Therefore, it can be concluded that, in student
teacher classes, there are enough opportunities to
address behaviour problems.
Student teacher comments related only to behaviours
such as pupils talking among themselves, not
listening and other activities unrelated to what was
going on in the classroom, fights and non-relevant
social activity, as well as shouting out in response to
the lesson. An example of characteristic behaviour
of student teachers in the lesson: Meirav, a student
teacher who was teaching a second grade class
said ‘‘Shhhhy.’’ 56 times in a lesson of 45 min.
Occasionally this occurred several times in one
sentence. She called out the names of children 42
times to bring them back to attention, and 16 of
these were to the same child. She also used the
command ‘‘listen’’ in a variety of ways and
intonations: sometimes a plea, sometimes a command
and sometimes a request. From time to time,
she used the conventional comments of experienced
teachers: ‘‘Eyes to the front’’; ‘‘Open your books,
but not your mouths’’; ‘‘We haven’t finished yet’’;
‘‘Don’t talk’’; and ‘‘Raise your hand’’; among
others. At times she hushed the class even though
there were quiet. It seemed that she was trying to
prevent an expected disturbance in advance or that
she was expressing her own lack of confidence in
their willingness to listen to her. It appeared to the
adult observer that, on the one hand, the atmospherein the class was pleasant and non-threatening,
but, on the other hand, the many disciplinary
comments had no effect, not even for a limited time,
on the ‘‘rustling’’ in the classroom. Even if a
behavioural problem did not disturb the children,
the comment of the student teacher or the cooperating
teacher did. In light of these data, it is surprising
that the student teacher and the pupils maintain
concentration, keep their train of thought and
develop an idea on a more challenging intellectual
level .