Management Style in the Classroom

Hello everyone,

I wanted to follow up a little more on developing a management style.

I have known teachers that were successful managing their classes who had widely varying personal styles. Some dressed formally; others dressed casually; some had impeccably organized classrooms; others lived in general chaos; some permitted student talking; others demanded total silence; some were flamboyant; others were soft-spoken; some were warm and inviting to students; others were cold and distant. All taught to high standards; all had students who learned; all felt comfortable in their respective environments.

I could say the same thing about teachers who were unsuccessful.

I'm thinking about what the differences are, and several things occur to me.

Teachers with poor management frequently have ill-defined concepts of who they are and what they want their classrooms to look like. This is difficult to work on because it demands that you understand how you are perceived and that you be comfortable with the perception.

If you don't mind, I will use myself as an example.

I am comfortable with the idea that I am a middle-aged, balding, white man with a weight problem, crooked teeth, and red eyes. I am comfortable that I am perceived as a demanding task master who "snaps." I know that I have favorite students, but I don't think I would want to be one because I tend to be harder on them than on others. I know that by the end of the school year, my students are reconciled to the idea that I'm not as big a jerk as they thought I was at the beginning of the year. I know that my Spanish is pretty good, but I don't get jokes well in Spanish, and I don't know a lot of slang. I am pretty good in a contest of wit with my students, but if I feel angry or tired, I had better not even try because I'll end up looking like a fool in front of everyone.

These are all qualities and failings that my students have pointed out to me--sometimes rudely--over the years. In the beginning of my career, I got upset when my failings were emphasized. Now I agree with them. ("Yeah, it's the pits to go gray," I might say. "I'm just glad I still have hair that can go gray.")

Lots of teachers imagine themselves as the great friend and confidante of their students. This is a common mistake and illustrates what happens when teachers have an incorrect concept of who they are. The four years that separate a high school graduate from a college graduate are nothing to the college grad., but are everything to the high school student. If a student chooses you as a confidante, treat the choice with tender care, but don't seek it.

What do you want your classroom to look like? What are you comfortable with? Whatever image you have of what a successful classroom looks like, your image must include an image of learning. I knew a classroom that was perfectly ordered and quiet, but the students never learned a blasted thing. The teacher simply gave "A's" to everyone who was quiet and produced neatly filled worksheets. On the other hand, I have seen classrooms that looked noisy and chaotic, but they were that way because students were excited about learning whatever it was they were learning. I have seen the reverse as well (ordered learning and disordered wasting of time).

One of the most critical keys in developing your management style is this question: Are students learning? If they aren't, you need to change your style.

Jeff Combe