Effective Teaching and Classroom Management

Classroom management is influenced by demeanor, voice, and delivery by faculty. This helps to encourage voluntary compliance and good educational exchange. It is important for faculty to consider audience, the classroom surroundings, and the goals, backgrounds, and development influences from past educational experiences.

Classrooms are not natural settings. They are placed together, and it is important to influence this artificial environment and foster a sense of connectivity between faculty and students. Students focus on faculty expectations and associated boundaries. Transparency by faculty along the lines of syllabi, rubrics, and expectations are critical. Expectations should be rigorous, yet realistic. Students learn at different paces and have different motivations. They tend to have both academic and non-academic needs. Faculty are challenged to balance cookie-cutter assessments and pedagogy versus modifications that are tailored to needs and environment of students. This where teacher is more of an art as opposed to to a science. The best laid plans can often malfunction from term to term due to variables that are difficult to identify and subsequently adjust. Professional presence and appearance, credibility, rule setting, clear expectations, and appropriate interactions are critical. Instructors should understand that in the classroom they are the face of the organization--especially because faculty have the greatest frequency of contact with students.

The learning environment should be structured, but it should be loose enough to allow for adjustments based on student feedback and need. Classroom Assessment Techniques (CAT's) can help to inform both. Instructional design should consider student typologies, achievement levels (high v. low), and student behavior manifestations on assessments and classroom behaviors. Faculty should consider lesson plans that will motivate students and incorporate their perspectives into the class. In design, faculty should think from the perspective of the student versus their perspective as the expert. Translation--how can I communicate rigorous material in laymen's terms that will facilitate deep understanding. Typical student typologies: high achievers, know it alls, johnny come lately, Zzzzzzz, chatty cathy, willy wonka (always carries food), text messaging accomplished, hygienically-challenged, the playboy, lady gaga (dresses provocatively), the perennial (show up on occasion), quiet, and quiet-confrontational.

Within this dynamic, faculty should maintain professionalism, manage self, diffuse and neutralize, and be respectful. Be aware that students are clients--treat them as such. Students want faculty to drop the book, stop being boring, be human/smile, be expressive, and use board/powerpoint sparingly. Grade papers efficiently and return in a timely fashion. When students are late, decenter self. Recognize motivation may be due to responsibilities or situations beyond their control. When students are withdrawn, recognize that the classroom environment may be intimidating to them.
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Effective classroom management and teaching strategies focus on students' strengths. All students want to succeed--but where they want to succeed varies. Major causes of disruptive behavior include anger, boredom, frustration. confusion/miscommunication, unrealistic expectations, and poor classroom management.

Faculty mindsets are important. They should view each semester as one of renewal, where they flush out the prior term and look forward to the possibilities rather than focus on the failures. Re-establish the goal that all students will learn and be retained. Faculty should view themselves as facilitators rather than teachers. This will shift the focus to learning rather than teaching. View students as allies, gems in the rough, and they are uninformed rather than malicious. In moments of challenge, use the available support structures that exist.

Faculty behavior is important. Be accessible and approachable. Learn the students' names and modify classroom setup to facilitate sharing. Avoid rows; use circles or group-based seating arrangements. Model the behaviors expected from students. Create a sense of community so students feel comfortable sharing. Consider distribution of Gardner's multiple intelligences. (See http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html) Try to structure class meetings with mini-lectures that take up a few moments. Emphasize class discussion and work to include all students. Try to provide personal anecdotes that relate to the lesson.

Faculty can build student self-confidence in various ways. Let them know they will likely earn the grade they are determined to achieve if they do the work (self-fulfilling prophecy). Provide the option for students to resubmit work. Use techniques that can help students visualize success. Preventative strategies include the communication of high, reasonable goals with due dates along with rationales. Commit essential information to writing. Define the consequences for violations.

Faculty can encourage student involvement through controlled shared ownership opportunities of class. For instance, allow students to deliver lessons, create and run instructional games, create assignment scoring rubrics, and create exams based on Bloom's Taxonomy.