CHAPTER 8 ASPECTS OF CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT

Classroom management is the orchestration of the learning environment of a group of individuals within a classroom setting. In the early 1970s classroom management was seen as separate from classroom instruction. Teachers' management decisions were viewed as precursors to instruction, and were treated in the literature as if they were content-free. The image was of a teacher first attending to classroom management, and then beginning instruction without further reference to management decisions. Research in the 1980s, however, demonstrated that management and instruction are not separate, but are inextricably interwoven and complex.

As a result of this broadened definition of classroom management, research has moved away from a focus on controlling behavior and looks instead at teacher actions to create, implement, and maintain a learning environment within the classroom. Everything a teacher does has implications for classroom management, including

• creating the setting,
• decorating the room,
• arranging the chairs
• speaking to children
• handling their responses,
• putting routines in place (and then executing,modifying, and reinstituting them),
• developing rules, and
• communicating those rules to the students. These are all aspects of classroom management.