Effective Classroom Management
The efficient management of the classroom can be impacted by a variety of factors. According to experts Edmund Emmer and Carolyn Evertson (authors of Classroom Management for Effective Teachers), these include: ensuring the students are involved in all classroom activities as much as possible; ensuring student behavior does not negatively impact the teacher’s/students’ work, and using instructional time efficiently.
Efficient classroom educators are very well-organized in their rules and schedules which they have passed over to their students. This involves effective communication of expectations to the students. In other words, the philosophy of Harry Wong: “A well-managed classroom is a task-oriented and predictable environment.”
What does this mean for the school and indeed the classroom? It means that everything is in its place: from the school chairs to the computers, the blackboard to where the classroom door is situated. In addition, when students are given clarification on teacher expectations and what will happen if these are not met, then it is more likely they will follow the rules and all aspects of the classroom will run smoothly.
According to a 1986 study by Marcel Veenman PhD, assistant professor in the unit Developmental and Educational Psychology of the Institute of Psychology at Leiden University, the most commonly reported problems from teachers in their first years are organization, classroom management and student discipline. Thus if this is dealt with ahead of time – by ensuring a classroom is well managed even before the students start to learn – a lot of the issues can be potentially avoided.