Classroom Management Strategies that Support a Literate Classroom...

Classroom management involves the organizational and decision-making skills teachers use to create a climate that encourages learning. Teachers exhibit strong management skills when they assess students learning and plan instruction based on their needs. To be most effective, all class members must be engaged in meaningful literacy activities. The teacher must establish an organized, predictable environment and teach children to use it. Classroom setup can dramatically affect students' attitudes toward and habits of learning. Students need an environment that is organized, stimulating, and comfortable in order to learn effectively. Creating such an environment entails arranging a practical physical layout, supplying diverse materials and supplies, and encouraging students to have a sense of belonging and ownership.

The physical environment is the “what we can see” part of the classroom. In a balanced literacy setting, the physical environment can be thought of in four main categories:
1. Classroom arrangement
2. Organizational structures
3. Books
4. Resource materials

Classroom arrangement can affect students' attitudes toward learning. Students need an environment that is organized yet stimulating in order to be excited about learning. Creating this type of environment requires a practical and flexible physical arrangement and a supply of various resources materials. The physical arrangement should include the following areas: whole-group, small-group, reading, and writing.

• The Whole Group Area is for whole-class lessons. This includes discussions, class meetings, direct instruction, and student presentations/sharing.
  
• The Small Group Area is for small group interaction, direct instruction of guided reading groups, etc.


• The Reading Area is a place for students to read independently or quietly with a partner. This area should be comfortable and have a variety of books and other print materials.


• The Writing Area is a space for students to write independently or collaboratively. This area should contain an adequate space for students to work and a variety of writing supplies and resources.

Designing and Organizing the Learning Environment

First and foremost the classroom needs to be a supportive community and an atmosphere that welcomes all learners. In his book, Life in a Crowded Place, Ralph Peterson reminds us about community this way:
Teachers who make communities have a big order to fill. Students who show up at the classroom door when the school bell rings in the fall are not an all-of-a-kind family. Far from it. Each person is unique, a reflection of his or her own personality…it is not unusual in today’s classrooms to find three, five, and sometimes more cultures represented. Bringing students together as a group and nurturing tolerance for their ways and beliefs while celebrating their differences challenges the talents of most experienced teachers…The primary goal at the beginning of a new year is to lead students to come together, form a group, and be there for one another.
It begins the first day of school and continues throughout the year. When the school year starts, try a few things to establish community, such as:
• Create Opening the Day, Transition, and Ending the Day ceremonies. Ceremony is very powerful, because it forms attitudes, creates a feeling of group purpose, centers the group, and turns attention to events that follow.
• Create rituals together. Do this important work with each other, rather than deciding everything before students arrive.
• Establish and practice routines until they are automatic.
• Work together to decide on the jobs necessary to keep your learning space orderly and who will be responsible for them.
• Choose read-aloud texts carefully: What books get the community to pull together because we’ll respond emotionally to the texts?
• Get kids to “bring themselves” into the classroom by sharing hobbies, collections, and favorite books from home.
• Ask students to help decide room and library arrangements.
• Make connections between school and home. Include parents in early homework assignments and in the curriculum.
• Be open with students about your own learning process.