classroom management

DIS 1

Chapter 1: Classroom management: Problems and promises

1. What distinction, if any, can be made between instruction and management? Describe what you believe each entails. What overlap do you see?

2. Have you known teachers who failed, gave up early or lived through immense frustration? If so, what seemed to be the major difficulties with which they had to contend?

3. What do you learn from the story of Alexa Smart, a new teacher who is hired to teach a 4/5 multi-age class?

DIS 2

Chapter 2: Laying out the school year

1. How do lessons, Instructional units, and thematic units differ? How are they similar? Why is so much of the elementary curriculum organized into units? Illustrate your conclusions by summarizing what might be done in a short primary grade unit on dinosaurs, first as a traditional unit and then as a thematic unit?

2. Discuss the statement: one reason for planning a yearly calendar is to provide for continuity of instruction.

3. Today, most schools provide teachers a tightly organized daily schedule and expect teachers to follow it.

4. Explain thematic units of instruction

DIS 3

Chapter 3: Managing the physical environment

1. Discuss the claim: the main purpose of management of the physical environment of the classroom is to keep aisles clear for movement.

2. Beautifying the classroom is an important end in itself, regardless of whether or not educational value is present.

3. Internet searches are to be discouraged for older students because they need to learn to use appropriate reference books.

4. Discuss the type of seating arrangement that best meets the needs of most teachers today.