Classroom Management

Classroom Management

Kate WintermuteC&I 304

January 18, 2002Arvold

Classroom Management

A very important aspect of maintaining a successful classroom depends on the classroom management strategies applied. With effective and thought out classroom management, it will make it much easier to run the class as you had intended. Some aspects of classroom management that I think are especially important are the following: the actual setup of the classroom, the warm-up activities used, the teacher's approach to instruction, and the different types of attention getters that are used.

As I go out to student teach there are some strategies that I have thought about and hope to use within the classroom. For one, I would like the desks to be set up in a fashion that allows for students to get into groups easily. Ideally, I would like to have the desks set up in the shape of a V, with the desks on each side of the classroom angling towards the front, facing in towards the center, and having the tip of the V be in the back of the classroom. I feel this way would be beneficial for the students and myself. It would allow me room to walk around as well as see all of the students. While at the same time I feel it would be a good set up for the students because they would not have to turn to face the boards and they would be able to get into groups without too much hassle. During my student teaching, though, I feel that the desks will be arranged in rows because of the set up of the classroom, but hopefully I might be able to switch it around somehow.

As far as my teaching strategies, I plan to combine both lecture using the chalkboards and group activities. To start the period I think I will have some sort of problem on the board for the students to work on while the class settles in, attendance taken, etc. Sometimes the problem will pertain to the material they are covering, but other times it will be more of just a logic question for them to try to figure out. I have found that some great mathematically oriented logic questions can be found in the game called Mind Trap (it’s a great game with lots of applications to mathematics that can be applied to the classroom). Then after all the preliminary business is taken care of we will move on with class and depending on the problem we might discuss it or just move on. I feel this will be a good way to get the students in class and paying attention. During class, I hope to be able to move throughout the classroom, incorporating lecture, activity and student participation. I feel my doing a variety of different types of things, the students will be less bored and more inclined to pay attention (hopefully). Therefore, these are just a few of the ideas that I have thought about in regards to classroom management and how I plan or hope to have things work in my classroom. Hopefully these ideas will help me develop an approach to classroom management that facilitates an effective and successful classroom.