Week Six: Classroom Management Strategies

When the bell rings on the first day of school and twenty-five rambunctious, yelling students come running into your classroom a million different thoughts, ideas and fears go running through a teachers head.  “What type of students will I have?”, “How will I reach all of them?”,  “Will they respect me?”  These questions are daunting, even down right scary to think about but they are impossible to ignore.

In order to tackle and build an effective classroom a great deal of time and effort must be put into classroom management.  These rules, producers and protocols must be thoroughly thought out and planned well before the first day of school.   

From the articles The Perils and Promises of Praise by Carol S. Dweck, Middle School Students Talk About Social Forces in the Classroom by Kathleen Cushman and Laura Rogers and From Ringmaster to Conductor by Matthew A. Kraft I was able to gain an understanding of how to begin to develop my own classroom management ideas.  These articles did a great job of pin pointing problem areas that a lot of teachers are facing in the classroom.  I also really enjoyed reading about how students view their time spent in the classroom.  I believe more information needs to be collected from the student’s point of view in order to gain knowledge to make effective classrooms. “Praise is intricately connected to how students view their intelligence” (Dweck, 2007, p. 189).  As teachers, should we be praising our students for every little thing they do to keep them motivated or should we save our praise for big accomplishments, so students understand how proud we are?  After reading article 37 and learning about the two faces of effort I believe praise is something that should be given on an individual level.  This course has taught me that all of our students are different and view themselves differently.  This means that one type of praise will not work for all of our students.  We need to learn about our students and understand what drives them, as well as what type of mid-set they have of themselves. 

Teachers should strive to get all of their students to the growth mid-set.  “Effort is a positive thing; It ignites their intelligence and causes it to grow” (Dweck, 2007, p. 189).  We need our students to want to learn, grow and better themselves as learners.  Effort is what it takes to achieve.  If our students do not have the effort to learn they will give up on themselves when the material gets tough.  This is when proper praise comes into play.

Not only do teachers need to be thinking about how to properly praise their students they need to think about the social forces that are contributing to their students behaviors in and out of the classroom.  In article 41 Kathleen Cushman and Laura Rogers interview 42 middle school students, asking them questions related to academic, social, physical and emotional issues they are facing (Cushman & Rogers, 2008, p. 212).  The questions that were asked were extremely eye opening and made me realize what a crazy and interesting time period of life it is for middle school aged students.  These students are no longer children but not yet adults.  They are faced with demanding challenges that they are not yet capable of handling on their own.

“As teachers get a clear picture of what is going on among students socially, they will find opportunities to help their students safely connect to each other” (Cushman & Rogers, 2008, p. 214).  To me this statement sums it all up.  If teachers do not take the time to understand, ask questions or get involved in their students lives how will they be able to help them through their issues?  I personally want an open trusting relationship with my students.  I want them to be able to come to me with their issues and problems.  I want them to feel comfortable in my classroom.  If one of my students is having an issue at home and is struggling in my class I want them to be able to come to me and express these issues, not just sit in my classroom sad and frustrated. 

As much as I want this perfect classroom, I understand it is not always possible.  A lot goes into a classroom and lets be honest there are just not enough hours in a day to get everything done.  This is why developing this open, positive relationship with students at the start of a school year is so important.  Letting your students know you are available and willing to help them from the start is something that can get a classroom off to a great start.  

 

The last article, article 43, was a great deal of help in developing my classroom management skills.  I wish I had this article while I was writing my classroom management paper for my internship.  It gave simple to the point examples of how a classroom should be run in order allow your students to get the most out of their education and to allow the teacher to keep an effective classroom. 

The five classroom management techniques; What you teach, nonnegotiable rules, clear expectations, managing transitions and getting attention are techniques I believe I have used but still need develop my skills in all areas.  Out of all the techniques I find nonnegotiable rules to be extremely important.  During my time as an undergrad and intern my professors and clinical teachers always stressed the importance of picking no more than five classroom rules.  “Teachers often face behavior management problems because they choose too many rules to enforce and they don’t clearly differentiate between classroom values and nonnegotiable rules” (Kraft, 2010, p. 230). 

During my internship I developed five classroom rules that were posted throughout the gymnasium for students to see every time they entered my class.  I went over the rules with my students intensely over the first couple of weeks of class.  This allowed for everyone to understand the importance of the rules and that I was going to take them seriously.  Throughout the year I had rules for each unit but my five classroom rules were consistent.  Allowing my students to understand the importance of my classroom rules made it easier for them to learn and understand the importance of the unit rules, causing less behavior issues.    

“Effective teaching and learning can take place only in a harmonious learning environment” (Kraft, 2010, p. 229).  This effective learning environment starts with the preparation.  A classroom is like a ship, the teacher the captain and the students the workers.  In order for the ship to make it from the start of the school year to the end the captain must prepare the ship and the workers. If the captain is lazy and unprepared the ship will sink and never make it to its finally destination.

   

References

 Cauley, K.M., & Pannozzo, G.M. (Eds.). (2013). Annual Editions: Educational Psychology 12/13 (27^th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. 

Cushman, K. & Rogers, L. (2008). Middle School Students Talk about Social Forces in the Classroom, p. 14-24.

Dweck, C.K. (2007). The Perils and Promises of Praise, p. 34-39

Kraft, M.A. (2010). From Ringmaster to Conductor: 10 Simple Techniques Can Turn an Unruly Class into a Productive One, p. 44-47   

Links:

 http://theteachersguide.com/classroommanagement.htm (Classroom Managements)

http://essentialeducator.org/?p=3028 (Praise)

http://www.interventioncentral.org/behavioral-interventions/motivation/teacher-praise-efficient-tool-motivate-students (Praise)

http://www.lessonplansinc.com/classroom_management_strategies.php (10 rules to classroom management)

http://www.ehow.com/how_6391081_develop-personal-classroom-management-philosophy.html (Philosophy)