Content area
Full Text
Abstract
Creating a learning environment where all students can thrive academically requires an understanding of the complexities of classroom management. The notions of "discipline" "conformity" and "obedience" that have littered discussions of classroom management in the past are no longer sufficient to describe the diverse urban classroom. Thus, this piece explores classroom management in an honest, relevant way, rich in context and relationships. Through a scenario showing one teacher's decision-making process, eight components of classroom management are considered: student-teacher relationships, high expectations for students, non-verbal cues and redirection, teacher consistency, teacher perseverance and assertiveness, capitalizing on human resources, restorative justice, and school wide consistency for student behavior. The research support for these eight components is also shared.
Of the factors that contribute to student success in school, management of the learning environment is among the most cited. According to Hattie's extensive review of over 800 meta-analyses, which included over 50,000 studies and 200 million students, classroom behavior is the 6lh most important contributor to a child's academic success of thel 30 factors considered. Student-teacher relationships were the third most significant contributor (Hattie, 2009). In a similar, but less extensive study a decade earlier, Wang, Haertel and Walberg (1993) analyzed 86 annual research reviews, 44 handbooks, 20 government/commissioned reports and 11 journal articles. They determined that, of the 228 factors they identified, classroom management had the largest effect on student achievement (Wang, Haertel & Walberg, 1993; Marzano, 2011).
In some ways, detangling the relationship between highly effective classroom management and highly productive learning environments is a chicken-and-egg scenario. Which comes first? Are highly effective teachers better able to manage classroom resources and therefore able to deliver more effective instruction? Or do highly effective teachers who deliver more effective instruction have fewer behavior problems to manage? The answers are not as clear-cut as they may seem. This piece is designed to help both experienced and inexperienced teachers explore classroom management in an authentic, meaningful way that is rich in context and relationships.
Key Assumptions
The advice set forth in this article is grounded in three key axioms that are cornerstones to effective classroom management. These axioms are:
We assume a classroom that is diverse and multicultural.
This is unlike previous work on this topic (Goodman...