Episode 18: How to Support a Troubled Class?
The Teacher Skill Study Group, commonly known as the Kobayashi Seminar, is an online study group hosted by Akifumi Kobayashi, a classroom improvement advisor. This is its fifth year.
The seminar members are mainly elementary, junior high, and high school teachers from across the country, and they gather in a Zoom room about once a week to discuss various educational topics.
Since April of this year, we have also started sharing information on Instagram and stand.fm.
Here, we provide articles that are transcriptions and summaries of the audio files distributed on stand.fm.
On Saturday, October 11th, starting early in the morning at 6:00 AM, we held a sub-seminar.
This regular meeting was an 'Education Q&A Session.' Seminar members discuss concerns raised by other members and receive advice from Mr. Kobayashi.
There were three concerns this time.
1. A lower-grade class at my school. It has started to become a bit chaotic, and I am worried. What kind of support can I provide?
2. An incident occurred at school, and the perpetrator has not yet been found. How far should I get involved?
3. Regarding the necessity of home study, I am in a position to promote it within the school, but how should I go about it?
All three were deep topics, and one hour for the sub-seminar might not have been enough time.
In this stand.fm after-talk, Mr. Kobayashi provides supplementary explanations.
If you are interested, please take a listen...
Education Q&A Session Report: Getting Closer to the Real Worries of Teachers
This time, I will summarize and report on the three consultation topics discussed at the 'Education Q&A Session'.
I hope that sharing the real worries of teachers who struggle daily in the field of education will lead to new insights for everyone.
1. Concern about lack of homeroom teacher skills
The first consultation was a concern that the homeroom teacher might not be dealing appropriately with problems occurring in a lower-grade class.
If homeroom teacher skills are lacking, problems can arise in classroom management and student interaction.
Mr. Kobayashi's advice
Mr. Kobayashi points out that it is important to first explore what kind of support can be provided while seeking cooperation from surrounding staff and management.
It is important to ask teachers on-site, as well as the principal and vice-principal, about areas where support is needed and to propose what you can do yourself.
Also, the classroom environment is important; especially in elementary schools, there are often many posters and trash that can hinder children's concentration, so organizing the environment is also effective.
2. Dealing with incidents at school
Next was a consultation on how far one should get involved in responding to an incident that occurred at school.
There were voices expressing anxiety about how to proceed when the perpetrator has not been found.
Mr. Kobayashi's advice
For incident response, it is necessary for management to clearly communicate the situation to all staff.
By clarifying what has happened and how it is being handled, the anxiety of teachers on the ground is reduced.
Also, by directly asking management, 'What is the situation? Is there anything I can do?', it becomes easier to share information and establish a system for mutual cooperation.
3. Promoting home study
The final consultation was about promoting home study. The topic was not about homework, but about how to foster the ability to learn independently.
Mr. Kobayashi's Advice
Mr. Kobayashi points out that while directive learning using rewards and punishments—citing theories like "Pavlovian conditioning" and "operant conditioning"—may be effective in the short term, it does not lead to long-term autonomous learning.
Rather, he suggests that it is important to provide successful experiences and that creating a system where students plan and study on their own is effective. It is also important for parents to model learning, such as by reading books in front of their children.
These three consultation topics might be considered common concerns for teachers working in the field of education. What they all have in common is "setting up the environment" and "proceeding while seeking cooperation."
I would like to apply this to future education.
Please try out any ideas that you think you can use in your own workplace!
Articles for previous after-talk sessions can be found here.
The next regular meeting will be held on Friday, October 18th at 9:00 PM.
It will be a free-talk session.
The content is not yet decided, but I am sure it will be an interesting meeting.
The first month is free, so please feel free to join us.
Also, although the timing and content have not been decided, the Teacher Skills Research Group is planning an event to commemorate the release of Mr. Kobayashi's new book.
We are planning for this meeting to be open to everyone.
We will let you know once it has been decided.
If you think, "Teaching is great! It's interesting!", please like, follow, and join the seminar!
If you would like to know more about the Teacher Skills Research Group and the Kobayashi Seminar, click here↓
https://home.tsuku2.jp/f/akifumi_kobayashi/kyousi_skill
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