Principles of Classroom Management ─ A Professional Decision-Making Model

Levin and Nolan (Pennsylvania State U.) argue that children are better influenced to behave appropriately through the use of competent instruction, positive student-teacher-family relationships, intrinsic motivation, pro-social self-esteem, encouragements, and natural/logical consequences, rather than rewards and punishments. They stress the ideas that teachers cannot control student behavior, but influence them through decisions, and that students who have positive relationships with them are more likely to be academically successful and engage in pro-social behavior. They contend teachers must use their professional knowledge to change their practices and influence students to behave appropriately. They explain classroom management using a professional decision-making model, its foundations, and interventions for common and chronic behavior problems. This edition has a stronger emphasis on building positive relationships with students and their families in earlier chapters and has an entire chapter on the topic and information on working with students with unremitting disruptive behavior. It also has more on the role of culture and cultural differences, with three additional cases; pre and post-reading activities; an expanded section on new uses of technologies, including discussion of cyberbullying, cyber cheating, and sexting; discussion of motivation and self-esteem in relation to disruptive behavior; a new section on student-teacher relationships and effective teaching; a reworked chapter on designing the physical environment and establishing classroom guidelines, along with more on teaching procedures and rules to ensure students have an understanding of appropriate behavior; added discussion of cultural stereotyping; more on working with families; and a new section on alternatives to suspensions. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Dr. James Nolan served as an elementary teacher, a secondary German teacher, and secondary teacher and a secondary guidance counselor in Pennsylvania schools. Currently he is the Hermanowicz Professor of Teacher Education and Professor in Charge of Elementary and Secondary Field Experiences. For the last 15 years he has been working with an elementary level professional development school partnership between Penn State University and the State College Area School district. His scholarship focuses on classroom management, teacher supervision and evaluation, and teacher education and professional development.

Dr. James Levin is recently retired Director of Academic Advising, Eberly College of Science and Associate Professor of Education in the Graduate School at Penn State University. Dr. Levin has consulted with hundreds of school districts, alternative schools and treatment centers on the topic of working successfully with students who display disruptive behavior. He has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses and secondary math and science in inner city and suburban schools and residential cites for adjudicated youth. He has co-authored three other texts on modifying behavior, self-esteem and motivation. Dr. Levin’s research interests include classroom management, science education, and academic advising.