Classroom Management
William McRae
Professor McCaulghy
English II
May 7, 2008
Classroom Management: Is It Really That Important?
Dr. Harry Wong is a world renowned educator and also the author of The First Days of School, a book designated to aide teachers in the very strenuous first days of school. His philosophies on teaching and also classroom management have revolutionized the entire teaching curriculum, thus allowing for not only teachers to better themselves, but as well as the students that they interact with. Wong has been citing numerous studies on education to support his contention that teachers – not instructional fads or programs – are the keys to student achievement in the middle and high school level. Good teachers who posses strong classroom management skills, design lessons that help students achieve mastery of the content, and have positive expectations of student achievement are the essential ingredients to the success of both the teacher and the students in the classroom. I firmly agree with his theory from his book that “The number one problem in the classroom is not discipline; it is the lack of procedures and routines for the students to follow”.
Effective schoolwork includes discipline. Which disciplinary approach, however, is the most effective in a democratic society, and are schools practicing it? The basic finding of the study is that disciplinary techniques with a higher degree of teacher control and low student autonomy predominate. That kind of discipline is not in accordance with democratic principles. In the future, special attention must be given to reshaping disciplinary practice to become more democratic.
The purpose of this paper is to present an argument to other educators that the reason why teachers are having disciplinary problems in the classroom is the result of a lack of proper classroom procedures delegated to the students. The intended audience for the paper will, as stated...
Please login to view the full essay...