Classroom Management

Classroom Management 101:
Enhancing Our Learning Spaces

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job.
—Donald D. Quinn

Dear Readers:

First off, I hope you have taken the time to notice that Literacy Links has a new face and TCALL has a new logo. Gone are the red and blue fonts of the old Literacy Links. Now each issue follows a single color theme related to the seasons. Hence why we’ve chosen green for this quarter to represent Spring and the notion of rebirth and regeneration. We’ve also recently changed TCALL’s logo. We hope you’ll fancy it as much as we do. We’d like to give special thanks to Damian Clark the technical assistant at Advocacy Outreach for designing our logo based on inspirations and extensive feedback he received from the TCALL staff. We are especially proud because Damian is affiliated with a literacy program and so brought to his work of designing our logo an understanding of adult literacy and TCALL’s larger mission. The program where he works, Advocacy Outreach, is located in Elgin and is affiliated with the Community Action, Inc. adult education co-op. They have Even Start and EL Civics programs as well as GED preparation. We are so pleased with Damian’s work that we’d like to recommend him to others. If you or your organization ever find yourself in need of a graphics expert, you can reach Damian at damian@damianezra.org.

Now on to this month’s edition and the theme of classroom management…

"I can recall a conversation at a wedding reception a few months ago where an experienced ABE teacher was recounting the difficulties she had been experiencing with one of her literacy classes. She explained how the day before a student had not only become confrontational with another student in the class but with her before he left the classroom in what she described as a “fit of rage and frustration.” What had left this particular teacher so shaken was that the outburst she had experienced had come from one of her self-proclaimed “best and brightest.” Unfortunately, this was not the first outburst she had experienced by one of her students in the past eight weeks. Instead, they seemed to be coming at her fast and furious. In a teacherly moment of self-doubt, she asked, “What did I do wrong? What could I have done differently?”

All eyes quickly turned to me, and the inevitable question was asked: “What would you have done?” Given my background in correctional education, I am a prime target for practitioners to ask me how I handle issues related to classroom management. The irony is that in all my experiences working with inmates I never once had to deal with a disruptive outburst like the one my fellow teacher was explaining. Now I would like to think it was my skill as an educator that resulted in such well-functioning classroom spaces with wonderful student-inmates devoted to learning and teaching, but I know that would be egotistical and completely naïve of me, especially since in my teaching role in classrooms outside of a prison or jail setting I have encountered my fair share of classroom issues. And like my fellow ABE teacher at the wedding, I too blamed myself and labored to find the answer on how I could do it better. We have heard from several of you that classroom management is something that you struggle with and would not mind knowing a little bit more about, so this issue is devoted to helping you do just that.

This edition of Literacy Links contains articles written specifically for ABE, GED, ESL, EL Civics, and family literacy practitioners to help you think more deeply and broadly about the issue of classroom management styles, techniques, and methods. We believe that even those of you who question the basic premise of “classroom management” will find something worth your while. In our cover article, Lee McMullin infuses humor throughout his piece to remind us of some important lessons in how to not only deal with classroom disruptions and non-responsive students but how to prevent them from happening all together.

GED teacher Marie Paiz explains a specific technique to help manage her classroom of GED learners, several of whom are ESL crossovers. Paiz has found that incorporating newspapers into her daily lesson plans is effective not only in helping to manage a classroom with various grade levels, but the technique also does help students develop skills to help them prepare for the GED. Lisa Smith’s article addresses techniques for teaching a diverse group of ESL learners, and EL Civics Coordinator Shannon Solis shares two of her teachers’ techniques for working with ESL and EL Civics students. TCALL’s Family Literacy Specialist Jacqueline Gramann’s article focuses on how to overcome the challenges of teacher parent communications by developing an awareness of how parenting styles and cultural backgrounds inform these communications. This knowledge can help family literacy practitioners as they think about managing their own classrooms and interactions with parents.

In this edition of Literacy Links, in addition to articles on effective classroom management techniques, you will find the first in a two-part series on Advisory Committees. TCALL’s Professional Development Specialist Ken Appelt devotes this first article to techniques on how to conduct an effective advisory committee meeting. And as always we hope you’ll turn to the “What’s New with LINCS and NIFL” column and our “Welcome to Our Library” section to find a plethora of useful resources to help you in your daily work. We hope that as you read this edition you’ll find yourself a little wiser and also that some of these articles will reconfirm for you what you are already doing to make each of your classrooms successful and well-managed ones. Happy Reading!

Sincerely,

Dr. Dominique T. Chlup
Director of TCALL &
Principal Investigator on the Clearinghouse Project