Culture and classroom management: Grounded theory from a high poverty predominately African American elementary school

In public schools today, teachers and students alike are experiencing a great deal of frustration and failure. Classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse while teacher populations remain predominately white, middle classed and female. The cultural disconnect between teacher and student often results in behavioral problems. Teachers report that their number one concern in classrooms today is classroom management. The purpose of this study was to examine the beliefs, understandings, and pedagogy of teachers who were considered effective classroom managers. The guiding questions for this research were: (1) How do effective teachers working in low SES predominately African American school context: (A) Define classroom management; (B) Establish classroom culture (community, rules and procedures, etc.); (C) Deal with misbehaviors; (a) What is defined as misbehavior? (b) What approaches or strategies are used to remedy misbehavior? (2) What part, if any, does culture play in this phenomenon?; Grounded theory research methodology was used to study three teachers during the first three months of the 2004-2005 school year. Data sources for the participants consisted of observations and interviews. Participants were observed for two-hour periods on eight or nine occasions. Observations were followed by semi-structured interviews totaling five hours of post-observational discussion. In addition, each participant took part in a background interview and member checks. From these data, three cases were constructed to describe the participants' practice and their understandings in relation to classroom management.; Each case showed that the teachers' unique ways of managing her classes but some common themes were critical to success. All three participants held care and relationships with students at the center of their practice, used culturally responsive pedagogy to engage students, and used a similar hierarchy to manage misbehavior. These teachers did not subscribe to a "one size fits all" theory of classroom management. Instead, they used the understandings they had gained from their relationships with students to best engage and deal with student misbehavior.; Preservice and inservice teacher educators can help novice teachers be more effective managers in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms in four ways: connect theory to practice, be a warm demander in university courses, model culturally responsive pedagogy, and cultivate communities of learners who examine their practice and seek to learn about themselves and their students. With skillful scaffolding from faculty, preservice and inservice teachers can learn to create caring relationships that provide all students with an equal opportunity to learn.