An Interpersonal Approach to Classroom Management ─ Strategies for Improving Student Engagement

Davis (curriculum, instruction, and counselor education, North Carolina State U.) et al. offer an approach to classroom management that focuses on managing relationships rather than individual students. They show teachers how to think about each dimension of instruction in a way that optimizes relational, cognitive, and behavioral student engagement. They draw on the work of educational psychologists who emphasize the importance of active engagement and the work of social developmental psychologists to examine how children think about their relationships in different ways and how relational conflict occurs as children learn to navigate relationships. They also use the work of sociocultural researchers to show how identity and being part of a "clan" affects the way students interact with each other and the curriculum. They detail the principles of motivation theory, how classroom structures contribute to engagement, and tools and strategies for teachers to use to reflect on beliefs and pedagogy and assess how their students view the classroom and school, and reflect on beliefs about teacher and peer relationships, their role in helping students develop into autonomous learners, and their ability to be in sync with diverse learners. They present tools and strategies for modeling and caring about each other, learning in relationships with students, and helping students learn to connect in meaningful ways, and describe the application of principles of self-regulation theory (planning, instruction, interaction, assessment, and documentation) to teaching practices. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)