need to understand the fact that, all teams are groups but not
all groups are teams. Teams often are difficult to form because it takes time
for pupils to learn how to work together. Belonging to a team, in the broadest
sense, is a result of feeling part of something larger than oneself. In
a team-oriented environment, one contributes to the overall development of each
other. One works with fellow friend to produce better results.
When we understand the
group dynamics of a class, a teacher can actually take up the class in his or
her hands and mold them perfectly the way he or she wants. The bigger picture
drives your actions; your function as teacher exists to serve the bigger
picture.
It is the positivity that
a teacher includes in a class which then is adopted by the pupils, who ‘work
intensely on a specific, common goal using their positive synergy, individual
and mutual accountability, and complementary skills’.
Team-building helps to increase intra-group and inter-group effectiveness to bring pupils together, make them share their perception of each other and understand each other’s point of view and make the whole process of learning beneficial for the entire class as a team and hence, our goal of making the ambassadors of peace is attained.
And lastly in the making of Great Leaders we need influencing and inspiring teachers...
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020
