The Ineffectiveness of “Effective” Management Strategies: Novice Teachers, Classroom Management, and Identity

• In Event: Conceptualizing Classroom Management in Terms of Behavior, Efficacy, Coercion, and Effective Strategies

Abstract

This paper explores how novice teachers’ quest to become effective classroom managers is limited by their desire to create a teacher identity that is genuine. A mixed-methods approach utilizing surveys and narrative-based interviews was employed to elicit stories of classroom management experiences from sixteen first-year teachers working in a large, urban, Midwestern public school system. These narratives demonstrate that management struggles center not simply on finding effective strategies, but on achieving integration between the social role of teacher and one’s overall identity. This study holds the potential for innovative approaches to teacher education, shedding light on an important gap in the research between novice teacher knowledge of management principles and actions in responding to actual classroom situations.

Author

• Daryl Mortensen Dugas, Northern Illinois University