Date of Conferral

1-1-2010

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Diana Greene

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the classroom management needs of graduate education students in one college, and develop a seminar that emerged from the research. Researchers have shown that professional development provided for graduate education students typically deals with curriculum and instructional methodologies rather than classroom management. However, graduate education students have expressed the need to learn more effective classroom management skills. The research questions asked what classroom management skills participants said they needed to teach in both collaborative, and special education classrooms. A grounded theory approach and the constructivist paradigm were used in the study. Interviews and focus groups employing a purposive sample of 12 graduate education students were used to determine core phenomena where participants were able to help shape and construct a seminar in classroom management. The results of the codified data concluded that participants lacked skills and wanted to be trained in the meaning of effective teacher engagement with students, collaboration with other professionals, effective use of class rules and procedures, helping students understand consequences for misbehavior, and managing classroom disruptions. The research generated a 3-hour seminar for special education or general education graduate students. The results gathered during the development of the seminar suggest that the content and presentation will help graduate education students foster social change by developing skills to effectively manage their classes. Additionally, the study can contribute to social change by affording participants classroom management skills necessary to create safe and nurturing school environments that have the potential to positively impact student achievement.

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