Teachers and Administrators Emphasize Classroom Management

Many educators worry that classroom management is becoming more and more difficult as students come to school with more emotional problems and less parental supervision. Developing classroom management skills is one of the greatest challenges for new teachers. Many young teachers who leave education cite classroom management as a top factor in their decision. As a result, teacher training programs and in-school staff development workshops focus more and more on concrete classroom management skills. Education schools are beginning to use experienced teachers as mentors, and some schools are even calling in outside experts to teach classroom management skills to new teachers.

Prof. Gregory Hamilton comments on the different challenges kids today face outside of school. "Parents today are more career- oriented; often they both work. That means kids are coming with more needs, sometimes knowing less about relating to adults than they did 30 years ago."

The article, entitled "It's 8 a.m. and everything is not under control" appeared in the October 8th edition of the Christian Science Monitor.

Published Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2002