I think you'll agree that classroom control for teachers has changed drastically over the years, and again you will probably agree that it is now much harder to control a class full of students, especially when they are in their teenage years and have other things on their mind than the lesson you are trying to teach! We'll take a look at some reasons for this, and then see what can be done to improve your control in the classroom.

I'm prepared to show my age here, but never mind! When I was growing up, students were expected to be quiet, and never speak unless spoken to directly by the teacher. There was no way that anyone would answer back to a teacher, or even talk in class, but even then in the 1960's and 1970's, classrooms were more relaxed than when my parents went to school. In their day, wooden rulers were used frequently to instill fear into the whole class, and no child got up from their desk to wander around the room at all. By the time I got to High School, rulers were no longer rapped on knuckles, and thank goodness, as that hurt a lot!

But what about parents and their use of discipline at home? I think that you will agree that over the years this control has diminished too. Parents are more than frowned upon if they give their child a quick wallop, or slap on the hands, and indeed, they can end up in court for abusing their child if others witness this. So, can we lay the lack of respect that children currently give teachers at the parents' door? Well, no, not totally, but I do think that the pressures parents have these days adds greatly to the behaviour of their children.

Many parents work outside the home, trying to make ends meet financially, and I think that by the time they have got home from this job, they are already tired and stressed, and are looking for a restful evening. They are then greeted by their children wanting attention of different sorts, but nevertheless attention, and they have to deal with their children's problems too. This means the parents do not get to relax, as they may have to get Johnny to soccer, and Susie to dance. Their time is spent doing other things, and they perhaps do not spend as much time making sure that homework is done well, or even done at all in some cases. Parents are perhaps a little more short tempered because of fatigue, and aggravation may show to their offspring, no matter how much they love them.

So, how does this affect the classroom control of teachers? There are some children who just long for attention, any attention good or bad, and in many ways doing bad is much easier! If a child yells out in class, they immediately get the teacher's attention, whereas if a child has written an excellent essay, it will take a while before this is acknowledged. In a world where instant gratification is the norm, it must be hard for children to wait for anything.

If a child gets up and starts wandering around the class, that too gets the teacher's attention pretty fast. And what can they do about this? They can request the child sit down, but if they don't, what then? The teacher cannot force them back to their seat, they cannot touch them without the threat of being brought up for assault.

It is quite clear that something has to be done, so that teachers once again have respect from their students, but how do you do this when they won't stay quiet for 1 minute, let alone a whole 60 minutes?

Times have definitely changed, and the method of controlling classrooms has changed too, or if it hasn't it certainly needs to, so that teachers can get back to their job of teaching, not disciplining all day long. There are new techniques available now for teachers to handle disruptive classes, but perhaps these teachers don't have the time to discover them?

The conclusion is that times have indeed changed drastically for teachers over the years, and new methods of classroom control need to be implemented, since corporal punishment is no longer an option for teachers, or parents.

For a classroom management and control system that will quickly eliminate behaviour problems in your classroom, take a look here at Classroom Discipline http://www.usfreeads.com/1440256-cls.html This will help you get on with your job of teaching your students, not disciplining. You will soon have classroom control back again, and you may be able to help other teachers too. The author Al Jackson was herself a teacher, so knows only too well the stress and frustrations of classroom control for teachers.