Eric Groves - The Everything Classroom Management Book: A teachers guide to an organized, productive, and calm classroom

THE
EVERYTHING
CLASSROOM
MANAGEMENT
BOOK

Dear Reader,

Thank you for your time, and congratulations on your foresight in buying The Everything Classroom Management Book. Whether youre a new teacher or an experienced pro, you know that to succeed in teaching you need to get as much help as possiblenot because youre less competent than other teachers, but simply because you want to be the best. This book will help you achieve that goal.

Here are my mentoring qualifications: Im a veteran classroom teacher with twenty years hard-won experience educating children in schools in the United States and in Great Britain (St. Julians Comprehensive School, Newport, Wales). Ive also won on Jeopardy! (1984), thanks to my broad knowledge of academic subjects; and I have a BA degree in English, and a Juris Doctor degree in Law. But most importantly, Ive been in the trenches for two decade s, perfecting my teaching artistry. Now Id like to offer you my battle-tested strategies for managing your classroom, organizing your instruction, and becoming the superior teacher you were meant to be.

Thank s again for reading The Everything Classroom Management Book, and may the torch of knowledge you pass on to future generations continue to burn brightly forever.

Welcome to the EVERYTHING Series!

These handy, accessible books give you all you need to tackle a difficult project, gain a new hobby, comprehend a fascinating topic, prepare for an exam, or even brush up on something you learned back in school but have since forgotten.

You can choose to read an Everything book from cover to cover or just pick out the information you want from our four useful boxes: e-questions, e-facts, e-alerts, and e-ssentials. We give you everything you need to know on the subject, but throw in a lot of fun stuff along the way, too.

We now have more than 400 Everything books in print, spanning such wide-ranging categories as weddings, pregnancy, cooking, music instruction, foreign language, crafts, pets, New Age, and so much more. When youre done reading them all, you can finally say you know Everything!

E - QUESTION
Answers to
common questions

FACTS
Important snippets
of information

ALERTS!
Urgent
warnings

Quick
handy tips

PUBLISHER Karen Cooper

DIRECTOR OF ACQUISITIONS AND INNOVATION Paula Munier

MANAGING EDITOR, EVERYTHING SERIES Lisa Laing

COPY CHIEF Casey Ebert

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR Lisa Laing

SENIOR DEVELOPMENT EDITOR Brett Palana-Shanahan

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Hillary Thompson

Visit the entire Everything series at www.everything.com

THE
EVERYTHING
CLASSROOM
MANAGEMENT
BOOK

A teachers guide to an organized,
productive, and calm classroom

Eric Groves, Sr.
Foreword by Frederick C. Wootan

Copyright 2009 by F+W Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced
in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions
are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

An Everything Series Book.
Everything and everything.com are registered trademarks of F+W Media, Inc.

Published by Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322 U.S.A.
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN 10: 1-59869-825-7
ISBN 13: 978-1-59869-825-1
eISBN 978-1-60550-732-3

Printed in the United States of America.

J I H G F E D C B A

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
is available from the publisher.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the
American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Adams Media was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed with initial capital letters.

This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, please call 1-800-289-0963.

This book is dedicated to my patient and loving wife, Suzette;
my brilliant and talented daughter, Deborah; my kind-hearted
and ingenious son, Eric; my incredibly courageous mother-in-law,
Jovita; and my immortal and triumphant mother, Dolly.

Contents

Introduction

Foreword

Eric Groves, Sr., has impeccable educational credentials combined with over twenty years of experience working in the classroom. He leaves no stone unturned that could help in making sure you do the best, most professional job possible. He has an acute awareness of the elements of academic instruction, time management, discipline, relationship building, and job protection that form the basis of the teaching profession. His knowledge of the law and the fact that you cannot ignore living in a litigious world filled with passivity and unwillingness to accept responsibility, adds to his presentation. He does not miss any function of importance to you, the teacher.

The field of education, like other professions, experiences changing cycles of focus. Teachers respond best to these changes by properly managing their classrooms. Perhaps, for the sake of clarity, I should substitute the words learning environment for classroom, and thereby eliminate any reference to class. The original educational meaning of class, a course of instruction, has changed in todays vernacular, taking on its other definition: a social network. The Everything Classroom Management Book message makes certain that every new teacher has the tools necessary to plan, organize, manage, and control his or her classroommaking it a true learning environment.

Most of you joined this honorable profession because of your love for learning and with the hope of imparting knowledge to others. Becoming an outstanding teacher does not mean you dispense knowledge in the same way you might drop a scoop of ice cream into a waiting sugar cone. You must also instill in your students the need to ask questions with a sincere desire to find truth. The ability to think trumps any form of memorization, and it requires teachers highly skilled in developing a true learning environment for students to begin to think well.