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If You Can't Manage Them, You Can't Teach Them
This is a must-have book for anyone who works with young adolescents! A practicing middle school teacher gives straight-talking advice and can-do strategies that really work! With Kim Campbell's help, every teacher can succeed at building the relationships, mutual respect, routines, and expectations for running a classroom without distress and chaos! Look forward to a sane, enjoyable classroom where students really learn!
280 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
4 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Kim Campbell
2 booksLibrarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 13, 2020
This book is the worst part of my social distancing time. It just sucks.
For reference, it's required for my class on culturally relevant classroom management. It talks about culture in ONE chapter. In 2020, why are we listening to old white ladies talk about behavior? If it were just classroom management, maybe I'd feel one way, but this book falls VERY short in the "culturally responsive" aspect. Overall, very simplistic. Almost immediately I was turned off by two things: the author constantly refers to female students as "drama queens" and the reference for Ruby Payne in the back. Credit where credit is due, the chapters on routine gave me some good strategies to try, even as someone who has taught for eight years already. Could be a helpful one for newer teachers.
However, about halfway through the book, it lost me completely. There is a chapter in the middle on consequences/follow-through that REALLY did not sit well with me; she gives examples of how she very clearly and concisely tells kids when they're doing something wrong. BUT she does not follow it up with telling kids what TO do. This is a cardinal rule in education! Make sure kids know what to do, not just what not to do. In fact I think this flies in the face of advice she gave earlier in the book! For example, she'll say: "no sharpening pencils while I'm talking". Instead of, "please wait until I'm done talking to sharpen" or "please take an already sharpened pencil". This book shows definite shades of, "no smiling until Thanksgiving" which is advice I HATE.
What REALLY LOST ME. What really CHAPPED MY ASS. were the chapters on gender and race. Gender is a social construct! Meaning what we attribute to "female" and "male" behaviors are a result of socialization and societal norms/expectations. Yet the author takes research from a dis-bunked/homophobic/outdated book on gender and applies it to her classroom. Rules include (and I'm not joking!!!) never correcting/scolding a boy's behavior in front of his friends, being straightforward with boys, and "beware the eye roll" with girls. I hope you honor every child's dignity and never tear someone down in front of their friends! The book oversimplifies "gendered" behavior instead of analyzing the ways we reinforced gender norms within our classroom and doesn't even touch on students who don't conform to the gender binary and/or are LGBTQ+. In the author's world, you are a boy or a girl and she'll treat you a certain way based on that.
And the race chapter! Literally the only time she mentions race in the entire book is to describe a Black mother who told her daughter to fight back because if not, it makes her look bad. White Savior 101. Read almost any other book and you'll be golden!
For reference, it's required for my class on culturally relevant classroom management. It talks about culture in ONE chapter. In 2020, why are we listening to old white ladies talk about behavior? If it were just classroom management, maybe I'd feel one way, but this book falls VERY short in the "culturally responsive" aspect. Overall, very simplistic. Almost immediately I was turned off by two things: the author constantly refers to female students as "drama queens" and the reference for Ruby Payne in the back. Credit where credit is due, the chapters on routine gave me some good strategies to try, even as someone who has taught for eight years already. Could be a helpful one for newer teachers.
However, about halfway through the book, it lost me completely. There is a chapter in the middle on consequences/follow-through that REALLY did not sit well with me; she gives examples of how she very clearly and concisely tells kids when they're doing something wrong. BUT she does not follow it up with telling kids what TO do. This is a cardinal rule in education! Make sure kids know what to do, not just what not to do. In fact I think this flies in the face of advice she gave earlier in the book! For example, she'll say: "no sharpening pencils while I'm talking". Instead of, "please wait until I'm done talking to sharpen" or "please take an already sharpened pencil". This book shows definite shades of, "no smiling until Thanksgiving" which is advice I HATE.
What REALLY LOST ME. What really CHAPPED MY ASS. were the chapters on gender and race. Gender is a social construct! Meaning what we attribute to "female" and "male" behaviors are a result of socialization and societal norms/expectations. Yet the author takes research from a dis-bunked/homophobic/outdated book on gender and applies it to her classroom. Rules include (and I'm not joking!!!) never correcting/scolding a boy's behavior in front of his friends, being straightforward with boys, and "beware the eye roll" with girls. I hope you honor every child's dignity and never tear someone down in front of their friends! The book oversimplifies "gendered" behavior instead of analyzing the ways we reinforced gender norms within our classroom and doesn't even touch on students who don't conform to the gender binary and/or are LGBTQ+. In the author's world, you are a boy or a girl and she'll treat you a certain way based on that.
And the race chapter! Literally the only time she mentions race in the entire book is to describe a Black mother who told her daughter to fight back because if not, it makes her look bad. White Savior 101. Read almost any other book and you'll be golden!
March 19, 2025
Campbell offers a few decent takeaways, but overall, it’s outdated, surface-level, and not particularly insightful. Some of the classroom management strategies might be useful for new teachers, but a lot of it leans on tired generalizations—especially when it comes to gender and race. The book pushes ideas like treating boys and girls differently in discipline, which feels both unnecessary and counterproductive. And when it comes to cultural responsiveness? Barely there. The one chapter that even mentions race is more of a passing anecdote than anything meaningful. If you’re looking for practical, well-rounded classroom management advice, there are much better books out there.
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October 8, 2023This was the textbook used in one of my master’s level education classes this semester. It contains good insights on classroom management from a seasoned educator, but the content is outdated now that every secondary student is provided a school-issued laptop and most still have the option of virtual learning.
August 10, 2018
Practical guidance and solutions to the issues I had been seeking all last year! I am so grateful for the wisdom and encouragement provided in this book!
July 13, 2020
My assistant principal recommended this book. I really struggled with classroom management my first year of teaching (this past year) and was given so many different tips that just didn’t really seem to work for me. This book is different because 1) it is SO practical. Advice like “build relationships” is followed by a list of relevant ideas to build relationship. “Respect in the classroom” is defined, and practical tips on demonstrating and voicing expectations for respect are outlined. A lot of the advice I had heard before, but never have the specifics been so clearly outlined. 2) it provides a framework that makes sense. So much management advice out there seems to be about how to get kids to fall in line and do exactly what you want, but this book teaches about the root of so many classroom issues and how to handle them with respect, wisdom, and kindness. For a long time it felt like good classroom management would boil down to kind of just being a “mean teacher” but I feel so much more confident entering into my second year of teaching knowing that I can be a kind, direct, compassionate teacher who manages her classroom in a way to best promote learning. Big fan and would recommend!
January 13, 2020
Insightful
It's a simplistic, relatively short, and straight-forward read that provides the reader with insight from the author's experiences and from other publications she references. I found several noteworthy pieces of information and wrote down things I hope to use in keeping my focus better aligned with good classroom management. I'm not a new teacher, but I do find follow-through and consistency challenging (for various reasons), and reading this feels like a needed boost in that regard.
It's a simplistic, relatively short, and straight-forward read that provides the reader with insight from the author's experiences and from other publications she references. I found several noteworthy pieces of information and wrote down things I hope to use in keeping my focus better aligned with good classroom management. I'm not a new teacher, but I do find follow-through and consistency challenging (for various reasons), and reading this feels like a needed boost in that regard.
August 16, 2023
Make sure and give this book to new teachers. While you’re at it, read it yourself so you can remember and review what it takes to be an amazing educator.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews