Radically Rethinking Classroom Management, Venet, Spring 2024

Course Description

Teachers across the country report that students seem to be struggling more than ever. The resources and structures that we commonly use, from suspensions and detentions to PBIS, aren’t providing the tools that teachers need. At the same time, the public narrative calls for more control, more consequences, and more blame on students and their families. The end result? Students, teachers, and families/caregivers all feel unsupported.

Educators who care about equity and justice seek to meet this moment not through control and punishment, but by creating true community. In this course, we’ll explore how we can radically rethink the meaning of “classroom management” through the lens of care, equity, and healing. We’ll explore why traditional models of classroom management and discipline can be ineffective or downright harmful, and how to conceptualize, create, and sustain a caring community instead.

We’ll explore topics like: how do I create a better learning environment without resorting to elaborate behavior plans? What do I do when one student is consistently having a hard time and disrupting the whole class? How should I push back against my administration when they ask me to use yet another program I know doesn’t work? And how can I support my students and myself when all of us are living through traumatic times?

This course is for you if…

• You feel uneasy with typical “behavior management” approaches but you’re not sure about the alternative
• You have been experimenting with more community-oriented approaches and want to take your work to the next level
• You have one or more students with “challenging behavior” and you want to better meet their needs
• You want to build community with other justice-oriented educators and deepen your knowledge so you can advocate for change

Classroom teachers, administrators, counselors, and other school-based staff are all welcome. The course is designed with flexibility in mind, no matter your role or age level. One of our course texts focuses on elementary school and the other on high school, but both are applicable to all ages and we’ll read supplementary materials as well.

This course will cover a lot of ground, and we’ll be weaving together bigger picture philosophical ideas along with very practical classroom strategies. Participants should expect to engage in some weeks that feel more ideas-oriented and some weeks that feel more action-oriented, and to leave the course with directions for future learning. This course is for you if you’re ready to get messy in your learning, to be vulnerable in your reflections, and to push yourself to grow your perspective. 

Course Goals & Objectives

Course Goals:

• To examine traditional approaches to classroom management with a critical lens
• To understand philosophy and research behind community-oriented approaches to classroom management and behavior
• To grow our individual and collective capacity for building and sustaining classroom community

Course Objectives:

Participants will:

• Analyze classroom management practices through a critical and justice-oriented lens
• Design community-oriented classroom routines and structures
• Reflect on personal beliefs and practices about classroom community
• Develop a plan for ongoing implementation and future learning

Instructor

Alex Shevrin Venet, M.Ed., is an educator, author, and professional development facilitator based in Vermont. She works with educators and schools across the country and in Vermont to implement equity-centered trauma-informed educational practices. Previously, she was a teacher and leader at an alternative therapeutic school. She is the co-founder of the Nurturing the Nurturers collective, a healing community for educators. Her first book, Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education, is now available from W.W. Norton. Alex Shevrin Venet

Required Texts

1. Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School by Carla Shalaby
2. Hanging In: Strategies for Teaching the Students Who Challenge Us Most by Jeffrey Benson

Course Outline

Weekly activities:

I design this course so there is a consistent structure each week. Course activities are posted on Mondays, and students have a week in which to complete activities at their own pace.

I deeply understand the challenges of taking a professional development course during the school year and also during ongoing challenges with staffing, not to mention the everyday stuff that can come up. As such, I build in lots of flexibility to this course, options for how to complete assignments, and opportunities to take extra time or modify your workload.

You are taking on the commitment of a rigorous graduate-level course, but I also strive to make this course accessible for teachers working full-time. If you are reading this and worried about managing the workload, feel free to reach out.

Each week consists of:

• Reading & discussing approximately 50 pages in our course texts
• A weekly activity to dive deeper into course content: these are varied and might look like a written response, a guided activity, a student case study, a creative expression activity, etc
• Ongoing project work for the two course projects (see below)

Within our larger class, students will be grouped into “home groups” so they develop closer relationships with three or four other students across the course. If you are taking the course with a colleague or friend, let me know if you’d like to be in the same home group.

Live zoom classes: There are also four zoom meetings spread across the 12-week course. These meetings are mostly focused on community-building in small groups and discussion of our ongoing course themes and project work.

I recognize that some of these dates may conflict with school breaks. If you are very interested in taking the course but need to miss one Zoom meeting, please feel free to still register. If you think you would have to miss more than one, get in touch to discuss.

Outline:

I finalize the course outline once I know who you are so that the course reflects the needs and interests of the group. Below are some example weekly topics we may cover. I’ll provide additional details during our first class meeting.

• Behaviorism and the consequences of punitive discipline and PBIS
• How classroom management relates to freedom
• Engaging families and caregivers in the classroom community
• Proactively building capacity for the class to respond to explosive behavior
• Problem-solving together with students
• Seeing students from a strengths-based perspective
• Building radical hope and holding unconditional positive regard

For additional course information

Alex Shevrin Venet

802-489-6739

For additional registration information

Center for Schools Team
(802) 468-1325

Register now! THIS COURSE IS NOW FULL. CHECK OUR WEBSITE AGAIN FOR ADDITIONAL UPCOMING SESSIONS.