Classroom management is the process teachers use to both ensure that classroom lessons run smoothly and encourage positive behavior and participation from students. It is one of the most difficult aspects of teaching for many people; in fact, experiencing problems in this area motivates some to leave the field altogether. However, a strong classroom management plan can help to prevent problems and starts even before the first day of school. For example, a teacher can begin by arranging classroom furniture and materials in ways that make learning as easy to focus on as possible. Later, during the first few days, a teacher should establish procedures and rules that support a focus on learning even more. When in doubt, do not be afraid to experiment or to borrow ideas from other teachers -- the best teachers all borrow from others.
Arranging Classroom Space
There are several potential classroom arrangements to consider. Variations in arrangement might relate to grade level, subject, the teacher's philosophy of education, and of course the size of the room and the furniture available. Whatever the arrangement you choose, it should help students to focus on learning tasks as much as possible and minimize the chance of distraction. Beyond these basic principles, however, the "best" arrangement depends on what your students need and on the kind of teaching that you prefer and feel able to provide. In considering your classroom arrangement options (and before moving too much furniture around your room! ), you might want to try experimenting with spatial arrangements "virtually" by using one of the computer programs available on the Internet, such as Classroom Architect or Classroom Floorplanner.
Spatial Arrangements Unique to Grade Levels or Subjects
Some room arrangements depend significantly on the grade level or subject area of the class. If you teach in elementary school, for example, you may need to think about where students can keep their daily belongings, such as coats and lunches. In some schools, but not all, these can be kept outside the classroom. Some subjects and grade levels lend themselves especially well to small-group interaction, in which case you might prefer to seat students not in rows but rather around several small-group tables or work areas. This latter arrangement is often preferred by elementary teachers. However, it can also be useful in high schools when students need lots of counter space, as in some shop courses, or when there is emphasis on student interaction, as in English as a Second Language courses.
The key issue in deciding between using tables or rows, beyond grade level or subject, is simply the amount of small-group interaction you want to encourage compared to the amount of whole-group instruction. As a rule, tables make talking with peers easier, and rows make listening to the teacher more likely and group work slightly more awkward.
Establishing Daily Procedures and Routines
Procedures or routines are specific ways of doing common, repeated classroom tasks or activities and represent a key component of a classroom management plan. Examples include checking daily attendance, dealing with students who arrive late, and allowing students to use the bathroom during class or go to their lockers to get forgotten materials. Procedures also include ways to collect daily homework (e.g., putting it on a designated shelf at a particular time), ways for students to get the teacher's attention during quiet seat work (e.g., raising your hand and waiting), and ways for students to choose and start a "free choice" activity after completing a classroom assignment.
Establishing these kinds of procedures helps activities and tasks flow smoothly and efficiently -- a valuable and necessary quality in a classroom, where the actions of many people have to be coordinated within limited amounts of time. As such, classroom procedures are more like social conventions than moral expectations. They are not primarily about what is ethically right or ethically desirable to do -- most procedures or routines can be accomplished in any of several ways with only minor differences in outcome. There is more than one way, for example, to take attendance: the teacher could call roll, delegate a student to call roll, or simply note each student's presence on a seating chart. Each approach accomplishes the same task. Which one the teacher chooses, therefore, may be less important than the fact that the class commits to coordinates its actions.
Establishing Classroom Rules
Unlike procedures or routines, rules express standards of behavior for which individual students need to take responsibility. Although they may help ensure the practical efficiency of classroom tasks, they are really about encouraging students to be personally responsible for learning as well as for behaving decently and respectfully with each other.
lists a typical set of classroom rules. Note three things about the rules on the sign. One is that they are not numerous: the table lists only five. Most educational experts recommend keeping the number of rules low so they are easier to remember. Another feature is that they are stated in positive terms ("Do X…) rather than negative terms ("Do not do Y…), a strategy that emphasizes and clarifies what students should do rather than what they should avoid. A third feature is that each rule encompasses a collection of more specific behaviors. The rule "Bring all materials to class," for example, covers bringing pencils, paper, textbooks, homework papers, and permission slips, depending on the situation.
Yosemite National Park
This picture is a view at Yosemite National Park. National parks in the United States are state property. Access and use of the park is controlled and enforced by the state.
Pacing and Structuring Lessons and Activities
One of the best ways to prevent management problems is to pace and structure lessons or activities as smoothly as possible and to make transitions between activities as continuous as possible. Reaching this goal usually requires the teacher to consider several major strategies:
- select tasks or activities at an appropriate level of difficulty for students,
- provide a moderate level of structure or clarity to students about what they are supposed to do, especially during transitions between activities,
- manage structured transitions between various activities,
- keep alert to the flow and interplay of behaviors of the class as a whole and of individuals within it,
- give timely feedback to students, and
- maintain accurate records.
Classroom Rules
Classroom rules should be concise and positively stated.