Taking Back the Classroom: Tips for the College Professor on Becoming a More Effective Teacher - Softcover

Delaney J. Kirk

Softcover

ISBN 10: 097721950X ISBN 13: 9780977219506

Publisher: Tiberius Publications, 2005

Synopsis

This book is developed from a series of workshops on classroom management conducted by Dr. Delaney Kirk over many years. It provides a toolbox filled with proven classroom management techniques that have been used successfully by faculty in all disciplines. Useful for both new and experienced faculty members wondering how to manage today's college students.

About this title

About the Author:

Delaney J. Kirk, Ph.D., is a Professor of Management at Drake University with 25 years of teaching experience (learned the hard way sometimes), in both large and small, public and private universities. She has conducted teaching workshops at Duke University, Columbia University, University of Washington, Graceland University, University of Arkansas-Ft Smith, Drake University, and Metropolitan Community College, in addition to numerous academic conferences. She was the featured expert for the Chronicle of Higher Education?s online chat on classroom management on September 15, 2004, and has earned the prestigious Drake University Board of Governor?s ?Excellence in Teaching? Award.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Introduction: Why Read This Book?

Is it just me or do college students seem to lack respect for their professors today? Have students become more demanding, less responsible, and deficient in plain old common courtesy? What ever happened to civility in the classroom? Interestingly enough, Albert Shanker, former president of the American Federation of Teachers, addressed this potential problem as far back as 1995. (1) He stated that kids misbehave in public schools because the students have been "taught" that this is acceptable at an early age. A six-year- old child is disruptive and the other children look around to see what will happen. The kids are convinced that if a lightening bolt does not come down from the sky, that at the very least the student will be sent to the principal’s office. But, as Shanker says, many times nothing happens. There is no punishment. The rest of the students realize that the teacher is not the leader of the class...the six-year-old kid is.

Fast forward twelve years and these same students are now in college. My first introduction to this problem of classroom management occurred a few years ago when I experienced the "Class from Hell." At the time I had been teaching for over 20 years and was just dumbfounded by the behavior of the students in this class. They came to class late, their cell phones rang during the lecture, and they left in the middle of class to go to the restroom. One student even fell asleep during every class period. I got to the point where I hated to go into that classroom. I found myself obsessing over my lack of control, getting angrier and angrier with those "stupid, bad, disrespectful students." I whined to my colleagues and seriously thought about leaving teaching for something, anything else... I finally decided I had to do something for my own sanity, if not my career.

I decided to return to a "zero tolerance" policy for disruptive behavior. I went back into my "Class from Hell" at mid-term and laid down some new ground rules. First I apologized. I explained that I had not been a good manager of the classroom. I had not established and communicated my expectations to them. I had no right to be angry when they did not do what I wanted. So I told the students...here are the rules for the rest of the semester.

I have to admit that even I, a tenured full professor, hesitated before laying down the law with that class. After all, those all-important teaching evaluations are used in making my pay raise decisions too. However, as I found out by talking to friends and colleagues at other universities, we are all struggling with the same issues. While most of us are comfortable with the content of what we are teaching, many of us do not believe that our doctorate-granting institutions have prepared us in the "how-to’s" of managing our classrooms. Even those of us who have been teaching for a while may not think that we really know how to handle disruptive behaviors from our students. In fact, we believe we shouldn’t have to; after all, shouldn’t college students know how to conduct themselves in a classroom?

Why are we having so much trouble with our students? Part of this is probably our own fault as instructors. Many of my colleagues "dress down" to go to class and have the students call them by their first name as a way to relate. We want our students to like us. In addition, universities are putting an emphasis on the student as customer and giving teaching evaluations a great deal of weight in determining renewals of contracts. Thus, my colleagues tell me they are afraid to say no when asked to allow late papers, give extra credit, or make up tests. They feel they have lost control of their own classrooms.

Learning to manage your classroom is a craft that can be learned and improved upon like any other skill. This book presents suggestions based on my own experiences, those of colleagues at other universities, and ideas from participants in my workshops on classroom management. You are not alone. We all want to do a better job of teaching in an environment conducive to learning.

And what about the class that inspired this book? Did the students "ding" me on evaluations at the end of that semester? No. In fact, they seemed appreciative that I had established some guidelines and enforced these fairly. Perhaps in the long run they find this new informality in the classroom uncomfortable as well.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tiberius Publications
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 097721950X
• ISBN 13: 9780977219506
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 252