Managing Your Classroom!

As a student teacher, I am constantly learning new ways to be a professional educator. This past week in our classrooms, we learned three methods to controlling a classroom and establishing behavior. As a teacher, maintaining a well-behaved and orderly class is the first step to providing great instruction. If the flow of pedagogy is constantly interrupted by a student's cell phone going off, an off topic discussion, or any classroom disruption, try out some of these methods.

Assertive Discipline

I grew up in a Catholic High School. The instructors commonly had a rubber ruler on hand or a yard stick just in case one of us started talking out of line or falling asleep. It wasn't uncommon to hear "the man" coming down on the desk of a dozing student, one because the old nuns were pretty good at making that wooden ruler snap and two because everyone was scared silent. The Assertive Discipline method requires that an educator clearly define expectations and standards to the students and act in a direct way when those standards are not being met. There is a clear procedure to the consequences of breaking the rules such as the "three strikes" rule or what I call the "levels of hell" i.e. light consequences for the first few infractions and gradually increasing. Teachers might also use logical consequences, or rather punishment suited to the crime.

The FAIR Approach

In stark contrast to the above method, the FAIR approach recognizes the individual student and suggests to educators that they take a more personal method to dealing with disruptive behavior. Maybe the student has a learning disability? Perhaps the student has family or bully problems. Whatever the case, in order for teachers to properly diagnose and address the problem they must first (1) understand the Function or cause of the behavior. (2) Make Accommodations. (3) Interact and show the students are valued. (4) Respond to students who improve behavior. This approach puts the students first.

Self-managed Communities

If the Assertive Discipline method is akin to that of a dictatorship or monarchy where it is the one's rules whom all abide to, then the Self-Managed Communities is the opposite. This method puts the responsibility of handling the class almost entirely to the discretion of the students. An educator will begin by explaining ground rules for the class and expectations for a regular class meeting. At these class meetings, it is up to the students to evaluate the classroom behavior status and come up with solutions to any conflicts that arise, whether it be changing or enforcing rules that they themselves create. The teacher takes a backseat, intervening only when necessary and being more of a facilitator than a dictator. This method would be more like a Democractic Republic, where the teacher is the overseeing government, but the students the individual states.

I am not confident at this point over whether or not I can manage a classroom. However, it helps knowing that I have a few more tools under my belt in case the situation arises.