Classroom Management for Eighth Grade Teachers
Teaching Classroom Essentials from Day One to the End of the Year
Jun 12, 2009
Students at the eighth grade level are experiencing a number of developmental challenges. Among these are social interaction and identification of how the youth fits into the scheme of social structure. Robert W. Roeser in “School as a Context of Early Adolescents' Academic and Social-Emotional Development: A Summary of Research Findings” [The Elementary School Journal, 2000] makes it clear school provides the background for the lives and development of adolescents.
A teacher with a strong drive to provide structure allows students to focus on the acquisition of knowledge and alleviates their need to provide control to their environment. Structure concerns include standing at the front of the class to convey position of power, displaying school rules prominently, displaying classroom rules prominently, and a student board with each of the students names for use in ongoing goals and achievements.
The Difference Between Teaching Interaction and Enforcement Interaction
The teacher has two different roles in the lives of his or her students. First, teachers are the guides to acquiring knowledge within the realms of the curriculum. Secondly, they are the managers of the functioning of the class. Each of these ideas are important and each should be clearly conveyed to students from the beginning of the class.
Introduction to the class should be professional and friendly as the vessel of teaching. The introduction to the class as manager should be firm and direct. The opening and closing of the class should be up to the role of the manager, while the content of the class calls on the role as guide to learning.
Teachers may find it helpful to allocate some part of the responsibility to the students. Students willing participate in activities such as role taking or writing class assignments on the board. These can be great rewards for exceptional behavior or simple boosts to shy or isolated children.
Regulating Student Behavior
There is no one easy answer to how to best arrange or administer an eighth grade class. Developmentally, students are naturally focused on social skill acquisition just as they are on knowledge introduction. The best response is to be as focused on consistency as possible. Seating charts should be decided before the students arrive and should not be subject to alteration except as required by special needs or unacceptable behavior.
Placing students in rows facing the instructor and main presentation surface has been the norm and is still the most used plan. The role is the teacher as presenter and cop.
Huntington College has collected an interesting collection of other seating arrangements as well.
Two Minutes of Chaos Idea
Teachers may want to allow a two-minute rule. A two-minute rule allows the first two minutes of the class to be used for seating, saying hellos, getting out homework, preparing for the exam or whatever the events of the day.
“I write down the objective of the day on the board like ‘Get Ready for Pop Quiz, Chapter 2. One piece of paper and one pen. Everything else put up!’,”says Jeny Kale, a Richardson, Texas, 8th Grade Teacher. "The students then have two minutes to get ready and at the bing of the timer, we proceed. Anyone not ready is asked to sit out of the first thirty minutes of the class in the three time out chairs. If they miss a test, they receive a failing grade. It’s hard to enforce at first, but after a few times, they get the idea.”
From the first day of class to weeks into the session, class management style and authority rest with the teacher. As an instructor, no one knows the students' limits and abilities better. This expertise should be applied in a unique management style that includes established essentials and thinking outside of the box when needed.
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