Elementary Classroom Management: Lessons from Research and Practice

Written in a lively, engaging, conversational style that teacher education students appreciate, Elementary Classroom Management combines what research has to say about effective classroom management with knowledge culled from practice. The text is scholarly and research-based, yet realistic and practical. The text shows how four masterful teachers (grades 1, 3, 4 and 5/6) in very different school settings create classrooms that are orderly and productive, yet humane and caring. By integrating into discussions of research-based management principles, both the thinking and the actual management practices of four real elementary teachers, readers come to "know" these teachers and their classrooms. We hear about the classes they teach and about the physical constraints of their rooms, hear them reflect on their rules and routines, and watch as they teach those rules and routines to students. We listen as they talk about motivating students and building community and as they discuss appropriate ways to deal with misbehavior. Well-organized and more comprehensive than many classroom management texts, Elementary Classroom Management includes chapters on building safer, more caring classrooms; working with families; using time effectively; motivation; working with troubled students and students with special needs; and violence prevention. It also addresses the managerial challenges involved in a variety of instructional formats, such as seatwork, recitations and discussions, and groupwork. The third edition features updated and expanded coverage. The revision stresses the need to build caring, supportive relationships with and among students. It responds to current concerns about students' alienation, isolation, apathy, and lack of motivation so that prospective and beginning teachers see that classroom management is not simply about rules, rewards, and consequences, but also about building connections with students and creating safer, more caring classrooms.