When I first signed up for a class about Classroom Management, I envisioned learning lots of tips and tricks for quieting students quickly and enticing them to do their schoolwork.  However, our discussions first take us a step back to examine the systemic and long-term effects of unfair classroom management.  To start off, let’s define what we mean by Classroom Management.  In the book, “Classroom Management,” by Carol Weinstein and Nancy Schafer, classroom management is defined as:

“…the actions teachers take to establish and sustain an environment that fosters students’ academic achievement as well as their social, emotional, and moral growth.”

Put into concrete terms, classroom management includes deciding how to intervene when a student is disruptive in class, or how to encourage participation in group activities.  It comes up almost every hour, if not minute, of the school day.  Classroom management is the oxygen that runs through every activity, and when something goes wrong, it’s like a fart that can’t be ignored.  

When a teacher puts classroom management into practice, he or she has the ability to shape the futures of his or her students.  How many aspiring teachers say, I want to become a teacher so I can keep students from going to prison?  In the book, “These Kids Are Out of Control”, by Richard Milner et al. 2018, I was introduced to the term Cradle-to-Prison-Pipeline (CTPP).  It is a concept that due to systemic racism and institutional barriers, some children are molded and pushed down a path that leads them to jail.  Looking at statistics, the book mentions that a black male child has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime, compared with a 1 in 6 chance for a Latino male and 1 in 17 chance for a White male.  

How does this happen, you might wonder?  Imagine a school that is patrolled by police, or as some are called, SROs, School Resource Officers.  Students walk through metal detectors to get to class, and there are drug sniffing dogs roaming around.  Disruptive behavior results in an arrest, and perhaps an expulsion.  Now, the student is missing valuable instructional time which hurts the student academically, causing them to fall behind.  This scenario is not some far-fetched hypothetical.  In one study, it was found that 3rd and 4th grade reading scores and drop-out rates were used to plan future capacity needs of state prisons!  Teaching is not for the faint of heart.  Now, as a teacher in training, I need to help my students from falling down that slippery slope. 

Currently, as a substitute teacher, classroom management can sometimes be a challenge.  My students see an unfamiliar face and it is human nature to test boundaries when there is a new authority figure.  How can I create an environment where students can bring their authentic selves to school?  How do I foster a fun and engaging classroom, without letting things devolve so the inmates are running the asylum?

One possible strategy that was discussed in Milner’s book is using Culturally Responsive Teaching.  This is an intentional approach to make the curriculum more relevant to the specific cultural backgrounds of the students.  It involves a validation of their various identities, whether that is along the lines of ethnicity, gender, physical or mental diversity.  Putting this into practice, I realized that in striving to create equal opportunities, as teachers, we need to be attuned to the specific needs of each student.  As Milner puts it:

“Equitable practices among educators demonstrate that rather than students’ receiving the exact same resources and tools, students receive what they need as individuals to be successful.”

Through classroom management, the teacher has the power to set the tone and energy of the classroom.  By fostering relationships and building a caring community amongst the students, the teacher can create an environment where students are less likely to fall back on racial stereotypes as they get to know each other at a human level.  And that is how I hope that as a teacher, I can start to roll back this cradle-to-prison-pipeline, one student at a time.