New Teachers Rarely Learn Classroom Management
By Jay Mathews
Jo Lynn Miller, an award-winning elementary school educator in Salt Lake City, is often asked to
help teachers whose students are low academic achievers. When she observes their classrooms,
she finds that the problem usually has nothing to do with the teacher's materials or lesson plans.
In almost every case, she said, the issue is the teacher's failure to maintain discipline.
"Classroom management is essential to a successful educational environment," Miller said.
There must be "an expectation for the students that as soon as they enter the classroom, learning
begins."
In an era of higher educational standards and increased testing, principals and school
superintendents have focused intently on which courses and curriculum plans will raise
achievement. How to wake a daydreaming boy, calm a fretful girl or stifle outbursts of adolescent
anger are treated as baby-sitting problems, too trivial to spend much time on. Rarely do teacher
training programs look at different approaches to classroom management, and the few experts in
the field are virtually unknown.
Yet every year, educators say, many bright and potentially effective young teachers quit in
despair because they cannot get their classrooms under control. As teacher shortages grow, the
loss of these promising newcomers worries many educators and leads them to wonder whether
more can be done.
"I believe classroom management is more of a challenge today than at any other time in our
history," said Janet Steward, a successful elementary school teacher in Morrisville, Vt., whose
advice is often sought on the issue. Academic standards are more demanding, family problems
are greater and it is "a formidable task for a young teacher entering the profession and looking at
25 to 30 years of maintaining classroom discipline and meeting all students' needs under these
circumstances," she said.
Bob Rodrigues, who teaches social studies at Chartiers Valley High School in Bridgeville, Pa.,
said schools only make it worse with their harsh treatment of novices. "We hire them, give them
the worst schedules with very little meaningful support," he said, "and the culture of a school is
that if you ask for help, you are having trouble," a stigma that can ruin a career that has barely
begun.
Some universities don't require prospective teachers to take a single course in the subject of
keeping children under control. And many states do not require proof of adequate classroom
management skills, even as they raise the required passing scores on teacher licensing exams
that cover subject matter and pedagogy.
Alene Harris, research assistant professor of education at Vanderbilt's Peabody College, said
her education school and most others try to teach classroom management, but the lessons are
difficult for their students to absorb and understand until they have their own classrooms. "So
many of the things they are taught, they do not hear them because they have no contextual
framework for them," Harris said.
Rod Vick, who teaches English at Mukwonago (Wis.) High School, said education schools
assume that management skills will be learned during practice teaching, which typically occurs
during the last semester of college. But the education schools "have little control over the veteran
teacher who is supposed to be doing the mentoring," he said. "I have seen situations where an
education student was dumped into a classroom on day one and told, 'It's all yours.' The veteran
teacher disappeared."
To fill the gap, many school districts are hiring consultants. Michael Grinder, a Battle Ground,
Wash.-based consultant who specializes in nonverbal techniques for class management,
conducts seminars for working teachers on weekends and professional development days.
He said the optimal moment to expose teachers to his methods is after their first year. "They
have to have had the experience of doing things wrong before they can learn how to do them
right," he said.
Experienced teachers say the key to influencing student behavior is not rules or punishments
but a personal bond with each child.
"I have been doing this for 22 years, and I find that a key ingredient in classroom control is
disciplining from a relationship," said Mark Witwer, who teaches science at the Delaware County
Christian School in Newtown Square, Pa. "Kids, like all of us, respond better to correction -- even
ultimatums -- from someone they know and respect."
Larry Aiello, a 23-year-old civics teacher at Irving Middle School in Fairfax County, said, "I try to
deal with kids on a personal level and try to let them know that I am trying to do the best I can for
them." Because he works closely with three other teachers in the school's team system, he can
compare notes on specific students and get a sense of what works with each child, he said.
"Kids crave attention," said Stewart Chang, 24, who is in his first year of teaching math at
Newman Smith High School in Carrollton, Tex. When he was teaching high school math last year
in Louisiana, "one of the wackiest things that happened was when a student wrote his name on a
TV set in permanent marker," Chang said. "Obviously, anonymous mischief was not the goal. It
was more like an attempt to get noticed, even if that meant notoriety."
Gail Ritchie, an award-winning elementary school teacher in Fairfax County, recommends that
young teachers try different management styles until they find the one that suits them. The worst
thing, Ritchie said, is to force a teacher to strap on a management system that doesn't fit. "One of
the teachers I coach has been told what behavior management system she must use," Ritchie
said, "and she does not like the system. I feel this is a recipe for disaster."
A new teacher needs time and training to learn the various approaches that work and to
discover which is the best fit. Experts say this requires better student teaching programs and
more investment in summer courses and seminars to give teachers already in the classroom the
skills they need.
"An educator must be well-organized and planned. The students must be able to trust the
teacher and their peers that the classroom will be a safe place," said Miller, the Salt Lake City
teacher. "It is very difficult to establish the right atmosphere with a group of students if it is not
there from the first day of school."