The first year of teaching was the hardest for me and it was because of classroom management.  I think that that classroom management is a big issue for teachers who are teaching for the first time.  Chapter nine discusses a variety of ideas that are helpful for classroom management.  Classroom management is meant to stop the problems before they even start or become an issue of discipline.  Effective classroom management provides an increase in achievement and motivation.
     The climate of a classroom is necessary to provide a healthy learning environment.  It is important for teachers to make sure that the environment is comfortable and not threatening.  The teacher is expected to set the tone for learning from the first day of class throughout the school year.
     Caring, firmness, democratic, a model with enthusiasm, and high expectations are all characteristics a teacher must have to be successful in classroom management.  A caring teacher must listen, create a safe environment, and help make sense of the material being taught.  Firmness is also necessary in teaching.  Students must be held accountable for their behaviors and it is the teacher that is holds the students responsible.  Balancing caring and firmness is difficult and often a challenge for most teachers.  Another characteristic that appears to be vital to classroom management is to be democratic.  Students need to have some input into the classroom that makes them responsible and allowing them to help in the decision making process creates a democratic classroom that fosters respect.  The teacher is a model and the students easily pick up on the attitude of the teacher toward the content material.  If the teacher does not have a positive attitude about a topic, neither will the students.  A student will imitate the attitude of the teacher and the teachers’ enthusiasm.  Expectations are also important.  Teachers with low expectations will get low results.  In order to help everyone to learn it is necessary to express the expectation that the students will succeed despite the difficulty of the task.
     My first year, I had a difficult time striking the balance.  I cared for my students, but yet I was not firm enough.  My students took advantage of the situation.  I wanted to be the authoritarian, but I quickly learned that my students needed to have a say in the class in order for them to respect the rules.  The students did not like the material because I was not happy with the material.  I showed no enthusiasm for the topic I was teaching.  Indeed, I got caught up in planning lessons and creating activities that I was too tired to get excited.  The expectations for my students were so low that the students acted up in class and it became a nightmare. During my first year teaching I did everything wrong that was possible.
     It was my second year of teaching that I figured out that I needed to be in control, but my students need to be responsible for their learning too.  I found my balance early in the year and I was excited about the material that was being taught.  My enthusiasm increased because I spent less time worrying about what I was going to teach and more time teaching it.  I had high expectations and I had to adjust them to the level my students were at.  The first few days of school, I got to know my students and I found out what they needed and what they wanted to get out of my class.  We finished out the school year with a wonderful look at all that had been accomplished.  I had finally found out how important classroom management was.
     It is important for a teacher to be organized because it will cut back on behavioral issues, but it will also create a sense of respect.  Students respect teachers who are organized and have everything together.   A student tends to act out less when there is less time to get in trouble.  There are so many things to cover in a class period, that it is hard to imagine that anyone could have a great deal of free time within the class period, but the class will get into trouble if given the opportunity.  The class needs to start on top and end with as little time left as possible.  A student who is engaged in learning has little opportunity to do anything else but schoolwork. To help a student focus, overheads and other visual aids will keep the students from getting side tracked.  Using a visual aid and questioning strategies, the students will become actively involved and engaged in the learning process.  A teacher should always give feedback to help improve the students’ performance.
     I was astonished to find out how little praise is used in school.  Indeed, I must pay more attention to how it is used in my own classroom.  The book states, “Praise is used less often than most teachers believe-less than five times per class (Jacobsen, Eggen, and Kauchak, 2002, p. 267).”  I plan to do a study of this topic and have others observe me to determine how I am doing in this area.  Praise can bring about positive change and is important to the classroom environment.
     Rules are also important.  Students must understand the rules and remember them in order to have them implemented.  Rules must establish standards of behavior, be consistent with the schools rules, be stated clearly, be stated positively, be short in number, and the students should be involved in writing the rules.  My class has five rules.  The first four rules of the class are stated clearly and were decided upon by the staff and administration.  In addition to the four rules, the students decided a fifth rule.  We, the teachers at my campus, have had great success this past year with this way of writing rules.

Reference

Jacobsen, D.A., Eggen, P., & Kauchak, D. (2002). Methods for Teaching: Promoting Student Learning. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.