[whiteturtle]

In a primary classroom, what does good classroom management look like to you? What does bad classroom management look like? What things are important to you?

[KatieViolet]

To me, good classroom management looks like a class that can almost run itself when a teacher is absent (in terms of knowing where things are, knowing routines and sticking to them, and generally being well behaved).

Bad management is disorderly chaos. Teacher yelling, kids not listening, transitions take forever, etc.

[MissESL]

Procedure and routine are very important to me: I think that if you have those in place for everything, kids know what you expect from them and vice versa. Most issues can be taken care of by referring back to “what do we do when ___?” statements.
I agree that classes can basically run themselves in your absence if these are known and second nature to your students.

[Fenwick]

Good = Proactive

A philosophy that says “What can I do to prevent (behavior) from happening in the first place?”

Bad = Reactive

A philosophy that says “What should happen to (Name) for doing (behavior)?”

Important = Engagement Rate

The number of allocated minutes students are engaged in teacher directed activities i.e., time on task. This includes procedures like entering and exiting room, transitions, passing and collecting materials, moving to and from groups … in short the 20 or so procedures a teacher wants done the first time asked and without dawdling. Engagement Rate during a lesson means the number of minutes each student is involved or “doing” as opposed to talking, out of seat, staring out the window etc.

[Sbkangas5]

Bad management is disorderly chaos.

And in contrast, good management is orderly chaos. There are many, many times that a person could walk through my room and think it's chaos, when it's actually 5 year olds excitedly engaging with what we are doing.

I would also add that good management involves a feeling of respect within the classroom, both in how the teacher speaks to and treats the students and vice versa.

I am also very big on procedures and routines (but with flexibility and the ability to go with the flow when needed). My class knows exactly what to do for each transition, some lessons, etc. They may not always do it, but they absolutely know what they SHOULD be doing.

[whiteturtle]

Thanks for the replies. I think I've just met the first "red flag" person at my new school. He's a 4th year teacher who refers to himself in the third person. He's a coworker, not a superior, who mentioned "classroom management" to me in a sideways comment because he saw an autistic child get out of his seat to ask me a question. He informed me that this child has never done this while at "his school." Hmmmmm..... I don't think I like this guy already. I'm thinking he might have a few narcissistic traits. He refers to some of the women teachers as his "work wives" and they seem to eat it up. I wonder what his actual wife would think of this? (Can you tell I don't like it when men act like this?) Maybe we'll get along better if I start to giggle when he walks into my classroom.

[GraceKrispy]

Honestly, good classroom management is whatever it needs to look like for kids to learn and for the teacher to be effective. Different people need different environments to be effective. I went into teaching imagining I would be one type of teacher but the reality was that I was a different type of teacher. Good classroom management meant I needed to establish a different setting than I thought I would.

[GreyhoundGirl]

I love GraceKrispy’s comment. What works for one person won’t work for everyone.

And don’t even get me started on relationship building. That’s a hot button issue for me. Know it all admin who think everyone needs to go about building relationships the same way and some out of a box program is the magic answer.

[ElizabethJoy]

I think it looks like;

Kids who know their teacher cares about them
Kids who know what is expected of them
Well organised routines and procedures
Consistent, logical consequences
A calm teacher

It definitely doesn't look like perfection though Kids make mistakes, chaos happens, learning is often noisy and sometimes quite messy.

Kids will behave badly at times- good classroom management does not mean zero bad behaviour, it just means that bad behaviour is responded to appropriately when it happens.

[amherstteach]

As an aside, the teachers I work with always refer to their "work wives" and "work husbands." Heck, my boyfriend who isn't even a teacher has a work wife. I never thought of it as something bad. I mean, I spend more time with my work wives and husbands than I do my own family.

[whiteturtle]

I suppose it's the way he says it. I've heard people do that before and it didn't bother me. This guy has a pretty obvious big ego and the way he acts is flirty and icky.