Teach a Book: Classroom Management for

Middle and High School Teachers

Teach a Book: Classroom Management for

Middle and High School Teachers

Edmund T. EmmerCarolyn M. EvertsonEdmund T. Emmer

Carolyn M. Evertson

Chapter 1:Organizing Your Classroom and

Materials

• Room arrangement:‣ Consistent with instructional goals and activities

- Teacher-led vs small groups

- Mix of both?

‣ High-traffic areas free of congestion

‣ Students easily seen by teacher

‣ Frequently used materials/supplies easily accessible

‣ Students easily see board

Chapter 1:Organizing Your Classroom and

Materials

• Suggestions for arranging your classroom:‣ Bulletin boards/walls

- Daily assignments on decorative display (colored paper or borders)

- 9th grade and below post rules of classroom

- Reward “class of the month”

‣ Floor space - starting point: where is whole-class instruction?

‣ Student desks - avoid students w/backs to instructional area

‣ Teacher’s desk and other equipment

‣ Storage space and supplies

Chapter 1:Organizing Your Classroom and

Materials

• If you have to float:‣ Familiarize yourself with the room

‣ Try to arrange a projector for daily use

- Prepare transparencies for lessons/hw assignments, and notices

‣ A regular space on the board for assignments

‣ Storage space for materials that cannot be carried with you everyday

‣ Try to get a cart

‣ Assign early arriving students the task of preparing the room

- Erase boards, set up projector, arrange chairs

Chapter 2:Choosing Rules and Procedures

• Why rules and procedures are needed‣ Rules identify general expectations or standards - best when

positively stated (You may talk when given permission)

‣ Procedures communicate expectations for behavior - apply to a specific activity

• Planning classroom rules and procedures (consequences?)

‣ Identify school rules and procedures

‣ Around 5 sufficient to cover most behavior (student participation?)

- Bring all needed materials to class

- Be in your seat and ready to work when the bell rings

- Respect and be polite to all people

- Respect other people’s property

- Obey all school rules

• General Procedures‣ Beginning of period

- Attendance: use seating chart, keep track of missing work

- Absences: write name and date on handouts and keep in absentee folder; daily assignments on calendar; student volunteers to assist returning students

- Tardy students: be consistent; sign in sheet

- Expected behavior: Warm up questions at beginning of period, copy outline of class activities

- Leaving the room: emergencies only; keeping a record; reduced credit for work not brought to class

‣ Use of materials and equipment: teachers and student materials

‣ End of period: clean up of materials and reminders of upcoming work

Chapter 2:Choosing Rules and Procedures

• Procedures during seatwork and instruction

‣ Student attention during presentations: respect and note-taking

‣ Participation: raise hands, student call?

‣ Seatwork

- Talk among students (no student talk vs quiet talk)

- Raised hands for help

- Out-of-seat procedures: sharpen pencil, get paper; one-at-a-time

- When work is completed (enrichment activities folder, work on hw)

Chapter 2:Choosing Rules and Procedures

• Procedures for group work‣ Distribution of material stations/helpers

‣ Assigning students to groups: well-balanced, separate clashing personalities, save time, efficient

‣ Outline goals and participation roles (recorder, reader, etc.)

‣ Cooperative learning

• Miscellaneous‣ Signals: obtain student attention, transitions (turn off lights, bell)

‣ Announcements, special equipment, fire drills, and split lunch periods (what to do with work and personal belongings)

Chapter 2:Choosing Rules and Procedures

Chapter 3:Managing Student Work

• Your grading system and record keeping ‣ Achievement, effort, hw, improvement, participation, and

percentages

‣ Accurate assessment: frequent evaluation

‣ Record all student info in grade book rather than separate lists

• Feedback and monitoring procedures‣ Students check own work (different ink and model how to check)

‣ Students keep own record of grades

‣ Long-term/group projects: divide into smaller goals and deadlines

‣ Peer review (must teach)

‣ Guided beginning for group seatwork then work the room

‣ Long-range monitoring - keep track of missing assignments

Chapter 3:Managing Student Work

• Communicating assignments and work requirements

‣ Instructions for assignments

- Oral explanation of requirements/rubric as well as visual aid on board

- Routine of copying down assignment

‣ Standards for form, neatness, and due dates

‣ Procedures for absent students

- Post weekly assignments or keep absentee folder

- Length for make-up

- Place for late work turn in and graded pick up

- Missed group work - assist groups in inclusion of absent members

Chapter 4:Getting Off to a Good Start

• Perspectives on the beginning of the year‣ Resolve student uncertainties: expectations, procedures, and rules -

opportunity for students to learn appropriate behavior

‣ Plan uncomplicated lessons to ensure student success

‣ Keep whole-class focus (group work should maintain this); prepare extra credit or enrichment assignments; later introduce complex activities

‣ Be available, visible, and in charge: work the room; praise, prompt, leave

‣ Teacher authority: rights to set standards for behavior and performance

- Traditional, bureaucratic, expert/professional, charismatic

- Most teachers derive authority from several sources

- Authoritarian (control through threats and punishment) vs authoritative (provide basis for actions/discipline, give students independence for maturity, and administer consequences fairly and proportionately)

Chapter 4:Getting Off to a Good Start

• Planning for a good beginning‣ Checking books out to students (wait until lockers have been

assigned): record book numbers, name stamp, cover

‣ Paperwork (hall pass, emergency forms, etc): all forms on hand and separated in folders

‣ Rosters organized by period, noting accommodations for seating/medication, 3x5: name, book #, attendance, grades until class stabilized - useful for calling on students

‣ Seating assignments: learn names/attendance faster, class management

‣ First-week bell schedule, tardiness leniency for first few days, administrative tasks, rules

‣ Course requirements: tests, quizzes, hw contributions - parents sign?

‣ Beginning routine and alternative activities (wkst, puzzles, logic problems)

Chapter 4:Getting Off to a Good Start

• The first day of class‣ Stand near door (sign w/name outside), make eye contact and

smile, correct any students that enter with unacceptable behavior, and make sure students are in the correct room

‣ Administrative tasks (forms on hand), check attendance by raised hands (not call-outs), teacher/student/course introductions

‣ Discussion of class rules and rationale/penalties, emphasizing benefits to all, and presentation of course requirements

‣ Interesting initial content activity: should require little or no assistance, which allows time for teaching procedures

- Explain what students are expected to do, list steps on board if complex, demonstrate when possible, give corrective feedback

‣ Avoid pre-tests, small groups, projects, and individualized instruction

‣ Establish end-of-period routine

• The second day of classes‣ If 1st day was short, review class procedures and follow 1st day

plan

‣ Identify new students and get them seated, re-state beginning-of-class routine, review major rules and procedures

‣ Present content activity

‣ Close period with procedure introduced on day 1

• After the second day‣ Continue using procedures, adding new ones as needed

‣ Monitor student behavior and give students feedback when their behavior does not meet expectations

‣ Should start giving regular assignments for in-class and at home and check work promptly using grading procedures

Chapter 4:Getting Off to a Good Start

Chapter 5:Planning and Conducting

Instruction• Planning classroom activities: types

‣ Openers to transition into the classroom (Do Now’s) and Closers

‣ Checking work: must teach appropriate procedures (different ink color)

‣ Recitation: oral check of student understanding, distribute questions to all members of class, watch for too slow or too rapid pacing

‣ Content development: intro/extension of material, concepts, or skills; teacher questions/collect work for understanding

‣ Discussion: encourage evaluation, awareness of other points of view, sharing of opinions; requires planning prompting questions and management of activity

‣ Seatwork on previously presented material, start as class then independent work

‣ Test administration (plan work for early finishers)

‣ Student presentations and demos - give guidelines in advance, audience behavior

‣ Small-group work: lab work, promote greater comprehension, cooperative learning, reciprocal teaching

‣ Tests and presentations/demonstrations

• Organizing activities - depends on number of different topics covered in class; focus on see-say-do

• Kounin: managing group instruction - activity flow

‣ Preventing misbehavior

- withitness and overlapping

‣ Managing lesson movement

- momentum (pacing) and smoothness (continuity; ex. dangle, thrust)

‣ Maintaining group focus

- group alerting (tell students they might be called on next)

- encouraging accountability (performance observed and evaluated)

- higher participation formats: write answers, read along during instruction

Chapter 5:Planning and Conducting

Instruction

• Transition management (see problems/solutions)

• Instructional management‣ Planning

‣ anticipate problems (new terms and examples, demos)

‣ do homework to find difficulties - build hints in lesson

‣ infuse enthusiasm into lesson

‣ Presenting new content clearly: Learning objectives at beginning and provide an outline for a complex lesson or video

‣ Checking for understanding: formative and summative assessments

- ask review questions

- discuss and solve problems as a group; recitation

- indicators (multiple choice question, “hands” to indicate response

Chapter 5:Planning and Conducting

Instruction

Chapter 6:Managing Cooperative Learning

Groups

• Research on cooperative learning- Equal or greater learning than individualistic or competitive teaching

methods with effective cooperative groups due to increased engagement with content; NEED feedback/instruction on how to collaborate

• Strategies and routines that support cooperative learning

- Room arrangement - line up desks to marks on floor for quick transitions- Talk and movement procedures: 6-inch voices, materials manager, state

timed movement expectation w/verbal reminders- Group attention signals: MS raised hands, HS turn on projector and ask

for eyes at the front; avoid interruptions/present info ahead of time- Promoting interdependence within groups: individual tasks (vary skills,

research different topic for report), group grades- Individual accountability - id contributions, peer evaluation, individual

notebooks graded at various times, individual responsibility to explain

• Monitoring student work and behavior‣ Work the room w/clipboard to write notes about all students about

satisfactory group functioning - note degree of explanation/demonstration and use for feedback

‣ group and individual performance -self-monitor to identify difficulties

• Interventions‣ Non/verbal redirect, time out/work alone, conference w/individual

students, conference w/entire group

• Effective group work skills:‣ Social skills: teach active listening/sharing/support before group

work

‣ Explaining skills: Rotate summarizer role, explain something to partner and explain back, work as group to answer a question and present to class

‣ Leadership skills: assign presenter/discussion leader roles to build skills

Chapter 6:Managing Cooperative Learning

Groups

• Beginning the use of cooperative learning groups‣ Room arrangement, procedures, and routines

‣ Forming groups: star with pairs, working up to larger groups that have a range of achievement levels, match extremes w/middle to motivate lower achiever

‣ Initial group tasks to build skills: turn to your partner and explain/compare answers, drill partner, reading buddy, checking, reviewers

‣ Teaching group skills: listening, explaining, asking for help, encouraging, and sharing - introduce one/week and give feedback; assign and rotate roles (keep on index cards w/behaviors) so everyone gains experience

‣ Using group and individual rewards to practice/improve skills - tickets for good behavior for toy raffle/points for fun activities

Chapter 6:Managing Cooperative Learning

Groups

Chapter 7:Maintaining Appropriate Student

Behavior• Monitoring student behavior

‣ Student involvement in learning activities: “active eyes,” work the room and don’t spend more than 1-2 min/student, start whole-group activity

‣ Student compliance with classroom rules and procedures: clear expectations that have been communicated to the class

• Consistency‣ Inconsistency from unreasonable/inappropriate rules, no

detection of inappropriate behavior, not willing to enforce every time

‣ What to do if you are inconsistent

- Re-teach procedure (discuss problem) and enforce it

- Modify and reintroduce it

- Or, abandon it and substitute another in its place

• Prompt management of inappropriate behavior

‣ Eye contact/move closer and prompt appropriate behavior

‣ Reminder of procedure by stating correct one or note students who are doing what is expected

‣ Redirect attention to task and monitor shortly thereafter

‣ Ask/tell student to stop inappropriate behavior

‣ Make it private: call to desk, whisper, nonverbal cues

‣ Briefly talk to student/assess penalties

‣ Time out at desk or another room

Chapter 7:Maintaining Appropriate Student

Behavior

• Building a positive climate‣ Communicate positive expectations to students: convey confidence

in students’ ability to do well, can do attitude, maintain high expectations

‣ Appropriate teacher praise (public vs private): both informative feedback and genuine teacher approval that focuses on accomplishment, not effort

• Improving class climate through incentives or rewards

‣ Grades (tie as many facets of work as possible) and recognition (display work, certificate, verbal, stickers, improvement/conduct)

‣ Activities (PAT) and material incentives (food, games, books): relate to behaviors most important to you (attendance, hw), everyone can achieve it

‣ Caution of effect of rewards: enhance or hurt? - imperfect conditions

Chapter 7:Maintaining Appropriate Student

Behavior

Chapter 8:Communication Skills for

Teaching• Constructive assertiveness

‣ Clear statement of problem or concern and describing effects - reduces student defensiveness, avoids labeling students/behavior, use statements

‣ Unambiguous body language: eye contact, posture, facial expression matches tone of statements

‣ Obtaining appropriate behavior and resolving the problem: student needs to accept responsibility for behavior, dramatic emphasis for evasive students

• Empathic responding‣ Keeps lines of communication open between you and the

student and aids problem solving process

‣ Two components: listening skills and processing skills

• Problem solving‣ Identify the problem: state purpose of meeting, get students point of

view/describe problem, ask students reaction; evaluate: help/hurt?

‣ Identify and select the solution: student suggestion, multiple teacher alternatives; positive focus with plan for improvement

‣ Obtain a commitment: student acceptance for period of time followed by evaluation (sometimes in a contract) with consequences if not followed

• Talking with parents‣ Constructive assertiveness, empathetic responding, problem solving

‣ Express appreciation for parents’ efforts to meet,work w/them as a team

‣ Focus on choices student is making and how to encourage better decisions

‣ Document concerns: student work and notes of behaviors

Chapter 8:Communication Skills for

Teaching

Chapter 9:Managing Problem Behaviors

• What is problem behavior?‣ Nonproblem: brief inattention, transition talk

‣ Minor problem: students calling out, leaving seats, talk during group work

‣ Major problem, but limited in scope/effects: chronically off-task, failure to pass in hw assignments, vandalism, cheating

‣ Escalating or spreading problem: unabated social talking, back talk

• Goals for managing problem behavior‣ Judge short-term (bad behaviors cease) and long-term effects

(prevention) of any management strategy chosen

‣ Optimal: Maintain/restore order w/out adversely affecting learning environment; should prevent repetition of problem

Chapter 9:Managing Problem Behaviors

• Management strategies‣ Minor interventions

- Nonverbal cues: finger to lips, head shake, hand signal, light touch to arm

- Get activity moving: quick transitions, all materials ready

- Proximity: zones of proximity, combine w/nonverbal cues

- Group focus: group alerting, accountability, higher participation format

- Redirect behavior: state what should be done, “everybody should be writing answers to the practice problems”

- Provide needed instruction: check student work, whole-class instruction

- Brief desist: direct eye contact and assertiveness, combine w/redirection

- Give student a choice: behave appropriately or continue behavior w/consequence, “choose to clean up now or say after class until area is clean”

- I-message: “it’s distracting to me and the class when you get out of your seat,” learn awareness of effects of behavior on others

Chapter 9:Managing Problem Behaviors

• Management strategies‣ Moderate interventions

- Withhold privilege and earn back w/appropriate behavior (sit near friends, work together on project)

- Isolate/remove problem students: desk at back of room, time out, switch if rewarding to student, time out or walk to principal’s office, labels student as excludable

- Fine or penalty: extra work, but defined as punishment - quick to administer, but content negatively affected, non-content (look up and copy 10 definitions)

- Detention best for behaviors that involve time (tardiness, time-wasting behavior) or repeated rule violations; adv: disliked, administered away from classroom; disadv: takes teacher time, student skipping, additional records

- Referral to office for fighting, vandalism, rudeness and disrespect; adv: effective limit, short-circuit escalating situation; disadv: depends on others for effectiveness, potential for discrimination; use sparingly

Chapter 9:Managing Problem Behaviors

• Management strategies‣ More extensive interventions

- Design individual contract with student - problem solving

- Conference w/parent: describe situation and appreciate support that parent gives to help understand and resolve problem, have grade book handy - require time and energy

- Check (name on board)/demerit (record that student signs to accept responsibility) system; adv: set/maintain limits, consequences are clear; disadv: catch bad behaviors, hard to detect behaviors

- Problem solving

- “Think time” strategy - remove student to another teacher’s classroom, debriefing form: what was behavior? what behavior do you need to display upon return?

- Reality therapy: establish caring relationship, focus on behavior, accept responsibility, evaluate behavior, make plan, commitment to follow plan, following up

- Peer mediation: students trained to listen/clarify issues, help negotiate, write solution

• Special problems‣ Chronic avoidance of work: good records a must

- Ability: break assignment into parts/modify assignment

- Parent phone call, reach out to coaches, no grade leniency

‣ Fighting: injury if intervene? disperse crowd, get help

‣ Other aggressive behavior: all behavior, even if playful, is unacceptable; respect others; one warning; separate students; conference w/student

‣ Bullying: bullying prevention programs, monitor student behavior, talk with class about behavior and effects, bully and victim problem solving, involve school counselor, incorporate social skills training in class

‣ Disrespect/hostility towards teacher: don’t go brainstem

- Best to defuse: keep it private and individual conference with student

- Depersonalize: “This is taking time away from class. I will discuss it with you in a few minutes when I have time.”

Chapter 9:Managing Problem Behaviors

Chapter 10:Managing Special Groups

• Teaching heterogeneous classes‣ Assessing entering achievement: previous tests, pre-tests, monitor

initial classwork (class notes, summary from book)‣ Modifying whole group instruction: participation (pacing),

procedures for managing student work, thoughtful seating arrangement, assignments: EC and enrichment, peer tutoring (expectations and management skills)

‣ Cooperative work groups‣ Small (homogeneous) group instruction: location of group/seating,

materials/storage/accessibility, student movement/transitions, out-of-group procedures and expectations

‣ Mastery learning: re-take tests until proficient by providing increased feedback

- Labor intensive: managerial skills, alt. forms of tests, extra grading, scheduling, enrichment activities, recordkeeping

- Develop/introduce incrementally, due dates, specified days for test re-takes

Chapter 10:Managing Special Groups

• Teaching remedial classes‣ Learner characteristics: high absence/tardies, arbitrary grades,

frequent failure, poor study skills, low attention span

‣ Establishing your management system: continually reinforce procedures and routines, question class, practice, feedback

‣ Monitoring behavior and prompt responses

‣ Managing student work of daily/weekly grades for frequent feedback, grade for effort/performance, incorporate participation (involvement, learning, attendance)

‣ Planning and presenting instruction

- Short activity segments w/frequent assessment of understanding (see, say, do)

- Extra attention to presenting directions and instruction clearly

- Build teaching of study skills in lesson (note taking, identifying main ideas)

Chapter 10:Managing Special Groups

• Students with special needs‣ Content mastery classroom: provide extra help, extra time for tests, staffed

w/special education teachers who can provide suggestions for adapting teaching/management

‣ Inclusion - special education students in general education classrooms: IEPs, regular planned meetings for progress and support, assignment modifications

‣ Emotional/behavioral problems

- communication with all, overlook minor inappropriate behavior, reinforce acceptable behavior, identify/reduce/prevent stressors, temporary lowered expectation on bad days, offer structured choices, allow leaving classroom

- remember you are convenient target, but not cause of anger

‣ Serious social deficits (ASD)

- odd social skills with poor communication skills, extreme anxiety to change/unmet expectations, acute sensitivity to sounds, poor motor skills, stereotyped movement

- use visual prompts, brief instructions (write down), social stories, strengths and interests in teaching to provide ways to develop talents, social feedback

Chapter 10:Managing Special Groups

• Students with special needs‣ ADHD:

- distractible, impulsive, disorganized

- predictability and structure, ask others what works best for them, make sure you have their attention when giving clear/brief instructions, observe as they work, remind/reinforce effort and accuracy over speed, finger card/marker for reading

‣ Deaf/hard-of-hearing: auditory devices, center of room seat, projector not chalkboard, repeat/rephrase info, restate responses, close monitoring, note takers

‣ Bind/visually-impaired: board work - read aloud, tape recorders, hands-on work, change in activity to prevent tiring, seat w/back to window, move as needed

‣ Extreme poverty: increased communication and relationship building, presentation of non-weak image/insolence, extra materials/supplies, bracket anxieties, peer buddy, provide underlying assumptions for behavior, + self-talk, help another student

‣ Limited English proficiency: understanding of English, learn key words in native lanuage, body language/gestures, visual aids, long receptive period before confident in classroom, consult counselor if language barrier prevents benefit from instruction