Classroom Management

During my field experience I've encountered many different approaches to classroom management. I think that most problems associated with classroom management can be attributed to the way teachers enforce rules within their classroom. If you do not follow through on rules, set limits, expectations, and hold students accountable for their work, then you will have an unorganized classroom. I believe that when students are set in an environment that is conducted in such a way, it is difficult for students to complete assignments.
I think that some problems that may be associated to classroom management in addition to the teacher's role within the classroom is what may be happening within the student's personal and social lives both inside and outside of school. When students are of the school age, schoolwork often times becomes second hand to other issues in their lives. When their friends and/or enemies may be in the classroom this may pose as a distraction from assignments and tasks at hand. As teachers we need to make sure that we are tuned into what is happening within the school environment. Also, this is one very important reason to get to know your students. We will be able to better control our classrooms if we have a better understanding of what issues are arising with our students.
Some strategies that I have observed to be successful within the classroom are holding your students accountable for assignments and to keep them motivated. If I knew that my peers would be walking around to look at my project half way through, I would want to make sure that it was well done and progressing, also, if I knew that I would have to present my work in a critique, I would want it to be completed to the best of my abilities. This can also be achieved by sitting down and talking to the student about why they are interested in certain projects, by creating assignments that relate to students lives, and by setting classroom rules that relate to students progress on assignments. For example, my high school art teacher used to require that we work on our projects in a mostly talk free environment. We could talk quietly amongst our neighbors while we were working, but could not be up roaming around unless it was to get new materials. She allowed us to listen to music as we worked, and this kept us focused on our work. We understood this to be a privilege so we obeyed her rules and didn't tempt her to have to take the music away.