When a first-year teacher walks into his or her first classroom, one of the most difficult things to establish has little to do with the curriculum. Instead, most new teachers struggle with how to implement a strong classroom management philosophy. Teachers have difficulty addressing challenging student behaviors. Many different factors contribute to these issues. This website aims to address and discuss the main factors that cause these behavior management issues. Many different approaches, theories, and ideas are available to help create strong classroom management. This website covers popular student behaviors and different ways to approach them. Response to Intervention, Positive Behavior Supports, LSCI, Manifest Determination, and Behavior Intervention Plans are all discussed in detail. Seclusion and restraint techniques in addition to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder techniques are also covered on this website. Theorists also have strong opinions on classroom management that are mentioned on this site as well. All of the material and ideas mentioned have come from Hope College's Classroom and Behavior Management course in addition to online and text resources. Although a variety of ideas and topics on classroom management are discussed, this is only a broad spectrum. However, it does provide a baseline for what needs to be in place to ensure successful classroom management.
About the Author
Sarah Lidgard is a junior at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. She is a Special Education K-12 major with a Mathematics Education K-8 minor. She will be student teaching at Hamilton Elementary in the Fall. Sarah has been a teacher's aide in a variety of schools including Park Elementary of Hudsonville and Waukazoo of West Ottawa. She has had observation and teaching experiences in 7 different classrooms ranging from Kindergarten to seventh grade. She has worked in both general education and special education classrooms. Sarah is currently working in Hudsonville Public School's Early Childhood Program as a teacher's aide.
This site was created for a Behavior and Classroom Management course designed for education majors. Most of the information discussed and shared on this site was taken from this half-semester course. Other sources were found to elaborate on main topics.