This document summarizes several articles and resources on effective classroom management strategies. The first article discusses establishing control and respect in the classroom by getting to know students and making them feel important. The second provides examples of handling disruptive student behaviors, like setting clear routines. The third discusses the importance of the classroom environment for learning. It emphasizes the teacher's role in student achievement and exploring different teaching methods. Overall, the document stresses that proper classroom management is key to providing students the best education.

1. Classroom Management Can It Really Be Done? Can technology play a role? By: Katie Fox

2. Introduction Classroom management has always been a key to effective teaching. It is a vital part in a child’s education. A child will learn to his or her full potential when they are learning in an environment that is under control, organized and respected. The lessons need to be clear, precise, and the teacher needs to make sure the students know that he or she is in control and only wants best for that child’s learning environment. The goal of this project was to evaluate what makes a classroom teachable and learnable, as well as why some classrooms might be harder to manage than others. I have chosen three articles that are going to help explain these questions, as well as give advice for future educators as to how they can have a classroom that is manageable yet enjoyable. I also wanted to try and tie in how technology could help management within the classroom by making processes easier to accomplish and lessons easier to teach.

3. Classroom Management by Genghis http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/4169.shtml Genghis, the author of this article, begins by asking the question, “How do you explain why some classes are orderly while others are chaotic?” In order for this question to be answered, Genghis compares the classroom to a war. He explains that as a teacher, you want as many children on your side as possible. This will help create a classroom of unity and respect. He gives examples of how to do this. A teacher should be positive and nice to their students. They should acknowledge their students and make them feel like they are important. They should get to know their students, interests, personalities, likes, and dislikes. All of this information will help a teacher be able to manage the classroom, based on the students within the class. The information gathered can be presented to the entire classroom via things such as powerpoints, facebook, myspace, or any other way that will help a teacher learn a student’s interests.

4. Classroom Management Continued Another military tool that Genghis explains can help classroom management is to “employ the indirect attack”. This means, if a child in the classroom is doing something he or she should not be doing, walk up behind them, tap them on the shoulder, and give them the look that you know what they were doing, even though they didn’t think that you did. A key point that is made in this article is that, “You are not going to win every battle”. As a teacher, there are going to be better days than others in the classroom. The key is to remain calm even on those not so good days.

5. Classroom Management I think that the article, Classroom Management, is a very helpful article. It was written by a teacher explaining classroom management based on his own classroom. I only touched on what was talked about in the article. He also talked about the psychology of the children and how many of them relate to what their peers are doing. As a teacher, if you can get the peers to be behaving as they should, the students who are not behaving may follow their friends behavior and change their actions. This is only one other example of what is mentioned in the article. Management can be done. Getting perspective from other teachers is a very useful tool that will help any teacher in his or her classroom.

6. 7 BAD BEHAVIORS: And how to turn them around Jen Scott Curwood. Instructor (1999). New York: Mar/Apr 2008. Vol. 117, Iss. 5; pg. 37, 5 pgs http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.ulib.iupui.edu Jen Scott wrote the article, “7 Bad Behaviors: And How to Turn Them Around”. This article gives 7 classroom examples of children with behavioral problems, and how as a teacher, you should handle them. The behavior of a child has a lot to do with how your classroom will be handled and managed. If the children are behaving badly, the classroom management is not going to be very sufficient. Scott gives specific examples of classroom problems and how to handle them poorly and them how to handle them efficiently. One of the big themes that this article covers is to try and set routines for the students. This allows them to know what will be going on and when it will be going on throughout their day. This will allow them to know what to expect, which may eliminate unnecessary behavior. A teacher can also impact the student by printing out individual schedule of what will take place during the day. They could also present the schedule on an overhead. They also could get the parents involved by e-mailing them the schedule.

7. 7 BAD BEHAVIORS: And how to turn them around This is one example of the 7 bad behaviors and how the behavior should be handled in order for management to be kept within the classroom: “What are we doing now Ms. Smith?” That is the question that the children are asking the teacher. The teacher them has to decide how to respond to the children. She has already told them three times what to do and what they will be doing, yet she still has children with messy desk areas and other children talking to their friends around them. The long term solution as to how this frustration can be solved is to do the following: Explain to the students once again what they should do first. Then, after explaining what they will do first, take a big step to your left and explain what they will be doing second. Finally, take another big step to your left as you explain what they will be doing thirdly. (Scott) This is a way to help the children visualize what they should do and hopefully remember that for the future.

8. 7 BAD BEHAVIORS: And how to turn them around I thought that this article was very helpful because it gives teachers specific classroom examples of possible problems they may run into with their own classrooms. Some of the situations I had never thought about so it was helpful to read about them. This ties into classroom management because as a teacher, your classroom will be better managed if you know how to respond to bad behaviors of your students. The following link a video clip by a teacher, who explains why a classroom routine is so important and what happens if the routine is not followed correctly. http://blip.tv/file/465016

9. Professional Development for 21st Century Teachers: Effective Classroom Management Presented by: Cheryl Kariuki http://www.eric.ed.gov:80/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content Cheryl Kariuki wrote this article to explain why classroom management is so important when it comes to helping a child get the best education possible. She states how one of the most important action a teacher can take at the beginning of the year is creating a proper climate for learning. (Kariuki, 2) The most important factor of student achievement was the teacher quality. “The physical environment in the classroom, the level of emotional comfort by students, and the quality of communication between teacher and students are important factors that may enable or disable learning” (Kariuki, 4). This statement is so true. The teacher has such a huge role in teaching the students effectively and the right way.

10. Professional Development for 21st Century Teachers: Effective Classroom Management In order for a teacher to manage, he or she has to know the psychological and developmental skills of the children that he or she is teaching. Teachers need to spend time for reflection as to how their classroom is operating. They need to see if the children’s needs are being met, and also explore different teaching methods that could be more effective for the class as a whole.

11. Professional Development for 21st Century Teachers: Effective Classroom Management This article was a very detailed and descriptive tool for future teachers as well as teachers that are currently teaching. I think that one of the biggest issues the article covered was that teachers have to be aware that everything a teacher does for learning may not be necessarily helpful, it could even potentially be dangerous and misleading. That is why it is so important a teacher first establishes a managed classroom. This will help to prevent errors in teaching as well as provide the best education for the students.

12. Final Conclusion Cheryl Kariukiexplains classroom management in a unique list that I found to be vey creative and important for any teacher. I decided to leave you with this as a reminder . 1. Develop a set of written expectations you can live with and enforce. 2. Be consistent. Be consistent. Be consistent. 3. Be patient with yourself and with your students. 4. Make parents your allies. Call early and often. Use the word “concerned”. When communicating concern, be specific and descriptive. 5. Don’t talk too much. Use the first 15 minutes of class for lectures or presentations, then get the kids working. 6. Break the class period into two or three different activities. Be sure each activity flows smoothly into the next. 7. Begin at the very beginning of each class period and end at the very end. 8. Don’t roll call. Take the roll with your seating chart while students are working. 9. Keep all students actively involved. For example, while a student does a presentation, involve the other students in evaluating it. 10. Discipline individual students quietly and privately. Never engage in a disciplinary conversation across the room. 11. Keep your sense of perspective and your sense of humor. 12. Know when to ask for help.