Richard Eyster - Successful Classroom Management: Real-World, Time-Tested Techniques for the Most Important Skill Set Every Teacher Needs

Copyright 2010 by Richard H. Eyster and Christine Martin

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Eyster, Richard H.

Successful classroom management: real-world, time-tested techniques for the most important skill set every teacher needs / by Richard H. Eyster and Christine Martin.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Classroom management. 2. Problem children--Behavior modification. 3. Teachers--Professional relationships. I. Martin, Christine, 1949 Sept. 25- II. Title.

LB3013.E97 2010

371.1024--dc22

2010009842

We dedicate this book to the educators of today and tomorrowto those who spend their days among the young, working to forge connections, inspire success, and foster ongoing growth.

Careers, like lives, span decades and pass through incredibly varied terrain. There are periods spent in relative isolation and there are moments in which a new vista opens upvery often because of the thoughtful guidance of someone met along the way.

In our work together, no one has been more individually supportive than Barbara Swanson, long-time program director at NYSAIS. She encouraged our work from the beginning, recommended us to many others, and opened doors for us along the way. It is no exaggeration to say that this book would not have been written without her visionary support and without the years of evolution and refinement made possible by that support.

When we were looking for a beautiful retreat in which to hold our summer residencies, Arch Smith, head of the Trinity-Pawling School, and Ed Hauser, director of the Physical Plant (and so much more!) responded enthusiastically. Countless schools expressed a willingness to open their doors to usbut of course summer was the time in which renovation and restoration had to be completed. Between Arch and Ed and their remarkable staffs, they have supported our work by timing summer maintenance so that we and the teachers could work in air-conditioned, sleeves-rolled-up comfort.

In Richs career, as is mentioned in the heart of this book, he owes a permanent debt to his two first supervisors and mentorsPeg Zilboorg and Walter Birge. In his current role, Michele Pierce, Thom Greenlaw, Michelle Marino, and all of his Summit colleagues deserve deep appreciation for the welcome, outreach, and support he has received. Over a longer period of time, three people have played a transformative role in his lifeRosalind Freundlich, Jenny Hankins Barthold, and David Mallery. And to those wise, irrepressible, and utterly faithful sidekicksHenry, Karen, and Philothe warmth of a lifelong smile, shared late in the afternoon.

For Christine, two people were central to her becoming an educator and a learning specialistNancy Henningsen and Debbie Henry. Their enthusiastic support and encouragement continues to guide and inspire her professional life.

During their years working together, Christine and Rich have accumulated considerable professional debt to Geoff Pierson, whose belief, support, and good-humored wisdom helped to shape their professional lives and this program. Bruce Dennis has also offered a generous perspective on behalf of this work.

Cliff, Kevin, and Kristine Ross welcomed Rich into their beautiful world and homes in Santa Fe for the final push to completion of this manuscript.

Sterling Lord believed in this project at once. He knew just where to send it, and where it would be appreciated. A good agent is a good friend.

Peter Lynch, our thoughtful, caring, and incisive editor at Sourcebooks, helped to bring this manuscript to life, to clarify key points, and to push us to offer clear-cut conclusions where we had too readily settled for implication and inference. We couldnt have been in better hands than working alongside Peter.

Finally, our families put up with our hours of preparation and our days of absence, and always welcomed us home with the kind of loving support road travelers come to savor. To Mary (who predicted the existence of this book thirty years ago), deep respect and thanks for the encouragement over the years. To Liza, Becky, and Katherine, a love that knows no limits, a gratitude that knows no bounds. And to Sarah, my generous sister, my Dad, who has always believed in me, and to my wise and literate late mother, all my love and appreciation for your support. To Tony, Anna, Judy, Vicki, and Shirley, my love and appreciation for their unwavering optimism and belief in me. To each of our families, now and always, this book is because of you, and thanks to you.

There are brief encounters, small moments that forever change ones life. I was in San Francisco ages ago, attending just another conference among many. The keynote speaker had just finished his address, and I rose with the rest of the audience to leave. Halfway up the aisle, in the heart of that milling, moving crowd, I stopped abruptly and turned. I had the distinct feeling that someone was watching me.

From far across the ballroom, a young woman was staring intently in my direction. I had no idea who she was. I checked behind me to see if I had mistaken the direction of her gaze, but there was no one behind me. And the mischief in her smile only deepened.

Before I knew it, she was only six feet away. She stopped before me then, her hands folded behind her, waiting for me to give up, but suddenly, I had her. With a suddenness that shocked and delighted me, I caught sight of a nine-year-old child gazing impishly from the eyes of the young woman before me. I burst into a laughing grin and reached out to embrace her.

It was Jennifer Longley.

A dozen years before, I had taught Jennifer as a third grader. I had never seen her againuntil now.

She still had a light spray of freckles across her upturned nose and the same devilish glint in her eyesalthough obviously much had changed over the years. As we spoke, she began to fill in the blanks of that intervening stretch. Her mother had remarried and had moved to Maine. Her older sister, whom I had also taught, had taken a job with a magazine in New York. And Jennifer had taken a job in California, working through her first year of teaching, serving out an interim year for a teacher on maternity leave.