Classroom Management

There are several things I can do to manage my classroom the best way. It all begins with how I begin the class at the start of the semester or year.
First, I must establish rules. Rules are essential to any classroom. They are the boundaries that students crave when they enter the room. They need to know how far they can go. Second, even though I establish rules, I must enforce them. Students need rules, but they also want to know if those are really the rules. They want to know how far they can push me. So I have to be strong enough to say, "No, these are the boundaries and these are the consequences if you cross those boundaries" and enforce that. I can't let them get away with anything. Once they do, they've won and all the rules that I set up are no longer valid. Students take advantage of any weakness they sense in a teacher - especially new teachers like me.
Thirdly: document, document, document! It is absolutely vital to write down anything and everything that happens. If I have a talk with a student about his or her behavior in class, I write down the date, who I spoke with, and what I talked to them about. If I have to move that student's seat, I do the same thing and I write it all down. If I have to call a parent, I write down who I called, which student I called about, and what the issue was. Likewise, if there is an argument between students or one of them is talking back to me, I write down as much of it as I can remember, word for word. In the event that I have to go to a meeting with a student's parent(s), I at least have some kind of written copy of what has happened over a several week time period. In addition I would bring grades with me so the parents can see how their child is doing in my class. Documentation is the key to survival in the educational field. Always cover your tracks. I live by the motto, "do the right things for the right reasons." Based off of this phrase, everything I do in teaching is what I believe to be the right thing to do, so I have nothing to hide. I write everything down so that in the event that I am questioned by parents, peers, or supervisors, I can show what I have done and why.
These are three of the things that I do to manage my classroom effectively. They all work wonderfully and I would recommend them to any teacher, regardless of their preferred subject area.