Education and Classroom

In this paper I will list five different strategies of classroom management. There are many challenges within the middle school classroom and knowing what strategies to use to keep control and management can be difficult at times. With the diversity of children in the classroom changes may need to be made. Some strategies may not work in one classroom but work well in another. “Classroom management refers to those activities of classroom teachers that create a positive classroom climate within which effective teaching and learning can occur (Martin & Sugarman, p. 1993)”. The first strategy is keeping the lesson moving. Don’t just lecture for the whole class period. Find engaging ways to keep the students motivated. If you have a classroom of seventh grade English students, lecturing the entire class period would not benefit nor would it keep the attention of the students. Instead engaging the students with hands on activities would keep the learning process going and would alleviate some disruption in the classroom. Keeping consistency in the classroom is another great strategy to implement in the middle school classroom.

Middle school students need consistency to keep control of them. Developing and maintaining a set of classroom rules will keep disruptive students at bay. Middle School classrooms need to be structured and rules need to be set and followed on an everyday basis. By keeping up with the classroom rules and never slacking will help students become responsible in their own self-discipline. When there is disruption in the classroom knowing what to do immediately will help detour any other disruptions that may occur.

For instance if you have a middle school student that consistently talks during class time and is disruptive to other students, knowing what to do immediately will keep the class moving successfully. Kellie Hayden author of Top Five Classroom Management Strategies states “when students are being disruptive by talking, poking, pulling or crumpling up paper, go stand by them, this sends a direct message to stop what they are doing. Most of the time they stop and go back to work (Hayden, 2010)”.

Getting to know your students is a helpful way in managing your classroom. Knowing who your students are will help you as a teacher know what is going on with your students. For example; you have a seventh grade student whose parent is terminally ill with cancer. For the past few weeks you have seen a change in attitude, and class performance in this student. The student seems withdrawn and has not turned in the past few assignments. Knowing the students family situation is helpful in knowing how to handle this situation.

By knowing the students background will help in knowing if you the problem you see can be handled in the classroom by you the teacher or if you should seek outside help for your student. The last classroom strategy is probably the most important after the events that have happened this year. I think that classroom safety is very important in the learning process. If a student doesn’t feel safe in the classroom the learning process ceases. As a teacher it is important hat students in your classroom feel safe and know that your classroom is secure for them to learn.

With all the school shootings that have happened this past year, students all around the county have the need for safety in their home schools. As a teacher it is your responsibility to maintain a safe learning environment for your students. Keeping classroom doors locked is one way to maintain classroom safety. Not allowing objects that can be used as weapons in the classroom is another way to maintain safety.

Making sure that your students know the rules of safety not only in the classroom but in the school as well will maintain the learning process and make sure that students can successfully learn. As I stated earlier there are so many strategies for classroom management and not all strategies may work in your classroom, but knowing which strategies do work and making sure that you keep a routine and consistency in the classroom will provide a successful learning environment for the students that are in your classroom and control among the students as well.