[samarama]

Hi, I am taking a course on classroom management at my college and for one of our assignments we are to ask a teacher several questions about their teaching and perceptions of classroom management. There are a bundle of questions, so if you only have time to answer a few or none, please don’t worry about it I can ask elsewhere. If you can answer them, Woohoo! Either way, thank you so much for your time.

1. What is your school like? Is it large/small? Wealthy/notwealthy? Public/private?

2. What grade/subject do you teach?

3. What particular strategies have you found to be most effective in managing your classroom?

4. What changes have you made in the past three years to improve student learning?

5. How do you think about student performance assessment and evaluation in your school?

6. Have you received an appropriate level of parental support for your students?

7. How do you handle a disruptive student in your class?

8. What do you do to achieve equity in your classroom?

9. What have been major concerns in your school?

Thanks again for your help,
Have a great week

[s_cianci]

1. Small public school. A number of students are on public assistance. The remainder are a mix of lower to middle upper class.

2. 9-12 mathematics

3. "Picking and choosing" my battles wisely. Deciding what few things are most important and sticking to those while being as flexible as possible with everything else.

4. Attending professional development workshops and incorporating those strategies learned into my lessons.

5. Most performance and assessment is done in conformity to the federal "No Child Left Behind" law, via state-mandated tests at the established intervals, with similar tests chosen by the building administration for the in-between times.

6. Generally yes. Although some parents are indifferent or simply ignorant, most are very supportive and want their children to be successful and will assist the teachers any way they can to achieve this goal.

7. Usually by first speaking privately to him/her about his/her behavior and telling him/her that his/her behavior must change. If that doesn't work, then the student is removed from class, generally along with a parental contact and a request for a personal conference and possibly a disciplinary referral as well.

8. By establishing uniform standards while accomdating individual needs as much as possible.

9. High turnover within the administrative staff in recent years and the resulting inconsistencies in the day-to-day operation of the school ; however, this problem is now starting to correct itself.