When I see new managers working in restaurants or stores, they always look so busy. They look like they are working very hard. You can see the stress on their faces and it is obvious how hard they are working to keep the place running smooth. The opposite is true for the managers who have it all figured out. They are smooth and they expect their business to run likewise. They are the managers who have already made the mistakes and had the stressful days and have some semblance of order in their jobs. The same can be said about teachers. Teachers are the managers of classrooms. They are the people who set the tone and place boundaries on what needs to be accomplished. Teachers model what the students can expect at any given time of the day. Just as it is for store managers, you can see the teachers who have not yet figured it out as well as those who have. During my service learning time at Brimhall Junior High school, I was very fortunate to witness teachers who have figured it out. I was able to view many management techniques that teachers use to keep their classrooms running in an efficient manner.

I was fortunate to view two different seventh grade teachers and I saw two completely different styles of management. One class was a computer foundations class and the other a math class. The computer foundation class was taught by a first year teacher and the math by the football coach who had been teaching math for six years. While both classes were very well managed, the techniques were vastly different. The computer class was an independent work class and the math class was more lecture and interaction among students. Because the math class had more interaction, the teacher had to employ different methods to keep the students on the given task.

For instance, because Mr. Mase is the football coach, students feel comfortable with him and treat him like a friend. He said it is okay to be nice to the students, but you must draw the line. He mentions if a student crosses the line of respect, you have to redraw the line in the sand. It was refreshing to see the techniques we have talked about in class in use in his classroom. Such as the look; he gives students a stern look to let them know that what they did was not acceptable. He rarely stops his lesson for redirecting. He likes to stand close to the students to let them know it is time to refocus. While it is obvious the students respect Mr. Mase enough to get back to what they were doing, he does need occasionally to use a verbal redirect. There was one student who kept speaking out over him. His response was a simple and direct phrase that let the student know they were out of line, but it was not distracting because he said it so quickly. He simply said, “You learn, I’ll teach.” That was the end of the talking out. There were some techniques he used that were very coach like. If a student left their book in class, he made them sit on the wall. The student would put his/her back against the wall and sit as if in a chair, except there was no chair. He would then place the book on the child’s lap with a pencil, and tell the student not to let the pencil roll off. He had them hold that position for 30 seconds. If the pencil rolled off, there was no consequence, just a reminder to not forget the book again. While he has some coach like techniques, they seem to work for him. He has very few distractions and the students are very engaged. He has a good time with the students and talks to them about their lives. This helps the students feel as though he cares about them. He has set up a nice rapport with the students and they understand that he is an engaged teacher. His classroom is not fussy. There are math rules and math vocabulary on the walls, some of which look as though the students made them. By incorporating their work into the design of the classroom, he is telling the students they matter. We have talked a lot about creating rules in the classroom. Mr. Mase follows the school rules and the only one he stresses emphatically is respect. He insists the students behave respectfully and he will respect them in return. In Mr. Mase’s class it is easy to see how far respect goes to keep the class on the given task. I saw how important it is to have expectations of the students not only academically, but also behaviorally.

These expectations do not come with the students. Teachers must set the standard of behavior, as I saw in Mrs. Kline’s class. Mrs. Kline is a first year teacher who teaches computer foundations. She told me that in the beginning of the year she thought she was tough. She realized very quickly that behavior expectations must be clear and consistent and she had to be even tougher in order for her to accomplish her lessons. I was impressed to see her students enter the classroom and get to work. They did not need a lot of direction. They knew the lessons they were supposed to do and they did them. In a computer class where students worked independently, I noticed the management style was different than any I had seen before. She did not have to tell students not to talk because they were all working. Her main technique was using proximity to keep students from zoning out on the computers. She would walk around the room to be sure students were working and occasionally I would see a student correct his posture and get back on task. This technique of walking around the room shows the students that Mrs. Kline was paying attention to what they were doing. The students received technique grades for posture including the position of their hands and not looking at the keyboard. These technique grades kept the students focused, and Mrs. Klein’s proximity did not give them time to be lazy. Mrs. Klien learned early in her career how to keep the students working and how important it is for her to set the atmosphere.

During my service learning I saw how important this atmosphere is. I realized that students will try to get away with as much as possible. By the teacher setting up boundaries early, they are telling the students that they are there to learn. Just as the store manager sets the tone for the employees and customers, the teacher sets the tone for his/her class. This service learning experience has shown me the importance of classroom management. I have a better understanding of how certain techniques like proximity and the look are used. I believe teachers should have a variety of techniques and be able to implement them in their teaching. This experience has given me valuable tools beyond the textbook that I can use to develop my own style of management.