Teach a Book: Classroom Management for

Middle and High School Teachers

Edmund T. Emmer
Carolyn M. Evertson
 Chapter 1:
Organizing Your Classroom and Materials

• Room arrangement:
‣ Consistent with instructional goals and activities
- Teacher-led vs small groups
- Mix of both?

‣ High-traffic areas free of congestion

‣ Students easily seen by teacher
‣ Frequently used materials/supplies easily accessible
‣ Students easily see board
 Chapter 1:
Organizing Your Classroom and Materials

• Suggestions for arranging your classroom:

‣ Bulletin boards/walls
- Daily assignments on decorative display (colored paper or borders)
- 9th grade and below post rules of classroom
- Reward “class of the month”

‣ Floor space - starting point: where is whole-class instruction?

‣ Student desks - avoid students w/backs to instructional area
‣ Teacher’s desk and other equipment
‣ Storage space and supplies
 Chapter 1:
Organizing Your Classroom and Materials

• If you have to float:

‣ Familiarize yourself with the room
‣ Try to arrange a projector for daily use
- Prepare transparencies for lessons/hw assignments, and notices

‣ A regular space on the board for assignments

‣ Storage space for materials that cannot be carried with you everyday
‣ Try to get a cart
‣ Assign early arriving students the task of preparing the room
- Erase boards, set up projector, arrange chairs
 Chapter 2:
Choosing Rules and Procedures
• Why rules and procedures are needed
‣ Rules identify general expectations or standards - best when positively stated
(You may talk when given permission)
‣ Procedures communicate expectations for behavior - apply to a specific activity

• Planning classroom rules and procedures

(consequences?)
‣ Identify school rules and procedures
‣ Around 5 sufficient to cover most behavior (student participation?)
- Bring all needed materials to class
- Be in your seat and ready to work when the bell rings
- Respect and be polite to all people
- Respect other people’s property
- Obey all school rules
 Chapter 2:
Choosing Rules and Procedures
• General Procedures
‣ Beginning of period
- Attendance: use seating chart, keep track of missing work
- Absences: write name and date on handouts and keep in absentee folder; daily
assignments on calendar; student volunteers to assist returning students
- Tardy students: be consistent; sign in sheet
- Expected behavior: Warm up questions at beginning of period, copy outline of class
activities
- Leaving the room: emergencies only; keeping a record; reduced credit for work not
brought to class

‣ Use of materials and equipment: teachers and student materials

‣ End of period: clean up of materials and reminders of upcoming work
 Chapter 2:
Choosing Rules and Procedures

• Procedures during seatwork and instruction

‣ Student attention during presentations: respect and note-taking
‣ Participation: raise hands, student call?
‣ Seatwork
- Talk among students (no student talk vs quiet talk)
- Raised hands for help
- Out-of-seat procedures: sharpen pencil, get paper; one-at-a-time
- When work is completed (enrichment activities folder, work on hw)
 Chapter 2:
Choosing Rules and Procedures

• Procedures for group work

‣ Distribution of material stations/helpers
‣ Assigning students to groups: well-balanced, separate clashing personalities, save
time, efficient
‣ Outline goals and participation roles (recorder, reader, etc.)
‣ Cooperative learning
• Miscellaneous
‣ Signals: obtain student attention, transitions (turn off lights, bell)
‣ Announcements, special equipment, fire drills, and split lunch periods (what to do
with work and personal belongings)
 Chapter 3:
Managing Student Work
• Your grading system and record keeping
‣ Achievement, effort, hw, improvement, participation, and percentages
‣ Accurate assessment: frequent evaluation
‣ Record all student info in grade book rather than separate lists

• Feedback and monitoring procedures

‣ Students check own work (different ink and model how to check)
‣ Students keep own record of grades
‣ Long-term/group projects: divide into smaller goals and deadlines
‣ Peer review (must teach)
‣ Guided beginning for group seatwork then work the room
‣ Long-range monitoring - keep track of missing assignments
 Chapter 3:
Managing Student Work

• Communicating assignments and work requirements

‣ Instructions for assignments
- Oral explanation of requirements/rubric as well as visual aid on board
- Routine of copying down assignment

‣ Standards for form, neatness, and due dates

‣ Procedures for absent students
- Post weekly assignments or keep absentee folder
- Length for make-up
- Place for late work turn in and graded pick up
- Missed group work - assist groups in inclusion of absent members
 Chapter 4:
Getting Off to a Good Start
• Perspectives on the beginning of the year
‣ Resolve student uncertainties: expectations, procedures, and rules - opportunity
for students to learn appropriate behavior
‣ Plan uncomplicated lessons to ensure student success
‣ Keep whole-class focus (group work should maintain this); prepare extra credit
or enrichment assignments; later introduce complex activities
‣ Be available, visible, and in charge: work the room; praise, prompt, leave
‣ Teacher authority: rights to set standards for behavior and performance
- Traditional, bureaucratic, expert/professional, charismatic
- Most teachers derive authority from several sources
- Authoritarian (control through threats and punishment) vs authoritative (provide basis
for actions/discipline, give students independence for maturity, and administer
consequences fairly and proportionately)
 Chapter 4:
Getting Off to a Good Start
• Planning for a good beginning
‣ Checking books out to students (wait until lockers have been assigned): record
book numbers, name stamp, cover
‣ Paperwork (hall pass, emergency forms, etc): all forms on hand and separated
in folders
‣ Rosters organized by period, noting accommodations for seating/medication,
3x5: name, book #, attendance, grades until class stabilized - useful for calling
on students
‣ Seating assignments: learn names/attendance faster, class management
‣ First-week bell schedule, tardiness leniency for first few days, administrative
tasks, rules
‣ Course requirements: tests, quizzes, hw contributions - parents sign?
‣ Beginning routine and alternative activities (wkst, puzzles, logic problems)
 Chapter 4:
Getting Off to a Good Start
• The first day of class
‣ Stand near door (sign w/name outside), make eye contact and smile, correct
any students that enter with unacceptable behavior, and make sure students are
in the correct room
‣ Administrative tasks (forms on hand), check attendance by raised hands (not
call-outs), teacher/student/course introductions
‣ Discussion of class rules and rationale/penalties, emphasizing benefits to all,
and presentation of course requirements
‣ Interesting initial content activity: should require little or no assistance, which
allows time for teaching procedures
- Explain what students are expected to do, list steps on board if complex, demonstrate
when possible, give corrective feedback

‣ Avoid pre-tests, small groups, projects, and individualized instruction

‣ Establish end-of-period routine
 Chapter 4:
Getting Off to a Good Start
• The second day of classes
‣ If 1st day was short, review class procedures and follow 1st day plan
‣ Identify new students and get them seated, re-state beginning-of-class
routine, review major rules and procedures
‣ Present content activity
‣ Close period with procedure introduced on day 1

• After the second day

‣ Continue using procedures, adding new ones as needed
‣ Monitor student behavior and give students feedback when their behavior
does not meet expectations
‣ Should start giving regular assignments for in-class and at home and check
work promptly using grading procedures
 Chapter 5:
Planning and Conducting Instruction
• Planning classroom activities: types
‣ Openers to transition into the classroom (Do Now’s) and Closers
‣ Checking work: must teach appropriate procedures (different ink color)
‣ Recitation: oral check of student understanding, distribute questions to all members of class,
watch for too slow or too rapid pacing
‣ Content development: intro/extension of material, concepts, or skills; teacher
questions/collect work for understanding
‣ Discussion: encourage evaluation, awareness of other points of view, sharing of opinions;
requires planning prompting questions and management of activity
‣ Seatwork on previously presented material, start as class then independent work
‣ Test administration (plan work for early finishers)
‣ Student presentations and demos - give guidelines in advance, audience behavior
‣ Small-group work: lab work, promote greater comprehension, cooperative learning,
reciprocal teaching
‣ Tests and presentations/demonstrations
 Chapter 5:
Planning and Conducting Instruction
• Organizing activities - depends on number of different
topics covered in class; focus on see-say-do
• Kounin: managing group instruction - activity flow
‣ Preventing misbehavior
- withitness and overlapping

‣ Managing lesson movement

- momentum (pacing) and smoothness (continuity; ex. dangle, thrust)

‣ Maintaining group focus

- group alerting (tell students they might be called on next)
- encouraging accountability (performance observed and evaluated)
- higher participation formats: write answers, read along during instruction
 Chapter 5:
Planning and Conducting Instruction
• Transition management (see problems/solutions)
• Instructional management
‣ Planning
‣ anticipate problems (new terms and examples, demos)
‣ do homework to find difficulties - build hints in lesson
‣ infuse enthusiasm into lesson

‣ Presenting new content clearly: Learning objectives at beginning and provide

an outline for a complex lesson or video
‣ Checking for understanding: formative and summative assessments
- ask review questions
- discuss and solve problems as a group; recitation
- indicators (multiple choice question, “hands” to indicate response
 Chapter 6:
Managing Cooperative Learning Groups
• Research on cooperative learning
- Equal or greater learning than individualistic or competitive teaching methods
with effective cooperative groups due to increased engagement with content;
NEED feedback/instruction on how to collaborate
• Strategies and routines that support cooperative
learning
- Room arrangement - line up desks to marks on floor for quick transitions
- Talk and movement procedures: 6-inch voices, materials manager, state timed
movement expectation w/verbal reminders
- Group attention signals: MS raised hands, HS turn on projector and ask for
eyes at the front; avoid interruptions/present info ahead of time
- Promoting interdependence within groups: individual tasks (vary skills,
research different topic for report), group grades
- Individual accountability - id contributions, peer evaluation, individual
notebooks graded at various times, individual responsibility to explain
 Chapter 6:
Managing Cooperative Learning Groups
• Monitoring student work and behavior
‣ Work the room w/clipboard to write notes about all students about satisfactory
group functioning - note degree of explanation/demonstration and use for
feedback
‣ group and individual performance -self-monitor to identify difficulties

• Interventions
‣ Non/verbal redirect, time out/work alone, conference w/individual students,
conference w/entire group

• Effective group work skills:

‣ Social skills: teach active listening/sharing/support before group work
‣ Explaining skills: Rotate summarizer role, explain something to partner and
explain back, work as group to answer a question and present to class
‣ Leadership skills: assign presenter/discussion leader roles to build skills
 Chapter 6:
Managing Cooperative Learning Groups

• Beginning the use of cooperative learning groups

‣ Room arrangement, procedures, and routines
‣ Forming groups: star with pairs, working up to larger groups that have a range of
achievement levels, match extremes w/middle to motivate lower achiever
‣ Initial group tasks to build skills: turn to your partner and explain/compare
answers, drill partner, reading buddy, checking, reviewers
‣ Teaching group skills: listening, explaining, asking for help, encouraging, and
sharing - introduce one/week and give feedback; assign and rotate roles (keep on
index cards w/behaviors) so everyone gains experience
‣ Using group and individual rewards to practice/improve skills - tickets for good
behavior for toy raffle/points for fun activities
 Chapter 7:
Maintaining Appropriate Student Behavior
• Monitoring student behavior
‣ Student involvement in learning activities: “active eyes,” work the room and
don’t spend more than 1-2 min/student, start whole-group activity
‣ Student compliance with classroom rules and procedures: clear expectations
that have been communicated to the class

• Consistency
‣ Inconsistency from unreasonable/inappropriate rules, no detection of
inappropriate behavior, not willing to enforce every time
‣ What to do if you are inconsistent
- Re-teach procedure (discuss problem) and enforce it
- Modify and reintroduce it
- Or, abandon it and substitute another in its place
 Chapter 7:
Maintaining Appropriate Student Behavior

• Prompt management of inappropriate behavior

‣ Eye contact/move closer and prompt appropriate behavior
‣ Reminder of procedure by stating correct one or note students who are
doing what is expected
‣ Redirect attention to task and monitor shortly thereafter
‣ Ask/tell student to stop inappropriate behavior
‣ Make it private: call to desk, whisper, nonverbal cues
‣ Briefly talk to student/assess penalties
‣ Time out at desk or another room
 Chapter 7:
Maintaining Appropriate Student Behavior
• Building a positive climate
‣ Communicate positive expectations to students: convey confidence in
students’ ability to do well, can do attitude, maintain high expectations
‣ Appropriate teacher praise (public vs private): both informative feedback
and genuine teacher approval that focuses on accomplishment, not effort

• Improving class climate through incentives or

rewards
‣ Grades (tie as many facets of work as possible) and recognition (display
work, certificate, verbal, stickers, improvement/conduct)
‣ Activities (PAT) and material incentives (food, games, books): relate to
behaviors most important to you (attendance, hw), everyone can achieve it
‣ Caution of effect of rewards: enhance or hurt? - imperfect conditions
 Chapter 8:
Communication Skills for Teaching

• Constructive assertiveness
‣ Clear statement of problem or concern and describing effects - reduces student
defensiveness, avoids labeling students/behavior, use statements
‣ Unambiguous body language: eye contact, posture, facial expression matches
tone of statements
‣ Obtaining appropriate behavior and resolving the problem: student needs to
accept responsibility for behavior, dramatic emphasis for evasive students

• Empathic responding
‣ Keeps lines of communication open between you and the student and aids
problem solving process
‣ Two components: listening skills and processing skills
 Chapter 8:
Communication Skills for Teaching
• Problem solving
‣ Identify the problem: state purpose of meeting, get students point of
view/describe problem, ask students reaction; evaluate: help/hurt?
‣ Identify and select the solution: student suggestion, multiple teacher
alternatives; positive focus with plan for improvement
‣ Obtain a commitment: student acceptance for period of time followed by
evaluation (sometimes in a contract) with consequences if not followed

• Talking with parents

‣ Constructive assertiveness, empathetic responding, problem solving
‣ Express appreciation for parents’ efforts to meet,work w/them as a team
‣ Focus on choices student is making and how to encourage better decisions
‣ Document concerns: student work and notes of behaviors
 Chapter 9:
Managing Problem Behaviors
• What is problem behavior?
‣ Nonproblem: brief inattention, transition talk
‣ Minor problem: students calling out, leaving seats, talk during group work
‣ Major problem, but limited in scope/effects: chronically off-task, failure to
pass in hw assignments, vandalism, cheating
‣ Escalating or spreading problem: unabated social talking, back talk

• Goals for managing problem behavior

‣ Judge short-term (bad behaviors cease) and long-term effects (prevention) of
any management strategy chosen
‣ Optimal: Maintain/restore order w/out adversely affecting learning
environment; should prevent repetition of problem
 Chapter 9:
Managing Problem Behaviors
• Management strategies
‣ Minor interventions
- Nonverbal cues: finger to lips, head shake, hand signal, light touch to arm
- Get activity moving: quick transitions, all materials ready
- Proximity: zones of proximity, combine w/nonverbal cues
- Group focus: group alerting, accountability, higher participation format
- Redirect behavior: state what should be done, “everybody should be writing answers to
the practice problems”
- Provide needed instruction: check student work, whole-class instruction
- Brief desist: direct eye contact and assertiveness, combine w/redirection
- Give student a choice: behave appropriately or continue behavior w/consequence,
“choose to clean up now or say after class until area is clean”
- I-message: “it’s distracting to me and the class when you get out of your seat,” learn
awareness of effects of behavior on others
 Chapter 9:
Managing Problem Behaviors
• Management strategies
‣ Moderate interventions
- Withhold privilege and earn back w/appropriate behavior (sit near friends, work together
on project)
- Isolate/remove problem students: desk at back of room, time out, switch if rewarding to
student, time out or walk to principal’s office, labels student as excludable
- Fine or penalty: extra work, but defined as punishment - quick to administer, but content
negatively affected, non-content (look up and copy 10 definitions)
- Detention best for behaviors that involve time (tardiness, time-wasting behavior) or
repeated rule violations; adv: disliked, administered away from classroom; disadv: takes
teacher time, student skipping, additional records
- Referral to office for fighting, vandalism, rudeness and disrespect; adv: effective limit,
short-circuit escalating situation; disadv: depends on others for effectiveness, potential for
discrimination; use sparingly
 Chapter 9:
Managing Problem Behaviors
• Management strategies
‣ More extensive interventions
- Design individual contract with student - problem solving
- Conference w/parent: describe situation and appreciate support that parent gives to help
understand and resolve problem, have grade book handy - require time and energy
- Check (name on board)/demerit (record that student signs to accept responsibility)
system; adv: set/maintain limits, consequences are clear; disadv: catch bad behaviors,
hard to detect behaviors
- Problem solving
- “Think time” strategy - remove student to another teacher’s classroom, debriefing form:
what was behavior? what behavior do you need to display upon return?
- Reality therapy: establish caring relationship, focus on behavior, accept responsibility,
evaluate behavior, make plan, commitment to follow plan, following up
- Peer mediation: students trained to listen/clarify issues, help negotiate, write solution
 Chapter 9:
Managing Problem Behaviors
• Special problems
‣ Chronic avoidance of work: good records a must
- Ability: break assignment into parts/modify assignment
- Parent phone call, reach out to coaches, no grade leniency
‣ Fighting: injury if intervene? disperse crowd, get help
‣ Other aggressive behavior: all behavior, even if playful, is unacceptable;
respect others; one warning; separate students; conference w/student
‣ Bullying: bullying prevention programs, monitor student behavior, talk with
class about behavior and effects, bully and victim problem solving, involve
school counselor, incorporate social skills training in class
‣ Disrespect/hostility towards teacher: don’t go brainstem
- Best to defuse: keep it private and individual conference with student
- Depersonalize: “This is taking time away from class. I will discuss it with you in a few
minutes when I have time.”
 Chapter 10:
Managing Special Groups
• Teaching heterogeneous classes
‣ Assessing entering achievement: previous tests, pre-tests, monitor initial
classwork (class notes, summary from book)
‣ Modifying whole group instruction: participation (pacing), procedures for
managing student work, thoughtful seating arrangement, assignments: EC and
enrichment, peer tutoring (expectations and management skills)
‣ Cooperative work groups
‣ Small (homogeneous) group instruction: location of group/seating,
materials/storage/accessibility, student movement/transitions, out-of-group
procedures and expectations
‣ Mastery learning: re-take tests until proficient by providing increased feedback
- Labor intensive: managerial skills, alt. forms of tests, extra grading, scheduling,
enrichment activities, recordkeeping
- Develop/introduce incrementally, due dates, specified days for test re-takes
 Chapter 10:
Managing Special Groups
• Teaching remedial classes
‣ Learner characteristics: high absence/tardies, arbitrary grades, frequent failure,
poor study skills, low attention span
‣ Establishing your management system: continually reinforce procedures and
routines, question class, practice, feedback
‣ Monitoring behavior and prompt responses
‣ Managing student work of daily/weekly grades for frequent feedback, grade
for effort/performance, incorporate participation (involvement, learning,
attendance)
‣ Planning and presenting instruction
- Short activity segments w/frequent assessment of understanding (see, say, do)
- Extra attention to presenting directions and instruction clearly
- Build teaching of study skills in lesson (note taking, identifying main ideas)
 Chapter 10:
Managing Special Groups
• Students with special needs
‣ Content mastery classroom: provide extra help, extra time for tests, staffed w/special
education teachers who can provide suggestions for adapting teaching/management
‣ Inclusion - special education students in general education classrooms: IEPs, regular planned
meetings for progress and support, assignment modifications
‣ Emotional/behavioral problems
- communication with all, overlook minor inappropriate behavior, reinforce acceptable
behavior, identify/reduce/prevent stressors, temporary lowered expectation on bad days,
offer structured choices, allow leaving classroom
- remember you are convenient target, but not cause of anger
‣ Serious social deficits (ASD)
- odd social skills with poor communication skills, extreme anxiety to change/unmet
expectations, acute sensitivity to sounds, poor motor skills, stereotyped movement
- use visual prompts, brief instructions (write down), social stories, strengths and interests
in teaching to provide ways to develop talents, social feedback
 Chapter 10:
Managing Special Groups
• Students with special needs
‣ ADHD:
- distractible, impulsive, disorganized
- predictability and structure, ask others what works best for them, make sure you have
their attention when giving clear/brief instructions, observe as they work,
remind/reinforce effort and accuracy over speed, finger card/marker for reading
‣ Deaf/hard-of-hearing: auditory devices, center of room seat, projector not chalkboard,
repeat/rephrase info, restate responses, close monitoring, note takers
‣ Bind/visually-impaired: board work - read aloud, tape recorders, hands-on work, change in
activity to prevent tiring, seat w/back to window, move as needed
‣ Extreme poverty: increased communication and relationship building, presentation of non-
weak image/insolence, extra materials/supplies, bracket anxieties, peer buddy, provide
underlying assumptions for behavior, + self-talk, help another student
‣ Limited English proficiency: understanding of English, learn key words in native lanuage,
body language/gestures, visual aids, long receptive period before confident in classroom,
consult counselor if language barrier prevents benefit from instruction