Proper management means having a procedure in place. These procedures include activities in the classroom. How students should conduct themselves concerning testing, cooperative learning, questions and answers, and various other classroom activities must be addressed. It includes how teachers should handle students who are behaving outside the pre-stated guidelines. In general, it is about knowing how to handle events as they arise before they arise.
Cotton (2001) declares the following list of behaviors that comprise effective classroom management:
- Holding and warmly communicating high expectations for student learning and behavior.
- Establishing, clearly teaching, and posting classroom rules and procedures.
- Specifying consequences and their relation to student behavior
- Enforcing classroom rules promptly, consistently, and equitably.
- Sharing with students the responsibility for classroom management via self-discipline.
- Maintaining a brisk pace for instruction and making smooth transitions between activities.
- Monitoring classroom activities and providing feedback and reinforcement.
Cotton’s research places a considerable amount of emphasis on teachers as it does students. Cotton’s findings are consistent with the role of teachers as leaders. Within leadership is an ability to manage complex situations, making them run efficiently.