T-210L: A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Summer 2010 Syllabus
July 12-16
2-5 PM
Gutman 305
COURSE OVERVIEW:
This course is designed to support teachers in developing a practical, effective and lowstress approach to classroom management. The course focuses on a classroom
management system with four components: classroom structure, limit-setting,
responsibility training and back-up systems. Through course readings, reflective writing,
class discussion and simulations, participants will develop effective classroom
management practices, break current “high cost” and ineffective strategies, and establish
a proactive, positive classroom setting that maximizes time on learning and minimizes
classroom disruptions. This course is intended for students who are preparing for or have
already embarked on careers as classroom teachers at the elementary, middle or high
school level.
CLASS SCHEDULE:
7/12, 7/13, 7/14, 7/15, 7/16
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Professor Scott Seider
seider@bu.edu
(617) 353-3223
Teaching Fellow Liza Hansel
Liza.hansel@gmail.com
BOOKS AND READINGS:
Required Book:
Jones, F. (2007) Tools for teaching: Second Edition. Santa Cruz, CA: Fredric Jones
Associates. (older editions are fine as well)
Additional Readings (to be distributed in class)
Fay, J. and Funk, D. (1995). “Confronting Myths About Discipline.” Love and Logic
Press. Burbank, CA: Love and Logic Press.
Jones, F. (1992) Positive Classroom Discipline. Chapter 16. Santa Cruz, CA: Fred Jones
Inc.
Kohl, H. (1994) “I Won’t Learn From You” in I Won’t Learn from You and Other
Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment. New York: New Press.
Marzano, R. and Pickering, D. Classroom Management that Works. Chapters 1 and 5.
Shakespear, E. (1999) “What I’d Tell A White Gal: What My Black Male Students
Taught Me About Race and Schooling.” In Inside City Schools: Investigating Literacy in
Multicultural Classrooms. S. Freedman and E. Simons (Eds.)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
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Attendance and active class participation (25%)
Development of Classroom Expectations Hand-out (10%)
Limit-setting simulation (15%)
Final paper (50%)
Attendance
We only have 5 course meetings, which amounts to 15 hours of class time. Only a genuine
emergency, highly contagious disease (e.g. H1N1) should prevent you from attending class. If
you experience an emergency or disease, please contact me ASAP to let me know what is going
on. You will also be asked to complete an additional assignment for the course.
FINAL PAPER OPTIONS
OPTION #1:
How have the methods presented in T-210L influenced the way you will approach the
first 2 weeks of the school year (or spring semester)? Please make reference to specific
course themes and readings. What strategies that we have discussed in T-210L are you
quite certain you will use? What strategies do you have concerns or are quite certain you
will not use (and why)? The paper should have two parts:
A. Offer the general philosophy with which you will approach classroom
management.
B. Outline your specific plan for succeeding from Day 1
OPTION #2:
Read “Blaming the Kids” by Alfie Kohn. In this essay, Kohn offers several criticisms of
other classroom management systems. Though he does not specifically reference Fred
Jones, some might read this piece as critical of the system Fred Jones espouses in Tools
for Teaching. Compare and contrast Jones and Kohn’s perspectives on classroom
management and discuss where you fall now in your own classroom management
philosophy.
OPTION #3:
Fred Jones notes it’s the rare class that does not have has at least one “Larry” (male or
female). In this paper, offer a brief description of the “Larry” you have observed this
summer and the types of behavior that are of concern to you as a teacher. Drawing on
strategies and course themes from T-210L, discuss your specific plan for effectively
working with “Larry” to optimize his or her chances of success.
Session 1: Classroom Structure – Part I
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Defining Classroom Management
Introduction to the 4 Components of the Management System
Classroom Structure Part I
o “Arranging the Room, “
o “Working the Crowd”
Session 2: Classroom Structure – Part II
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Classroom Structure Part II
o Rules
o Routines
o Relationships
Reading Assignment Due: Tools for Teaching, Chapters 1, 3, 4, 11, 12
“I Won’t Learn From You” (Kohl)
Session 3: Limit Setting
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Meaning Business
Staying Calm
The Turn
Reading Assignment: Tools for Teaching, Chapters 13
Classroom Management that Works, Chapter 5
Session 4: Limit Setting II
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Beyond the Turn
Low rollers
Medium Rollers
High rollers
Reading Assignment Due: Tools for Teaching, Chapters 15-19
Teaching with Love and Logic
Session 5: Responsibility Training and the Back-Up System
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Introducing and Implementing Responsibility Training
The Back Up System
You Make the Call
Reading Assignment Due:
Tools for Teaching, Chapters 24-25
Positive Classroom Discipline, Chapter 16