Educational psychologists have determined that there are many ways to effectively manage a classroom. Much of a teacher's success depends upon a good match between the personality of the teacher and the discipline style selected for the classroom. This is something that seasoned teachers may take for granted but may be baffling to newer, inexperienced teachers. The purpose of this paper is to discuss three methods of classroom management: socioemotional-climate technique; the instructional classroom management technique and; the authoritarian classroom management technique.
Secondary school educator Eric Stewart found that by setting a particular socioemotional classroom atmosphere in his math room, he could control and create an atmosphere that was conducive to learning (1991, p. 632). He was especially interested in the use of music to develop a friendly, comfortable atmosphere for the students in his room. At first he used music during group activities or while individuals were working practice problems at their seats. His motivation was to help the students feel relaxed, entertained, and eager to learn. For these purposes, he used works by Bach and Mozart and found them effective as long as the volume remained low.
After the students became accustomed to music in the classroom, Stewart began to use music to begin and end activities. This method proved to be much preferred over shouting or trying to get the students' attention in other ways. He found that he could quickly shift from one task to another with the use of music cuing (Stewart, 1991, p. 632). He found that he could regulate the level of excitement with particular types of music and, in one instance, created a great deal of enthusiasm for a chalkboard mathematics game by playing the William Tell Overture.
Other instructors have found that the instructional classroom management approach works effectively. This method may focus on the mechanics of th...