Literature Review

Kianna Wicklund
Portfolio

After the first few weeks of student teaching I decided I would focus my action research
paper on classroom management. This is something I have struggled with for a while, and I
figured really focusing on it would be beneficial for my teaching. Once deciding this, I began
looking up strategies. Luckily, I stumbled upon an article about proactive classroom
management. In the article, I was able to determine that this strategy would be effective for the
classroom I am in. It would be easily incorporated into the class without disruption.
In order to learn about specific strategies and how to implement them I referenced
Proactive Classroom Management. (Evertson & Poole, 2008). Within this text it discusses a
variety of strategies that proactive management covers. It discusses explicit direction that is
accompanied by the procedure for undesired behavior. It discusses placement of students to
avoid conflict. The expectations should be known; a teacher should never assume a student
knows what to do. With proactive strategies the interactions between students and teacher is
likely to be positive. The article also discusses the conflict resolution, that are under the umbrella
of the strategy. There are many strategies within proactive management. Now I just need to
figure out which ones I can implement. (Evertson, et al., 2008)
In the article Self-reported and actual use of proactive and reactive classroom
management strategies and their relationship with teacher stress and student behavior, they
discuss if proactive or reactive management is more effective for student learning and teacher
morale. Proactive management is defined as preventative and taking a positive approach to
classroom management (Clunies-Ross, Little, & Kienhuis, 2008). This is related to classroom

arrangement, teaching expectations and other preventative planning. In Australia, they surveyed
97 teachers, a majority of the teachers stated that proactive management is more effective and
widely used. The study also showed that teachers who use reactive management are more
negative to students in general. This negativity was linked to an increase in stress. It also was
stated that this type of management is ineffective and undesired behavior perused. Teacher stress
is relating mostly to student misbehavior and work load. The more effective your strategies are
for managing a classroom the less likely the teacher will burn out. Proactive or preventative
management is suggested to decrease the amount of disruptions and increase teacher morale.
(Clunies-Ross et al., 2008)
In an article that studied the knowledge and strategies used by preservice teachers, it was
pointed out that the student teachers were not successfully managing their classrooms. The
preservice teachers were using yelling or screaming (Kher, Lacina-Gifford, & Yandell, 2000)
as their main strategy. These student teachers noted that it was not effective. They also felt as
though they had no other options due to lack of guidance. The authors of this article repetitively
stated that they desired for preventative strategies to be implemented. Unfortunately, the teachers
were unable to effectively implement these strategies and the authors stated this would hold them
back in future teaching endeavors. (Kher, et al., 2000)
Success and near misses: Pre-service teachers use, confidence and success in various
classroom management strategies (Reupert & Woodcock, 2010), was a Canadian study that was
meant to improve educational programs. In this study they survey students at the end of student
teaching and another group of students the semester before student teaching. They attempt to
understand the strategies for management that teacher candidate uses or planned to use.
Throughout the article they ascertain that many successful students use a blend of proactive

management and initial corrective strategies. While it was decided that proactive management
was the best option due to more active learning and increase of student enjoyment, initial
corrective strategies was also somewhat successful. It was seen that by the end of the student
teaching semester teachers were directing their management towards preventative strategies.
(Reupert et al., 2010)
In the article Psychologys Contributions to Classroom Management (Little & AkinLittle, 2008), the psychologists attempt to find the effective classroom management strategies for
teachers. They consider both proactive and reactive strategies. For proactive they suggest using
natural consequence that are clearly stated prior to undesired behavior. They also stress positive
feedback, planned classroom layout and explicit instruction for procedures taught within the
lessons. For reactive they noted the following: yelling, sending to the office, calling home, long
stare and ignoring. While it is impossible to use just proactive or reactive the study shows that
proactive decreases disruptions, allows for less stress and promotes a more positive environment.
Reactive has its positives as well, but without attempting to prevent disruptive behaviors. The
said behaviors are bound to occur. Shouting out or distracting other students learning will occur
without the proper procedures in place. (Little et al., 2008)
In Teachers use of Classroom Management Procedures in the United States and Greece:
A Cross Culture Comparison (Akin-Little, Little & Laniti, 2009), they used the same survey
that was used in to previous article. Instead of just surveying the US, they also surveyed Athens,
Greece. They asked teachers about their management strategies and what they found to be most
effective. For the most part, the two cultures had very similar answers and similar demographics.
In Greece, corporal punishment is still prominent, so there was a higher amount of occurrences
in Greece than the US. Although there was still a shocking amount of corporal punishment in the

US, even though there is no evidence showing it is an effective strategy. They found the teachers
prefer proactive management and find it to be more effective. They also deduced that teachers
who take preventative measure tend to be less stressed due to less disruptive behavior. It is then
inferred that there will be less chance for teacher burn out because disruptive students are a
leading cause for burning out. (Akin-Little et al.,2009)
Overall, I gained a lot of insight to effective classroom management. Based on my
finding I feel that the proactive management is the best path for me to take. I can implement it
easily. I have already noticed a huge difference in my management since implementing said
strategy. Based on the article this method seems to be a good idea to ensure effective teaching
and a positive classroom environment. I am very excited to execute my posttest and see the
decrease in disruption and increase in effective teaching.

References
Akin-Little, K., Little, S., & Laniti, M. (2009). Teachers use of classroom management
procedures in the United States and Greece: A cross culture comparison. School of
Psychology International, 28 (1). 53-62. http://spi.sagepub.com/content/28/1/53.abstract
Clunies-Ross, P., Little, E., & Kienhuis, M. (2008). Self-reported and actual use of proactive and
reactive classroom management strategies and their relationship with teacher
stress and

student behavior. Educational Psychology, 28 (6). 693-710.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01443410802206700#.Vwsjb4-cHIU
Evertson, C., & Poole, I. (2008). Proactive classroom management. In T. Good (Edu).131-140.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carolyn_Evertson/publication/268336996_ProaCtiV
e_Classroom_management/links/54bfaee10cf28eae4a660962.pdf
Kher, N., Lacina-Gifford, L., & Yandell, S. (2000). Preservice teachers knowledge of effective
classroom management strategies: Defiant behavior. American Educational Research
Association.1-8. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED444941.pdf
Little, S., & Akin-Little, A. (2008). Psychologys contributions to classroom management.
Psychology in the Schools. 45 (3). 1-9. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/
pits.20293/abstract
Reupert, A., & Woodcock, S. (2010). Success and near misses: Pre-service teachers use,
confidence and success in various classroom management strategies. Teaching and
Teacher Education. 26. 1261-1268. http://ro.uow.edu.au/edupapers/198/