Chapter 4: Classroom Management

Introduction

Classroom management is a broad term, speaking to how teachers develop and sustain learning environments that support ongoing student engagement (Brophy, 2010). The key is focusing on creating a learning environment that purposefully promotes support and success instead of centering solely on student cooperation. It is a misconception that classroom management is about controlling students. Classroom management is, for the most part, proactive, before students are even involved, and certainly before there are behaviors to address. Teachers must design the classroom layout, manage movement, transitions, and activities, plan lessons that provide ample opportunities to respond and engage, give purposeful feedback and correction, provide reinforcement, and choose what to address and what to ignore, all while teaching content. That may seem overwhelming, but these are all skills that can be developed while teaching, as long as you are willing to be open and responsive to the needs of the students in your classroom.

For simplicity, this chapter is organized into three sections: foundational, preventative, and responsive components of classroom management (Simonsen et al., 2015). While working through the following readings, podcasts, websites, and activities, it is very important to remember that no teacher develops all of these skills at once. These are skills for all teachers at all levels of experience that require constant development and refinement.