Managing Your Classroom with the F-R Framework: Friendliness, Firmness, and Fairness

Abstract

Have you ever had Argumentative Alex, Chatty Charlie, or Disruptive Drew throw a wrench in your carefully prepared lesson plan? With the average Generation Z student having an attention span of only 8 seconds (Williams, 2019), it becomes even more imperative for today’s educators to curtail disruptive or challenging student behaviour. Students who regularly display disruptive behaviour are at the highest risk of poor academic achievement (Alperin et al., 2023), while instructors report that the inability to effectively manage disruptive classroom behaviour is associated with increased feelings of inadequacy, depersonalization, and job stress (Aloe et al., 2014). In this presentation, attendees will learn the goals and impacts of classroom management, as well as identify different classroom management styles and how it influences personal teaching approaches. The F-R Framework – Friendliness, Firmness, and Fairness – and supporting “R” strategies will be introduced to help proactively and effectively manage challenging student behaviour and other unplanned factors in the classroom, which in turn nurtures an environment conducive to student learning.