Annotated Bibliography Classroom Management

1. Pellegrino, A. (2010). Pre-service teachers and classroom authority. American Secondary Education, 38(3), 62-78. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com. wwwproxy0. library. unsw. edu. au/docview/722356586? accountid=12763 In this article Pellegrino examines the classroom practices of 5 preservice secondary school teachers, identifying the challenges faced in establishing their authority to create an effective learning environment.
As a framework for his study, Pellegrino gives 3 basic origins of authority: Traditional, Legal/Rational and Charismatic authority. Of the three, he recommends student teachers aim to develop legal/rational authority as it is based on values, rules and procedures and is most conducive to modern views of learning. Pellegrino suggests classroom management is of paramount concern to most student teachers and the effective application of concepts, methodologies and strategies learned during their studies is often a struggle for them.
With placement soon approaching, classroom management is undeniably one of my greatest concerns, hence the reason I chose to include this article. In gaining insight into the common errors made by student teachers during placement, I hope to avoid repeating these mistakes during my tenure. The findings from this article demonstrated that although participants did utilize the knowledge and skills learned from their studies they all returned to traditional and/or charismatic authority styled forms of classroom management.

This was seen in the creation of teacher-oriented classrooms as well as many attempting to take on the role of the “cool” teacher, unfortunately to no avail. As a prospective high-school teacher, I am aware of the relatively small age-gap that is likely to exist between myself and my students. Pellegrino’s warning about the ease of which student teachers often establish charismatic authority, is something I will definitely keep in mind. Although easy to establish, this type of authority is based on irrational means and as observed in the study, is often fleeting.
For the participants in this study, perhaps the most significant errors made were trying to emulate the management styles of their mentors and/or being inadequately prepared. From this I learned the importance of not only developing a well-structured and well thought-out management plan but one that I adhere to, can reflect upon and alter accordingly. 2. Gillies, R. & Boyle, M. (2010). Teachers’ reflections on cooperative learning: Issues of implementation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(4),