Taming the Chaos: 10 Tips for Classroom Management

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Originally published in TEACH Magazine, January/February 2024 Issue

By Adam Stone

At McClintock Middle School in Charlotte, NC, eighth-grade English Language Arts teacher Eric Gaestel knows first-hand the importance of classroom management, and just how hard it can be to achieve.

“The purpose of us being in the classroom together is to create an environment where everybody has a fair chance of learning the material. If you have students who are being disruptive to that plan, you’re doing a disservice to everyone in the room,” he says.

And yet, disruptions happen all the time. “You have people getting up and walking around to do random tasks: ‘I have to throw this out,’ or, ‘My pencil broke.’ All these little interruptions add up,” Gaestel notes. Bigger disruptions make it worse: students talking, quarrelling, or distracting one another.

To continue the learning momentum, teachers need a wide variety of classroom management tools and techniques.

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Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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Adam Stone
Adam Stone
Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.

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