Effective Classroom Management: A Teacher’s Guide

This latest edition of the successful and widely recommended Effective Classroom Management has been updated and restructured in the light of recent research and developments. It is written for new teachers and also those who train or guide them while they gain experience, combining practical advice on lesson organisation and teaching methods with an exploration of teachers’ feelings about themselves and the children they teach. Management is discussed as a co-operative enterprise linked to classroom and school processes and the development of good relationships. Classroom management is considered from four aspects: management in the classroom; mediation with individuals; modification of behaviour and monitoring school discipline. Management begins with four simple rules: get them in; get them out; get on with it and get on with them. The authors then give more detailed advice on analysing classroom organisation and reducing sources of friction. Mediation refers to knowledge of how to provide the counselling and guidance which some pupils require, understanding their problems and avoiding damaging confrontations in the classroom. Modification involves applying learning theory to shaping and changing behaviour in ways which are practical and realistic within the routine of the normal classroom. Monitoring school policy considers how schools evaluate the effectiveness of policies on discipline and how senior teachers can help colleagues cope with stress and other problems.