retirement, Dr. Grossman taught courses in classroom manage- ment in the education and special education departments at San Jose State University, San Jose, California. He also directed the bilingual/ cross-cultural special education program at the same institution. ntroduction “The population of the United States is rapidly becoming less EuroAmer- ican. Currently, non-EuroAmericans are in the majority in the twenty-five largest school ts in the United States. The three fastest growing groups are Hispanics, African Americans, and Southeast Asians. As a result, fewer students will fic the stereotype of EuroAmerican middle-class students and fewer students will respond positively to and profit from classroom manage- ment techniques that have been designed with EuroAmerican middle-class students in mind. Culturally Inappropriate Classroom Management Many classroom management techniques that work with EuroAmerican middle-class students ate less effective and often ineffective with students who have been brought up by adults who have used different management techniques with them. To avoid the problems created by using culturally 236 Classroom Management. inappropriate management approaches, teachers require cultural sensitivity, cultural literacy and, in some cases, attitudinal/behavioral change. To be culturally literate is to have a detailed knowledge of the cultural characteristics of specific ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Being sensitive to cultural differences in general is not sufficient. In order to adapr their man- agement techniques to the specific cultural characteristics of their students, educators also need to have an in-depth knowledge of the specific cultures that are represented in their classes, This knowledge is not merely about holidays,food, dances, music, and so forth. It includes values, behavioral norms, ac- ceptable and effective reinforcements, patterns of interpersonal relationships, and so on. The following area few of the many characteristics that educators ced to consider when choosing which management techniques to use with students from different ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds. + Whether they work and learn better individually or in groups + Whether they think their individual desires and goals are most important or that they should usually submit to the will and welfare of the group + Whether they function better under cooperative or competitive situations + Whether they a + Whether they respond better to impersonal rewards like toys, candy, time-off, or personal rewards such as praise, smiles, and pats on the back ferent or responsive to praise and criticism from others + Whether they prefer formal or informal relationships with adults Cultural literacy can help educators avoid many types of classroom manage- ment problems. Uninformed teachers may misunderstand students’ behavior and try to salve problems that do not exist. For example, they may think that students brought up to not be assertive ot to volunteer their opinions unless encouraged to do so by adults are insecure or lacking in self-confidence and try to remediate their “problems.” They may also fail to notice problems that do exist. Teachers who are not tuned in to the nonverbal ways students from different cultures communicate may miss a request for help ora signal of distress from students who commu cate their needs in subtle and indirect ways. And they may use culturally inef- fective techniques to deal with problems. This can occur if they use individual rewards to motivate a student who identifies with the group and is uncom- fortable with individualistic approaches. It can also happen when the use of public reprimands, writing student’s names on the board, and so on, backfire because they cause students greater loss of face than they are able to tolerate. Teachers who do not agree that they need to be culturally literate when working with a group of ethnically and sociocconomically diverse students will have to change their attitudes about how to deal with the diversity among238 Classroom Management resenting an effective lesson goes a long way toward thwarting potential SRE problems In order to “do a Madeline Hunter lesson,” teachers have to include a number of specific steps that enable them to make deliberate and appropriate decisions based upon the best psychological research available. Thus, a teacher is cast in the role of a profesional decision maker—one who makes decisions by turning to a recognized body of pedagogical knowledge. Included in a Hunter lesson are, among other steps, ‘+ establishing an anticipatory set + defending why the objective(s) is important + teaching the lesson’s main concepts + checking students’ understanding + providing guided and independent practice For successful teachers, a Hunter-type lesson offers little that is new or unique. These teachers have been doing these steps intuitively. Bur, intuition, alone, is insufficient as a widespread basis for professional decision makers. Instead, Hunter helps teachers see the psychological basis, the pedagogical logic, and the educational justification behind each of her recommended steps. Thus, teachers become and, more important, feel confident in what they are doing and ready and able to explain why they are doing what they are doing. Further, the steps in a Hunter-type lesson provide the basis for successful mentoring or coaching of new and/or less experienced teachers by administrators, supervisors, and more experienced colleagues. “The very structure recommended by Hunter that so many teachers have come to depend upon, on occasion, has come under challenge. Some edu- cators see a Hunter-type approach as too rigid, too mechanical, and, often, too mandated. Hunter responds by defending what she calls a “professional researched-based” approach to teaching rather than the more common “trial and error” approach practiced by too many teachers. Further, she claims that there really is no such thing as a Hunter-type lesson, adding that even wid the steps dictated there is a good bit of teacher flexibility. Although Hunter's recommendation that teachers apply sound psycholog- ical principles of learning when creating lessons helps, in itself, to prevent behavior problems, other Hunter ideas more directly address the subject of discpling For instance, in an article titled “Do your words get them to think?” (1985), Hunter and coauthor Bailis identify a number of classroom situations where the way a teacher responds can contribute to student think stoppers ot think starters.Other Noted Authors 239 Think toppers are diect commands issued by the teacher. They place all of the responsibility upon the teacher's shoulders for eliciting a specific (ie., the teacher’) response from the student. Think steppers are a form of where little or no potential for the development of student self-control exists. Usually it results in a teacher-scudent test of wills. Think starters, on the other hand, “not only encourage a student to think: but indicate that you expect him to think and make decisions” (Bailis & Hunter, p. 43). As an example, the authors offer the classroom situation where one student is making disruptive noises while another student is trying to speak. A think stopper teacher response might be “Be quiet!” A think starter teacher response might be “Peggy, find a place where you can do a good job of listening. Thanks.” To learn more about Madeline Hunter’ ideas, read Hunter, M. (1994). Mastery Teaching, Bailis, P., and Hunter, M. (1985). “Do your words get them to think?” and Brande, R. (1985). “On teaching and supervising: A conversation with Madeline Hunter.” SPENCER KAGAN: WIN-WIN MANAGEMENT Spencer Kagan, Ph.D.., is a former clinical psychologist and professor of