Classroom Management

Classroom Management

by Lisa Rodriguez, Ph.D.

Elements of classroom management vary. In researching this topic, it is clear that a common understanding for the term management might be useful. For this purpose, management refers to issues of supervision, refereeing, facilitating, and even academic discipline. Not all student behaviors require intervention or confrontation while some are serious enough in nature to warrant formal disciplinary action. Rest assured that while there are current studies in higher education literature that suggest a growing trend of rudeness and even overt animosity towards faculty by students, the vast majority of classroom experiences are not dramatic.

Since many professors teach for years without encountering some of the management instances we discuss here, our intent is to move beyond identification of classroom problems to suggest preventative strategies and practical solutions. For some faculty, teaching comes quite naturally and the notion of management in the classroom is irrelevant. But situations within the classroom do occasionally occur that lead us to seek out advice in order to maintain the learning environment for students not to mention our personal sanity.

Typical classroom management topics are listed in faculty handbooks to reflect pragmatic concerns such as policies on classroom breaks, adds and drops, disruptive and dangerous students, emergency procedures including weapons and drugs in the classroom, location of phones, etc. Keeping essential records is a component of this topic and is addressed in the previous Read section.

A rule of thumb for faculty is to keep current on policies regarding student and faculty interactions as well as the role of your teaching assistants, if you have one. Know your college and state policy on student conduct.

As a new faculty member, I was terrified that I would not know how to handle students who were older than I. I wanted very much to hear "for...