Life is Organized Chaos

Classroom management is the foundation for any chemistry class.

Teaching is not just about imparting knowledge to students but also involves a complex set of interpersonal skills and interactions between the teacher and learners. A teacher’s personality influences how they interact with students, approach their teaching, and manage the classroom environment.

I’m not saying run out and take a personality test and follow it to the letter.  I merely mean to inspire some intrapersonal reflection.

So, before you even think about content or the décor of your classroom, consider your personal preferences. If you’re a seasoned teacher, I’d love to get your take on this idea. Did you consider your personality when preparing for the school year?

Your personality is key to your classroom management.

In my department, there is one teacher who has their classroom perfectly organized and aesthetically pleasing and in direct contrast there is another teacher who never throws away any worksheet, test, or activity.  They have at least 6 filing cabinets full of their archived papers.

Both classrooms have a strong culture of learning and rules, but students understand and accept the different schema associated with each respective teacher. Students crave structure, but you get to control what the structure is.

The actual structure doesn’t matter, students just want to know where they stand with you in your classroom.  So, I highly recommend you have a strong idea as to how you want to set up and run your classroom.

Which teacher are you?  Do you thrive in an organized environment? Or do you enjoy a creative environment?

I personally use a combination approach.  Organized Chaos isn’t just my blog name or trivia team name but its also my general default approach to just about everything.  If you’d like to learn a little more about my background, check out this blog post.

Classroom management and your personality.

When you assign homework or an assignment, how and where do you want your students to turn in their work? Where will students find their makeup work? What do you want your students to recognize as part of your schema when entering your classroom? Do you welcome discussion and questions?

I’m embarrassed to admit, I get agitated when a slew of students come up to me and try to hand me late work or homework when I need to get class started.  My solution is a turn in bin located on my desk for everything for a specific class period.

I equally hate passing out papers.  Its not the most efficient use of time so I avoid it at all costs.  I combat this in two ways, one of which is a controversial topic. 

The first way is that I keep bookshelves near the entryway door and have a designated area for each subject I teach. The shelves house my class set of textbooks.  Students are to check and pick up any papers that are on top of their class’s bookshelf upon entering the classroom. This way the only thing I pass out is a quiz or test.

The other solution I use is definitely not for everyone, and that’s okay.  I hand out everything for an entire unit in one packet.  Yes, you read that right. One packet per unit.  For example, AP Chemistry has 9 units and I have 9 packets for the entire year. I enjoy frontloading my work so that I don’t have to scramble to copy XYZ for this day and ABC for another day. 

I’ll talk more about specific packets in a later post.

If you’re a first-year teacher, you can find packets like this one TPT or make them yourself.  However, as a new teacher, I don’t recommend you creating your own. You have enough on your plate.

Overall, it all comes back to your personality and how you like to work. Choose what works best for you.

Let’s look at another personality example.

I had a type A personality English teacher my senior year in high school. Every day we were required to be sitting at our desk and working on our grammar bellwork by the time the bell rang.  We would be late if we were not sitting or not working. 

English was not my strong point, but I recall enjoying her class because I knew what to expect. She had everything in its place and a place for everything. 

If you had a positive experience in school, try to pinpoint that X factor. How can you adapt that technique or strategy for yourself?

Your personality may create an unconscious bias in your classroom.

I don’t mean this in a negative aspect, but to point out that what you like and how you learn as a student may differ from your students.

Personality traits such as extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience can all influence a teacher’s teaching style.

An extroverted teacher, for example, may prefer to use active and engaging teaching methods, such as group work and discussions, to maintain students’ attention. On the other hand, an introverted teacher may be more inclined to use traditional teaching methods, such as lectures and written assignments, to ensure the students’ understanding of the subject matter.

I find it best practice to try out each method a few times.  It will definitely be uncomfortable at first, especially because you’re new or it’s a technique that you wouldn’t prefer as a student. Choose a few go to styles and rotate them throughout a unit. 

For example, in a typical unit I introduce material either by a lecture or assigning a introduction group activity.  I follow it up with lecture mixed with I do, We do, You do practice, offer a lab with students working in pairs, more lectures, do individual white board review, group review and then a formal assessment (test or quiz). This is what works for me, and it took me a few years to find and perfect my groove. 

Lastly

At the end of the day, its your classroom. You should edit classroom management protocols until they work efficiently for the students and you. You’re the one who has to spend almost eight hours in there, make sure you like it!

I believe personality traits significantly impact how a teacher approaches their teaching, interacts with their students, and manages their classroom. I hope this blog post has helped you evaluate how you will set up or alter your classroom and its management.

Happy Teaching,

Brooke

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